Lunch with the Ambassadors

I had lunch with the Republican Ambassadors in Rapid City today. The meeting was chaired by Rapid City attorney Stephen Wesolick. The featured speaker for the meeting was John Quinn, PhD.

Quinn has worked as a Wall Street investment executive, was a former congressional aid, and a former consultant to the Executive Office of the President. He is also the author of three books and is working on a fourth, and personally knew William Buckley, who was the primary subject of his speech.

Quinn said one of the great things about Buckley was that he made conservatism and political campaigns fun. He usually tried to interject humor into any situation, whether it was a speech, or a television interview, or a debate.


Buckley put conservative principle above party loyalty, Quinn indicated, and even went so far as to deny a RINO (Republican In Name Only) an election victory in New York by also running himself and dividing the vote.

Quinn said that conservatives are currently experiencing a leadership vacuum, but stressed that it is temporary. To illustrate, he pointed out that Republicans had ascended to power in the 1950s and 1990s by demonstrating commitment to principle, but had become "poisoned" by power.

Like my lunch with the SD Wingnuts yesterday, it was refreshing to be around a group of people who have a firm grasp on the values that created a free nation and made it great.