Harbour League Brings Out the Best for Baltimore

The West’s Last Chance

by Tony Blankley Your Business Blogger and Charmaine had dinner with Tony Blankley, and a few other couples. I ask him about his days as press secretary for Newt Gingrich.

How Newt did his speeches. Did Tony write them?

“No.” said Blankley, now the editorial page editor of The Washington Times. “Newt would sketch out ideas on a yellow pad in the back of the car on the drive to the event,” said Tony. “He would modify his remarks to fit the [tone of the] audience — but he always knew where he stood and what he would say.” And so did Tony.

Tony warmed to the topic,

My job was easy. I could go immediately to the mics on Capital Hill after session and review what Newt doing and thinking. [President] Clinton’s press people could never do that as fast, because they never knew where Clinton stood on any issue at any time. They didn’t know what Clinton would think or [how to] react to any of Newt’s proposals. [Clinton] was forever triangulating — whatever the [heck] that is — so his press people always had to wait for me to finish, then wait for Clinton to make up his mind on how he felt about an issue at any point in time….because his positions changed all the time.

Nobody on Clinton’s team, including Clinton, had an internal compass; standards; core beliefs.

Blankley was reviewing the Ronald Reagan dictum that Personnel is Policy.

The dinner was arranged courtesy of the Harbour League based in Baltimore. Past guests have included Michelle Malkin and Grover Norquist.

If you are in the Mid-Atlantic area, do get on their good-guy list for upcoming events.

Here’s the next gig.

The Harbour League Presents

From the Gulag to the Killing Fields

Featuring Dr. Paul Hollander, author of From the Gulag to the Killing Fields, — holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Princeton University and is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is also an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. A widely published author, his books include Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society; Anti-Americanism: Critiques at Home and Abroad, 1965 — 1990; and Political Will and Personal Belief: The Decline and Fall of Soviet Communism.

Thursday, April 6th

7:00pm — 8:00pm (Reception to follow)

Doors open at 6:30pm

Hilton Pikesville

1726 Reisterstown Road

Pikesville, Maryland

There is no charge for this event; however, RSVP is a must. Seating is limited and Harbour League members have priority seating. To RSVP please visit www.TheHarbourLeague.org or call 410-206-3445.

The lecture is free. And well worth your time.

Was this helpful? Do comment.

Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.

Thank you (foot)notes:

John MacStansbury says that Your Business Blogger is an inveterate name dropper. I don’t know where he gets that. (He must have heard about my meeting Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell — while they were dating! — in the Presidential Box in the Kennedy Center years ago.) John is a good-guy, anyway, even if prone to exaggeration. He has interesting observations on Democrats. May not be workplace safe.

More on Blankley and the Harbour League at the jump

Tony Blankley, author of The West’s Last Chance, is the editorial page editor of the Washington Times, a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group, a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate, and a popular speaker and radio and television pundit. For seven years he was press secretary to then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and before that served President Ronald Reagan as a speechwriter and senior policy analyst.

From the Harbour League,

James Madison once said, “It has been said that all Government is an evil.

It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists; and the problem to be solved

is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect.” The Harbour League philosophy is what is called practical politics.

In a perfect world, America, as well as other nations, would live with the Jeffersonian philosophy, which combines an appreciation for entrepreneurship, the free market system, and lower taxes with respect

for civil liberties and skepticism about the benefits of both the welfare

state and foreign military adventurism. However, in today’s complex

society, unfortunately we have a sizable government.

At the Harbour League we understand what James Madison intended

when he acknowledged the need for a central government. Through speakers, roundtables and other events throughout the year, we intend

to explore the political thoughts of the best minds of political philosophy including Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Burke as well as provocative contemporary political philosophers.

“The Harbour League is an excellent forum for the vigorous exchange of conservative ideas. It’s the hottest new spot for right-thinking political activists and policy makers in the Baltimore area. Can’t wait to come back!” — Michelle Malkin

“If you need to know the latest on the entire spectrum of conservative thought, you need to join The Harbour League” — Grover Norquist