Porteous, Proteus in a twist? Ennui and FUD, else someone vet him,,,
Eezra
At 08:39 PM 19/05/00 -0500, John K. Taber wrote:
>What the hell is the Council for National Policy????
>
>>From the NY Times
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/051900wh-gop-bush.html
>
>May 19, 2000
>
>THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH
>Bush's Words to Staunchly Conservative Group Remain a Mystery
>By JIM YARDLEY
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--------
>
>HOUSTON, May 18 -- The Council for National Policy is a little known
>group
>whose members are often very well known and very conservative. There are
>radio
>personalities like Oliver L. North and James C. Dobson; religious
>broadcasters
>like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell; and lawmakers like Senator Jesse
>Helms of
>North Carolina and Representative Dick Armey of Texas.
>
>It is the sort of group a Republican presidential hopeful would
>presumably
>want to address, which is exactly what Gov. George W. Bush of Texas did
>last
>October when the council held a two-day conference in San Antonio. But
>what
>exactly did Mr. Bush say?
>
>Skipp Porteous has tried to find out, though as yet without success. Mr.
>Porteous
>is national director of the Institute for First Amendment Studies, a
>Massachusetts-based group with about 3,000 members nationwide that tries
>to
>keep watch on the council. He regards the council as a secretive
>umbrella group
>plotting strategy for the Republican right.
>
>The council says such talk is silly. It calls itself a nonpartisan
>educational
>foundation.
>
>In recent years, Mr. Porteous said his group had planted a spy in
>several
>meetings.
>
>But he found his group shut out when the council met in San Antonio.
>
>Eager to know what Mr. Bush might say in private to conservative
>leaders, Mr.
>Porteous sent for audiotapes of the conference. The council sells
>audiotapes
>of conferences to members only, but the institute had obtained an order
>form
>from the company, Skynet Media, that handles the recording.
>
>So when a package arrived earlier this year, Mr. Porteous thought
>success was
>at hand. But the tape of Mr. Bush's speech was not included.
>
>Morton C. Blackwell, the council's executive director, said all speakers
>were
>asked for permission to include their remarks on the tapes and that the
>Bush
>campaign had declined.
>
>"The Bush entourage said they preferred that the tape not go out, though
>I
>could not see any reason why they shouldn't," he said.
>
>He added: "It was a standard speech, basically the same one. Basically
>everything
>he said, he's said before, and I've heard since."
>
>Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said if anyone was
>"hoping to
>hear something that the governor would say that he hasn't said publicly,
>then
>they're on a wild goose chase." He declined to characterize the speech,
>saying,
>"When we go to meetings that are private, they remain private."
>
>In fact, Mr. Fleischer said, "as far as we know, there is no tape."
>
>But Mr. Blackwell said the Bush campaign should have a copy.
>
>Curt Morse, president of the recording company, Skynet Media, said that
>he had
>a copy and that one was provided to the campaign after the speech.
>
>"Maybe they lost it," he said.
>
>He offered to make them a copy.
>
>--
>John K. Taber
>
>