Monica Crowley, a political and foreign affairs analyst for Fox News and host of “The Monica Crowley Show” on nationally syndicated radio, appeared at the “A Conversation with Monica Crowley” event on October 1 in Wilson Hall. The event was put on by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, and according to the Director of the Polling Institute, Patrick Murray over 250 people attended.
Crowley, a New Jersey native, is the author of the recent New York Times best seller, “What the (Bleep) Just Happened? The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback.” She also served as Foreign Policy Assistant to Richard Nixon from 1990 to 1994 and wrote about her experiences in “Nixon Off the Record and Nixon in Winter.”
After a short introduction, Murray began by asking why Crowley believed Mitt Romney is the “Happy Warrior” described in her latest book. Her response was, “We are in a war for the future of this country. I think it’s only been recently in the last couple of years where, as conservatives, it has finally dawned on us that we need to fight this war. We need to fight this war before all is lost.”
On the topic of why the polls are currently so close, Crowley stated, “The big reason why I think it’s so close is that Barrack Obama’s objective is to expand government. What he has done is create this dependency web that is dependent on government, and by expanding that dependency, he has taken the pain out of a bad economy.”
When asked what she thought Vice Presidential running mate, Paul Ryan’s, role would be in the budget if he and Governor Romney were elected, she answered, “I think he will be the point person. I think the reason [Romney] chose Paul Ryan is, one, the ‘Happy Warrior’ spirit that I mentioned earlier,” said Crowley. “The other thing is that what the Paul Ryan choice signaled was that when Romney and Ryan get elected, they are not just going to manage the federal government, they are going to transform it.”
When asked what the one thing (besides “Obamacare”) she would like to have seen President Obama done better, she said, “I would probably say the nearly trillion dollar stimulus, which stimulated nothing but government. It put us a trillion dollars in debt and was all transfer payments to keep the government payrolls going. What it did was set the table for the incredible amount of spending we saw after that.”
During the last half-hour of the event, the floor was opened to questions from the audience. One question dealt with what the American people should about Republican control in the Senate. “I can’t state enough how important control of the U.S. Senate is. Even if Obama is elected, there is still a 50/50 split in the Senate. If there is a pineapple running for U.S. Senate on the Republican line, you vote for that pineapple!”
While most of the questions were asked in a supportive manner, Crowley was met with some minor hostility. One elderly gentleman who served three years in the U.S. Army during World War II and receives money taken from his pension asked whether or not he should feel ashamed for receiving money from the government.
“When I mentioned the 49% of people on a social welfare program, I was not talking about your pension. I was not even talking about your social security. What I am saying is that in order for the system you described to survive, you have to reform it now. This will not affect you, this will affect my generation and the younger generation,” said Crowley.
When asked why the Polling Institute decided to invite Crowley to speak, Murray replied, “We wanted to bring in both viewpoints, from the left and right, and Monica Crowley was a name that came up when I actually asked students [because] she is a commentator that students really respected. I asked her to come, and she did.”
Alexandria Todd, the President of the Political Science Club, felt the event was a success. “I feel that the event on Monday evening was a huge hit, I was really pleased with the enthusiasm from the audience.”
