Category: Interviews

John Hawkins:: To begin with, I’m not sure there is any word in politics that has been more distorted or misused than the word neocon. So, since you’re generally thought to be a prominent neocon, I’m sure you can clear things up for us. In your opinion, what is a neocon? David Frum:: It beats the hell […]

John Hawkins:: Why did you decide to start “Overlawyered.com?” Walter Olson:: I launched it in July 1999, at a time when there were few if any policy weblogs. It had its origin as an overgrown bookmark file for clips I hoped to use in my future writing about the American legal system — noteworthy cases, op-ed columns, […]

Peter Schweizer is the author of several books including: Reagan’s War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism: & was the Executive Producer of “In The Face Of Evil: Reagan’s War In Word And Deed.” I was a huge fan of the book and the movie, would highly recommend both of […]

John Hawkins:: You’ve called racial profiling a myth. Why do you believe that’s the case? Heather Mac Donald:: The studies that purport to prove the existence of racial profiling are junk science that wouldn’t earn their authors an F in a freshman statistics course. Their biggest flaw? They ignore the most important factor in policing: crime. You […]

John Hawkins:: Do you think it’s time to consider actually walling off the border, manning it with armed guards, etc., between the US and Mexico? Michelle Malkin:: At the very least, we should close the three-and-a-half mile hole in the fence at Otay Mesa between Mexico and California, which has been a playground for drug runners and […]

John Hawkins:: How much of a drop off in advertising, if any, has there been from the election until today? Henry Copeland:: After dropping 40-50% for the first couple of months after the election, it looks like we’ll be at new highs in March and April. I won’t call it a tipping point, because you can only […]

I was pleased to have an opportunity to interview FOX News commentator Michelle Malkin via email. Michelle has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, The McLaughlin Group, The Lehrer Report, and 20/20. Furthermore, her syndicated column is carried by 100 papers nationwide and her new book,: Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and […]

John Hawkins:: Would you think it’s fair to say that Air America Radio is failing as a business venture? Byron York:: So far it looks like they are. One of the problems with Air America is that it’s on in so few places around the country. It’s still only on about 50 stations so it’s hard to […]

John Hawkins:: You know, I realized unions had a lot of power and influence in the Democratic party, but while reading an excerpt of your book, I ran across a statement that I found to be amazing. Let me read it, then I’d like to get your comment on it. “As the FEC’s final report put […]

John Hawkins:: You,: Charles Johnson, and: Roger L. Simon: run Pajamas Media, correct? How did you decide to get this started and was what you’re doing now the original concept? Marc Danziger:: Yes – we’re the general partners; there are some other folks who have interests we’ve swapped for help in various ways, but it’s the three of us. Charles […]

John Hawkins:: What convinced you to start your political website? Tim Blair:: Ken Layne: and: Matt Welch: were having too much fun running theirs. It seemed wrong somehow. And then all these Norwegians and bellicose women and law professors began appearing online ‘ I was the last person on earth without a website. Anyway, Layne helped set the site up […]

I’m a huge fan of Victor Davis Hanson’s work. Not only do I consistently link his columns, I’ve recently read his brilliant book “Carnage and Culture.” That’s why I was thrilled that he agreed to do an interview via email with RWN. Read and enjoy… John Hawkins:: Hypothetically, let’s say that we go to Iraq and […]

John Hawkins:: From what I’m seeing out there in the blogosphere, there’s an enormous amount of anger at this deal that was cut with the Democrats on judges. Right now, a lot of conservatives seem to see this as a deal that keeps Republicans from using the constitutional option while allowing Democrats to filibuster at will […]

John Hawkins:: You’ve been a big name in the Conservative movement since 1964. How much ground do you think we have gained since then with the electorate? In particular, why do you think we’ve had so much success since 1980? Phyllis Schlafly:: The principal reason for our success is that we invented the pro-family movement, attracted believers […]

John Hawkins:: Do you believe a flat tax would help produce more economic growth than the progressive tax system that we currently have? If so, can you explain why? Thomas Sowell:: A flat tax would not penalize additional efforts at an increasingly higher rate. This would reduce the discouragements to such efforts and to the taking of […]

John Hawkins:: Some people support giving illegal aliens “amnesty,” i.e. simply letting all illegals currently here become US citizens. Do you think that’s a bad idea? Why so? Mark Krikorian:: Yes, amnesty is almost always a bad idea because it doesn’t solve the problem of illegal immigration, it just relabels the illegal immigrants. And it encourages more […]

John Hawkins: You’ve criticized how the Bush administration has explained the war effort to the American people. If you were in the White House instead of George Bush today, what would you be telling the American people about what’s going on in Iraq and the War on terrorism? Newt Gingrich: …Let me just say that […]

John Hawkins:: You do a fantastic job filling in for Rush Limbaugh. Are we going to see a Walter Williams radio show coming up anytime soon? Walter Williams:: No, I’ve been teaching for about thirty-five years and that would require a career change; I’m not quite ready for it. I’ve been offered jobs a couple of times… […]

John Hawkins:: To begin with, the Iraqis have a vote on their own Constitution coming up soon ‘ the election, the trial of Saddam, the training of troops is coming along slowly but surely. How do you currently look at the situation in Iraq? Are we headed toward victory? Richard Perle:: We will attain a victory eventually. […]

John Hawkins:: There’s an old saying: conservatives are always looking for converts while liberals are looking for heretics. Is that true in your opinion? Tammy Bruce:: I disagree. I think, in actually coming from the left, (that the left is) a religion unto its self if you will. It is really the ultimate entity that looks for […]

John Hawkins:: One thing you’ve covered on your blog is the number of liberals throwing food, pies mainly, at conservative speakers. Around the left side of the blogosphere, liberals have treated it as a big joke whereas conservatives have taken it much more seriously. What would you say to people who claim this is no big […]

John Hawkins:: So how did a University of Tennessee law professor become the godfather of conservative blogging? Glenn Reynolds:: Beats me, especially as I don’t think I’m really a “conservative” in any meaningful sense. At least when you apply the term “conservative” to describe someone who supports gay marriage, the legality of cloning, and the eventual modification […]

John Hawkins:: To begin with, the unprincipled way that your opponents tried to smear you and destroy your reputation — just because they weren’t honest enough to tell the truth and say that they had a problem with your being a conservative — was an absolute disgrace. Given that experience, what do you think we need […]

John Hawkins:: One of the promos for your book reads:: “Disproved: the common myth that women with similar education, skills, and job experience work for salaries 25 percent less than those of men.”: Tell us about that. Kate O’Beirne:: The notion that American women face a discriminatory wage gap, which is vigorously promoted by the kind of woman I […]

I was very pleased to get a chance to do a phone interview with Mona Charen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mona’s work, she has been a speech writer for Nancy Reagan & Jack Kemp, she’s a CNN commentator, her syndicated column appears in more than 200 newspapers, and her brand spanking […]

John Hawkins:: Why haven’t moderate Muslims been able to stop the spread of violent Islam? Robert Spencer:: While there are moderate Muslims, moderate Islam is something else again. There are Muslims who are very peaceful people, who would never wage jihad, and who don’t approve of those waging jihad in the name of Islam today. But the […]

John Hawkins:: A lot of people seem to think that the American electorate is perhaps as polarized as it has ever been right now. Do you think that’s the case or is this sort of venom in American politics more common than we think? Michael Barone:: Certainly venomous partisanship has been common in American politics, but I […]

Earlier this week, I did a phone interview with Congressman Duncan Hunter, a former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a former ranger in Vietnam, who is one of the Republican contenders vying for the presidency in 2008. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation. PS: I can tell you from talking […]