In describing former NFL superstar and 2006 gubernatorial candidate (R., Pa.) Lynn Swann, Angela McGlowan writes “ Standing athwart ineffective feel-good legislation shouting ‘Stop!’ is seen as a betrayal of those struggling to get their footing on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Yet raising the minimum wage hacks the lowest rungs off the ladder altogether. But economic logic doesn’t wash with liberals who are intent on inflaming class warfare.”

Well, she had me at “athwart.” And so Angela McGlowan deserves at least one link on National Review Online for her new book Bamboozled: How Americans Are Being Exploited by the Lies of the Liberal Agenda. And, in all seriousness, for her message and presentation — covering family, religion, business, taking on Jesse Jackson, and more — deserve attention. Fortunately she recently took questions from National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What’s the point calling people names like “bamboozler”?

Angela McGlowan: I decided that it was time to stand up and call a spade a spade. For 50 years liberals have conned and used blacks, Latinos, and women into supporting an agenda that sells them out and betrays their values. We’ve become the dupes of the Democrat party. Liberals have gotten away with their civil-rights shell game for too long. They’ve boxed blacks, Latino, and women in to their predetermined pens because without a stranglehold on these three groups Democrats can’t win elections. So I decided to call them what they are: bamboozlers.

Lopez: Well then: Who’s the most insidious bamboozler?

McGlowan: Well, that’s kind of like asking which liberal policy has been the biggest wrecking ball slamming against America — there are just so many to choose from. But right now I’d have to say the Clintons. I mean, when you call yourself “the first black president in American history,” you know people have been hoodwinked! But this is historically what the Democrat party has done: rewrite history with liberals as the heroes and conservatives as the villains. As I uncover in the book, nothing could be further from the truth. When Americans read the hidden history I discuss in the book about the KKK Democrats, most will be shocked and outraged.

Lopez: What on earth possessed Don Imus to go on Al Sharpton’s radio show, thereby making Sharpton a legitimate voice in that Imus story?

McGlowan: I think Don Imus bowing down to Al Sharpton is the perfect example of just how powerful identity politics have become. No doubt, what Imus said was deplorable. But is it any worse than what hundreds of rappers say day in and day out in their music? Not even close! Worse still: Does firing Imus do anything to address the near fatherless generation of black children — 70 percent of them are growing up in out-of-wedlock homes? No. Does it address the racial gap in learning between black and Latino children and their white and Asian counterparts? No. Sharpton and Jesse Jackson don’t want to talk about these things, though. Because that would require moral courage to hold people accountable for their actions. So the race-baiters pound away at Imus while turning a blind eye to the rappers, the breakdown of the two-parent family, and public education crumbling under the weight of liberal teacher’s unions. That’s not keepin’ it real. That’s keeping it real stupid.

Lopez: Who is your audience with this book? Are you selling out in Harlem?

McGlowan: My audience is Americans — all Americans. More specifically, this book is a battle plan for what conservatives must do in 2008 to break the bamboozlers’ spell on blacks, Latinos, and women before these groups are lost forever to the lies of the liberal agenda.

Lopez: What happened? We were going to have Governor Blackwell and Swann and Senator Steele.

McGlowan: I interviewed each of these men — Governor Blackwell, Lynn Swann, and Senator Steele — for the book and will tell you that no one was more sad to see them lose their races than I was. What’s sad is that in any other electoral climate than 2006, these men would likely have won. I’m optimistic, though. And they are too. These men are the essence of the party of Lincoln. And I predict we haven’t heard the last of them. As President Reagan once said after losing to Gerald Ford in the 1976 primary, they “will rise and fight again.”

Lopez: George Bush doesn’t hate black people?

McGlowan: Bill Clinton had a black secretary. George W. Bush has a black Secretary of State.

I rest my case!

Lopez: That said, did Katrina do irrevocable harm when it comes to blacks and the GOP?

McGlowan: Liberals did a brilliant job of doing what liberals do best, which is exploiting tragedies for political gain. And it’s true that the perceptual damage done to the GOP in communities of color post-Katrina was significant. But being originally from Mississippi myself, I can tell you that local and state leadership made all the difference in blunting the damage done by a horrendous storm. To be sure, there is enough blame to go around for everyone. But I think most Americans — regardless of color — will see Katrina for what it was: the most devastating hurricane in recorded history.

Lopez: Does the GOP have to be soft on immigration to win over Hispanics?

McGlowan: No, but it does need to be smart about how it communicates. In fact, in interviewing leading Latinos for the book one of the things that will surprise many liberals is how many Hispanics find it offensive to assume that cultural identity automatically trumps the rule of law. There are a lot of Latinos who believe that allowing illegal immigrants to cut in front of the line ahead of those pursuing the legal path sends the wrong signal. The GOP needs to articulate that message respectfully but boldly.

Lopez: We’re already hearing the question: Is Barack Obama “black enough”? When will such questions stop?

McGlowan: They’ll stop when Americans realize that the “black enough” foolishness is another gambit liberals have foisted on blacks to ensure electoral obeisance. It’s a way to define black “authenticity,” to keep individuals in predetermined boxes that do not allow for independent thought or action. Sharpton and Jackson are “race brokers.” Their job is to define black identity and then keep blacks in line to vote to the highest Democratic bidder that serves their purposes. “Black enough” is just another tool in the bamboozler’s toolbox.

Lopez: Would you be offended if Joe Biden called you “articulate”?

McGlowan: Offended? Please! I’d be impressed that Joe Biden could deliver a statement using only one adjective and less than a thousand words. I’d applaud the man.

Lopez: Is “genocide” the right word when talking about blacks and abortion in the U.S.? Why isn’t this more of an issue?

McGlowan: Some might say “genocide” is too strong. But what do you call it when black women are almost four times as likely as white women to have an abortion? What should we make of the fact that 94 percent of all abortion offices are located in metro areas with high black populations? And it’s not just blacks; Latino women are 2.5 times as likely as white women to have an abortion. Liberals denounce soldiers dying in Iraq as unconscionable and yet consider 1.3 million babies being aborted each year a cause for celebration. It’s appalling.

Lopez: You sat down with some prominent and uncompromising liberals while writing your book. What’s the most fascinating revelation you got from those interviews? McGlowan: There are some jaw-dropping confessions from leading liberals that are going to surprise many conservative readers. Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., confessed, on the record, that the Democrat party’s flag was the Confederate flag and that his party’s roots are, in fact, in slavery. NOW president Kim Gandy confessed that Rush Limbaugh in essence redefined feminism and changed the words feminist bamboozlers could use in furthering their exploitation agenda. Pulitizer Prize-winning historian James McPherson talks about how even his students at Princeton University remain clueless about how much of the heavy lifting of civil rights history was done by the Republican party. I conducted over 60 personal interviews, so the book is chock-full of one of a kind statements that will startle many Americans.

Lopez: You’re hitting liberals in your book, but what can conservatives learn from it?

McGlowan: Conservatives will, first and foremost, learn the true history of civil rights, a tradition for which the Republican Party has much to be proud. And no, I’m not just talking about Abraham Lincoln. I’m talking about the efforts of a Senator Everett Dirksen, the real driving force behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I’m talking about a party who is responsible for virtually every significant effort at equality. But more than the past conservatives will learn how to affect the future by communicating in ways that will break the grip liberals hold on those whom they bamboozle. As the sign that used to sit on President Reagan’s Oval Office desk said, “It CAN be done!”

<em>Bamboozled</em>, by Angela McGlowan

http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1595550909

http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2007/05/02/mcglowanbamboozled.jpg