MVP: How Pro-Football Quarterback Jack Kemp Changed America
Oct 08, 2015Morton Kondracke, respected reporter & co-author of “Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America” explains how the famed quarterback, congressman, and father of supply-side economics can serve as a model for today’s politicians
“THE PURPOSE OF POLITICS IS NOT TO DEFEAT YOUR OPPONENT AS MUCH AS IT IS TO PROVIDE SUPERIOR LEADERSHIP AND BETTER IDEAS THAN THE OPPOSITION.” —JACK KEMP
In this episode, we speak with Mort Kondracke, the co-author of Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America. This is the first and only definitive biography of Jack Kemp, the legendary Buffalo Bills quarterback, dynamic Congressional leader, and champion of supply-side economics — the idea that lowering taxes spurs economic growth.
Mort Kondracke and his co-author Fred Barnes, the editor of The Weekly Standard, make the argument that Jack Kemp is the most influential non-president, American politician of the last century.
Mort makes the case that Jack Kemp’s relentless optimism, focus on growth, enthusiasm for his ideas, and his compassion for all Americans, fueled his success. As a result, he played a pivotal role in American history.
From the book’s cover:
“Ronald Reagan’s policies sparked the American renaissance, but the Gipper’s leadership is only part of the story. The economic theory that underpinned America’s success was pioneered by a star professional quarterback turned self-taught intellectual and “bleeding-heart conservative”: Jack Kemp.”
We dig in to how in today’s poisonous political environment leaders on both sides of the aisle can learn from the Jack Kemp Model to successfully win people to their cause and make a positive impact.
During the show, I also get Mort to share stories and lessons from his impressive career as a journalist.
You won’t want to miss his answer to my question about what he was thinking sitting on stage as a questioner during the 1984 Reagan-Mondale Presidential Debate.
Mort Kondracke served as a White House Correspondent, Senior Editor of The New Republic during the magazine’s heyday, Washington Bureau Chief for Newsweek and Executive Editor for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
Most readers will know him best from his years battling it out each week on The McLaughlin Group, or as a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel and co-host of the Beltway Boys.
The genesis of the book came about from Mort’s experiences conducting hundreds of interviews for the Kemp Oral History Project and from his role as the Jack Kemp Chair in Political Economy at the Library of Congress.
This is what others have had to say the book:
“Jack Kemp was the most forward-looking, open-hearted, big-tented Republican of our time (save, perhaps, Ronald Reagan). In this beautifully written biography, Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes capture the energy, optimism, intellectual fire, and social conscience of this fascinating man.”
—CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, author of Things That Matter
“Jack Kemp was my mentor, and he inspired a whole generation of conservatives to think big. In this book, Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes write with the same infectious energy that Jack had. Jack taught Republicans to speak to people’s aspirations, and this is the story of how he did it. Anyone who wants to spark an ‘American Renaissance’ should read this book.”
—REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI)
“I’ve long admired what Jack Kemp represented as an American statesman: the idea that reasonable people can come together, in spite of their differences, to advance policies that make America better. I was deeply touched by Jack’s personal interest in my own work, and I consider him a friend and a teacher. I hope more people are able to learn the lessons he helped teach me.”
—SENATOR CORY BOOKER (D-NJ)
“Jack Kemp was one of those rare politicians who didn’t have a mean bone in his body. From the football field to the House of Representatives he was the same person—unfailingly upbeat, deeply committed to ideas, and able to talk with anyone in a way that reached them. In Jack Kemp we get the whole man whom we can admire and care for at the same time.”
—BILL BRADLEY, former U.S. senator (D-NJ)
“Jack Kemp was an American original, big and bold in a political era that tended to produce small and safe men. Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes give Kemp the biography he deserves, a vivid and memorable account of an energetic life.”
—JON MEACHAM, author of Destiny and Power
“Jack Kemp was a man for his time and, as this compelling biography makes clear, a man for our time as well. Read it for his absorbing personal story and read it for his ideas as well.”
—BRIT HUME, senior political analyst, Fox News
In this presidential cycle with so much poison already seeping into our politics, candidates on both sides of the aisle would do well to take up the mantle of Jack Kemp and use him as a model to successfully make a positive impact for America.
Show Notes:
- Check out Morton Kondracke’s Bio [Here]
- Check out Fred Barnes’s Bio [Here]
- Check out Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America:
- The Jack Kemp Model – The Wall Street Journal [Here] – Great article that I recommend to get a quick overview of the book and how candidates can use Kemp as a positive model for implementing their ideas
- The Jack Kemp Foundation [Here]
In this episode, we discuss:
- 1984 Reagan-Mondale Presidential Debate [Here]: What Mort was thinking as a questioner on the panel when the infamous “age” question was asked
- The Big Story [Here]: How the journalism bug bit Mort
- Sports Page: The strange connection between Mort’s first journalism job and Bob Novack, his future fellow combatant on The McLaughlin Group
- The New Republic: How there was something in the water at The New Republic in the early ’80’s
- The Beltway Bromance: How Mort’s and Fred’s long friendship and collaboration started
- Talking Head: From the McLaughlin Group to Fox News Contributor
- Check out an old episode of The McLaughlin Group [Here]
- Are they all friends?
- And how could someone get a word in edgewise?
- Which Politicians handled the media the best and how they did it
- Anti-Supply-Side Economics Liberal Commentator to writing the Jack Kemp Biography: How Mort made the journey
- The birth of Supply-Side Economics
- Modeling the Tax Plan after John F. Kennedy
- Evangelist: How Jack Kemp started the movement
- How Jack Kemp got Reagan to make Supply-Side Economics the cornerstone of his agenda
- Jack Kemp’s Strongest Attributes as a Leader
- Professional Football Quarterback: How did that affect Kemp’s leadership style
- Faith: How did that affect Kemp’s leadership style
- Agenda for Today: How would Kemp tackle America’s challenges today?
- Pro-growth agenda
- Debt’s affect on growth
- What Kemp would think of our monetary policy
- 2016 Presidential Race: What Kemp would think of the current field of Republican candidates
- Kemp’s Advice to Candidates
- The Jack Kemp Oral History Project [Here]
After living in the Washington, DC area for years, Mort has gotten about as far away from the beltway as possible. Now living Bainbridge Island, Washington state, he recommends that the next time people visit Washington state that they should visit the beautiful Bainbridge Island of course and in Seattle, they should visit the famous Pike Place Market, the beautiful Chihuly Glass Exhibits, and the high-flying acrobatics of the local salmon as they travel up the Ballard Lock fish ladder. Check it out.
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