{"id":1983625,"date":"2023-07-26T19:51:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T23:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-with-big-business-blame-bob-hope\/"},"modified":"2023-07-26T19:53:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T23:53:20","slug":"op-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-with-big-business-blame-bob-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-with-big-business-blame-bob-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed: Bob Hope to Blame for Democrats&#8217; Big Business Alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fop-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-with-big-business-blame-bob-hope%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1983625&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Influence\u200b of Bob Hope on American \u2062Politics<\/h2>\n<p>The 20th anniversary of Bob Hope\u2019s death \u2063on July 27 closes the \u201cSeason of Hope\u201d that began with Hope\u2019s 120th birthday on May 29. It \u200bwill not \u200cbe observed outside of this column,\u2062 whose author uses\u200c Pepsodent \u2064toothpaste because it sponsored Hope\u2019s radio \u2062show. Nevertheless, Hope\u2019s \u2062influence on America remains.<\/p>\n<p>I am not referring to his unparalleled career at \u2062the apex of vaudeville, Broadway, movies, radio and television.\u2062 I am\u2063 not referring to stand-up\u200b comedy, which Hope concocted by synthesizing\u200d Frank\u2062 Fay\u2019s presentation\u200c and \u2064Will Rogers\u2019 populism. I am not referring \u200bto his inspiring\u2063 philanthropy \u2064or his \u2062record-breaking collection of honors and tributes.<\/p>\n<p>I am\u2063 referring to contemporary American politics.<\/p>\n<p>Hope was \u2062not a political comedian. Sure, he was the first comic brave enough to make sport of Sen. Joseph \u2064McCarthy. And \u2063he \u200bdeserved a seat on the \u2064UN Security Council, for\u2064 no one emerged from World War II a bigger winner. But even during the Vietnam \u2063War, Hope\u2019s comedy was\u2063 never partisan. He took care to give a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tom-brady-had-a-hilarious-reaction-to-a-shank-during-the-match-celeb-golf-event\/\" title=\"Tom Brady Had a Hilarious Reaction to a Shank During \u201cThe Match\u201d Celeb Golf Event\">good-natured ribbing<\/a>\u200c to all politicians.<\/p>\n<p>Hope\u2019s \u2063comedy was nothing if not broad. And his contribution\u200d to today\u2019s political environment was \u200dpurely unintentional.<\/p>\n<h3>The Realignment \u200dof Big Business<\/h3>\n<p>This\u200b century\u2019s\u200d biggest political story is \u200dthe realignment of big\u200d business from the\u200d Republican Party to the Democratic Party. Incredibly,\u200b it began with offhand advice from Hope\u2064 to a young man in his employ.<\/p>\n<p>On June 15, 1964, Tony Coelho turned 22 years old. It was the worst day of his life.<\/p>\n<p>That day, Coelho was\u2063 diagnosed with epilepsy. \u2063The son \u2063of California dairy farmers and grandson of Portuguese immigrants, Coelho (pronounced \u2064\u201cKwello\u201d) \u2064experienced periodic seizures following an automobile accident. The diagnosis resulted from a medical examination Coelho underwent \u2063in preparation \u2064for entering a Jesuit seminary. At the time, epileptics \u200dwere barred \u200dfrom the Catholic priesthood.<\/p>\n<p>Rejected by the Jesuits, Coelho\u2019s \u2064driver\u2019s license was soon\u200b revoked and \u2063his health insurance terminated. Unemployable due to his\u200b disability, Coelho turned to alcohol and\u2064 thoughts\u200d of suicide.<\/p>\n<p>Inebriated day after day, Coelho\u2019s despair ended when a Jesuit friend brought him to the\u200d attention of Hope\u2019s\u2064 wife. Coelho soon found\u2064 himself living on Hope\u2019s estate \u200dwith the greatest job ever. As Hope\u2019s factotum, Coelho critiqued \u200dHope\u2019s monologues, attended tapings of television specials, and walked the red carpet of movie premieres.<\/p>\n<p>During a nocturnal drive around \u2062Los Angeles, Hope \u200csaid to\u2064 the aspiring priest, \u200c\u201cIt\u2019s obvious you have this burn to\u200d help people. If that\u2019s your bag, \u200dwhy don\u2019t you go to work\u200d for a \u2063member of Congress?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a \u2064loan co-signed by Hope, Coelho relocated to Washington to work for\u200d his hometown congressman, Bernie Sisk, \u2062eventually becoming Sisk\u2019s chief \u200baide. After a long career \u200cas a staffer, Coelho was elected to Sisk\u2019s congressional seat upon the latter\u2019s\u200b retirement\u200c in\u2064 1978.<\/p>\n<p>Coelho is the\u2062 transitional figure in modern Democratic politics. He \u2063soon found his true vocation as chairman of the Democratic Congressional \u200bCampaign Committee, the organization tasked with getting \u200bDemocrats elected\u200c to the House\u200c of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Charged \u200dwith containing the Reagan Revolution that had swept \u2063the presidency \u2062and the Senate, Coelho transformed\u200d the \u200bDCCC from \u2063a debt-ridden joke into a fundraising dynamo. He accomplished this by focusing on a constituency that his party had written\u2063 off \u2014 big business.<\/p>\n<p>An extreme extrovert, \u2062Coelho extracted money\u2063 from corporate \u200dinterests \u2062with zeal. He understood that big business is uninterested in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/brexit-trade-deal-published-as-uk-calls-for-end-to-ugly-divisions\/\" title=\"Brexit trade deal published as UK calls for end to \u2018ugly\u2019 divisions\">level playing field<\/a> of the free market. Instead, \u2064it seeks rent from government in \u2063the form\u2063 of subsidies\u2062 and tax and regulatory loopholes.<\/p>\n<p>Coelho\u2019s pitch to businessmen was simple: Democrats had \u200ccontrolled the\u200b House for decades \u200bwith no \u200dend in sight \u2064and if big\u200c business wanted to keep its goodies,\u200c it better pay up.<\/p>\n<p>Coelho\u2019s aggressiveness\u200b literally paid off. The \u200bDCCC reached parity \u200bwith its GOP counterpart in business donations and a Republican House majority was delayed for a decade.<\/p>\n<p>But staving off one political realignment kicked \u2064off another. Financially dependent on big\u200b business, the Democratic \u2064Party lost\u2062 interest in the class-based concerns that once defined it. Coelho epitomized the \u200dcoming Democratic preoccupation with identity politics at the expense of \u200cworking-class issues \u2063by controversially joining the Congressional \u200cHispanic Caucus.<\/p>\n<p>But while the Democratic Party\u2019s embrace of big business fundamentally changed the party, any changes to big business were superficial.<\/p>\n<p>Like the Coelho-cultivated relationship between big business and the Democratic Party premised on perpetual Democratic control of \u200cthe House, today, the relationship between big\u2062 business\u2064 and the cultural left is premised on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-with-big-business-blame-bob-hope\/\" title=\"Op-Ed: Bob Hope to Blame for Democrats' Big Business Alliance\">perpetual\u200b left-wing control<\/a> \u2063of the commanding heights of the culture.<\/p>\n<p>Big business will always play ball with those in power. \u200cPost-Coelho, Democrats\u200b are happy to play ball with big business.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t \u200dlike it? Blame Bob Hope.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/op-ed-dont-like-democrats-playing-ball-big-business-blame-bob-hope\/\">Op-Ed: Don&#8217;t \u200dLike Democrats Playing Ball with Big Business? Blame Bob Hope<\/a> appeared first \u2062on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;Season of Hope&#8221; concludes with the 20th anniversary of Bob Hope&#8217;s death on July 27, following his 120th birthday on May 29. This column, sponsored by Pepsodent toothpaste due to Hope&#8217;s radio show, exclusively acknowledges the occasion. Nonetheless, Hope&#8217;s impact on America endures, unrelated to the subject at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2230,"featured_media":1983626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1983625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1983625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1983626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1983625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1983625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1983625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}