First Published at BIGGOVERNMENT 1/9/12:

A friend of mine called me after the Iowa caucuses and asked, “Why isn’t John Huntsman getting noticed in this race? He’s the most intelligent candidate in the field!”  I would say the GOP nominees are much like what we say in Texas about the weather. If you don’t like the weather right now, wait five minutes.

GOP insider and strategist Charles Krauthammer recently tagged the 2012 Republican candidates as “embarrassing.”  To the contrary, I believe the GOP has good candidates who have A: failed to learn from their predecessors mistakes in 2008 and/or B: suffer from a timid, frantic, backbiting GOP establishment who distrust the minds and intellect of the conservative voter and the power of conservative ideals. Therefore if Huntsman can wait on the GOP to choke on Romney he will by default he get his turn and perhaps just in time. How is that for embarrassing?

The problem for Republicans in 2012 election isn’t a fleet of poor candidates. The lack of support and backbone from the Republican establishment that would allow them to play to win is killing us. The GOP is choking. In tennis, choking happens most when the better player realizes he should and can win. Instead of going for the shots that got him in a winning position, he plays not to lose hoping his opponent will give him the match.  One backhand in the net or one forehand sailed long, and he is immediately thrown off course, convinced that he must play it safe. This has been the GOP for the past nine months which explains the ushering in and out of every running Republican candidate where no one has shown the longevity to make it to the final.

Each GOP candidate has found a way to self destruct at the moment of their ascent with their base helping them to the door on the way down. Of late, it is Santorum who after being non-existent in the media’s and voter’s eyes (at least it appeared) followed Mitt Romney by a mere eight votes in Iowa. Santorum placed well because he is a true family values candidate who isn’t afraid to put God, family, faith, and conservative values first.  But look at Santorum now. Not only are his GOP allies saying that he cannot win, but he helped support that theory by using black and welfare in the same sentence. A rookie mistake for any white conservative candidate running against the first black President.  With the NAACP and Hillary Clinton on his tail and unwillingness by conservatives to have the courage and will to take a hit for a candidate in the face of controversy and trouble, someone may as well cue the “nana na-na, nana na-na, hey hey hey…

It isn’t that Santorum is alone. Just look at how quickly Herman Cain’s bags were packed as soon as the media told the establishment he had to go. Though Cain’s infidelity scandals were circumstantial and a matter of he said she said folly the media told us we could not abide immorality. The GOP establishment balked – since they never approved Cain anyway – and the media got away with the same scam they pulled in 2008 with Sarah Palin. (The truth isn’t that the media objected to the affairs but that they couldn’t risk all those white Iowans handing Cain a significant victory.) Win for Obama.

Did we learn nothing from the media with McCain/Palin in 200?  The media initially tolerated McCain because they knew he was no threat to Obama.  And the establishment approved of McCain because they approved him. Nothing to see here.  But as soon as McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate bells rang. The media sniffed defeat at her strong conservative values and outsider appeal. With that the media wore McCain and the base down with their scoffing of Palin. The fact that the media was all over Palin should have told McCain that he was finally cooking with hot grease. Instead, he choked. The uncertainty and fracturing of the party was toxic to the voters. Win for Obama.

With Cain out, Newt Gingrich was next on top.  Voters found Newt Gingrich’s quick wit and insider experience reassuring imagining he could cut Obama down to size in the debates and lend common sense to getting the country back on track. He’d had affairs but was forgiven by the media, the establishment and conservative voters. (The media knew they couldn’t replay the sex scandal card so quickly after Cain so they let the GOP base do their work for them.) The establishment quickly warned voters of Newt’s deception: his wisdom, arrogance; his experience, political profiteering. And, his mood and temperament volatile and explosive.  Before Gingrich could have the “courage to run a positive campaign” as he instructed Mitt Romney, his campaign bled out to fourth place in Iowa.  Win for Obama.

At least Cain, Gingrich, and now Santorum were given some credence for a spell whereas other candidates peaked too quickly or were over rated before they took the stage. Michelle Bachmann who won the first Iowa straw poll and debated gaffe free for nine months was foiled from the start for being a woman. Ann Coulter made it clear that Republicans are not willing to take any chances on “making a Congresswoman the first female President” no matter how sensible and sound her platform and judgment. Win for Obama.

Governor Rick Perry was someone the establishment could get behind until they couldn’t. When Perry made the gaffe at the debate where he forgot a department of Government he would cut, he was immediately off the list. The establishment turned away as the leftist media licked Perry’s bones clean. The point was made clear that while a good ole boy Governor was good enough for Texas, it wouldn’t do against Obama and his teleprompter on the national scene. His Texas twang is just too risky. Perry had the record, the name, and the money, but in the end lost the backing of the GOP establishment over a delay and a drawl. Win for “57 states” Obama.

Which leaves Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and John Huntsman.  In Romney’s case the GOP is firmly behind him as they believe he can win: he has the money, looks, charisma, some conservative ideas – when he needs them – and experience. What Romney does not have however, is the confidence of the core conservative voter. The fact that Ron Paul was a close third in Iowa proves as much. While establishment conservatives approve of him, something about RomneyCare, even if it is in Massachusetts, and his slick ways from his hair to his tongue holds back the approval of the average American conservative. Still, Romney has yet to double fault or put a backhand in the net so he lives for now. This is still a win for Obama since Republicans are betting on Romney by default (admittedly so) and for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of making these last nine months about how any one of these candidates run circles around Obama in class, values and experience, the GOP participated in childish infighting against their own that actually made Obama appear all grown up and Presidential. It is not that we are missing prime candidates; rather our candidates are being thwarted by a disloyal and conformist base. While Obama can do no wrong in the eyes of sycophantic Obamaphiles on the left, Republicans demand that candidates not use “um” and “you know” in a debate. A pointed finger, or a curious tilt of the head towards the candidate in question and the GOP is unsure, unsteady and on the defensive.

And, then there is Huntsman yet to get his due. With no one for or against him at this point, it’s a win for him.  Only thing is he will have to peak at just the right moment and wait for the establishment to see that the only reason no one on the left is picking on Romney is because they are not threatened by him. Or, he can hope that conservative voters get a backbone and listen to their gut and not the media, right or left. This would finally be playing to win.

Check out the Local Best-Sellers list in today’s Austin-American Statesman Obama, Tea Parties, & God at number three:

LOCAL BEST-SELLERS


Book People

NONFICTION

1.‘Baking With the Cake Boss,’ Buddy Valastro

2.‘That is All,’John Hodgman

3.‘Obama, Tea Parties and God,’Lisa Fritsch

4.‘Steve Jobs,’ Walter Isaacson

5.‘Life is Yours to Win,’ Augie Garrido

6.‘Blue Nights,’ Joan Didion

7.‘Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me,’ Mindy Kaling

8.‘Homesick Texan Cookbook,’Lisa Fain

9.‘Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,’ Rebecca Skloot

10.‘Pulphead,’ John Jeremiah Sullivan

Rankings for the week that ended Nov. 13 for hardcovers and paperbacks combined

LISA FRITSCH – Obama, Tea Parties & God

Tea Party Activist LISA FRITSCH will speak and sign her new book, Obama, Tea Parties & God: What it Means to be an American, a Patriot, and a Christian.

Lisa Fritsch, who has appeared on Fox News Channel’s shows with Glenn Beck and Neil Cavuto, delves into the extent of the power of the Tea Party on our current political situation, the experience of electing the nation’s first African-American President and his subsequent performance, and the spiritual ties she perceives between the course of politics in this nation and God. Lisa Fritsch is a conservative activist and speaker who garnered national attention for standing up to the NAACP for accusing the Tea Party of being racist, and for speaking out on the “diabolical” ways of liberalism on Glenn Beck.  Fritsch is also a political commentator who is a frequent guest on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” where she has commented on everything from the GM IPO to the Tea Party platform.  She is the founder and President of ACTS Alive (Americans for Christian Conservative Truth) an organization and think tank that seeks to correctly define the truth about conservative ideas in all forms of media. Lisa Fritsch is a long serving member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network, a think tank to advance the voices of black conservatives. Fritsch is a BIG Government contributor to Breitbart and has written for The Tea Party Review, Freedom’s Journal, American Thinker, Townhall.com, and The Daily Caller. Fritsch is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She lives with her family in Austin, Texas. In order to have anything signed at a BookPeople event, a copy of the event book must be purchased from BookPeople. If you purchase your book from BookPeople in advance of the event, please save your receipt and present it the night of the event.  Thank you for supporting your local independent bookstore!

Glenn Beck was more ahead of his time than I knew when he featured a show on black conservatives to demonstrate that we “exist.”  Still, many of us remain unseen on primetime to discuss issues directly related to the black conservative.  A good example is the recent fallout from conservative Presidential candidate Herman Cain and accusations of sexual misconduct. Many conservatives recognize this as an attack on him as a black conservative frontrunner.

As a black conservative writer who has been writing on conservative values and their proper place towards victory in the black community for more than a decade now, these attacks on Cain have echoed my experiences when speaking out both in print, radio and television for years. Sure it has been on a smaller stage but the hate mail and feedback is all the same pervasive and virulent.

“And you even with your straight hair wig would have been mistaken for a welfare gal. Beck is using you. I hope it pays well.

“ …you display that sad self hating stereotype black conservatives are known for by not recognizing your African heritage.”

An oft expressed and baseless suspicion by our slanderers is that black conservatives adopt the conservative position for media attention or spotlight.  Their premise: Because we are taboo and scarce we are called on by factions of the right as a side show to validate their bigoted and racist views simultaneously selling out our community for our own financial gain.

Ann Coulter seemed to validate this suspicion remarking, “our blacks are so much better than their blacks.” Watching Ann Coulter sit down with Sean Hannity all to herself as she (and receives deserved and likely provoked flak) takes ownership of black conservatives had me throwing trail mix at my flat screen. This type of flippant from a white conservative speaking for blacks whom she purports to support (or in this case, approves) serves to justify the accusation that black conservatives are indeed mere puppets in the rare instances they join in the conservative discussion.  I am one of the blacks who she thinks is better than their blacks. Why am I (or another black conservative) not speaking about my experience in what is happening with conservative blacks?  We are articulate, accomplished, committed to the issues, intelligent, and willing. And yes we too have good and insightful books to sell.

It is precisely because black conservatives are infrequently called on to espouse our conservative views in chief settings that this taboo notion of the black conservatives festers. In fact before appearing on Glenn Beck myself, I had never seen a room full of black conservatives given a full hour of floor and stage on primetime television speaking their opinion and I have not since.

Black conservatives don’t expect many friends on the left, but where are our friends on the right?  Understandably MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and other networks don’t immediately look to the many black conservative commentators to round out the opinion on Cain, the 2012 election, how Obama’s administration has set the black community back harder than most. But Fox?

Fox actually has more steady liberal black commentary on their roundtables than black conservative.  Juan Williams shares the Sunday roundtable with Mark Wallace. Marc Lamont Hill has a consistent presence on O’Reilly, and Jehmu Green who is described in her Huffington Post bio as “an evangelist for disenfranchised, vulnerable, and marginalized communities” makes several appearances on Fox (as a contributor).  Being a black liberal apparently does pay well, even on Fox.

The left is putting up a strong effort to block the progress of conservative values to the black community. That Herman Cain is the front runner of the Republican field right now threatens their monopoly on the black vote. More than this his success endangers the overarching role of Government’s grip on the black community. Should Cain be successful in his candidacy we could see a shift in how blacks vote, how the black community lives, and what we believe about being black in America. This is the same black shift from Republican to Democrat that America witnessed in the 1960’s with Johnson (Democrat) signing the Civil Rights Act.

It is time to make the voice of the black conservative less obscure and more ubiquitous. We are the true advocates and evangelists for marginalized communities.  We don’t think we are so special; we know there are more of us out there only they cannot hear us. The more we talk the less strange and unusual it is to be a black conservative making the whole notion of being black and conservative common. This serves the conservative agenda marvelously and unknots the labors of the left.

In thinking what prevents us from making the regular cut I can only surmise my comrades are also like me: modest in querying producers; afraid to appear arrogant or boastful; insecure about being big enough; dubious about appearing self-serving to get ahead.  Still, I persist in knocking on doors unanswered or not.  Is Fox leery to be perceived as “using” us? MSNBC and Al Sharpton surely aren’t worried about this. What, with Shaprton ranting racism and other slanderous babble that is the perpetual undoing of the black community all the way to the bank? Cha-ching!

Isn’t there room for black conservatives on “The Five,” or “The Great American Panel?”   It is disservice to the conservative cause and a slap in the face that our presence is very often omitted.  Yes, respected conservative commentators white, brown, or black are qualified to comment on issues revolving around the black community which is largely our American family. Equally, why can’t black conservatives be called to discuss conservative positions pertaining to America at large? White conservatives are sought to do both.  Still, would Rolling Stone interview Dolly Parton on the influence of R&B and soul in music without talking to Aretha Franklin or Quincy Jones? It wouldn’t be sexist or racist, but it sure would be peculiar.

I hadn’t realized that Glenn Beck needed a show to prove to America that black conservatives do indeed exist. To a more relevant degree, we still don’t.

Lisa Fritsch is the author of Obama, Tea Parties and God and has made regular appearances on Fox News Channel. www.lisafritsch.com

First Published in The American Thinker on October 22, 2011

Besides remembering where I was Tuesday morning September 11th ten years ago and the images I saw, I remember much more what I heard. The one phrase that stands out for me on our 9/11 anniversary and other more ordinary days is Todd Beamer’s infinite “let’s roll.” Never has such a short phrase meant so much. Hearing the tape of Todd Beamer’s “let’s roll” is more than a simple call to action it is a call to courage, unity, and solidarity in one mission: get the bad guy and stand up for America.

Todd Beamer left us with a mission to continue rolling in courage, unity and solidarity in standing up for America. He invokes the lyrics of the song “God Bless the USA” – “and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.” Beamer wasn’t alone, there were other courageous Americans who followed his lead and united with him to do their best to stop terrorism that day. Still, his leadership in inspiring their action is undeniable.

As we think about where we are going in our country right now and how frustrated we all feel about the economy and our debts, the answer is in how we choose to roll. I hope Beamer’s assertion will live on in each one of us by calling us to each do our part in our daily lives to make America a better place. Simple acts of rolling in courage and unity: love our neighbors as we love ourselves; take the time to help someone in need; pray for someone else besides ourselves; give even the smallest amount that we don’t have to help someone worse off than ourselves; refuse to wait on an outside solution to our internal problems; and turn our backs on blaming and complaining.

Someone might ask how can this help the economy and create a job. It may do none of these things, but it has the power to unite a community, strengthen our character and grow our will to forge a path to greatness. Ten years ago we rolled on in this way and ignored categorizations and persuasions of class, race, and politics. We rolled on comforting one another, giving aid, and offering the first fruits of our labor, charity, and prayers.

Thank you Todd Beamer for leaving us with courage and character and a call to action. May those two words haunt us towards the purpose of uniting mankind and willing ourselves to be better in each other for the greater good of our country.

Representative Andre Carson’s despicable remarks that the Tea Party would like to see black people hanging is proof that he and many other left wing propagandizing politicians and “leaders” desire to see acts of evil take place on the right side of the aisle. They tingle at the thought that someone in the Tea Party organization will let a racial epithet slip. They salivate over the thought of the return of the white hood reminiscent of the KKK (recall Reverend Fauntroy). They long for evidence that conservatives and those on the right hold blacks in low esteem and when they don’t get adequate evidence of the sort, they verbalize it themselves.

Carson’s statement reveals his own self hatred and disrespectful point of view towards his own people and his American brethrn. When Maxine Waters says, “The Tea Party can go straight to hell,” it is the weakness of her own platform and base ideals she curses.

Carson’s and Water’s comments are akin to black on black crime of politics. While what the country is going through hurts all of us, what they attempt to put all of us through with their visceral and evil speech is harmful.

Video from the Senate Debate hosted by Central Texas 9-12 Project & Empower Texans  and MC’d by Lisa Fritsch is up. Use this link: US Senate Forum

First Published in The Daily Caller

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has gone were few, and I mean can count on one hand few, black leaders have gone and that is to speak truth to action on the critical state of young black youth in this country.  “Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer,” Mr. Nutter, the city’s second black mayor, said in an angry lecture aimed at black teens. “Pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt.” Bravo Mr. Nutter, we are with you and we applaud you.

In 2004 Bill Cosby cried out, “Let me tell you something. Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It’s cursing and calling each other ‘nigger’ as they’re walking up and down the street. They think ‘they hip.’ Can’t read, can’t write, 50 percent of them.”  While he got a few conciliatory fist pumps, his message failed to get serious traction and the requisite attention of urban leaders. Clarence Thomas and Shelby Steele have warned that the road to progress cannot be paved with affirmative action and social welfare initiatives. For years Steele and Thomas and other prominent black conservatives have been equally vilified and dismissed by the urban and media mainstream.

This time something is different. Mayor Nutter is responsible for an entire city of citizens. Their protection along with Philadelphia’s economic livelihood is on his watch.

While these  vogue “flash mobs” have caused a recent stir and awakening to destructive actions of black youth, for nearly twenty years already these violent and degenerate youth have been mobbing their community and damaging their “own race.” These black youths have been virulent destructive forces in their communities for generations wooing youths into drugs and crime, leaving trails of illegitimacy at the feet of innocent children, and refusing to take responsibility for their actions, and thumbing their noses at the education provided at tax payer expense.

In Milwaukee Wisconsin this past weekend, more than 30 black youths were arrested for randomly clubbing and attacking their fellow citizens as they exited the state fair. It didn’t take long for onlookers to notice that these crazed and violent teenagers were targeting whites mostly in their flash mob hysteria. “The black kids at the fair started by beating up each other, police said, and at closing time they turned that rage on whites outside the gates,” writes Jim Sting of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  At a press conference backed up by the local NAACP chapter(when is the last time you’ve seen that), Milwaukee police chief Ed Flynn promised increase police presence both at the state fair an upcoming summer events.

This week Mayor Nutter also had the support of his local NAACP chapter in enforcing tough love on the city’s youths and getting real with them on everything from the reason they are undesirable for employment to how their acts of violence will no longer be tolerated by the cops, the NAACP, and the local community.  J. Whayatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia NAACP commended Nutter saying it “took courage” to tell the truth and further stated, “These are majority African-American youths and they need to be called on it.” It’s about time the NAACP stood on the side of truth and justice again.

Until recently these misguided youths stayed within the confines of their own urban communities inflicting their wares on each other and those like them. Now that they are ‘movin’ on up’ in their violence and terrorists like behavior, mayors, the local NAACP, and the police department are taking notice. Flash mobs have decided that they ghetto has gotten too small for their devious diversions and have now acquired a taste for the finer sections of town that includes fine department stores and streets lit with swanky lamps.  In this bleak economy cities cannot afford to have residents afraid to leave their homes and in panic mode about safety. This sudden awakening to cracking down is long overdue.

The tough love of curfews and community action are a good start. And, while Nutter’s comments on the state of the culture and the violence is exactly what his community needed to hear, it was his candid and spiritual estimation of the situation at his church that gets to the root cause of the flash riots of late and the modern decline of morality in the black community. “The Immaculate Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ took place a long time ago, and it didn’t happen here in Philadelphia. So every one of these kids has two parents who were around and participating at the time. They need to be around now.” Yes, an out of wedlock birthrate at more than 72% is the gaping wound. Herein lies the crux and the central point of the rising violence and the disturbing trend in black youths. Until we address the role of family and wedlock in our community and expect a return to family, we can count on these riots continuing and worsening. The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to stop the bleeding of children without parents.