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ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Karl Zinsmeister moves on up to the White HouseFormer editor-in-chief of the American Enterprise Institute's magazine appointed President Bush's top domestic advisorWe can't say with absolute certainty, but we suspect that unlike his predecessor, Karl Zinsmeister, the Bush Administration's newly appointed top domestic policy advisor, has not been ripping off Target, Hecht or any other D.C.-area department store. We can only assume that his credit card record is clean, and that the vetting process was a lot more thorough than the one used when former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was nominated by George W. Bush to head up the Department of Homeland Security. Soon after being nominated, Kerik -- a longtime buddy and business partner of former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- was forced to withdraw his name after admitting to employing an illegal immigrant as a nanny, and revelations surfaced about extramarital affairs and past conflicts of interest. So while Claude Allen -- the Black conservative who previously held the job Zinsmeister is taking -- is waiting for the legal system to deal with charges that he committed serial fraud at several department stores in the Washington, D.C. area, Zinsmeister will stroll on over to the White House from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and assume the position. Zinsmeister, 47, is a most loyal Bushite. During his 12-year tenure as editor-in-chief of AEI's American Enterprise magazine, the publication focused on a host of cultural and social issues. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq he's visted the country four times as an embedded journalist, he has written three books defending the president's policy and is writing and producing a forthcoming PBS film called Warriors that profiles U.S. troops. "Karl has broad policy experience and a keen insight into many of the issues that face America's families and entrepreneurs, including race, poverty, welfare and education," Bush said in a statement on the appointment. "He is an innovative thinker and an accomplished executive. He will lead my domestic-policy team with energy and a fresh perspective." Most of the early news stories that reported on Zinsmeister's appointment mentioned his role as AEI editor-in-chief, characterized him as a "scholar," and noted that he'd written stories praising Wal-Mart's "efficiency" and "extolling" the role religion plays in "bonding communities." In a story headlined "A great pick by Bush," conservative columnist Mona Charen called him an "intellectual powerhouse." Conservatives pleased with the appointmentUnder the headline "New White House Adviser Could be Refreshing 'Jolt'," Pete Yost, the associate editor of Focus on the Family's (FOF) CitizenLink.org, wrote that "Pro-family conservatives say Zinsmeister ... [was] a wise choice to lead the White House shop that crafts policy on many issues that affect the family." Gary Bauer, the former head of the Family Research Council who served as President Reagan's domestic-policy adviser and currently runs an organization called American Values told CitizenLink that Zinsmeister will be "a positive addition" to the White House. "Karl is a very bright man, an intellectual, a conservative in the very broad sense of that word," Bauer said. "He's somebody that has, over the years, devoted a lot of time and energy to writing and speaking about family-related issues." Bauer offered a cautionary note, telling CitizenLink that Zinsmeister had not "devoted a significant part of his energy" to the life issue. "But in the broader sense," he added, "Karl understands that the family is the bedrock of American society, that marriage is the union of a man and a woman and the importance of values to democratic capitalism. He has written and spoken about those things extensively, and I think will be very sympathetic to most of the items on the pro-family agenda." Marvin Olasky, editor of World Magazine, described Zinsmeister as a "pavement-pounder." "Pavement-pounders actually go out and walk down the hot pavement and the muddy and dirty streets and see what's actually going on," he said. "Karl is of that type. That's the way he's been as a journalist. Very much grounded. He's always impressed me as a guy who is more interested in talking about reality than in just spinning out theories." "He impresses me as a very honest and gutsy guy. He's very well-rooted." Olasky told CitizenLink. "He certainly sees and values the importance of Christianity in public life -- and to the best of my knowledge -- in his own life." According to Tom Hess, the editor of FOF's Citizen magazine, Zinsmeister has written several pieces for the magazine, many of the recent ones have focused on the situation in Iraq: In the June 2004 issue of the magazine Zinsmeister wrote a piece called "Search for Citizens," which detailed the dishonesty and corruption he found in Iraq: "Several soldiers involved in Iraq's civic reconstruction said some of the country's problems remind them of the welfare culture the United States has struggled with in its own inner cities--particularly the dependency syndrome which leads people to automatically look to someone else to solve their problems. But in Iraq, passivity and dependence appear not just in pockets, but across broad swaths of society. As we passed through the filthy yards and trash-strewn streets of Iraqi residential districts on various errands, U.S. soldiers would often puzzle: "Why don't they at least pick up their own garbage? That doesn't cost anything, and it would improve their lives overnight." Zinsmeister pointed out that: "In the book Human Accomplishment, social scientist Charles Murray came to a conclusion which, as a nonreligious man, surprised him: After years of historical study, he discovered that the key to the flowering of science, art, enlightened governance, and many other good things in Europe, was the Christian religion's influence on individuals and societies." "The emphasis on individual righteousness, personal character, and accountability before God doesn't just give Christians ways to draw nearer to the divine. It also provides them with valuable tools that help them live more decently on earth. George Washington argued in his Farewell Address that "morality is a necessary spring of popular government," and he advised Americans to keep a tight grip on their Christian faith. As I observed failures of citizenship in Iraq, I saw evidence that nations which lack Christianity's ethical infrastructure face a harder climb to the good life. In the March 2006 issue he penned a piece with a self-explanatory title, "Worth the Sacrifice." He hasn't hesitated to criticize the press for its reporting of the war. According to Mona Charen, in a 2004 report, Zinsmeister wrote: "This bias toward [assuming] failure is fanned by what [U.S. News and World Report columnist] Michael Barone calls the 'zero defect standard' of today's media. For months, armchair journalists without the slightest understanding of what real war is like have howled that this guerilla struggle hasn't been run according to a tidy 'plan.' Why did we 'allow' the looting? How come nobody anticipated the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) threat? Is it wrong for GIs to invade people's houses?...Wars never proceed according to plan; they are always fought by the seat of one's pants, through constant improvisation. "On D-Day (one of the most carefully 'planned' military events ever), 4,649 American soldiers were killed within just a few hours -- many through what an accusatory mind could characterize as 'screw-ups' (gliders and paratroopers landing in the wrong places, amphibious and landing craft unloading in water that was too deep, Air Force and Navy failures to suppress German fire on the beaches)...By standards of war invoked by some contemporary media observers, those landings could be viewed as traumatic bungles." While Zinsmeister doesn't appear to have Claude Allen-like weaknesses, Think Progress reported that he had "altered his own quotes and other text that appeared in a published profile of him, originally written by the Syracuse New Times but later amended and posted on the AEI website. The White House claims that the alterations were ‘corrections' due to ‘misattributions' by the reporter, an unlikely story given that Zinsmeister emailed the New Times reporter after the interview to thank him for his ‘fair and thoughtful treatment.'" In his note, Zinsmeister wrote that "he really appreciate[d] your professionalism and kindness. You wrote it straight up, which is the best and hardest kind of journalism. Let me know when I can next help out your journalism." Josh Gerstein of the New York Sun further investigated the story and spoke with the story's author, Justin Park, and the paper's editor, Molly English. They both "rejected" the White House's "explanation," Gerstein reported. "If there's an inaccuracy, he should have called me or he should have called Justin," English told Gerstein. According to Gerstein, English "said it was unethical for...Zinsmeister to post an altered version of the story without permission. ‘It's reprehensible, frankly,' English said. ‘Once this is published, it's not his property. From that point in time, he can't just pick and choose.'" The New York Sun reported that the original quote read: "People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings." In the version posted on the AEI web site, it read: "I learned in Washington that there is an 'overclass' in this country stocked with cheating, shifty human beings that's just as morally repugnant as our 'underclass.'" On Tuesday, May 30, Zinsmeister admitted that her altered the text of the New Times piece. "Looking back, this is foolish," Zinsmeister told the Washington Post. According to the newspaper, "Zinsmeister said he did it to correct the record while protecting a young journalist who had made mistakes." According to the Washington Post, Zinsmeister explained ther changes "by saying he has long studied issues of class and morality and he was confident he would have used the kind of specific language in the quote on the institute site rather than the more broad description in the original article." He also acknowledged other changes "to fix errors he believed the New Times reporter had made because of misunderstandings or truncated notes -- taken in an interview in a noisy restaurant." "I should have contacted the New Times to say that there were four errors in the story and they should be retracted and corrected...At the time it seemed innocent." In a Zinsmeister piece dealing with the treament of captured "terrorists," he displayed his kinder, gentler side: "Would you believe that the number of formal U.S. investigations of how terror detainees are being treated recently reached 189?...Of course we need to weed out cruel or out-of-control guards, but the clear picture of the many commissions and blue-ribbon investigations is that our detainment system is pretty tight and self-regulating, that gentleness to the point of political correctness is the norm, and the rogue actions are nearly always found out and punished, usually quite severely." Zinsmeister has also worked as a legislative assistant to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., and served on the advisory board for the Foundation for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise. In addition, he was on an Education Department school-reform panel. In its own weird way, by praising Wal-Mart, quoting Charles Murray, and altering his own quotes, Zinsmeister is a perfect follow-up to the ethically-challenged Claude Allen. What his appointment means for domestic policy remains to be seen. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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