I admired Jack Kemp back then. He seemed like a different kind of Republican and I knew that I was looking for something different. And on that day in the fall of 1992, he and the President gave reasonably good speeches (at least they seemed so at the time) but I couldn’t shake the fact that no matter how good, decent or inspiring the politician the process was somehow rotten to the core. Turned out I knew far less than the half of it.

Another thing about 1992 and Jack Kemp that has gotten lost in many of the remembrances of him was that it was strongly rumored that Kemp had given seriously consideration to challenging President Bush in the primaries that year.

Kemp, of course, was driving force behind much of the Reagan economic program but his campaign for President had failed to catch fire in 1988 and thus Bush, not he, claimed the mantle of Reagan and the Presidency.

But Jack Kemp, writes Bob Herbert in today’s New York Times, was also the driving force behind another idea – one that wasn’t embraced forcefully by the GOP and is the reason why, decades later, they’re a sinking ship:

Kemp, who died on Saturday from cancer, would later be much better known for his long career as a conservative Republican politician. He had two very big ideas for his party. One was terrific, spot on. The other couldn’t have been more boneheaded. The G.O.P. being the G.O.P. rejected the good idea and went hog wild for the boneheaded one.

Kemp’s good idea was that the Republicans should vastly expand their tent, get past their narrow-mindedness and begin actively seeking the support of blacks and other ethnic minorities.

The G.O.P. would have none of it. It was, after all, the party of the southern strategy, and there was precious little that was racially enlightened about its conservative wing. One of the writers who influenced Kemp’s thinking about politics, William F. Buckley, was at the opposite pole of Kemp’s progressive thinking about race. Buckley took a scurrilous stand in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated the nation’s public schools.

Whites, being superior, were well within their rights to discriminate against blacks, according to Buckley. “The White community is so entitled,” he wrote, “because, for the time being, it is the advanced race …”

Kemp was whistling in a hurricane.

Kudos, A.C., for recognizing that Kemp was a “different kind of Republican.” We can only imagine how different things might have been had he fulfilled his promise.

Because we want to know a little bit more of what makes our guests tick, Liberadio(!) is happy to introduce a new feature, Guest Playlists.

Our inaugural list is from Nashville Post reporter, Ken “Punk Rock in the” Whitehouse. With his playlist and commentary, the Oscar Madison of State political correspondents gives us a little more insight into what’s going on in that baseball-capped head of his. Punk rawk, indeed.

Which Side Are You On? – Dropkick Murphys (Album: Sing Loud, Sing Proud!) Written by Florence Reece in 1931. She was the wife of a union organizer in Harlan County, Kentucky. She wrote the song one night after company men came a ransacked her house looking for her husband during a strike. This version is the Celtic/Punk version of the song.

Baby, I’m an Anarchist! – Against Me! (Album: Reinventing Axl Rose) Love song between an anarchist and a “spineless liberal.” Line of the song that sums it all up is, “We marched together for the eight-hour day and held hands in the streets of Seattle, But when it came time to throw bricks through that Starbucks window, You left me all alone.”

Walk Away – Tom Waits (Album: Orphans: Brawlers) If only I could write that well and sing that bad.

Mao Tse Tung Said – A3 (Album: Exile on Coldharbour Lane) You know this band for the theme song of The Soprano’s, but this song is a bone chilling statement on power at the point of a gun. It uses clips from the Rev. Jim Jones final recorded speech in the jungles of Guyana. Don’t let anyone who likes Kool-Aid near your speakers when playing this.

Start Wearing Purple – Gogol Bordello (Album: Gypsy Punks; Underdog World Strike) New York band that has a Gypsy/Ukrainian sound. Lead singer bounces back and forth between Russian and English, I think this song could be about monarchical inbreeding throughout Europe but not sure. No matter, your kids will like it for reasons they won’t understand.

Amsterdam – Jacques Brel (Album: Enregistrement Public à l’Olympia 1964) Brel is the only thing stopping the world from placing economic sanctions on Belgium for giving us Jean-Claude Van Damme. The song is about sailors on shore leave in Amsterdam and though sung in French you can understand the emotion of every word.

Tower of Song – Leonard Cohen with U2 (Album: I’m Your Man) A homage of sorts to Cohen’s influences and the art of songwriting. You also might want to check out the Emmylou Harris cover of Cohen’s “Ballad of a Runaway Horse.”

Last Kind Deal – David Johansen (Album: Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus soundtrack) Former New York Dolls front man gets in touch with his Delta side.

If I Ever Leave This World Alive – Flogging Molly (Album: Drunken Lullabies) Everyone needs an epilogue and mine would be this line “If I ever leave this world alive The madness that you feel will soon subside So in a word don’t shed a tear I’ll be here when it all gets weird If I ever leave this world alive”

Sample Full Playlist (will launch iTunes)

Part 1 – 1 Day, 3 Hours, 52 minutes, and 12 Seconds – It truly is The Best Week Ever!â„¢ and not only because our BackwardsBush.com Countdown keychain is almost obsolete. All the hope, friendly good-fellowship, giving, celebration, and participatory democracy in the air is making us woozy – but totally in a good way! Visit USAservice.org, pic2009.com, NashvilleForAllofUs.org, VolunteerNashville.com, thenashvillefreepress.com, and Nashville.gov/vote. [18.6 MB 11:36 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part1.mp3)
Part 2 – Interview with Rev. Enoch Fuzz. Rev. Fuzz is the Senior Pastor of the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church and one of the chairs of The Music City USA President’s Inauguration Day Charity Ball–the first ever in Nashville–which will be held Tuesday night, 1/20/09, at 7 pm, at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. (Tickets still available at volunteernashville.com). Rev. Fuzz has plans not just tomorrow night but for our future as well and he joins a growing list of impressive Nashvillians who will help lead us out of the past. [21.6 MB 13:28 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part2enochfuzz.mp3)
Part 3 – Interview with Stephen Fotopolus. Stephen is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and has some very enlightening thoughts on the immigrant community in Nashville and the effects the English Only referendum will have on all of us. If you’re not sure how to vote, we’re positive that Stephen’s measured and well-thought out ideas will help you decide. [37.5 MB 23:25 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part3stephenfotopolus.mp3)
Part 4 – Against/Against on Thursday, January 22 – We’ve devoted a lot of air time to the vote against the English Only referendum and we’re not going to stop now with only three days before the election. Learn why Councilman Eric Crafton made the New York Times print a retraction, why he bailed on a locally televised TV debate against David Briley, and why he’s hiding the referendum’s funding source (hint: it’s because they’re not based in Nashville and have serious credibility problems). Seriously, it’s enough to put a serious damper on The Best Week Ever!â„¢ [28.2MB 17:37 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part4.mp3)
Part 5 – Ken Whitehouse, State Political Correspondent – The Oscar Madison of Tennessee political reporting (not sure if he’s messy, lives with a man, or likes sports – but he does wear a baseball cap!) joins us to give us the play by play of last week’s opening day shenanigans in the General Assembly. Is newly minted Speaker of the House Kent Williams really the devil? Will he stay a Republican? What happened while House Republicans prematurely celebrated their victory? And what about those pesky constitutional officers? [36.6MB 22:50 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part5kenwhitehouse.mp3)
Part 6 – 1 Day, 2 Hours, 11 Minutes, and 18 Seconds – More fun with Ken and one last plea to get out and vote Against/Against on Thursday. Do it to honor the memory of Dr. King, to celebrate the inauguration of Hope and Change, and to ensure that when we wake up on Friday, this really was The Best Week Ever!â„¢ [23.5MB 14:41 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part6.mp3)

Bumpers
Independence Day – Martina McBride
Last Splash – The Breeders
I Can’t Wait – Nu Shooz
Lovely Day – Bill Withers
American Land – Bruce Springsteen
This Land is Your Land – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Fanfare for the Common Man – Aaron Copeland

Guest Playlist
Punk Rock from Whitehouse – A Playlist by Ken Whitehouse