Today I am driving from Inyo County in Central California to Ridgecrest to speak to the GOP ladies there. Then it is off to see friends in Lancaster before making it back to Los Angeles.
Last week at the Oklahoma City Winter Conference of the National Federation of Republican Women, I got to meet former Oklahoma and CFL quarterback and Congressional leader JC Watts.
Mr. Watts is a religious man, and his passions for football and politics took a back seat to his ministry. Listening to him speak is soul inspiring.
I showed him a copy of my book "Ideological Bigotry," and told him that my life as a minority conservative was dedicated to fighting it. He responded, "I’ve been there man. Believe me I know."
He was in fine form from the minute he received a standing ovation to begin his remarls.
With that, I present the wit, wisdom, and warmth of JC Watts.
"When you stood up I thought you were leaving."
"In 1994 when I ran for Congress, the Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women gave me a check for $400. That was a lot of money for an Oklahoma seat back then. I didn’t know whether to cash it or hang on to it."
"Without Young Republicans and the Republican Women, there would be no JC Watts standing here."
"Today I am returning a $400 check. This is for the Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women."
"The College Republicans knew what my comfort foods were."
"In 1995, I weighed 249 pounds. I was one biscuit away from 250 pounds."
"I got confused when I read the Scriptures. Paul said we should buffet (buff it) our bodies. I thought he said we should buffet (buffay) our bodies."
"We should be inclusive but inclusion does not mean we abandon our values or who we are."
"When I started out in Eufalah, Oklahoma, big crowds would gather around. They were curious. They wanted to see what a Republican looked like."
"The Democratic leadership does not represent all Democrats. There are a whole lot of Democrats who agree with us."
"I have a plane to catch. So as Elizabeth Taylor says to her husband, I won’t keep you long."
"I said I would serve six years. I served eight. I didn’t keep my promise."
"The RNC was trying to maintain control, and they knew that if I stayed one more term, they would not have to spend one dime to keep the Oklahoma 4th District safely Republican."
"I have two kids in college, one at Tulsa and the other at Oklahoma. I am a United Negro College Fund."
"Now I am going to movies in the middle of the week. I used to go Sundays after Church."
"After 25 years of marriage, when my wife says something, I now realize that it is not abuot listening to what she says. It is about listening to what she means."
"When I tell her I am going to Walmart for 30 minutes, she does not care that I am going to Walmart. She just wants me to tell her."
"At 6:30pm, I like to watch Sportcenter. At 6:20pm, my wife came to me with a problem. At 6:26pm I figured out the solutrion and at 6:27pm I told her I had the solution. I still had three minutes until Sportcenter. She told me she did not want a solution. She just wanted to talk. She wanted me to listen to her."
"In politics, we listen to respond. We need to listen to hear."
As Glenn Beck says, if we ever get out of the mold of just saying things as conservatives and not by what is right, God help us."
"We are an exceptional nation, not an average nation. The other side wants us to be average."
"We are a nation of men like Henry Ford. He gave us the vehicle. Today they are the company not owned by unions and the federal government."
"There is a generation of kids today only knowing dependence on government."
"In DC children are no longer talking about what they want to be when they grow up."
"The strength of America is not in agriculture or energy or technology. It is in the people. It is in us. It is in our hopes, dreams, ideas, and goodness."
"I was a state official for 3 days in 1991 before the Gulf War began. If we traded our weapons for their weapons, we still would have won because we have our people, our human resources."
"The Gulf War was won with 10% smart weapons and 90% smart p0eople."
"Technology keeps growing. When I entered congress in 1995 a Blackberry was a fruit."
"Tell your grandmother that you want to Google her. Then you will look in the mirror and see false, false, false, and crown. She’ll slap your teeth out."
"An I-Phone and the internet means nothing if you can’t operate it."
"We can’t take leaps in politics because we are not concerned with the processes."
"It is not about being left-wing or right-wing. Pay attention to the bird. The bird is dying."
"I don’t want my kids to have a normal nation. I want them to have an exceptional nation."
"We don’t have a health care system in America. We have a sick care system. Everything is built around sick patients."
"We go around the world trying to help them with health care. If free markets, transparency, property rights, and low taxes are good enough for Kenya and Russia, then why not here in America?"
"In 1995 we inherited a welfare problem. We fixed it. They called us insensitive."
"They measure success by the number of people on welfare. We measure success by the number of people who move off of welfare and on to a better life."
"We are in a state of gracious decay."
"Gracious decay is taking place in Europe at Kumbaya conferences where they twiddle their thumbs."
"I will say this. President George W. Bush kept us safe. He protected us."
"The more we remove God from our public square, the more we contribute to the weakening of our nation."
"It is extremely difficult to comprehend America without God."
"The left want sus to depend on government."
"Not everyone agrees with me. Disagreeing with me shows how exceptional America is."
"America is not perfect. Even if we were perfect, the day I was born we became imperfect."
"I want our kids to dream."
"Most of my black football teammates started out as liberals. Then they got their paychecks and wanted to know who this FICO fellow was."
"I was a Democrat. Then I met former Oklahoma Senator Don Nickles. He sounded like my dad."
"The Church does not look like me. It looks like Heaven."
"The Republican Party does not look like me. It looks like all of us. I am a black man. NFRW President Sue Lynch is a white woman. Our Oklahoma party chairman is a white man. We are all Republicans."
"We are all sitting at the head table. Look at us. We are different, but the same. This is what the head table looks like."
I would like to thank JC Watts for firing up the room, and more importantly for giving me things to think about for many years to come.
The Republican Party is lucky to have had him, and America is blessed to have had his service.
He is a husband, father, retired football player, retired political leader, and man of the cloth.
He is you and me. He is us. He is American.
For that reason, he is exceptional.
eric
JC Watts… What can ya’ say?
First of all, if you want to come off as a loon, quote Glenn Beck, the Father Coughlin of our time. As David Frum puts it, Beck is like Peter Finch’s character from Network only Beck isn’t crazy (at least I don’t think he is…), he’s just a $@#%bag. It’s not a question of shooting the messenger when you decry Beck. It’s that everything Beck says is acutely demogogic, paranoid, insane. Watts should choose his quotables from those with a lot more integrity.
“We are an exceptional nation, not an average nation. The other side wants us to be average.”
Nonsense.
“We are a nation of men like Henry Ford. He gave us the vehicle. Today they are the company not owned by unions and the federal government.”
Henry Ford gave us a vehicle that was affordable to moct everyone, including his workers. He was also a lunatic. he did not, however, “(give) us the vehicle.” Cars were already invented and would have become ubiquitous with or without Ford.
“There is a generation of kids today only knowing dependence on government.”
I thought the cons fixed that when they “reformed” welfare… what happened? What else shall we “reform?”
“We don’t have a health care system in America. We have a sick care system. Everything is built around sick patients.”
Good point! So why does Watts want to keep it that way?
“We go around the world trying to help them with health care. If free markets, transparency, property rights, and low taxes are good enough for Kenya and Russia, then why not here in America?”
Like I always say – conservatives are trying to wreck this country. “Kenya and Russia?” Really? He wants us to be like “Kenya and Russia?”
“In 1995 we inherited a welfare problem. We fixed it. They called us insensitive.”
“They measure success by the number of people on welfare. We measure success by the number of people who move off of welfare and on to a better life.”
LOL! We don’t “measure” any of them! We pushed them off the rolls and conveniently forgot them.
There are over 35 MILLION people below the poverty likne in America, and 13 MILLION of them are children. WATTS AND CO DIDN’T “FIX” ANYTHING.
“Gracious decay is taking place in Europe at Kumbaya conferences where they twiddle their thumbs.”
The biggest problem in Europe todays are the “PIGS” (Poland, Ireland, Greece and Spain). And take a wild gues why they collapsed? SLEAZY, UNREGULATED, CAPITALISM-RUN-AMOK INVESTMENT SCHEMES AND AMERICAN COMPANIES AMONG THEM.
“I will say this. President George W. Bush kept us safe. He protected us.”
Except for the 3000 Americans killed on 9/11, and the 4000 killed and 30000 maimed in an unnecessary war. But other than that!…
“The left want sus to depend on government.”
Does he mean like corporate America does?
“Most of my black football teammates started out as liberals. Then they got their paychecks and wanted to know who this FICO fellow was.”
Well, there’s some refreshing honesty! Rich? Greedy? Become a Republican!
“It is extremely difficult to comprehend America without God.”
No, it’s easy. Just picture it today and as it always was. There is no God.
“The Church does not look like me. It looks like Heaven.”
Wow. And he’s a minister? Maybe he should actually read his Bible. Jesus said that Peter was the Rock – the people are the church. Looks like Watts is as inept a preacher as he was a congressman.
“The Republican Party does not look like me. It looks like all of us.”
LOL! Who knew “all of us” are old, greedy, racist, spoiled, white, rich guys? Republican voters may come in a little (very little) variety, but the party? Get real.
JMJ
I’ve had the opportunity to visit with J.C. Watts on a couple of occasions. He is a good man and wish he was still in public service. I’m glad you had the chance to visit with him.
Toma
The other day I debated for a few minutes (until I couldn’t stand it anymore) an acquaintence who I run into every so often, in a local
donut shop.
He, typically, started arguing against corporations, as the devil
incarnate in business form.
When I told him that there are hundreds of thousands of corporations listed
in various date publications by the IRS, he had no answer. My question to him was, “Are all the corporations out to fleece the American people”? “Are corporations only interested in the bottom line, at the expense of their employees”?
He then shifted the topic to collective bargaining, and how unions
are not benefitting their members (thanks to the power of the corporations), as they did, 30 years ago?
He shifted again when I suggested that part of the problem with unions
was this is now a service orientated country..and union memberships has
declined since the heydays of the ILGWU, Teamsters, etc. Now
there are mostly civil service unions which have any clout, and even they are regulated by the municipalities.
To illustrate one example, I gave GM, which is owned by the Federal government. His comeback to that was their cars stunk, forcing
people to buy foreign. “Stunk” I exclaimed, you mean Chevrolets,
Buicks, Pontiacs, etc., were THAT BAD! He said “yes”.
Okay, so maybe Toyota had and has a better vehicle, assuming
their pedals don’t stick.
I mean, this guy, reminds me of some posters here on the website,
making no sense at all.
I personally like black Americans. I don’t call them African, caus
they are not from Africa. (I think there were 2million blacks
here during the Civil War, but I could be wrong).
We engaged in a Civil War, costing 600,000 lives..to free their relatives,
beside hundreds of billions of compensation over the decades, partly
due to the discrimination which did exist, and still does in some areas
of the country (not civil service however).
We have long ago atoned for our sins..I mean who is our President and
who was the former Defense Secretary and Secretary of State? Who is
our Attorney General now? Who are stars in the “March Madness”?
I once responded to a fellow employee who constantly badmouthed
we whites by asking him, “So, if things are so bad, why don’t you move
back to Africa”? He looked at me. I got my point across.
Frankly, I don’t see anyone being lynched, anywhere?
Former President Clinton did change the welfare system for the
benefit of everyone who had made a career of being on welfare,
as well as their children and grandchildren.
This is a pluralistic country..but if you listen to the liberals,
the answer is, as my friend said to me, get rid of those corporations,
and bring back the mom and pop enterprises. Stop buying from China
and Japan, and exporting jobs to them and Mexico. This is what is ruining this country. I happen to mention the fight that Walmart regularly
engages in, in some communities. His response, they buy from the Chinese.
Duh and who is paying for our deficits. His response was to bring all our
boys back home, leaving Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
To that I answered Id rather fight them there, than here.
Just another liberal.
BTW, 57m Republicans voted for McCain/Palin. Beck, Rush and
Sarah are telling it like it is. (Ask Scott Brown). Not all of them
are rich, old, lazy, well-heeled white guys. Some are just hard working
guys (and gals) who want a decent living, equal opportunity for all,
a good education for their kids, and not have the government in their lives from the cradle to the grave.
Oh those liberals, tax and spend..but not moi., the othe guy.
Hey people, remember to email your legislator to stop Obamacare
in his tracks, both domestically and abroad, or we will be fighting them right here…that is, after the government approves our medical treatment.
Dav, before you go insulting people who comment on this blog, why don;t you man up and try debating one of us for a change? You spout more nonsense than almost any blogger I’ve ever read. For instance, what the heck was the point of your little anecdote above? What was that sleazy little crack about “civil service” supposed to mean? And “we’ve atoned for our sins?” What kind of sleazy crack was that? And just what sort of moron thinks we’d ever be fighting Iraqis or Afghanis in America? And then you finish with that stupid remark about “Obamacare.” Hey. Genius. The way the bill is panning out, it’ll simply be 32 million more Americans getting screwed by your beloved insurance corporations. You’re against something and you don’t have a clue in the world what it is.
You’re all one-way talk. You dish it out but take nothing. You’re a phony. You’re little acquaintance not enough of a debater for you? Take me on. I’ll eat you for lunch.
JMJ