| | Back in 1991-93, I sent money to his GOPAC and received his cassette tapes in return. I heard him speak at the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Systems, where I was a delegate representing the patron community of Michigan. The librarians were sharpening their nails waiting for him to appear, but he had them eating out his hand by the end of his speech.
I still cite one of his GOPAC tapes, a dinner speech to Republicans. Someone asked him if it was not terrible that people on welfare sell their food stamps for 75 cents on the dollar to get cash to buy booze and cigarettes. He said, "No." He said, "These people are Americans. You cannot give an American a negotiable instrument and then complain when they negotiate it for something they want." On that basis, he supported a program to pay kids $2 per book to read books through their local libraries. As he said, only elites disparage working for money.
All of that as it may be, his recent turn toward the Christian Right was disappointing. He speaks well. He does not now always say what I want to hear. Like Ron Paul or Alan Greenspan, he is someone who says some things you like to hear because you already know them to be true, but, overall, you need to understand that he is not your friend.
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