THE US REPORT

Even some Republicans resort to calling him names, but there’s no dispute between either political party about the breadth of Roger Stone’s expertise on politics. Throughout history there have been operatives who didn’t so much learn politics as spring from the womb with politics coursing through their veins. That would be Stone. During a phone conversation, he responded to questions like a boxer fighting a match—jab, jab, jab and follow through on the hard punch. Does the guru of American politics believe Sen. John McCain has a fighting chance in this election?

Stone likened McCain to Francis Marion, known as the ‘Swamp Fox,’ a Carolina hero of the Revolutionary War. Marion  would strike with a small group.  "I think he [McCain] has a chance because there still seems to be fluidity in the electorate. But he’s broken all the presidential rules of running a presidential campaign. You take one message and drive it."

Stone points to weaknesses in Obama that traditional media refuse to explore. “Obama and Palestine—Louis Farrakhan calling him the Messiah.”  Stone said McCain should challenge Obama to repudiate what’s been said—“Say it, sir, repudiate them.”  And there’s the tax issue. McCain should dare Obama. “Take a pledge—you won’t raise taxes.” That last refers to the famous 95 percent Obama repeatedly guarantees will not see any kind of increase.

The art of the central message
For Stone a campaign should comprise a central message with consistency. He should know. Stone’s experience dates to William Buckley, Jr.’s mayoral campaign in the mid-sixties. Stone was 13 years old. With a foot in the working class world via his heritage and another in the world of finer things via his success, Stone’s perspective on politics is Everyman.

During an interview with Jeffrey Toobin for The New Yorker, Stone said, "So early on I saw myself as living in kind of a bridge between two cultures, the white working class and the white upper class." Toobin noted, "In Stone’s political world view, both groups are, or ought to be, united in opposition to the meddling hand of government.”

Stone is a walking encyclopedia on politics in modern times. Unlike strategists for the Democratic Party, Stone is unapologetically direct. He comes across as a combination of derring-do, capability and die-hard competitiveness. He makes no bones about what he is and he doesn’t pretend politics is mannered or moral, because of course it isn’t and never has been. He’s famous for his ‘Rules’ (he’s written a book about his philosophy)—“When I hear the word ‘culture,’ I reach for my revolver.” Another: “The Democrats are the party of slavery; the Republicans are the party of freedom.” His rules have endured through numerous campaigns. Nixon, Reagan and Bush are but a few.

He said he has “little in common” with the evangelical segment of Bush 43’s Republicans. There is a “schism” right now in the party. Like many Main Street members of the GOP, Stone advocates a return to the party’s economic policy platform—“anti-tax and against wasteful spending...the party’s had watershed cleansings...[W]e’ve taken devastating defeat—we came back by redefining. We need to redefine what we stand for.”

Stone on Palin
Many fans of Gov. Sarah Palin believe her media thrashing came about because she poses a threat to the Obama campaign. Stone says Palin is qualified—“Her job is to hold the base.”

Calling Palin a “net plus,” Stone said McCain should be using her in the right secondary markets. “You can’t achieve what she did and be stupid. She can start doing op-ed pieces. They hid her too long.”

Stone echoes the opinion of others who see the GOP as not quite up to the level of the Democrats when it comes to the Internet. He recalled direct mail marketing was one technology that elected Reagan, because the GOP had to go outside mass media in pre-Internet days. “When the big 3 TV networks covered any conservative event, it depicted it in a negative light…[I]n the new technology, the left is way ahead of us but not for long.”

The ‘whitey’ tape rumors
A classic example of Stone’s pronouncement can be found in the rumors afloat about the Michelle Obama ‘whitey tape,’ allegedly an audio tape where she calls those who don’t support her husband’s bid racists among other things. During a radio interview with Sean Hannity during primary season, Stone said the tape could “turn out to be wishful thinking by the Clintonites, but I don’t think so.” The Internet is awash in rumors at the moment, much like ongoing gossip about Cindy McCain—the end result of that was a recent slash-and-burn about Mrs. McCain in the pro-Obama New York Times.

Stone utilizes the Web for his own platform; he writes the column StoneZone. He points to something the McCain campaign missed—Obama’s support for people in the country illegally to obtain driver’s licenses. Stone wrote, “Back when New York Governor Eliot Spitzer first proposed granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, Senator Barack Obama immediately supported this insane policy granting government-issued IDs for people we cannot identify or track.” He goes on to point out the 19 hijackers on 9/11 who had 38 driver’s licenses between them.

What goes around comes around
He acknowledges Obama has momentum right now, but there’s always a slowdown with that sort of things in politics. Stone said,  “The downside of yes, we can is the expectations of [Obama’s] voters—I want it now.” He adds, “Two years from now, nothing will change. There’s nothing new about this guy, except he’ll have warmed up to his Palestinian friends by then.”

Stone still admires President Richard Nixon. He told The New Yorker, “The reason I’m a Nixonite is because of his indestructibility and resilience. He never quit…[you] know, Nixon was the one who desegregated the schools, not that he ever got any credit for it.”

Stone said McCain has missed a number of opportunities.  When it comes to a campaign, he said, “Any piece of information has to be fit into a larger mosaic. It’s not about one earmark, it’s that he’s [Obama] part of Washington culture. He will raise your taxes, he wants to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants—social security rights for illegals—he’s going to redistribute the wealth—bitter people clinging to guns and churches.”

It’s evident when you talk to him he enjoys the battles inherent in politics. The Weekly Standard once said of Stone, “Politics is war, and he is one of its fiercest warriors.”

There is a moment that etches Stone into chronicles of politics, in the film ‘Recount,’ about the dispute over the Florida vote. As it becomes evident there will be a challenge by the Al Gore team, James Baker looks at his aide and says, “Call Roger Stone.” The rest is history, and one thing’s for sure. Stone’s history continues to gather momentum and much remains to be written.

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Video:  Tucker Carlson interviews Roger Stone during the primaries. Stone correctly predicted a move to the middle by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Carlson asked Stone why Republicans weren’t publicly criticizing the Democratic candidates at the time, and again, Stone’s words proved prophetic: “There’ll be plenty of time…” [Ed. note: the audio is slightly behind the video, but the content is perfectly apropos the current political situation. For source and related articles, click the ‘References’ link below.]