Blogs For Victory

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing S.E. Cupp and Brett Joshpe, authors of Why You’re Wrong About The Right: Behind The Myths – The Surprising Truth About Conservatives, which debunks 20 negative stereotypes about Republicans and conservatives.I have posted the interview below:

MATT MARGOLIS: Did your experiences growing up and living in the liberal northeast inspire you to write this book? Was there any particular incident that made writing book feel more like a necessity to you?

S.E. CUPP: Although I grew up in the liberal northeast, I didn’t necessarily grow up in a particularly political household. My parents were patriotic, hardworking and compassionate, so that was my largest immediate influence — not politics. It wasn’t until college really that I understood how conservative I was, and until I realized that the Republican Party best addresses my political interests. This book is a direct result of our circumstance, being conservative fish-out-of-water in liberal Manhattan, and finding ourselves inexplicably at the business end of a verbal firing squad on a near-daily basis.

BRETT JOSHPE: Yes, for sure.  My experiences in college and law school probably contributed to my desire to write this book more than anything.  It is very frustrating being lectured to by left-wing professors and having relatively little recourse.  It made me want to respond in other ways, hence the book.  Also, I witnessed a great deal of anti-Americanism given the post 9/11 world we live in, which was also frustrating and inspired me to want to work on this project.

MATT: How did you choose which stereotypes to address in your book?

S.E.: It wasn’t hard to come up with a list of 20 stereotypes that are regularly and inaccuarately used to sum up conservatives in catchy sound bytes and clever bon mots. I think anyone with a pulse and a television could come up with 20 stereotypes about Republicans.

MATT: How can Republicans overcome these stereotypes?

BRETT: Well, it certainly won’t happen lying down.  It’s important for conservatives to disprove these stereotypes by not only showing people that they do not embody the myths, but by educating themselves on the facts so that these accusations can be refuted.  Our book is a good place to start, and there are also some other new books filled with facts that show why some of these stereotypes are grossly inaccurate.  Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Makers and Takers” is one such example.

MATT: Have any of your liberal friends read your book? Were they convinced by it?

S.E.: Many of our liberal friends have read the book, which is a feat in itself. And while they’ve all said how much they enjoyed it, how funny it was, and how informative it was, few have actually changed their own political ideologies. But I think a number have realized that conservatives and Republicans are far more intellectually diverse than they thought. I think they appreciate how nuanced our positions on race, reproduction, poverty, foreign policy, faith, gun control, and the rest are, and I think many will think twice now before using the same, hackneyed rhetoric to describe conservative points of view.

BRETT: Yes, many liberal friends have read it and enjoyed it.  One such friend said that although it didn’t push him over the edge from liberal to conservative, it provided about a 20% swing towards conservatism.  Not bad.  If we could get a 20% swing in everyone, we would have no trouble in November.  In general, I think most people, liberals and conservatives, who have read the book have enjoyed it and definitely have a more complete view of our movement now.

MATT: Did you ever consider writing a book about positive stereotypes about Democrats/liberals and debunking them, rather than a book debunking negative stereotypes about Republicans?

BRETT: No, because we have a very real and personal understanding of the negative stereotypes cast on conservatives since we have experienced them first-hand.  And, to some extent, in addressing the stereotypes thrust on conservatives, we also touch on some hyprocritical liberals.  However, the focus is still the defense of conservatism and the Republican party.

S.E.: We were very serious about making this book defensive, not offensive. I didn’t want to be another attack book on the shelves. I wanted to write positive things about conservatives, not negative things about liberals. And while we do point out some liberal hypocrisy (by necessity in some cases) the book is largely a defense of conservative ideals.

MATT: Are Republicans/conservatives at all to blame for perpetuating these stereotypes? Are we not doing enough to fight our negative image?

S.E.: Absolutely. Thanks to a few bad seeds who brazenly cling to the stereotypes like their badges of honor, some have been hard to erase. Also, we have collectively decided to ignore them. To their credit, most Republicans are more concerned with getting the job done than winning popularity contests, but someone needs to re-write the image. We’ve been racist, homophobic, warmongering, sexist, boring, money-grubbing and uncaring for way too long.

MATT: S.E., in the introduction you wrote about the dilemma of writing such a book as you did. Specifically, you wrote, “our friends are already repulsed by us.” Do you believe that political differences put major strains on friendships?

S.E.: Unfortunately they can. Tucker Carlson adroitly pointed out in our book that liberals don’t have categories for people they like personally but dislike politically. And we’ve definitely run across this. I couldn’t imagine “de-friending” someone because of their politics, but I think conservatives are far more used to dealing with liberals than liberals are conservatives, especially in urban, liberal environments like Manhattan. But even in conservative strongholds, Republicans are still explosed to liberal influences, like television and the media, the liberal ethos of Hollywood, underground youth subcultures. So yes, being conservative sometimes makes us unpopular. But Brett and I really celebrate our minority status.

MATT: Brett, I grew up near Boston, and found that despite the dominating presence of liberals, especially in the Peoples’ Republican of Cambridge, that there were quite a few conservatives out there, but were a very silent majority. While you went to school at Harvard Law School, did see similar evidence of conservative oppression? How did you deal with it?

BRETT: I agree.  I’m not sure conservatives constitute a majority but they are certainly a silent presence.  When I formed an organization in law school that supported the war in Iraq, we held a rally near the Cambridge T station one Saturday afternoon. We had a few dozen people waiving American flags, and suddenly cars were stopping in the intersection honking their horns in support.  You could tell that people were relieved that a group of students was finally showing a love of this country in Cambridge.  Even in the classroom, conservatives constituted a rather vocal minority.  I think in every liberal, big city in America, there are more conservatives than people often assume.  I encourage those people not to be intimidated by their surroundings because they will be surprised by how many similar minded people are among them.

MATT: Do you think liberals in conservative areas have similar problems?

BRETT: Not nearly as much.  I think conservatives in conservative areas tend to be a bit more tolerant than liberals in big cities.  As S.E. mentioned, one of our contributors discussed how liberals tends not to have a category for people they like personally but dislike politically.  I like to think that conservatives are better able to separate the political from the personal.  Of course, I am biased, but that has been my experience.

MATT: Democrats claim to be the party of tolerance and diversity, why is it then conservatives in liberal areas feel they can’t be open about their politics?

S.E.: The wrath of angry liberals is disturbing. And militant groups like Code Pink, for example, scare the bejesus out of me. For such supposed tolerance, liberals are surprisingly exclusionary, preferential and judgmental. And there’s the presumption on the part of liberals that everyone agrees with them (and if they don’t, it’s because they’re dumb). So overhearing a couple liberals  in Whole Foods asserting that people who don’t eat organic, drive hybrids, and oppose drilling should be tried and executed for mass murder can be really intimidating. I completely understand why conservatives in liberal places keep their politics to themselves. But hopefully this book gives some people courage to “come out,” as it were.

MATT: Lastly, how has the response been your your book, from both conservatives and liberals?

S.E.: Really excellent. For the most part people find the book engaging, provocative, funny and surprising. We get tons of mail and it’s mostly positive. When we get disagreement, it’s generally thoughtful and insightful, and we appreciate that too. Of course, we also get the occasional piece of vicious hate mail, but that’s to be expected from some members of the Church of Tolerant Liberalism.

BRETT: It has been really great so far.  As I mentioned, even liberal friends have found the book persuasive and many conservatives who have shared our frustration in being stereotyped are happy that we have tried to set the record straight.

MATT: Thanks you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Once again, the book is called Why You’re Wrong About The Right: Behind The Myths – The Surprising Truth About Conservatives, and is written by S.E. Cupp and Brett Josphe.