To be followed by a fine minstrel show

Is it just me or is there something retrograde about OC Republicans?

I mean, which other crowd would hold “cigar smokers”—events, evidently, in which rich white guys sit around, smoking expensive cigars on the patio of the freakin’ Balboa Bay Club?

Am I reading too much into this? Who would show up to something like this but a self-satisfied, rich, "conservative" businessman who thinks people like him are what made America great?

Local Republicans may as well hang up a neon sign that says, “We’re rich; you’re not; fuck you.”

Matt Cunningham of the OC Red County blog (Bourbon, Cigars And Conservatism On Nov. 18 At Balboa Bay Club) seems pleased as punch about the whole goshdarn thing. He chirps: “Tom Fuentes is organizing another of the [Claremont] Institute's popular cigar smokers at the Balboa Bay Club. This is the fourth such event this year, I believe, and they are really enjoyable.”

The invitation says:

Senior Fellow Thomas A. Fuentes cordially invites you to

“Bourbon and Cigars”

An evening of casual camaraderie and conservative conversation

featuring:

Dr. John Eastman

Dean of Chapman University School of Law

and
Founding Director of the Claremont Institute’s

Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence

with

 President Brian T. Kennedy

We’re also told that “This is not a fundraising event.”

Yeah, I know. This isn't a GOP event. Sure.

We've looked into the Claremont Institute before:

FUENTES AND THE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE:

During a board meeting in ‘99, John Williams proudly reported visiting a place called the “Claremont Institute” (CI). After Fuentes’ board appointment, Williams mentioned CI again. According to the IWN, “Williams said [that, among candidates,] Fuentes rose to the top due to his broad range of experience and his roots in the community college system…‘He knows about policy making. He’s a member of the Claremont Institute’ …” (7/20/00).

Actually, Tom Fuentes is more than a member of CI: he’s on its board of directors.

I found a description of the Institute’s “policy making” on the “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” website:

The CI [is]…an ultra-conservative advocacy group with ties to the Republican Party and some of the most extreme elements of the Religious Right… Claremont’s board of directors includes Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., a California-based Religious Right activist…[He] personifies the Institute’s ties to the farthest fringes of the right. He has contributed significant sums of money to spread a radical philosophy known as “Christian Reconstructionism.” Reconstructionists believe the Old Testament’s harsh legal code should be binding on modern society. They advocate the death penalty…for a number of religious “offenses,” including apostasy [i.e., abandonment of one’s faith], blasphemy and “unchastity.” The Reconstructionist view is perhaps best summed up in a 1992 quote by Ahmanson: “My purpose is total integration of biblical law into our lives.” Ahmanson gave the Institute $185,000 in 1995…Claremont attacks the concept of a wall of separation between church and state. One Institute article labeled Thomas Jefferson’s metaphorical wall “imaginary.”…The CI believes homosexuality is an affliction that can be cured by therapy…Another Institute project is Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership….

As near as I can tell, this accurately describes CI’s “policy making.” Good grief!

I invite you to explore CI’s own website; unquestionably, CI—and its man Fuentes—mean to promote the interests, not of Labor, but of Big Business and Big Authority. Their vocal support of Prop 226 is part of a pattern. The pattern’s pretty plain, dude.

From Dissent the Blog

Gratuitous cat photo: TigerAnn

From

Mojo the cool cat, RIP