Pity Gregg Jackson. Poor guy, all he has going for him is a great life, a loving wife, and a nineteen month old son that he adores. He's also personable, intelligent, well-informed, articulate, and successful. And, true, he does have a best selling book, Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies, co-hosts Boston's Pundit Review Radio, is a contributing editor at [...] is frequently published in such journals as Current Events and Human Events. And he often gets to chat with people like Tony Blankley, who interviewed him recently.
So, why pity him? The poor guy lives in the cradle of American democracy, but his Congressional Representative is Barney Frank and his United States Senators are named Kerry and Kennedy!
Okay, forget the pity party for that unfortunate situation. But at least pity him for being a cockeyed optimist. He actually believes that, despite the dire state of affairs in the United States, someone the likes of Ronald Reagan will step forward in 2008 to rescue the nation from the Kerrys, the Kennedys, the Hillarys, the Obamas and other such ilk and lead us to another shining city on the hill and to a Reagan-esque Revolution that will re-direct our currently disintegrating cultural and political path and, like Reagan, resurrect American's belief in itself and in our future.
I recently had the distinct pleasure of having an hour long conversation with Gregg and I came to a pretty fair estimation of who and what he is. I had read and reviewed Conservative Comebacks for Citizen Journal and we discussed his book as well as a number of other topics and he revealed what makes Gregg Jackson tick. It is complex but I think I have the man pegged. He's essentially a romantic involved in a long-term love affair with God, Family and Country. (How outrageous a notion is that! How antiquated!)
A self-described born-again Christian, a Hebrew born-again Christian to boot, Gregg is a gregarious and loquacious sort who feels passionately about many things, especially the state of affairs in which our nation finds itself today and one of his first comments had to do with religion and how it relates to his own and our national well-being. He believes we've lost our moral compass and the result could very well be catastrophic.
Religion and the Bible suffuse Conservative Comebacks, from the "Acknowledgments," replete with Biblical quotations from Proverbs, to his conviction throughout this conservative primer that the disintegration of our Judaeo-Christian values is the core problem our nation faces today. Gregg elaborated on that during our talk and also unabashedly admitted he is indeed a religious man as well as a devoted husband and father.
I fully concur with his political beliefs but questioned whether there was anyone out there who could carry the Reagan mantle, and he proffered former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas. All of these, I reminded him, carry either a heavy load of baggage (Newt) or the far more daunting challenge of national obscurity (all the others). Ever sanguine, Gregg wasn't phased by my effort at playing Devil's Advocate and held firm that any and all of the above could win the nomination and the general election. I mentioned Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, as a possible candidate. As a resident of that Commonwealth, Jackson is well-attuned to its political machinations and shenanigans and was almost visceral in his rejection of that possibility, citing Romney's tax policies and his Hillary-light, socialistic medicine initiatives.
I asked his reaction to the passing of Gerald Ford, and his view was that of most conservatives "that Ford was a good and decent man but of the 'checkered pants' Eastern liberal Rockefeller-Republican School of thought, that is to say, a non-Reagan.
Jackson is also no great fan of George W. Bush. Then again, who is, whether we're liberals or conservatives? He vehemently disagrees with Bush's immigration and spending policies but still feels that we have a roaring economy which should sustain us, despite the billions being spent in Iraq.. He also feels that a Rudy Giuliani or a John McCain would neither succeed nor carry on what Reagan began.
Likewise, as most thinking people, he believes we will be attacked again and points to Jihad-ism as the most serious threat we face. Jackson believes the war in Iraq, despite all the snafus and the costs in materiel, national treasure, and, worst of all, the cost in lives of America's Finest and Bravest, was and is a war of necessity.
Jackson firmly believes that a Neo Reagan-Republican Revolution is needed in these United States but that the likes of Romney, Giuliani, or McCain, or long-time Democrat Mayor Bloomberg of New York City, are not the people who can bring that about. A landslide victory in 2008 is needed and quasi-Republicans of their stripe have never and will never generate a landslide comparable to 1980 and 1984.
On Dem hopefuls, we agreed that a Hillary-Obama ticket is a very real threat in many ways -- and we discussed Senator Clinton's subterfuges to hide her true, radical views, her lies and deceptions which have in large part succeeded in bamboozling the electorate of New York State during her six years as a carpetbagette.
At the end of our conversation, I asked Jackson if he had ever considered running for office. Not surprisingly, he has and he would. (I didn't ask what Mrs. Jackson thought of the idea.) Gregg would have to take on Barney Frank for his district's House seat but the bugaboo of financing such a campaign is an ever-present reality; he feels it would take a war chest of some five million dollars to run an effective and winning race. He'd also consider a run against Senator John Heinz Kerry but estimates that would require at least fifteen million.
Personally, I think Gregg would be a far better choice than either of them.
Subsequent to our chat, Gregg e-mailed an addendum to our interview. He wrote:
"Gene, Thanks again for a fantastic interview and opportunity to discuss the issues. One last point that you can quote me on: You asked what my outlook for the future was. I predict a re-emergence of love of God and country never experienced before in our nation. We will answer the call of our generation in defense of Western Civilization and American sovereignty. With regards to the Jihadist totalitarian threat and the domestic insurgency (i.e. Liberal Democrats), to quote Ronald Reagan, 'We win. They lose.'"
From Gregg's e-mail to God's ears. But, trust me, Gregg, it wasn't necessary because your faith in our nation and confidence in our future had already come through, loud and clear. True Americans pray and hope you're right.