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The Watercooler ~ RedState Edging Out Human Events?

By: westcoastpatriette (Diary)  |  February 23rd, 2013 at 01:18 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The Politico did a story yesterday regarding Human Events — the financially struggling conservative publication whose parent company is Eagle Publishing.

According to the story, if Eagle Publishing does not find a buyer for Human Events, they may have to shut down its operations. In explaining what led to the financial struggles at Human Events, Joe Guerriero, an executive at Eagle Publishing, mentioned the emerging competition — including RedState:

But it’s also seen its market share eroded by the addition of edgy new Web-based conservative outlets like the Free Beacon, the Daily Caller and Breitbart.

Eagle Publishing also counts among its many properties RedState.com, a leading conservative blog, and Guerriero suggested its rise may have made Human Events expendable.

“We have a property in Red State that we’re very excited about,” he said. “It’s grown in influence. It is sort of the quick, essential new media property — tons of contributors, [editor-in-chief] Erick Erickson is a rising star in conservative media. And sometime, it’s tough to support a number of different initiatives, so I think that’s one of the things that may have led to it.”

I hate to see a conservative stalwart go under and I hope Human Events finds a buyer, but at the same time, it’s great to hear RedState’s influence and credibility is growing.

The Watercooler is always an open thread.

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COMMENTS

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  • Viet71

    Hi, wcp. I’m going to take advantage of your open thread.

    This coming November 22 will be the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. If Kennedy is viewed through today’s lens, he’s seen as a fairly principled president, who grew into the job, and who by today’s standards was fairly conservative.

    I’m thinking about doing a series on the assassination — the subsequent investigations, and what is known today.

    Anyone’s thoughts on this contemplated project are welcome.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Let’s not go nuts on JFK. Delegated less, tried to take more direct control, like Carter. Bungled Cuba. Showed the USSR a weak, insecure posture that they exploited. Left a little mess called Viet Nam. Let the Baathists first take power in Iraq. Tried a Lafferian tax cut, but wanted to use it to RAISE spending. Fired up deficit spending, ending the post-WWII paydown right away in his first budget. Anti-death penalty. Mixed record on the court: White voted fairly well (pro-Griswold but anti-Roe), but Goldberg wrote the opinion in Griswold, which set up Roe.

      • Viet71

        Wow, Neil.

        Would you have worked for him?

        • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

          Would I have worked for a progressive Democrat? No.

    • kipling

      Neil nailed it. JFK was a foreign policy disaster. He was also rather weak on civil rights – despite the press otherwise. We have not even mentioned the personal issues, the lack of morality, the exaggeration of a war record, the willingness to lie to the American people, and the serial adultery.

    • westcoastpatriette

      It would probably be really interesting, although, since the Kennedys were/are all stalwart Dems, I’m not sure how well-received the topic would be here. Personally, I have always felt the Kennedys were highly overrated. Idolized even.

      Maybe you could make it relevant to RedState by comparing how much more to the left the Dems are today compared to JFK’s time.

    • Jim_Riggs

      I think it’s a great idea.

    • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

      I like it, too. I just finished a series of lectures based on the idea of correcting misconceptions about American history. No matter what you come up with, original research might help dispel some myths. If you rework secondary sources, you could compare and contrast and try to conclude what is “true.” Will be a lot of work to do right, but worth it if you do.

      • Viet71

        Mostly what I’ve studied are secondary sources.

        I do have one significant insight based on primary source material — the 27 January 1964 Warren Commission executive session transcript — having to do with Oswald’s knowledge of the Russian language.

        The problem, as you and wcp indicate, is to present a fresh, coherent picture that is relevant to Red State readers. It’s a worthy task and one in which I’m interested.

        • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

          If it’s relevant to us, it should be relevant to everybody. (^:^)

  • WmCraig

    The 16th Amendment, something about the year 2013 makes me think somebody should be talking about that more. Any thoughts?

    • westcoastpatriette

      Hey. Write a diary about it. Didn’t realize the sweet 16th was a hundred years old this month.

      • Jim_Riggs

        Another great idea. Maybe I’ll write one on the Fed. :)

    • cheesycon

      I went and googled it, and I see what you mean – 100 years! But it isn’t clear how the government raised money prior to that. Maybe we didn’t need as much money back then, we didn’t have as big a military and the world wasn’t filled with as many threats (and they couldn’t reach us the way they can now).

      A conversation on something to replace income tax would be probably full of wacky ideas and not much serious compromise. Though from what I have been reading about VAT taxes it seems like that would be a interesting alternative.

      Any change we made to taxes though would have to be “neutral” relative to today’s revenue because otherwise people would scream bloody murder when programs get cut. Look at all the hullaballo the sequester is causing!

      • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

        To be short and sweet, the government needed far less money then. It only tried to do a little bit, not everything. World War One was the excuse for expansion of tax receipts.

        The original income tax hit only the very, very rich, but there were other tax sources then we don’t tap now, mostly for good reason. Tariffs and excise taxes, for instance.

        • cheesycon

          what do you think about the VAT ?

          • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

            A VAT is a terrible idea. See below.

            I think even a sales tax is a terrible idea UNLESS it comes after we repeal the 16th amendment to the Constitution. Pass a sales tax now and it just enables the Won to drive us on to even more welfare state.

            In the absence of an income tax, a sales tax, NOT a VAT, would be acceptable and maybe even sensible. The difference? With a VAT, the government gets its cut at every step of the sales chain. They collect the tax even if the product ends up sitting on a warehouse shelf waiting for a buyer, and the amount of the tax hidden within the price of the product isn’t always clear. With a sales tax, ALL the tax is paid by the ultimate purchaser and it is clear how much it is.

            It’s even more complex than that. With a VAT, each entity that handles the product along the way “prepays” part of the tax that the end buyer ends up paying. He adds that tax to HIS price that he passes on to the next entity. If he can’t pass it on to anyone, HE ends up paying all the tax. If the product is finally sold to an end consumer, the consumer pays ALL the tax, most of it hidden in the price of the product.

            If an intermediate government, such as a state or city, imposes a sales tax on the product, it will be collecting the tax based in part on the federal VAT hidden in the price of the product. Insidious, eh?

    • Viet71

      The 16th Amendment is the worst of many bad amendments to the Constitution.

      Write away, but do your history.

      I’m a tax lawyer who has studied, spoken, and written on the 16th Amendment. It was sold to the American People as a progressive deal. In truth it was a way to transfer power from the states to the federal government.

      Write away. But maintain always the view that the 16th Amendment was fraudulently sold to the American People as a way bring equality to American taxpayers.

      It was a fraud.

    • Dave_A

      The issue is not the 16th itself, but the tax code.

      Properly implemented (ours is not) the income tax is the only fair way to finance a national government.

      The problem, is (a) non-income taxation, and (b) the fact that ours is not properly implemented (eg, not a flat, no-deductions tax).

  • cheesycon

    wcp, I love the Water Cooler idea! :)

    To be honest I just always found Human Events unreadable. I way prefer RS. Nicer folks for the most part here, though I seem to be on the mods’ nerves more often than not :P

    Maybe instead of one site being dumped, there could be some kind of merger? Would maybe be best of both worlds.

    • westcoastpatriette

      Never been a reader of Human Events myself, but I know in Reagan’s day, it was his favorite so it must be solidly conservative. We’ll see what happens with it.

      One thing about RedState and getting on the mods nerves, I learned to be careful with my words here. There’s a line that is easy to cross in the heat of debate or when we talk about so many topics that we feel passionate about. Try to stay respectful and you’ll be okay. I’ve seen many get the axe because their criticisms of front-pagers or the mods was too insulting to tolerate.

      • cheesycon

        i think I have been careful – I’m not a liberal, or pro-third party, or a birther, or a paulite, or any of those things. I am a solid social conservative. Where I’ve run into trouble is just expressing my opinion, an opinion I don’t ever lay claim to be the Truth, just my opinion, and I’ve admitted when I’m wrong or when I don’t know something. It seems that the moderators don’t like the tone of how I disagree, and i give them the benefit of the doubt that it isn’t the disagreement itself that bothers them. So I need to learn the right tone, and that isn’t something that you get by reading the rules. But if I start every commenty with some thought about tone, often as not the point i want to make gets all muddled. I can’t express myself in a complex way, i just need to say what I think, maybe definitely actually I am not a great writer and the is a challenge for me. I am working on it.

        • westcoastpatriette

          Yes, tone is part of it. You received some very good advice here: http://www.redstate.com/2013/02/22/blueprint-nc-how-a-shadowy-left-wing-hydra-plans-a-targeted-attack-on-nc-republicans/#comment-810274157 and you would be wise to heed it.

          Humility is not something easy to acquire or put into practice. What you call “just expressing your opinions” comes off as flippant and disrespectful to many. If your membership here (which is a privilege and not a right) is important to you, consider what is being said to you and why it is being said before you start typing.