'76 Blog

('76 Contributor) After Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll by more than twice the votes either Perry or Romney got, my thoughts were these:  (1) Contrary to what Morgan Freeman and the rest of the Liberals think, the Tea Party is not racist. For if they were, why would they vote for a black guy? (2) Contrary to Bill Kristol’s view that this was a vote of no confidence for Perry or Romney and that Cain is just a flash in the pan and can’t win the nomination, I see much more going on. At the end of July at the Western Conservative Summit, I listened to Herman Cain and said as follows: “It’s time to vote for the real black guy.”  He rocked the house in Denver that day and swept the straw poll. (3) A friend said at the time that Cain will never get nominated because he doesn’t have a chance….when pressed for a reason; none was given other than “because I think he can’t.” I heard other reasons like, he has never been in politics before, or he just ran a pizza business, or we already tried a guy with no experience and the American people won’t do that again. Well, I’m here to say the following: If we conservatives keep thinking like that, we will end up with Obama for another four years and America as we know it will be gone forever! (4) If ever there was a time for a novice politician to come in to save the day, it is now. Don’t forget, our founders were not politicians; they were farmers, businessmen and traders who had an idea. Now we have a successful businessman with actual ideas and solutions, and we pooh-pooh him, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place, voting professional politicians into office thinking they could fix our problems?

(Syndicated Columnist & Centennial Fellow) Some liberals inform us that conservative criticism of President Barack Obama is racially motivated, which is why they would no doubt be surprised that conservatives gathered in Denver recently gave some of their loudest cheers for presidential aspirant Herman Cain. Did they not notice he was black?Of course they did, but it didn't matter. By the calculations of my own internal applause meter, they were at least meagerly less enthusiastic about the speeches of white Republican candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and white Texas governor Rick Perry, whose hints he'll run are about as subtle as his state is small.They also embraced the remarks of several other blacks, including those of Juan Williams. You'll remember he was the Fox commentator who also worked for National Public Radio before it decided to crack down on free speech.He had said on Fox that he might feel nervous seeing Muslims at an airport because he knew some radical Muslims had given us 9/11, but made it clear such feelings were out of place because most Muslims were fine, decent folks. You would have to be insane or a left-wing zealot to think that's a firing offense, but I repeat myself. At any rate, the issue is between the NPR bosses of the time and their psychiatrists.Juan Williams is himself a liberal, and still got a warm reception at the Western Conservative Summit. Consider that and then consider what conservative commentator Ann Coulter has to take with her when she gives speeches on liberal campuses -- bodyguards. This audience heaped huzzahs on Williams when he said all sides need to listen to each other, and this brings me to stating explicitly what I've been hinting at: While obviously passionate on some subjects, the people attending were also polite, cheerful, informed, reasonable and the possible salvation of America.I make a point of this not because it is unusual to find Americans cut of the same courteous, constructive cloth, but because whole bunches of left-wingers are forever telling us the Tea Party activists, Christian conservatives, economic conservatives and libertarian enthusiasts have the compassion of al Qaeda and the intellectual heft of a Dick-and-Jane reader. What was the word Vice President Joe Biden used about the Tea Party the other day -- terrorists? Lefties resort to this ad hominem attack because the world has been busily disproving their worn-out idea of a statist utopia while the principles of conservatives are as fresh as the founders were, are and will be.Speaking of that, the most important content point of the conference was that this nation is in deep, deep trouble, partly because of an overwhelming debt, but also because of a steady march toward dignity-denying, freedom-cheating, socialist-style ambitions making serfs of us all, and a wimpy, blame-us, sovereignty-erasing foreign policy. Making the latter observation was the brilliant John Bolton, former U.N. ambassador and future secretary of state if a Republican with sense gets elected president in 2012. To me, the scariest thing he talked about was how a nuclear-armed Iran could be a WMD supplier to real terrorists (not members of the Tea Party) and would definitely change the balance of power. Our White House fiddles while this issue irradiates.Also hugely impressive was Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute and someone making the factually demonstrable point that nations that cut spending to get themselves out of debt are many times more successful than those that try to tax themselves out of debt, or even tax and cut.I'd like to talk about all the speakers, but must now move on to full disclosure by bragging that I am an uncompensated fellow of the Centennial Institute, the think tank that organized and sponsored the conference along with small but culture-changing Colorado Christian University, where I'll help teach a course this fall. For that I will be paid and won't mind a bit.Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.

The results of the Western Conservative Summit 2011 Denver Presidential Straw Poll are in, and the winner is Herman Cain with 48 percent of the vote.  Rick Perry was the runner-up with 13 percent. A total of 508 ballots were cast over the three-day conference. Results were announced at the closing session of the Western Conservative Summit 2011 held at the Denver Marriott City Center, 1701 California Street in downtown Denver. Event organizer and Director of the Centennial Institute John Andrews said,  “The Denver Straw Poll is the first test of 2012 presidential preferences among grassroots activists in Colorado and the Western states.  Conference attendees included Republican volunteers, Tea Party activists, conservatives and libertarians of all kinds, along with members of the faith comunity. "To keep it fair," Andrews added, "the straw poll ballot included a voting line for the only announced Democratic candidate, President Obama, as well as write-in options for any other Democrat and for any third-party candidate.”  The Denver Straw Poll ballot alphabetically listed the following announced and undecided Republican candidates. Their names and percent of votes follows: Michele Bachmann- 9 % John Bolton- 4% Herman Cain- 48% Newt Gingrich- 1% Rudy Giuliani- 0% Jon Huntsman- 0% Gary Johnson-0% Thaddeus McCotter- 0% Sarah Palin- 1% Ron Paul- 2% Tim Pawlenty- 1% Rick Perry- 13% Mitt Romney- 10% Rick Santorum- 10% Paul Ryan received one write-in vote. Texas Governor Rick Perry (R), who is considering a run for U.S. President in 2012, and presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R-Pa) keynoted the opening night dinner session on Friday, July 29. Herman Cain, another candidate, spoke this morning on the topic of “This Time, Real Change.” Cain is former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, who has said he will decide in September about his 2012 White House bid, also addressed the delegates on Saturday morning, July 30. His topic was "Defending America in a Dangerous World." Western Conservative Summit 2011 is presented by Centennial Institute, a public policy think tank affiliated with Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado, and in partnership with 710 KNUS, The Daily Caller, Independence Institute, Colorado Union of Taxpayers, CitizenLink (part of Focus on the Family), Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, Tea Party Patriots of Colorado, and 30 other conservative groups.  Summit co-chairs are John Andrews, director of the Centennial Institute, and Bill Armstrong, president of Colorado Christian University.  Andrews is a columnist for The Denver Post and is former president of the Colorado Senate and author of the recently released book Responsibility Reborn: A Citizen’s Guide to the Next American Century.  Armstrong is a former businessman and represented Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives (1972-1978) and the U.S. Senate (1978-1990). The Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University works to enhance public understanding of the most important issues relating to faith, family and freedom.  As part of this endeavor, the Institute focuses its efforts on conducting research, analyzing public policy options and sponsoring seminars, conferences, and other activities that involve students, faculty, staff and outside experts. For more information: www.ccu.edu/centennial  

(Story by Lynn Bartels from DenverPost.com, June 30) Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a potential candidate for president in 2012, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Western Conservative Summit. Another presidential contender, Herman Cain, and Fox News Commentator Juan Williams also are the who’s who speaking list. Rick Perry at a recent Republican event (AP Photo, Gregory Bull) The event begins July 29 at the downtown Denver Marriott, which means, alas, not another replay of last year’s hilarious Lone Tree branding controversy. (More on that later.) Among the questions that will be explored at the conference: Can Republicans and the Tea Party work together? The theme for this year’s summit is “Fulfilling America’s Promise,” said John Andrews, president of the Centennial Institute, which is co-hosting the event. He drew comparisons between the late President Reagan and President Obama. “Our president says America needs to be fundamentally transformed. Reagan, the hero of conservatives, said ‘We’re that shining city on the hill, our best days are yet to come,’” Andrews said. “The summit explores this crossroads.” Perry will speak Friday night on July 29, with speakers and workshops scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, ending with a straw poll on the presidential race. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, now a presidential candidate, was the keynote speaker at last year’s first-ever summit. Andrews said he believes her appearance in Colorado helped shine her star. Last year’s event was held at the Marriott South on Park Meadows Drive, which has a Littleton mailing address. But conference organizers continually used a Lone Tree dateline, and also asked summit participants to sign a Lone Tree Declaration, affirming “six tenets of who we are and what we stand for.” The city of Lone Tree was not amused after the Denver Post printed the six tenets and it received complaints from citizens. The city pointed out the conference wasn’t even in Lone Tree, which inspired a great Andrews one-liner. “Technically it’s not, but to quote Tina Fey, ‘We can see Lone Tree from the hotel,”‘ he said at the time. Andrews said the conference this year was moved to Denver in part because of the size: They expected 300 attendees last year and got about 900. But he also wasn’t happy with the “get lost” feeling he said he got from Lone Tree officials. “It just kind of wounded us. We said, ‘OK, we’ll go somewhere else,” he said. And just a warning to Lone Tree city officials: The Lone Tree Declaration is back, although it will be slightly revised. “We’re prepared that the chicken-little politicians of Lone Tree may feel the sky is falling but it’s a risk we’re willing to take,” Andrew said. The new Lone Tree Declaration is still being tweaked. Here’s some of what was in last year’s: 1. In our adherence to the self-evident truths of the American Founding, we are conservatives. 2. In our debt to the civilizational heritage of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia, we are Westerners. 3. In our concern for the mounting threat to liberty, seeing freedom in the balance, we convene with solemn purpose at this Summit. 4. We seek a conservative renewal for our country through civic action that puts principle above party, resists the corruption of power, bridges intramural disagreements or rivalries, and protects an open public square centered on the nation’s Judeo-Christian core. 5. We commit ourselves unswervingly to a political and social order that upholds individual freedom and personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law, free enterprise and private property, traditional family values and sanctity of life, compassion for the poor and voluntarism in service to others, natural law and morality, strong defense and secure borders, all in keeping with the original intent of the Constitution. 6. We reject, and will resist, the socialist temptation, transnational progressivism, secular utopian illusions, appeasement, disarmament, or capitulation to jihad and sharia. Article printed from The Spothttp://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2011/06/30/texas-gov-rick-perry-to-kick-off-colorado-conservative-summit/33180/