9 Questions for…Lisa DePasquale

 by Ben-Peter Terpstra  

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Lisa DePasquale on Al Gore, the war on bees, and running the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Lisa DePasquale, a Northern Virginian, says she likes the simple things in life. You know: walking her dog, watching The Simpsons, and analyzing football games (or “buffilicious” players, to be specific). She is a girly-girl, satirical blogger, bright writer, Bionic Republican – my guess – and the director of the very – very! – influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Most importantly, she makes readers laugh. I’m her No 1. Australian fan.

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Q1: Thank you for your time. You’re writing some entertaining (and informative) columns. What motivates you?

A: There are so many great conservative writers out there, so it can be difficult to find a topic or interesting angle that hasn’t already been written better by someone else.  Finding that unique angle is my motivation.  Oh, and also making my friends laugh!
 
Q2: Given that terrorist attacks were planned for Canada and Germany (two anti-Iraq nations), I wonder how waving a white flag is meant to make us all feel “safe” and “snug.” What’s your take?
 
A: You can’t negotiate with unreasonable people.  You can’t have a “dialogue” (as the Left likes to say) and expect barbaric people to act in a rational way.  As Ann Coulter wrote in Treason, “The problem with the liberal anti-war position is that they have no actual policy ideas of their own. They say, ‘If we attack enraged fanatics who seek our destruction, they'll just get mad and seek our destruction.’”
 
Q3: You wrote: “This week Rush Limbaugh and Andrew Breitbart called attention to a 1992 speech in which Al Gore talked about Saddam Hussein and criticized then-President George H. W. Bush for his ‘blatant disregard for brutal terrorism’ and ‘dangerous blindness to the murderous ambitions of the despot.’  I had to watch the video a couple times to make sure he was actually criticizing Hussein for terrorism and not because he wasn’t living a carbon neutral life.” Thanks for making me laugh. Okay, do you think Lord Alfred is keen on inventing phony wars in order to market himself as a “brave warrior”?
 
A: Definitely!  Remember the infamous kiss with Tipper?  I think all Americans (and maybe Tipper, too) would rather he be a warrior, not a lover.  Gore has at least been helpful in putting the last nail in the Nobel Peace Prize’s coffin.  The award is now no more prestigious than an MTV Video Award.  Jokes aside, the most offensive part of Gore’s phony war is that even if we take his most radical position – that we have less than 10 years to save the planet – it’s still not the most pressing issue facing this nation. 

Islamo-fascists want the infidels (that’s you, me and everyone we know) gone in 10 months.  What does Gore have to say about this very real war?  Not much.
 
Q4: As several statements attest, some Democrats (and “pacifist” hysterics in Australia) claim that bees kill more people than terrorists. Seriously. Yet, they always seem very busy when I ask them for the “evidence.” I am curious. Are the bees in your area planning a “holy war”?

A: No blood for honey!  It’s time we ask ourselves, why are we letting the Cheerios bee have so much influence on our children?  Likewise, “spelling bees” are little more than propagandist events that poison the minds of children.  Oh, and the girl from the “No Rain” music video – she’s bad, too.
 
Q5: Admittedly, I’m not sure if I buy this argument. For one thing, the bees are not planning to wage “holy war” against the States. Nor are they introducing repressive dress codes. Or raping Israel. So, is it just me, or are liberals looking for a fresh excuse to surrender?

A: Have you seen the beekeeper uniforms?  They’re little more than burqas with pants.  Why do liberals even need an “excuse” to surrender?  We know that’s what they want to do.  Own it, girlfriend!  It’s no different than women rationalizing the purchase of their 34th pair of black shoes.
 
Q6: Words like “quagmire” and “insurgents” are as popular as signposts in TV land. If this sounds like appeasement, then that is probably not far from the terrorists’ goal. I am mystified. What are conservative viewers doing in order to remind the networks that they, in some ways, are their bosses?
 
A: I don’t think you have to look any further than Fox New Channel’s ratings.  They now surpass former news giant, CNN.  Conservatives are also reminding the networks that they’re just middlemen.  We now go straight to the source – military bloggers and embedded journalists like Jeff Emanuel and Matt Sanchez.  Unfortunately, Fox News still falls behind the big three (NBC, ABC, CBS).  It’s up to conservatives to keep offering alternatives because when people have choices, the mainstream Leftist media loses.
 
Q7: Do you have some advice for your younger readers?

A: I correspond with several young readers who want to be published writers and I always tell them to use their unique experiences to their advantage.  They often think that in order to be taken seriously they have to write 800-word articles disguised as boring policy reports.  Unless you’re columnist Ben Shapiro, the adults don’t want to hear policy advice from 18-year-olds.  Instead, young writers should use their youth to their advantage and write about what they know.  George Will can’t write about what it feels like to be verbally attacked and put down by a professor on a daily basis.  Many of my young readers can. 

Q8: Describe a time when you were inspired to move outside your “comfort zone.”
 
A: Great question!  The first thing that comes to mind is my current job.  For more than 30 years, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has been a barometer for the state of the conservative movement.  Regardless of the mood, CPAC continues to grow more and more each year.  When I learned about the CPAC Director opening, I thought the job might be too big for me.  I’m glad I didn’t let my insecurities keep me from taking advantage of a great opportunity.
 
Q9: After the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Osama has been pontificating about the dangers of “global warming.” What’s going on here? (Note: Britain’s Brendan O’Neill on Spiked.com argues that Bin Laden sounds like – I quote – “a weird-beard version of Naomi Klein . . . a born-again anti-capitalist, more worried about corporations than communism, and more frightened by global warming than religious regimes.")
 
A: Well, it’s no surprise that Osama and the Left are once again on the same page.  The only thing they seem to disagree on is whether September 11 was “an inside job.”  However, Mr. O’Neill is wrong about one thing – Al Gore had a weird-beard, too.

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Lisa blogs at LOTUS blog.

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