Ah, the perils of associating with Jude Wanniski. The star attraction of Wanniski’s annual client conference in Boca Raton the first weekend in March was Minister Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam and recipient of the 1996 Moammar Gadhafi Award (an honorarium of $ 250,000 plus a $ 1 billion gift from the government of Libya).
The “Supply-Side Festival,” as Wanniski bills his poolside retreat of financiers and politicos, is hosted “in association with Rowland Evans & Robert Novak, the famed journalists.” Novak has become the first celebrity convert to the Wanniski view of Farrakhan, describing the Black Muslim leader in his column last week as a potential ally of Republicans, a man whose rhetoric is “a cross between the Christian Coalition and libertarianism.” Novak reported that Rep. John Kasich, another of the speakers in Boca Raton, received frequent standing O’s from Farrakhan — even though, as Novak himself pointed out, a top House Republican like Kasich can hardly welcome being linked with the former “Calypso Gene” Walcott.
Wanniski faxed a post-mortem of the goings-on to his clients, in which he painted a fascinating picture of the proceedings: “I must mention that when UN Ambassador [Bill] Richardson spoke, in the Q&A Farrakhan whimsically offered his assistance in dealing with the rogue nations of the Islamic world — to which there was no response. Richardson and [Jack] Kemp were on such tight schedules they did not have even a moment with Farrakhan. Rep. Kasich and Senator Dodd were there long enough to at least shake hands. Dodd opened his remarks by congratulating us for having invited Min. Farrakhan.”
Even a longtime Wanniski loyalist like Novak concedes that when Farrakhan is not sounding Christian and libertarian, he reverts “to talk of white conspiracy and black revolution.” Farrakhan reverted at length on Feb. 23 in Chicago. There, less than a week before applauding John Kasich, he delivered the keynote address to the Nation of Islam’s “Saviours’ Day,” an event that enjoyed the benediction of “fraternal messages of solidarity” from Fidel Castro, Farrakhan’s longtime pal Gadhafi, and, not to be ignored, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, the only head of state whose military title is “Flight Lieutenant.”
Here is a small portion of what Jude Wanniski’s catechumen had to say: “I think we’ve given the government of America enough time. We don’t owe America a damn thing. America owes us! Our fathers built it. Our fathers shaped it. The blood of our fathers bought this, and we demand a piece!”
Sounds like Jude ought to give him a piece of his consulting firm.
