James Montgomery Flagg (my Grandfather) created the original Uncle Sam "I Want You". Although most researches will refer to JMF as the model of his original Uncle Sam, nothing could be farther from the truth. My Mother tried her adult life to correct this error, and I will carry on this monumental task, with the advent of the internet perpetuating it.
In 1916, JMF reluctantly accepted a 4th of July project by Leslie‘s Magazine, and eventually found his Uncle Sam one rainy night on a train bound for Parris Island, where he was to unveil a portrait of the Commandant.
His "symbol of our country" was a young, roughly 17 year old, Marine, which he considered the finest branch of our armed forces. He was able to acquire a 24 hour pass for this "boot" not normally allowed off base, and he aged his model's adolescent face by forty years and turned a circus clown's costume into symbolic dignity (as told to me and written by his daughter, my mother, Faith).
This cover was eventually made into a recruiting poster, at the request of the State Dept, and is now recognized as the most famous war poster of our time.
By WWII, JMF had ironically begun to look remarkably like his original Uncle Sam, and he did indeed use his mirror image in several new posters. When FDR is quoted as saying "saving model hire" in a personal letter to JMF, he is referring to the 2nd World War posters.
Faith would say, "I thought you might find the facts more fun than the fantasies."
NYC born and raised in a family of talented artists, accountant to the stars in Los Angeles, granddaughter of Uncle Sam creator, now cruzin' in Santa Cruz.
This is a good sign for true conservatives who want a return to the conservative base. We have been asleep at the wheel while both parties have taken drastic steps to the left. We have counted on congress and government to do the things they were elected to do, and in the process have created a monster.
This monster is on the verge of taking over our freedom and 'Fundamentally Transforming America'. Most Americans, in their wildest imagination, were not hearing what this man was saying, and over the last few decades, the left has been laying the groundwork for this takeover.
We cannot continue to conduct our lives and not be involved in our government. Power is a sickness, which is why our Founding Fathers constructed our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights in such a way as to prevent absolute power. But, if we do not watch government and protect it, we will lose it.
RedState reports this Breaking News:
SCOZZAFAVA DROPS OUT by Erick Erickson, October 31, 2009
In New York's 23rd Congressional District, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has withdrawn from the race, leaving only the conservative, Doug Hoffman, versus the Democrat, Bill Owens.
The Republican Establishment in Washington, D.C. spent over $900,000.00 to elect Dede Scozzafava, who today abandons the race.
How much more impact could that money have had if the GOP had listened to its base?
Relationships between the Republican establishment in Washington and the conservative movement are in rubble. Thanks to Pete Sessions, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, NOT Doug Hoffman, there is new inspiration for a third party movement to challenge the GOP - a movement that will only help the Democrats.
Good men in the GOP are now going to be challenged in primaries because of the ill-will the NRCC has generated in New York's 23rd Congressional District.
Make no mistake about it, the NRCC and the RNC must shoulder the blame for this fiasco. As has now been reported and confirmed, it was the Beltway Elite who pressured the New York GOP to choose Scozzafava.
I have said all along that victory for the GOP base in NY-23 was a Scozzafava defeat. We should, however, rally to Doug Hoffman and help him win. Notwithstanding that, the time is now to be magnanimous in victory, but we must demand accountability.
Someone, more than one person, must be fired for the Republican botching of NY-23. Heads must roll lest this happen again.
And John Cornyn and the National Republican Senatorial Committee better be paying attention, see e.g. Charlie Crist v. Marco Rubio in Florida.
It's difficult these days to weed out the left-leaning moderates in the Republican Party, but it has to be done. There are several November elections that will set the pace for the 2010 (re)elections, and cutting the fat off the bone is critical.
One key indication, take note of who is backing who. For instance, the 2010 senate race in Florida is Charlie Crist who supported the Stimulus and now government run healthcare, and Marco Rubio who stands for true conservative values. In Congress, the people backing Crist are John McCain, Connie Mack, Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander, John Cornyn, Mel Martinez, Vern Buchanan, and both Diaz-Balart. No surprise there.
A little known key November election is in New York's 23rd Congressional District with far left liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava, and a challenger, coming out of no where, Doug Hoffman. Like Rubio, Hoffman is a good old fashioned true conservative, and, as a rookie, needs every bit of our support. He is just the opposite of the elites in Washington DC, having never run for office in his life. He doesn't like what he sees happening, and like so many Americans, has committed his life to getting our country back on track.
And who's endorsing this faux Republican Scozzafava? Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and the NRCC, for reasons you will see later. I would have expected it from Gingrich, but Boehner is alarming. Looks like the elites is a private club.
If you haven’t been watching the political brawl happening in New York’s 23rd Congressional District… you should be.
The race has all the qualities needed to make it highly entertaining to track as a political junkie. But more importantly, as so many others have mentioned, the race represents a clear message being sent to the RNC.
And the message is simple… the liberty movement is not going to tolerate liberal Republicans anymore.
My understanding is that the district was a safe bet for a fresh GOP win. Or, at least, it was until far left liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava got the nod over conservative Doug Hoffman. Add the fact that there is Democrat, Bill Owens, in the race (with a lot of outside help and influence) and you suddenly have a problem.
Scozzafava is an abortion rights advocate who favors gay marriage. It would be one thing if Scozzafava balanced that social liberalism with fiscal conservatism. But as a state assemblywoman, she voted for massive tax increases, Democratic budgets and a $180 million state bank bailout. She also supported the trillion-dollar federal stimulus package — which every House Republican voted against.
More troubling, Scozzafava in past elections has embraced the ballot line of the Working Families Party — a socialist outfit whose political DNA is intertwined with scandal-ridden ACORN. ACORN and the WFP have shared office space in New York City, Arkansas and Illinois. ACORN head Bertha Lewis, a close Scozzafava friend and political supporter, wears a second hat as vice chairman of the WFP. The WFP has been listed in ACORN documents dating back to 2000 as an “affiliate.”
Not only did the beltway establishment ally itself with Scozzafava, they basically threw Hoffman under the bus. In fact, the NRCC began setting up an attack machine to combat Hoffman’s conservative credentials.
Many others have mentioned this, but as a national tea party organizer, I feel the need to stress the point even further. This special election in New York should be highlighted as one of the best examples to date of how the establishment doesn’t get the sentiment boiling thanks to the Tea Party Movement.
We’re now seeing some ugly true colors float to the top. Take Newt Gingrich, for example… remember when Newt Gingrich joined in with the Tea Party Movement and openly endorsed our website at TaxDayTeaParty.com?
I wonder what most of the hundreds of thousands of tea party activists who received Newt’s emails back in April would think if they knew he had joined Daily KOS, Nancy Pelosi and others on the left to try and help elect a big government thug get elected to Congress?
It looks like Dede Scozzafava was feeling good about her chances in mid August. But then Hoffman ran on his conservative credentials and Dede was caught flat footed.
As the campaign rolled into October, Scozzafava began plummeting in polls and support was bailing at every corner. After that it jumped from failing to downright bizarre.
The campaign to win the special election for the 23rd Congressional District in upstate New York just got a little bit weirder this morning, if that’s possible. Liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava, feeling the heat from the surge in the polls of Conservative Doug Hoffman, held a press conference this morning outside his Watertown headquarters to challenge him to a debate.
This bizarre behavior came on a day when her highly controverisal campaign manager, Matt Burns, sent out a flurry of press releases on a wide range of topics. The entire country is focused on this election, and Burns appears to be a man completely undisciplined and out of control.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Minority Leader John Boehner and the National Republican Congressional Committee are now in the position of endorsing thugocracy. Unless they withdraw their endorsements and financial support for left-wing Republican Dede Scozzafava, they will effectively condone a blatant, unwarranted and somewhat frightening attack on a free press.
UPDATE: According to Wikipedia, Dede Scozzafava was chosen by the eleven Republican Party county chairs of the 23rd congressional district. A reader pointed this out and suggested we might consider looking into these county chairs to find out who they are. The beltway heads certainly deserve criticism, but let’s not forget the gatekeepers who caused this problem to begin with.
Additional Note: Several readers have brought to my attention a speech by John McManus of the John Birch Society. The half hour video puts forth some revealing arguments against Newt Gingrich and his conservative credentials. I’m not suggesting we go after Newt Gingrich, but I do think we need to take a new look at many of our self proclaimed “conservative leaders” and begin questioning their real motives.
