Why We Wanted To Abolish The NEA

Remember back in 1995 in the heady days of the Gingrich revolution, when it seemed like entire Cabinet-level agencies might actually be on the chopping block? Sure, even then that seemed a long-shot without a filibuster-proof Senate majority and the "irrelevant" Bill Clinton still in the White House, but certainly Great Society fluff like the National Endowment for the Arts was low-hanging fruit. The very idea of government subsidizing - and therefore choosing and defining - what was and was not art was repugnant to anybody who grasped the barest understanding of the First Amendment.

One of the tip-top reasons for this repugnance was that it could and would, sooner or later, lend itself to Goebbelsesque abuses just like this:

On August 10th, the National Endowment for the Arts, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the Corporation for National and Community Service hosted a conference call with a handpicked arts group. This arts group played a key role in Obama’s arts effort during his election campaign, as declared by the organizers of the call, and many on the call played a role in the now famous Obama Hope poster.

Much of the talk on the conference call was a build up to what the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was specifically asking of this group. In the following segment, Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, clearly identifies this arts group as a pro-Obama collective and warns them of some “specific asks” that will be delivered later in the meeting. …

What were the “asks”? They were for this pro-Obama arts group to create art on several hotly debated political issues, including health care:

“I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service.”
“And then my ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities utilities and bring them to the table.”
“Again, I’m really, really honored to be working with you; the National Endowment for the Arts is really honored.”
“You’re going to see a lot more of us in the next four and hopefully eight years.”

I wonder if Breitbart is certain that Buffy's "asks" didn't omit the letter "t" in front of them. Although the "pro-Obama collective" is just too good to be true.

If you have been angered for years at the federal government forcing you to help subsidize leering, sneering "art" that is deliberately hostile and insulting to Christian culture and symbols and doctrine, as well as just being worthless counterculture garbage that couldn't draw a dime in the private sector, how does Barry's ass taste at being forced to help pay for shilling for the government takover of your healthcare that you vehemently oppose with every fibre of your being? Probably about as bad as it is suprising that Buffy The Truth-Slayer has ties to ACORN.

Right on schedule, the Obamunists began their standard "It's not true, but we're retreating anyway" fan dance:

An August 10, 2009 National Endowment for the Arts conference call in which artists were asked to help support President Obama’s agenda — a call that at least one good government group called “inappropriate” — has prompted the White House to issue new guidelines to prevent such a call from ever happening again.

“The point of the call was to encourage voluntary participation in a national service initiative by the arts community,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told ABC News. “To the extent there was any misunderstanding about what the NEA may do to support the national service initiative, we will correct it. We regret any comments on the call that may have been misunderstood or troubled other participants. We are fully committed to the NEA’s historic mission, and we will take all steps necessary to ensure that there is no further cause for questions or concerns about that commitment.”

Sure, Bill. Why would ANYBODY "misinterpret" or "misunderstand" the "encouraging" of "voluntary" participation in a White House propaganda campaign in which the NEA just HAPPENS to hold the "pro-Obama collective's" VERY LIVELIHOOD by the metaphorical short-hairs?

If it was all just a big misunderstanding, there would be no need for "new rules". That there are to be "new rules" - how about posting them on the internet for the people to take a look at, there, Billy? - is prima facie proof that you guys got caught doing something you weren't supposed to. It's that simple:

After listening to the transcript and the audio posted at the conservative website BigHollywood.Breitbart.com — secretly recorded by Los Angeles filmmaker Patrick Couriellech — Melanie Sloan, executive director of the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told ABC News that the call was “disturbing.”

“Government agencies are not supposed to be engaged in political activities,” Sloan said. “Here, because they didn’t veer off into ‘This is about the election,’ where you’d get into violations of the Hatch Act, it’s not illegal. But it doesn’t look good — it looks terrible. It’s inappropriate.”

Exit question: How soon can we expect the Injustice Department to go after Pat Couriellech and prosecute him into a grease spot on the floor?