A Letter from Bay

Dear Friends,

When I last wrote, I was headed to London with Pat and Shelley where he was to debate in the affirmative that "Churchill was more of a liability than an asset to the free world". As I told Shelley, I thought she might need help bringing home the body.

It was a short but fantastic trip. The day before the debate, we spent hours in the Churchill War Room Museum. It was amazing. So much history all laid out in the underground rooms that were British Command Central for most of the war. I highly recommend this stop if you ever get to London.

The debate was held at a huge auditorium across from Westminster Abbey-crowd capacity: 2,000, and that night the hall was packed. Pat was partnered with two British historians and they debated three other British historians. Pat opened the debate with a powerful nine-minute attack on Churchill's judgment and decisions as related to the two World Wars. He closed his opening with a statement that went like this: "Today we prosecute as war criminals men responsible for actions similar to Churchill." Nice touch, Pat. The two historians on his side were nearly high fiving him when he returned to his seat.

The audience was cordial, but twenty-to-one against him. While all panelists were well informed, those opposing Pat often responded to his specific accusations with generalities. They would make some clever little remark like, "I am shocked that Mr. Buchanan would blame World War II on England. I always thought it was Hitler who started the war!" or "This is outrageous! What Mr. Buchanan says is rubbish!" The crowd loved it, but it wasn't much of a rebuttal.

It was such an exciting evening. There was Pat, in England, making a devastating case against their most admired leader. He's so gutsy; and after hearing the best British minds respond to him, I am all the more certain thatChurchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War is a must read for anyone interested in the truth.


A few thoughts on events here in the USA: On the one hand, we're making incredible strides. Millions of Americans are engaged, going to town hall meetings and tea party rallies protesting a government gone berserk. They are intent on taking back this country. But there are snakes in the grass intent on using this movement to return power not to the people but back to the Republican establishment. If this happens, we lose everything, including our country.

To succeed, the rebellion must produce candidates with fresh faces-populists who share our outrage for the arrogance of Washington, individuals who will fight for American workers and American families. We need primaries to nominate candidates that aren't owned by party leaders, powerful special interests, nor Corporate America.

Last year 75 percent of Americans believed the country was headed in the wrong direction and they threw out the bums-Republican bums. Obama and his comrades misinterpreted the victory, believing it was all about them, and proceeded to impose a big government leftist agenda on a conservative nation. Now voters are ready to throw out this new set of bums.

Enter the Republican establishment. They sold this country out when they were in power and can't ever be trusted again. But they see an opening and are setting the stage for their own return. They are handpicking candidates-Bush-likes and Bush-lites-to run against conservatives in primaries. Many are retreads, all are available for purchase. Then the party endorses them, fills their coffers with millions from corporate PACs and special interests, pressures party regulars to get in line, and sends word to the grass roots candidates: "Drop out-you can't win."

Their game plan: shut out conservatives and populists. But if candidates who run for office because they love their country are marginalized by the party elite in favor of career politicians beholden to party leaders, we are lost-and so is America.

Look at the Senate races. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), led by Senator John Cornyn, has already endorsed in half a dozen Republican primaries, with more to come. Solid conservatives with great credentials-new faces, future leaders, threats to the party elite-were already announced candidates in many of these races. But Cornyn and his cronies aren't about to let the rank and file choose the candidates-too risky. A man of the people might slip through and too many of them could lead to government by the people.

In Florida, the NRSC endorsed Governor Charlie Crist, an Arlen Specter Republican, who is running against a young conservative Cuban-American, Marco Rubio. Rubio was a long shot, but the NRSC endorsement so outraged conservatives nationwide it breathed new life into his campaign.

In Colorado, District Attorney Ken Buck, a tough prosecutor of illegal aliens, was gaining traction in his campaign for US Senate. Enter John McCain. He called Jane Norton, former Lt Governor and state chairman of his presidential bid, and convinced her to run against Buck, promising the NRSC endorsement, plenty of money, and a lock on the nomination. Le Moine Dowd, a grass roots activist, summed it up perfectly: "Do we want the NRSC deciding our candidate? Does this action by the NRSC make the primary election irrelevant? Does it make the Colorado Republican Party irrelevant?"

In Ohio, Rob Portman, a former pro-amnesty congressman and Bush trade rep, announced his bid for the US Senate earlier this year. Then Tom Ganley, a conservative businessman from Cleveland, infuriated by the massive uncontrolled spending of Washington, decided to run. Mortal sin, declared the party, which told this self-made successful businessman to get out of the race, that "the U.S. Senate isn't an entry level position." The NRSC endorsed Portman and are in full campaign mode. (Do these nitwits really think one of the architects of the Bush policy that sent our jobs overseas is going to win the general election in a state with 11% unemployment?)

This same scenario is being repeated in a dozen other states. The political bosses of our party are adamant that our candidates look and talk like them-the kind that will get in line behind them. Leaders that rise up out of the rebellion and run for office will be a problem for them. So the snakes are out to stop them.

The rebellion must start to focus on producing candidates that do represent the American people in Washington-then we must rally behind them and defeat the establishment candidates in the primaries. If that doesn't work-we must field candidates to run as independents in the general. Our country is too important to let the establishment of either party continue to have their way with her.

- Bay Buchanan