more information you have in your head that you can explain to the next person the more impressive that you will be and the senatest person in the room should win the argument. they have the facts and so they should clearly win. and that is called a policy wonk. and i had many years on television and we would have a policy wonk on. and i could hear people turning off my show, going to a channel because it is boring, boring. the way you communicate, as ronald reagan taught, by example, is not through the mind. that is flow of information. i will give you information. here is facts, here is figures, here it is all laid out for you. where you move people, where you actually convince people, make them feel that you understand, that you have something to say is when you communicate with the heart. there is a huge difference. so when i do television, i always have some facts and figures. i know my material. and throw out a few because it gives me authority. if i tell you -- 56 million babies have been aborted since rowe v. wade and people say that is probably not the number, but it's about that number. and you throw out a couple of numbers or something like that, just early, just get them out of the way, and now i don't need to throw any more out because people watching say she knows her material, she's someone who knows this issue. and now i can move by speaking with the heart. all right? ronald reagan, when he was running in 1980 for the primary, we had an office in los angeles near his home. and he would go out monday and come back thursday as a general rule. he would go out on the plane, all of the press on the plane flying out with him, following him around from iowa to florida to new hampshire, wherever he was going. he would give speeches in the morning and at the afternoon and at lunch, evening, any time that he could pack in a speech, he would be there talking to whether it be 50 people or 5,000 people. whatever he could get. whatever group was there. all right? and as nancy would say, you can have him monday through thursday and i have him friday through sunday. very smart lady because she knew he was an older candidate and we don't want him to look worn out. we want him rested. all right. it didn't matter whether that was smart or not. nancy made the decisions. it was done that way. as well it should have been. all right. he goes out monday and the press is there. he gives breakfast speech and he gives his talk, afternoon, all week long, four days. i'd be in the office in los angeles, and the press would come in thursday to file their stories, and in those days you didn't have all the fancy equipment that they could do it from anywhere so they always had a press shop. so they'd come in and i would hear them walk by my office and i didn't understand at first. the first guy would come in, he would say something and then the second one. and they kind of were doing this skit. i came to realize that the first one -- i asked him actually -- had the first paragraph of the president's down -- the governor at the time, the second ones with spieling off the second paragraph and iaid what are you guys doing? he said we -- basically they believe ronald reagan had one speech. that's it. because no matter where he went, they were driven mad. he gave the same speech for breakfast, for lunch, for the afternoon, for dinner, again the next day. he had one speech. and they were driven crazy. how can they write their stories? there's nothing new. it's the same speech as yesterday, as last week. so they wrote him off. they figured he was an actor with one speech. what the didn't observe because these are people who are very smart who think with their heads and have no knowledge of communication with the heart, they missed what was going on in one room after another because as the governor was speaking, he was moving people. he would tell stories. he would talk about his aunt jenny or he would talk about the lady he met on the street corner in omaha and how she told him about the story of the regulations in the little mom and pop shop were killing them. and he would tell these stories and tell little funny anecdotes and had people laughing and crying with him. it was an amazing, emotional experience going on in front of the national press and they missed it. and so he would go to place to place moving people. and people would go home and would tell their families, you won't believe this guy. he is fabulous. they would tell people in the office. and a prairie fire started and around the country people were talking about this guy ronald reagan. he was different. he really understood, he really believed. they felt they could relate to him. he communicated with his heart. he shared what he believed. he told stories to explain what he understood as the problem that was causing issue with their businesses and families. he was a powerful communicator. but i'm telling you, policy wonks do not appreciate that. they don't feel it. they just hear it and there is not enough facts and figures. how many times have you heard the problem with donald trump is he doesn't have any facts and figures. there is no basic policy. he doesn't have any details. where is the detail? let me tell you, ronald reagan had a four-point plan for the economy. we were in havoc. it was a mess, the havoc. he had a four-point plan, something i could easily memorize and tell people about. it didn't have 20 pages of details how he would cut taxes and he said we're going to cut taxes 30%. next, we're going to cut spending. we are going to cut regulation, and we're going to get control of the monetary policy, inflation. very simple. today policy wonks say where are the facts? where are the figures? american people don't need all of the facts and figures. they have to know you believe. you believe there is a direction the country should take and this is why it didn't work now because you are not taking it. and here is what we're going to do. here is the goal. we're going to get there. and everybody says, no, no. he just pounds it. what is donald trump's message that resonates? make america great again. we're going to win. we've been losing. that is how the american people feel. we've been losing. they're losing. now he says we're going to start winning. somebody says it. somebody says it. that's leadership, when somebody will say it. you know my brother pat and i have commiserated over this and we travel around the country giving speeches and been on tv for years. and you know what the most common thing people say to us is? thank you for saying it. thank you for saying it. the american people don't mind losing. they mind not being represented. they mind not being in the fight. not having somebody there fighting for them. that's leadership. when you don't go along but you fight for what you believe in. so let's go back to the specifics. how do you make certain that you don't become one of the so-called leaders such as we have in this town. where you have party line vote. that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? a party line vote. where the leader of the party tells to you yes vote on this bill or a no vote. and this is party line. which means you as a congressman or senator cannot choose yourself how to vote or cannot look at it and determine this is where you think would be the right response to this bill. no. you've been told it is yes if you are a republican and no if you are a democrat. where is -- that is sheep. all right? that is sheep. why not say, fine, i'm glad to know how you're going to vote and now i'll read the bill and decide how i'm going to vote. oh, why? because they might run somebody against you in your primary or they might take your fancy office away or your committee. these are important things for congressmen. that's why they're not leaders. because the most important thing for them is no longer doing what is best for the country, what is best for their constituents, what they believe is right, but rather making certain they do that enough times but when it is called upon they do what the party calls upon them to do on the other times. how can you be different? these are good men and women who have come back here and hoping to make a difference that got caught up in the system. how could you be different? and here is how you do it. one, what do you believe? find that issue and decide what is it you believe. consider the options. consider the other side. and then go talk to the other side. challenge them a little bit. so i like to use life as an examples for college campuses. it is the best. you find lots of people who are pro-choice from which to talk to. you might have some trouble finding pro-lifers, but work it. they are out there. so what do you do? you decide this is it. life is your issue and you go talk to them. and first time you show up, you say i understand you're pro-choice, right? explain how you can support a policy that takes a life of a child every single time. and they're going to say, oh, and you explain to me how you can support forcing a 14-year-old to have a baby who was raped by her father. and then you're going to think, well, maybe i'm not so pro-life. i don't know that i want to defend that policy. that is their best argument. and so you have to go back and you have to talk to people. and don't expect to know all of the answers or be ready to defend this. this is your first try out. you go out there and you give it a go, and you think, wow, that's a good position. i don't know that i would want to support this. maybe i believe in exceptions for rape and incest. maybe that is my position. you should talk to people. you come to me and i'll explain to you that we don't have -- i certainly don't have authority to pick and choose which children live or die. all of them live. i fight for every single unborn child. we should be a champion of every one of those little babies. and when circumstances are difficult, i will still defend their right to life. always. i've made that decision. there are good people out there who are pro-life who believe rape an incest should be an exception. you have to decide what you believe. and then you have to be able to defend it and explain it. all right, now you've got it. you know that response. when someone throws that out, you are ready for round two. so you go back out and talk to people, what about this and that and you are starting to hear their position. you get to feel their angst, their anger, their willingness to intimidate you and say, you don't -- you are not even for women. you are anti-women is what you are. you are neanderthal. where is your compassion? all of this is going to get thrown at you. you need to hear that. you need to feel the heat. you need to feel intimidated. like you would rather not have mentioned this. i'll just hang out with my pro-life friends because we know better anyhow and i don't have to go through all this. and that is not a leader. they are in the front lines and ready to take the heat and stand proudly for the cause they feel so passionately about. that is the leader. all right? i say to my friends on college campuses, you young people, you get a chance, you tell yourself, all right, i've worked this through and talked to some people and i've looked at this, i understand their side and now i know more than ever. i believe in the life of every single unborn child, and i'm going to do something about it. so you go to class. you wait for the opportunity. i don't care if it is history or math class or it doesn't matter and it doesn't have to be social science and a teacher mentions something about rowe v. wade and you have your opportunity to make a statement and you are willing to do it. and you say, excuse me, i would like to make a statement. rowe v. wade was one of the worst, most tragic decisions ever by a supreme court in this country because it has cost the life of millions of unborns. you may want to make it tighter. every single times that are two lives that are affected. both the baby who loses its life and the mother who's tragically harmed by this procedure. something. short, long, however you want it. you hit it. and you know what will happen? how many people in that class -- you will have -- if there is 20, 19 will turn and look at you and the teacher -- the teacher is going to be sneering and you're going to feel the heat and you're going to wish you never said anything and you're going to sit there and think and they're going to be looking at you and yelling you stuff and you don't know all the answers, and that is when you thank the lord for that opportunity because now you know you're not ready. so you are going to do this again and again and again. so when you feel that pressure and that intimidation and that outrage at you taking such a bold statement, you say, huh, what's it to me? friends, i have been called racist so many times i answer to it now. [ laughter ] yeah, okay. now let's get back to the issue here. it doesn't bother me. i don't care. i know the issue about which i speak. and i have studied it and i know both sides of it. and i feel without question my position on immigration is the right one for this country and my position on life is the right one for every single baby and every single woman who might be caught in that circumstance. i am absolutely certain -- and i don't care what people will say or what they might think. it makes no difference. because i lead, i represent people, i'm a champion of causes. i'm a champion of those working men and women who have not gotten any kind of a deal for three decades. it is time someone represented them and fought for them. that is where i come from. and what i want to say to you is every one of you needs to get there. this country needs true leaders. it needs people who firmly believe that there is a direction this country needs to take. there is some correction -- corrective action that has to be made, and i'm not suggesting every one of you is going to run for office. but you know, i was a single mom for many, many years, like 20, for instance, i still feel like one sometimes, and i stood there picking my kids up after school and i would hear people say, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. you hear what they're going to teach the kids next year in third grade? i just can't believe this. no. they are not going to teach them that. we don't want them -- they are our children. when is the next school board meeting? let's get together. if we don't like the response, when is the next school board election? we'll just take it over. because we're the parents. we're fighting for our kids. we're not going to let that happen. you need to be a leader in your families, in your communities. you can't let them tell you how you should say things, what you should say, how you should feel. we are americans. and one of the greatest gifts we've been given and responsibilities is the right to speak our minds, and our responsibility is to make certain that what we say comes from our heart with sincerity as to what is best for this country. no mean-spiritedness, just what we feel is the right position to have. and then we have an obligation to fight for that. to lead it. to influence others in ways that our talent allows us to. that is our responsibility. so i call on every single one of you, live up to the responsibility you have and the privilege you have of being americans. and do not be intimidated. speak your minds. find out what you believe and then you represent that. and don't let anyone suggest that you cannot speak freely and boldly about those things that you feel are important. thank you very, very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. thanks very much. we have plenty of time for questions, so please -- and ask any question. it doesn't have to be about the topic i spoke of. yes. >> i'm emily. i attend liberty university and intern at the young america's foundation. >> good. >> and my question is how can we as young activists on our college campuses be bold and attract other students to the conservative movement in the way that you explained ronald reagan and donald trump has done? >> this is what you have to do. first you start small. because you don't know if you are ready yet. like i said, what issue are you interested in? pick an issue or two. start talking to others about it. pick an issue that people are not going to agree with. and you know, i know people that do it in a very in-your-face manner. republicans love to get in the liberal's face. and i'm not saying that doesn't work. it is not my style. what is your style? my style is look, call me whatever name you want, you want to talk about the issues, otherwise you don't have a case whatsoever. name calling is the lowest form of debate here. so figure out what matters to you. and that is why on the issue of life i say, be known as a pro-lifer. be known as somebody who will speak about it. you can save a life if you go into the history class and you make that statement and you feel terrible afterwards because everybody called you names or wouldn't talk to you, all right? but you had a bold moment and there's somebody in that class that may look over and say i think that person has lost her mind or his mind for making such a position, but two years from now they might still remember. they said it was a life every time. and they might hesitate. you can save lives and change minds if you speak out, and i don't care if you're in liberty or anywhere else. there's apot of apathy on campuses like liberty because they figure we're all in agreement, what's the big deal, with he know it's right and we go about our business. we need to debate. do you think those congressmen or women feel they will do whatever their leaders say? when the president of the united states calls you and says you're one of my most faithful and fine congressmen and you know i helped you win and i need your vote on this, do you have the guts to say, mr. president, i think you're terrific on mr. pr think you're terrific on "x," "y," and "z," voted for you and loved having you out in my district but on this issue i think you're wrong. you have a right to say that. they can't. they fall in line. that's what you need to learn now as young people. that you won't fall in line. you will always represent those core beliefs that really burn inside you. uh-huh. >> hello. >> hi there. >> my name is carter, i'm from the university of central florida. and i was wondering what is the best value or trait you learned from working with reagan? >> i'll tell you, and i think this is key to a truly, truly great leader. and very -- not often present. in someone who runs for office because as you run for office and you win and people call you the honorable or senator and they move aside when you come into rooms, pretty soon your head gets big and you're a pretty important person and that's why you end up fighting to keep that position more than anything else because it's such a wonderful sense you receive of self-worth. he was the most humble person i ever met in politics. he was truly a humble human being. he took office as president of the united states and he understood the incredible honor it was. he didn't think of himself now as a big powerful person but having an honor to be there as leading this great country. as you probably have heard, the story, he never went into the oval office without a suit and tie. never. he always had -- because he respected the office and he was humbled. he felt after i had opportunity to sit with him, have lunch with him in a group, i was on his right. a couple months after he was shot. and i said to him, i cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have you here, you know? i'd worked with him for five years by that time. and he said, bay, i am on borrowed time and i know that. i have a purpose here. the lord has a job for me. and he wants me to stay and do it. that was -- that was -- he understood. running for re-election. i was told by somebody very close to him, he would -- if the decision is that he is not to be -- remain in office, then he'll be just as happy back on the ranch. he'll be just as happy. he loved his life and he understood that this was something that he was called upon to do at this time. and he would do it to his best. but that humility came through. when i ran in to him on occas n occasion -- well, he called me into his hotel room after new hampshire, we won in new hampshire, but we hadn't won yet, it was during the day and he had fired the senior staff, and he wanted to talk to me about it. of course, i was worried i was next to go but he wanted to tell me he wanted me to stay, of course, he couldn't have gotten rid of me if he wanted to i think, i was so -- so supportive of this man. and he said -- talked to me and explained to me what happened. put his arms on my shoulders and said i want to tell you personally why -- i know john sears is a friend of yours but i want to tell you what happened, talked to me personally. he says after he does this, nancy's on the couch, reading, watching what's going on in new hampshire during the day. and he said, hey, bay, my hamburger just came up, you want to have half a burger. do i want to have half your burger? i want to get out of here. i'm in with this guy is governor, former governor, he's going to be the nominee, i think he should be the president of the united states and he's offering me his burger. he always made you feel like you're the cousin that you see every thanksgiving and it's always great to see them and you haven't seen them in a while and you want to know what's going on, that's how he made you feel. never that he was better or bigger or smarter or anything. we were all equals and he just called to do this and i was called to doing? else and we're all here as part of the team. that humility. always remember that. humility is an incredibly wonderful virtue. and we all should afire firspi and it's tough in this business. sure. >> hello, my name's kyler ifby and i'm a senior at wayne university. i know that what straights a leader from a follower is the willingness to take action when the decisions get tough, but sometimes it's a little confusing to me because sometimes the right answer isn't always clear. there's a lot of gray area. i don't like what's behind door number one or two or three. so, how do you make that decision? >> you have to -- that's a -- that's a very, very good question. the first thing you do is you have to know what you believe. all right? so, your principles are very, very clear to you. that's number one. because if they're not, you know, you could be -- there are many options. but if you know absolutely this is how it needs to be, then -- then sometimes you don't have a clear option. you have a couple. and you have to determine yourself what is the best -- what is the best option. and try to work it out. which one has the least negative impact, you know? that might be the answer open or which one has some slimmer of hope to at least solve this, not going to be good for this and this but at least it's going to be here, we getting? here. that is where your leadership comes in. and if neither of them are good, then you have to speak about that. these are unacceptable and you have to figure out a way that next go-round the better option is present. it's not easy. but i think it's the easy decisions are -- are not what you're called on as a leader. that's pretty obvious. it's the tough ones. and, i mean, ronald reagan made mistakes and he's the first to say. he made a terrible mistake out there as california governor and approved, signed a bill that allowed women to abort if the health of the mother was impacted and he didn't realize the kind of loophole he'd created and he said it was one of the greatest mistakes of his political career because everybody's health could be explained as being impacted negatively and so abortions just went on the rise, you know? and so he thought what he did was right. but it was wrong. and so he corrected it. he fought to have much tougher laws against abortion, you know? and that's what you have to do. is try to do what's best. what moves it even if it's only an inch or two and next time try to go for a foot of improvement rather than just an inch. >> thank you. >> sure. >> hi. my name is alex lohman, i'm from virginia tech. in your speech you mentioned about passion and drive makes a great leader. do you believe that a great leader would be born with that passion and drive or do you think it's created? >> i believe that there's some people that are natural. but in the sense that they are -- they are -- they have this natural interest in issues, another person doesn't have that natural interest, you know? and they might have a natural ability to communicate, all right? but i believe passion, true passion, is something that every single one of us can have because we do have it at some level we'll have -- like, if we have our own children, you will see the kind of passion or level of love you have is unbelievable. you'll fight for them, you know? and that'sing? th and that's something that comes naturally when you have a child for the most part. as for the issues, i think when you study the issue, there's some issues you can study and study and you couldn't care less about. i know this is important to a lot of people, but i can't get into it, all right? and there's another one that just drives you, that's where you got to look. what makes a difference to you. what do you care about? i've always been pro-life and once i got to know women who had abortions and the impact it's had on them and i've seen what happened in the world of abortions, i just have become so much -- just so passionate. on trade, free trade, i was always a free trader, my brother pat was a free trader, you study it, it looks good. and then i started meeting people as my brother will tell his story and we were up in new hampshire and you start meeting people who lost their job because of free trades. these are americans, there are american families being harmed by this policy is there another policy here and you start broadening your attention. that's when i have passion, i identify for the victim. that's when my passion comes. i get on tv and i talk about fair trade i see those working men and women. and i say, they need a voice. they need someone fighting for them. and i think of the unborn when i fight there, illegal immigration i think of the harm that's happening to so many communities in this country and so many americans. and i'm very passionate about it, you see? some people have a greater level for this, i admit, but i do believe every single one of you can study an issue and recognize this is wrong and want to be part of it. you may not want to be the point person but you want to join the cause and have some representative -- some role in moving it forward. not all of us are going to be the candidates. i've been a candidate. i choose not to be a candidate again. i would rather help someone else who wants to be the candidate. that's just what i choose. >> thank you. >> hello, my name is manfred and you spent a lot of time talking about true leaders and how there aren't a whole lot of true leaders in this town. can you give a list of congressmen and senators and governors who you consider to be true leaders. >> i don't know if we have time for this. let's see. okay. i think ron paul is awesome. i did not support his presidency. but i sat there through every one of those debates back there when he was running for president, i believe it was when romney was the nominee or was -- no, it was both years when romney ran. and i happened to be involved in a candidate or two and he would -- in those early debates, people would boo him. all the party people were there and boo him and boo him because he took a position against what the party elites were for on the issue of war. he didn't believe we should be involved in foreign wars. and he would go through it time and again. he had his facts, figures, he would present them, he was sound of mind. he was very passionate about it and he made great sense and i used to think why are you booing him? he's making a case for something that you don't agree with, but you certainly don't boo it, you listen to it and you say, well, i think he's wrong, but at least he believes in something. by the end of the presidential year he was getting cheers from the audience and they were full with a lot of young people who had started coming in and listening to him and the party was benefitted as young people realized there's another voice in this party, do you see what i mean? i think ron paul. i think rand paul is another -- a great example of always being very principled person. that i happen to love ted cruz. i think ted cruz is phenomenal. i think what he's done in the senate in his short time was -- was -- a lot of people say, well, people don't like him. oh, they don't like him? sounds like somebody i will like. he's going against the grain and not doing what they say he should do, you know? i think that's a real -- a real strength. and i tell you jeff sessions is phenomenal. just a phenomenal senator. he's just steady. he's always there. you can completely rely on him. you never have to worry that somebody got to him. he makes his case and he brent presents it and tries to fight other people in the senate but he'll never move. he can lose overwhelmingly, it doesn't matter, he'll come back the next time. that's a leader. they don't care that they're losing and other people in the party are shaking their head saying get off this, you know? but he's not running for office but he's doing a terrific job so, yes, there's no question there are there. what worries me is the people that run and say one thing, they're going to come back here and all the powerful people that surround him and then they come out with a different position and then they realize that didn't work and then they move over to this. what in the world are you doing here? go back home. you're supposed to come know where you want the country to go and fight for it, that's what you're supposed to be doing, not coming back here trying to figure out how you can promote yourself by taking different positions. >> thank you. >> sure. >> hi. my name is haley smith and i go to concordia university in irvine, california. and i was wondering when people call you racist or sexist or bigot or anything like that, what is a practical way to respond to such comments? >> just dismiss it. i -- you know, it makes you angry when you start hearing it. it makes you angry. but the key is you put a position out there. you've taken a position. you've laid out what you believe. and somebody calls you a name. well, my feeling is, look, dismiss with this nonsense. what is your counterargument? why do you think we should allow people to kill -- doctors to kill babies? do you think this is a good policy? can you give me your side of it? and just to call me a name or take immigration. i mean, that's a very, very hot issue out there. and those who are for this unlimited flow of illegal immigrants into the country all they will say is you got to be compassionate, these people just want to make their life better. well, we have to have policies coming out of washington that are best for america, so let's discuss why this isn't good for america and you tell me how it is good for america. but let's not talk about how, you know, everybody should take this position and not say anything against it. key to the strength of this nation is natural debate. because then, as i said earlier, when we have somebody representing our side and fighting for our side and we lose, we say fair enough, we lost. that's what it's all about. we had our fight. we had a great guy. we're coming back in four years or two years whatever it is and we're going to try it again or we'll see what happens under the new leadership that we didn't support and see if it goes all right or not, do you know what i mean? but the key is they use intimidation as a strategy. that name calling is deliberately done to demonize the messenger, to make you look bad. if i'm a ralcist and you felt sincerely i was a racist, who would listen to you? you would dismiss everything. that is their argument. they don't want to talk about the merits of the case, because we win, when the american people hear the debate we are on the winning side. but if they demonize and call you an anti-semitic or racist or anti-woman or whatever, xenophobe, i had to look that up when i was first called that. what am i now? the name calling is unbelievable, but it means they lack the willingness to make their case public. they know once the facts get out there our side's going to win, so demonize, demonize us, make us bad, mean-spirited people and what are they saying now? they're blaming it on the voters. the mean-spirited americans have come up with this candidate. wait a minute. these people have voted for someone who is speaking for them, but they can't accept that so now they'll demonize all the voters in america. you see? that's the key. don't be afraid of taking a position that's different. don't be afraid. learn it. make certain you feel assured that this is right. that this is something you believe in your heart that's so -- that's worthy of this battle and then get into battle and let them call you names time and time and time again until it doesn't matter to you. then they can't intimidate you anymore. they can't silence you. when they silence us, and they have silenced our whole movement or too often and for too long, then we lose, without ever having any kind of battle. they just win and roll over us. and that is what's wrong. we need to debate. we need people willingness to speak out for the american people. we need to have our voice out there. and so you all need to become the leaders that carry it out there and are bold. you have that courage of your conviction and you smile. call me what you will, but i'm coming back. be the americans you were meant to be. thank you all very, very much. thank you. 5 >> hello, everyone, we're ready to get started again. welcome to young america's foundation young americans for freedom training seminar here at our headquarters in reston, virginia, i'm an intern here at young americas foundation. for those of you who are unfamiliar young americas foundation is the premier outreach organization of the conservative movement. we introduce thousands of young people every year to the ideas of limited government, individual freedom, strong national defense and traditional values through our conferences, internships, campus lectures, young americans for freedom chapters of which i'm a proud member and also through our stra for entrepreneurship and free enterprise and the national journalism center. in 1998 young americas foundation stepped forward to save president ronald reagan's beloved ranch so we can pass on his ideas to future generations. president ronald reagan committed himself to reaching young people through his ideas and this goal is central to our mission. for more information on our mission or our programs, you can visit waf.org or call 1-800-usa-1776. for decades president reagan was deeply involved with young americans for freedom serving as their honorary national chairman and today we're pleased to be here training the next generation to carry the torch passed on to them by leaders such as ronald reagan and william f. buckley. this morning i have the pleasure of introducing a pillar of the conservative media. chris bedford. when i attended training semlares here at the foundation this past year i loved the session about using the media to your advantage and learning how to be effective of it. as a founder of my young americans for freedom chapter this past year at wheaton college, chris' techniques helped us to begin our activism. he's been involved in the foundation and the conservative movement for a long time. graduating from american university in 2008 with a bachelor of arts in print journalism and world politics where he was involved with multiple campus newspapers chris continued on to intern with the "reader's digest" and worked for the arcadia center, lucy byrnes institute and the charles g.koch charitable foundation. they then became the executive editor of conservativehd.com and the new guard. he currently serves as vice chairman of young americans for freedom board of governors. he's been a staunch supporter and fighter for free markets and advancing liberties. his work has been featured in the wall street "journal," politico, msnbc and talk radio and fox news. it's my pleasure to introduce a staple of the modern conservative movement, mr. chris bedford. >> like that dictator wave? those are nice words. a trick to journalists out there because right now we're going to be talking -- glad you liked the present because you're going to get it again. when msnbc talks poorly of you, you can say your work was featured there. put that right on your resume. i have never had an article or point brought up by chris hayes in a positive light. usually it's a leaked e-mail that dwoont be embarrassing if it wasn't funny on the e-mail. he rants and raves and check on the resume. first of all, happy birthday c-span you are 30 years old right now. if you watch the videos you can see young bob dole. but we do we a microphone for me to talk for attendees to speak? because i'm going to ask them some questions? cool. because i like to know who we're chatting with. so, let's start -- why don't you tell us name, where you're from, what you want to be when you grow up. why you're here. but don't go on for too long. >> my name is benjamin and i'm from the university of southern maine. which is in portland, maine. when i grow up i do want to be a lawyer specifically a constitution lawyer. >> portland has a lot of good breweries. >> yeah. >> i'm alex lohman, i'm from virginia tech. and when i grow up i kind of want to be a cfa,er? on that route. yeah. >> awesome. >> hi, i'm diana aguilar, i'm from the point loma university and when i grow up i want to be a political commentator. >> when i grow up i'm going to be the next california state senator. >> good. >> yeah. >> terrible state but it's getting better. >> hi, i'm christina hughes, i'm from the windit university in north carolina and i want to work in executive management. >> what does that mean? like being in charge? >> yeah, yeah. yeah, pretty much. >> good. >> hi, my name is abby chrisman and i'm from the wingit university in north carolina, i want to be a pharmacist when i grow up specifically pediatric oncology. >> just don't get hooked. >> yeah. >> i'm kenny shoo i'm from davidson college. i definitely want to go into marketing when i grow up. >> all right. >> manfred went, and i'm currently winding down my last year as a teenager and try to finish that strong before i do other stuff. >> all right. >> i'm darren england from virginia tech. i study chemical engineering so i want to be a chemical engineer when i grow up. >> actual skills. >> i'm an incoming freshman at penn state and i have a question. is there a reason you don't like american university? >> it was a terrible place. >> i want to get into business. >> it's an ugly campus with horrific architecture. it's probably the only, like, consistently ugly student body, too. and their ideas are both poorly informed and really deeply held. for example, they tried to arrest karl rove when i was there. they, like, laid down in front of his car and they got on top of his car. you should be impressed, oh, these students know who karl rove is but they were trying to arrest hem for war crimes and he's a political strategist, dude. he's not anything to do with this war. and then when the police i was watching gently lifted them up and it's easy because they are skinny vegan, placed them on grass, they called it brutality. i got beat up worse than that for breaking curfew when i was a kid. i don't like it but you learn a lot in opposition. >> hi, my name's josh, i go to the university of pittsburgh and i want to have a career in finance. >> cool. >> my name is mary dole, i go to texas christian university and i'm studying to be an accountant. >> i'm madison macaulay and i also go to texas christian university and i want to work in intelligence. >> military? cool. >> i'm cameron cawato and i go to tcu as well and i've always dreamed of running for president one day. >> okay. >> my name is chris, i'm from the university of north alabama. and i'd like to own my own business someday and i would like to do anything i can in politics after that. >> yeah. you guys have to remember you have to rack up a few things before you run for president or you could end up an unemployed florida senator. too soon? >> i'm scott morgan from gettysburg college and i have no idea what i want to do. >> that's fine, me neither. >> i'm mckenna stalk and i go to saddleback in california. and i want to do something in computer science. >> great. >> how's it going? i go to rogers university in bristol, road island, i would like to go into sales and advertising. >> christian chase. i go to roger williams as well and i'm studying business management. >> i'm william nardy and i'd like to work for you. >> good. we got spots. we'll haze you, though, like boot camp. >> my goal in life is to do political advocacy work for veterans. >> i'm ben larsen i'm from the university of nebraska and i'm hoping to eventually become a constitutional lawyer not like the one that's in the white house right now, though. >> oh, yeah. >> hi, my name is tim craft and i go to the university of pittsburgh and i want to go into psychiatry. >> the crazy people always want to go into psychiatry. it helped me and i want to help other people and i have a lot of friends now you're in charge of telling people, okay, sure. also don't get hooked. >> i'm jordan lehman from the university of wisconsin madison and i'm studying accounting. >> accounting? >> hi, i'm kyle chu, i go to saddleback college in california and i'm looking to go into constitutional law which appears to be, like, a lot of the room. >>off. >> i'm thomas columbus i go to saddleback college when i grow up i want to be a criminal lawyer. >> which side? >> district attorney. >> all right. hi, my name is ashley sherman and i go to texas christian university and i intend to go to law school after i finish my undergrad. >> are you going to wear the robes or defend scoundrels? >> my name is claire mckinney and i go to st. mary's of noter dame and i would like to go into law after i graduate. and maybe into being a public policy analyst. >> a lot of law people. if you don't get into one of the top five law schools you should probably get another job. it's really hard to be a lawyer right now. >> i go to california state university los angeles. and i want to become an investment banker. >> ooh. you've been in the news lately. >> my name is anna martinez and i also go to cal state los angeles and i want to become a psychologist emphasis on the military. >> i'm olivia also from cal state l.a. and starting usc for the master's program in social work so i kind of want to tie in politics with social work someday to make some money. >> that's going to be a lot of meetings policy and social work. it can be rough work. >> i go to cal state university los angeles and my ideal employment would be to be self-employed whether it be having my own business or whatever it is. my goal is to make it in business and economics and hopefully i'll get there with some push. >> yeah. >> my name's dillon keck. i'm a student at texas christian university studying economics and i intend to go to law school. >> you just didn't want to stay with the other texas christian university people. busted. >> all right. my name's emily hensler and i attend liberty university. i'm studying economics and finance there and i just want to stay in the conservative movement after i graduate. >> there are a lot of jobs and most of them you actually don't have to do much and they pay well. >> my name is aubrey and i go to columbia university studying english and political science and i want to work in investigative journalism. >> my name is cassie pollack and i go to the university of texas, austin. >> love that place. >> i would like to either be a political correspondent or a watchdog reporter post graduation. >> watchdog.org or somebody who watches like a dog? yeah. there's a lot of places for that. it's good. if you want to do investigative reporting learn spread sheets. it's really important for some reason. >> my name is annie patton and i go to indiana university and i'm thinking about pr and marketing. >> great. >> my name's jessie fox i go to hillsdale college and after graduation i want to go into pr or journalism. >> pr pays better but it's a lot less fun. >> my name's katie and i'm a student at rutgers university. i study history and political science and i want to go into political journalism. >> awesome. >> my name is aaron lunmark i go to gross state college and i'd like to work in public relations. >> this is the mjcors in the back. >> i go to hillsdale college and i want to go into journalism. >> the guys up front will be wealthier. >> my name's andrew. i go to amherst college. i still don't know what i want to do. >> in massachusetts? >> yeah. >> i've been there. it's beautiful. good pizza. good beer, too. >> i'm kelly. i go to gross city college as well and i'm interested in political journalism or speech writing. >> my name is katherine dunn. i go to colby college and i'm interested in going into journalism. >> i'm kelly mcdonnell. i go to holy cross in massachusetts and i want to stay at the "daily caller." >> awesome. >> i'm aubrey pool and i attend lancaster bible college and i plan to be a political journalism. >> i'm alex grubs and i go to point park university in pittsburgh. my goal is to be a multimedia journalist working overseas and studying stories over there. >> the fight between whether it's going to be print and digital is over it's how digital is going to make money is the new problem which is a pain of the butt for being overseas. >> i'm anders hegstrom and i go to hillsdale college and i am interning at the "daily caller" and i'd love to work there once i graduate. >> i'm josh. i go to vanderbilt university, i'd like to work in journalism or television production. >> great. journalism is more fun. both come with, like, unhealthy habits, late nights and a lot of unnecessary drinking but journalism is more rewarding and you don't get yelled at as much. >> i go to concordia university in irvine, california. i have a real passion for politics and the conservative movement but i couldn't tell you what i want to do yet so -- >> i'm with you. >> my name's arisa, i'm a junior at yale university and i'll probably go into consulting. >> stay away from the weird clubs at yale. all these different conservative groups always vying who is the most conservative and people come out departmented. >> hello, i'm matt from willard, maryland, and i would like to work in the white house one day. >> i love baltimore. i went there for halloween. took a girl there for valentine's day, doesn't sound nice, but you can get a great hotel and a fantastic dinner for cheaper than drinks in d.c. >> i'm delaney mcpherson. i'm from the university of south carolina and i'm a journalism major going to stay in journalism. >> hello. my name is mark mccarrick from california and i plan on running my own international nonprofit ngo focusing on war crimes and human rights. >> it's a great racket. just ask the clintons. can make a lot of money that way. >> i'm studying marketing at hillsdale college. >> my name is sophie carson and i'm a journalism major at the university of st. thomas and i would like to go into political journalism. >> my name's james ring. i attend mcalister college and i want to pursue either journalism or law. >> my name is booma patton and i go to northern virginia community college and i would like to be a human rights activist and i want to serve as a bridge between the united states and the third world countries. >> my name's victoria troop, i'm internaling with "the washington free beacon" but i study political science. >> don't do anything that he does. >> that's exactly what he told me about you. >> he's self-aware. i kicked him out of my christmas party three times in the same night and i had multiple people i had to remove from that event. and he was one of the ones i quickly forgave because as opposed to apologizing or refusing to apologize he would not admit it happened. that doesn't sound like me. you got the wrong guy. okay. fine. >> i'm grant strobel from the university of michigan and i want to be a constitutional lawyer so i can sue universities for a living. >> oh, that's awesome. they have so much money. >> my name's kyle faby i go to twingeit university and i like to go to constitutional law and run for u.s. senate. >> my name's kyle lankus and i'm studying electrical engineering from ucf and i want to either have my own business or be a rock star. >> all right. >> emily. what do you want to be when you grow up? >> my name is emily, and i want to be the spokesperson at young americas foundation. >> awesome! the first trick of the day is how to turn an hourlong presentation into a 38-minute presentation. so i'm going to come back to talk to the mjc feem about how to be a good journalist and not piss people off. you don't need to take four years studying journalism. you really need to be in the newsroom. you can drop out of college right now and we'll hire you. i'll talk about how to influence reporters and how to get them to care because reporters are a fundamentally lazy group of people who are self-important divas that want to feel like they're smart and figured things out but really we didn't. it's just someone who has skills gave us some awesome tidbit. oh, my gosh, how did "the new york times" figure out this thing about -- they didn't. somebody is, like, i know this because i actually work had in the real world and i want other people to know it because it's crazy so they get in touch with a journalist. who is that hack glenn greenwald who now goes around saying he's a freedom fighter in between stints with his cabana boy in brazil. they tried to get in touch with him for months edward snowden and they wouldn't take the e-mails because he didn't think it was a story. and snowden, traitor, gave him the story and he pretends he discovered it. he didn't. he got in touch with the right leaker. you can get in a journalist's ear very easily and you will break a lot of stories by developing verification or catching their ears, so we're going to talk about the national news cycle and how to get in it and hearts and minds. so, conservatives for decades complained and complained and complained and are actually still complaining. there's a professional grievance institution at the -- on the right which is why they get their butts kicked so often about how the media wasn't on our side and they weren't getting heard and nobody was listening to them and now you see the modern incarnation is the hash tag. for years conservatives mocked the president for having hash tags, like bring back our girls which brought back four thoroughly abused women and they think they will stop trump with a twitter hash tag. the better thing to do is to become what you're jealous of and what you miss. so that was tucker carlson's idea. it was actually bill buckley a human events idea and bill buckley in the '50s and '60s and they were able to seriously flu influence the world with their journalism opinion. but they were opining on facts that had been uncovered largely by liberal institutions like "the new york times" or "the washington post." they were still just dealing with the facts given to them by people who -- whose bias starts when they wake up in the morning with how they choose to dress. it's not because you hate red socks because you choose blue socks it's what you did or what stories you choose to cover. a lot of people say point to the bias in this piece. maybe you can't find bias in that piece but why was that story chosen and another one neglected? that's one of the tyrannies of bias. but instead of complaining just rule the medium. own talk radio. own the internet. have newspapers. start conservative newspapers actually probably not presented because you can probably wait for the other ones to die which is slowly happening except the vanity project ones. now, i remember when i was getting started in journalism i wrote -- would write op-eds, like, why i'm conservative as if anybody cares. no one cares why you're conservative. no one cares what your opinions are until you are charles krauthammer and you can say whatever you want and people cover it. but that took a long time to get there. so, nobody cares what your thoughts are on foreign relations. i know all of us like to write about foreign affairs, but we're in our 20s, what do we know? unless you fespent your teenage years and early 20s in the military serving overseas not as a desk jockey or in the air force then people don't really care about your opinions that much so you have to break actual hard news, things that happened that would affect us. and you have to move beyond just preaching to the choir. so, i guarantee you if you guys, you know, take a dump on the campus you could probably get breitbart to write about it. but who is that going to reach? it's going to reach a bunch of people on breitbart. that can be helpful for your clubs because it can get you noticed by potential donors and folks already aligned but if you want to make a difference beyond that sphere you have to get into some of the local papers. some of the majors or some of the places where folks ---er who folks don't click on it why do i hit obama today? all right. maybe they just have an open mind and they want to open their paper. one way to do it is with a speaker. but i love this sad picture of ron paul. i wanted to change it for this presentation because ron paul is unfortunately becoming less and less and less relevant, but there's no sadder picture of a politician that's like not for some good reason. like, my ex once made an ad and she was trying to attack the governor of colorado and this picture got by them from the ad agency of the governor looking really sad next to the president, fortunately, that picture was from right after the aurora shootings, dude, you can't. this is not -- mostly politicians look sad for a reason. ron paul is hanging out. but if you have a speaker, i still don't care. it's, like, newt gingrich came to our campus. okay. fine. i need more than that. journal is want more than that. their lead story. one of my reporters said to me, hey, i got this story, newt wnt to a campus in indiana. i would say, do 50 push-ups and then get back to work. but if the story is that it was the biggest rally that maybe some liberal university -- my landlord is butt dialing me -- had seen all year or is the only conservative speaker and he drew a big crowd that could be news worthy. it's usually better for local papers and for campus oriented papers, but you can still get that. you have to having? that makes your event special. it's not just i got up this morning and someone came. it's got to be this event was awesome. and, of course, pat and the rest of -- and emily can teach you how to make these events awesome or seems sometimes bigger than they or more contentious that they are and there's a lot of tricks that people learn. was there a protest? a lot of chapters have been doing a fantastic job of getting attacked because starting with original yaf and the free speech movement at berkeley which the entire thing was shutting down speech that hasn't changed at all. people will try to shut you down because you're violating their safe faspace. it's horrible and it's great for news. when the little eichmanns swarm into your face and grab the microphones and physically assault you because your opinions somehow hurt them, that is news. it probably won't get you on msnbc but it will get you on fox news or "the daily caller" and a couple other national outlets. provoke them. be a provocateur. the older you get, the more punches hurt and the more -- i almost got into a bar fight last night, pat, for the first time in, like, six years. i called the guy fat polkkepoke. it's true. when you ared older you won't want to start fights. but today you can. that is news. no. rick santorum is you a sawesome smart but occasionally he's news worthy. those are some of the things i want to come with or you should come with and lead with at the top of your sentence if you e-mail a reporter and spend three paragraphs talking about whimsy, whamsy, whatever the hell, why i'm a conservative, i'm not going to read beyond the first three sentences. it needs to be right punch at the top why is this interesting to me. biggest crowd, insane liberals. get video. send that stuff. i mean, a crazy dude pulling over his car on the side of the road and ripping down high schoolers anti-abortion posters to protect high schoolers is news worthy because it's video of it. you're being violent as he attacks people so take video. if you are doing activism, there's a couple things you can do. remembering the people who died on september 11th is something that will always get press. and it should be done not because it gets press because it's amazing. i remember years ago when everyone clearly remembered 9/11 it wasn't as important. except to build a foundation, now we have people turning 18 in 2 years who won't even have been born when nine 9/11 happened. when i was with an entertainment reporter and this video was amazing to help us restore 9/11 and her story didn't make any sense. i got sent home from school. i had no idea what was going on. how did you not know? she was in third grade. don't worry we hire a lot of young people so, that will always get news because it's amazing to see young people cherish the memories and not let people forget. but a lot of the other activism we do is not an innocent beautiful picture and epic story. so, it needs something a little bet more. if you are a leftist and you want to build a palestinian refugee camp you would get a lot more press if you bulldozed it yourself or if you built a wall like the berlin wall and tear it down yourself. you don't need a bulldozer for it because they tore -- actually, you do. they at least got good pictures tearing it down with hammers and if you are lucky the little eichma eichmanns on your campus will tear it down for you because they will say it offends them and violating their safe face. those are the things that make news and worth getting in your papers. you can get stuff in your campus paper if you want to reach out to the community you have to know more than i know papier-mache or i put boxes on top of each other. yeah, i guess that gets a lot of applause i guess on the campus, i have skills, but it needs a little bit of drama as well. also the easy -- a really easy way to do it is to piss people off. do guns. i don't know. go shooting. practice safety. girls help, too. we got a ton of press at the "daily caller" just by having a contest where we gave our readers guns. so far no crimes have been committed with these guns. it did take a little bit of trust and a lot of background checks and we had one for ar-15s and i want to raise some money for who wants to hunt a polar bear. because, first of all, there are more polar bears than can be sustained. the starving pictures are because there are too many fricking polar bears for the environment. but -- then the left would drag you out to lynch you on msnbc and you could explain to them there are too many polar bears and they are eating each other. now, another way to do it, outside of making news, is to write. so, there are a number of different ways that you can make this happen. the easiest and a good way to start is a letter to your editor. you also have the opinion -- the opportunity to do an op-ed or opinion piece and finally a news story which as we found at the "caller" is among the best way to influence people is to write hard news because opinions can be dismissed so easily. i will tell you what differentiates these things. a letter to the editor is short and sweet and is a response. i've said this before but never write why i am a conservative. i tried to use it to win a scholarship. no one cares. you need to respond to something that happened in your local paper, in your campus paper, in your state's paper or in national newspaper. they constantly have horrific opinions, like, we shouldn't nuke the whales and you can be, like, well, i think we should and you can write something on why, why we have to nuking? and the whales have been getting off easy and why let the japan knee japanese have all the fun when that's what built the east coast. stay local. if your town didn't have a very good memorial day celebration or recognition, you can write about that. or if there's a change where your town decides, you know, solar panels are such a good idea we'll make everyone use them because they're not using them. you can write something that's local. what it is not a here's my point. it is a disagreement. so, you see an article that you disagree with, like, don't nuke the whales actually here's why i think you should. or if something hasn't been addressed. so, they had this finding or thing, great news, everyone, it now costs 25 cents to take a plastic bag from the grocery store. this is awesome. you can say also consider, you know, all the rich people in their priuses have their own fancy bag and all this is doing is adding $2 in tax to the poorest people in your community's grocery bill and the money that is allegedly going to clean up the anacostia river is already spent but you have to keep it short. editors are looking to fill face space and they will print these things but it needs to be quick and to the point and you cannot go off base. you can say, like, you know, we should nuke the whales and we should also be sending instead of jobs missiles to china. stay to one or the other. and don't be discouraged. on my first week six years ago i sent an op-ed to our opinion editor who is now studying law at yale and his response was i'm going to pass on this, thanks. i'm sitting right next to you, you skinny weirdo. i will knock you out. and he'd always taken my op-eds but they will be shot down and you will have put a lot of work into them. it will be hurtful but don't quit. keep on going. also you can take the same op-ed and shop it to multiple places but don't let it be printed in more than one place because most people do want exclusivity. i think that's it for letter to the editor. if you're doing an op-ed you have to stay short but you have a lot more room. generally unless you're a genius you should stick to around 500 or 750 words or max out at 1,200. stay to this model for years. eventually if some of you are lucky, people will care about your opinion and you can go on forever, but not yet. so, you want to keep people engaged. and you want to stay local and stay timely, again, why i'm a conservative is not a good op-ed. why i disagree with this, why i'm for this, that can be an op-ed. and you should respond to issues that are already occurring in the news. now, some friends of mine will drink whiskey in my kitchen and rant to knme all day about everything that they hate or love and they wake up in the morning and i can't think of anything to write about. how about that crap you filled my ear with all night? you're clearly passionate about it. so, a trick to figuring out what you do want to write is trying to remember through the whiskey what you were yelling about and excited about the night before. and that's usually a good starting point. i wrote an op-ed which probably did better than any i've written based on a thought at the bar which was i don't love donald trump, i just don't like you. because somebody was arguing, like, over their chardonnay about how, like, donald trump says crazy things. he's literally hitler. that was crazy what you just said. so, i texted that to myself and i never publish or send something after a drink but always edit sober. and go back through your case because your case may be a rant. you don't want that. now, stating your case and why it's the best is important. don't just say it's something, like, because the liberals are stupid! like, have, like, this is why i think that forcing people to spend more on their energy bill to use some government subsidized technology hurts the poor, hurts the middle-class and helps the rich. and also don't be afraid to point out your opponents' points of view. i know you don't have a lot of space but it's worth saying proponents of this subsidy says it does this, here is why it does not. it's not your lead but it comes shortly after. your lead is the first sentence. many of you probably already know. and stay on target. don't go off on tangents. it's easy. this is another reason to edit sober. it's really easy to get off and excited and start looping and dooping and you need to -- like porky, stay on target. also don't just use your opinions. because your opinions i can't stress this enough don't matter. you need examples. why your opinion matters. not because, you know, we understand our rights to be god given and by nature. but that's not something typically to make an op-ed on if you are trying to say 500 to 750 words. hit them with cold, hard facts and at the end have having beyond this. don't just say they suck. i rock, the end. have a point of action. havine ingsomething if you're a member of the community who actually reads the bottom of the article, most won't, here's a way we can help. here's why our solutions do work. here's why this is a terrible thing on campus and what can be done to fix it. and don't quit because op-eds even more than letters to the editor take a lot of work and they will be shot down all the time. i've written some magnum opuss that in my in-box unpublished and years later you will look back and say, thank goodness that wasn't published, that was crazy. leverage your contacts. absolutely leverage your contacts. i would suggest just in this room after you spend a weekend together you'll get to know some of each other and you won't get to know some of each other. have a listserve where you can swap ideas. how do they know a congressman or someone in the senate and it's just because all of your dip shit buddies eventually grow up to be important or some of them. a third of them will probably fail or drop out. at least maybe a quarter of them will go on to be something. so, keep in contact. i started a lisserve with a classmate in 2010 and we still use it for professional help, for looking for sources for articles, for looking for work and more often than not looking for a place to live in d.c. or around the world because people also leave especially this front row. you guys are going into rather diverse fields. everyone in journalism knows each other but you guys will be spreading out, so stay in touch. get connections. use people like me. use the speakers. we love to hear from you. and why did i write facebook and twitter? oh, yeah, i guess you have to use those, too. i hate twitter. i can't use the word here. it's, like, a bunch of people in a circle doing things with themselves. and e-mail lists. so when you do write stuff, send it out. because no one -- no one has the time to load the "daily caller" which takes a few minutes multiple times a day just waiting for my op-ed to drop so collect e-mails. when someone accidently doesn't blind carbon copy someone take all those e-mails that's how i got karl rove's e-mail. someone screwed up at the "daily caller." get to know your op-eds. also put it in different contexts you meet along the way. and also make sure to probably not include everyone in the e-mail blast, making fun of ted cruz. don't put ron on the e-mail, when i'm making fun of a senator, i don't put staff in the e-mail. you can write these down. they're weird. they're long. i can send them to you or send you this presentation for evidence and my eventual criminal proceedings but the top site is still kept up to date and it has a list of all the papers that still manage to exist who are otherwise very hungry for content. have less advertising and money and want your stories. you can get your pieces -- this is a good way to target. so, even if you want to move outside of your state, like, something's going on in idaho and you're in indiana, you can find ways what are these newspapers that i would want to pitch. how would i get my story out? that bottom one is fantastic, too, it ran for 20 years and they stopped updating about a year ago so you might run into a couple dead ends more and more as time goes on. but it's still a decent news site. i will use another minute of this presentation to let you guys write this down. just kidding. all right. so, getting into people's hearts and minds. you want to know who you writing for. i used to write for a legend and our second executive editor, at hq, you know you've made it to the center right once you've been fired by richard, almost everyone has. he would always say, who are we talking to? are we trying to get to the tea party or are we trying to get to ed meese? reagan's attorney general. those are different audiences. one you can have an eagle tearing through a flag and say obama, hitler is coming for your gold! and they'll read it. ed meese is not going to read that so you have to know who you are writing for and direct it towards that. if you are writing towards students or you are writing towards your town or you are writing towards your state or professors, keep that in mind with your writing and don't muddy it with trying to appeal to everyone. there are some things that can broadly appeal like a hard news story but it's a little bit difficult so figure out what your message is and who you want to reach and the best way to get people to read your article is not -- there are some pundits who have made a living and since we're on tv i won't say their names by telling you things that either, one, you disagree with, two, you agree with, or three, you don't care. nobody wants that. that's not impressive. what is impressive is to get people to think about something in a way they hadn't before. s they present opinions that, wow, i hadn't even considered. i'm going as to tell you how though avoid a few my takes, that plague us all. one rule is you should write at the third-grate level if you're writing journalism, simply because people absorb it very quickly. it's not because your audience is typed, it's because your audience typically has a lot of skills, and jury roomists always say, they don't understand my writing, but they have skills and you will you do is write. they're busy, you need to write at a let like the great reddit thing -- explain it to me like i'm five. severalally people who don't have type for your stuff won't read your op-eds. you get a bit of leeway, and don't use sarcasm. it's not funny, it's just snarky. some people are really good at sarcasm, you're rare. you typically come off as a jerk, and no one is going to read you if they feel like you're insulting them or agreeing with them right off the top. now, i'm going to go through this fairly quickly. bill buckley, found you are of young americans for freedom, one of the original conservative journalists and one of the most successful, he founded "national review if '55, 60, and right after barry goldwater got his butt kicked, ran for mayor of new york, he founded "firing line," which is actually celebrating its 50th anniversary next week? i don't know. what's silver? it's the silver anniversary. in the spare time he wrote 50 bucks, hundreds and hundreds of columns. wrote for newspapers all over the world. unfortunately you're not bill, none of us are bill, so we can't just rely on his strength. so we need to focus on our lead, the top sentence, and choose carefully the words that we use. this is an example of a buckley lead. now, that's one paragraph. it's like a swirling maze. he wrote in the united kingdom style of escale writing, you write this, but this, but this, but this, but ah, on. oh, you can't do that. the united states audience won't read it. even the british won't read it. despite popular pin, everyone in the world is stupid, not just here in the states. you knew succinct points. think back to writing class in grade school. what's your topic sentence, your supporting evidence? get to your point as soon as possible. if you're writing a letter to the editor, what's your beef? i get these tips online, and all the time that go on and on and on, before they say "and i don't like this article." if it's your op-ed, what is your thesis? and with a newspaper article, it's the news. so i'm going to give you an example. i can't name drop, because there's dozens of people watching right now, but here's an example of a lead a few years ago. on conservative columnist and author, have endangered america took issue -- i hate extra phrase -- with previous comment made by florida governor jeb bush. right now i'm completely bored. if you're work working the news and -- in the news you're reading thousands of headlines. in life you're doing real things and you don't have time for that crap. what is his story? so that should be conservative firebrand and -- del definitely get into the race sunday. that's the news. ojeb bush is getting in the race, and now we know a very successful run, he's about to be president. so don't waste time even with a rarely used, what day it is. that can be second. what happened, what is the news? why am i reading this? this is from the same writer. he lives down in florida now, great guy. he's a tv journalist. probably watching right now. probably not. s okay. so now i know there's a tv show, there's a day of the week, that there's a radio, and that james car ville, a democratic strategist for life doesn't like -- three minutes? doesn't like republicans. i know that. get to the point. get to it. finally. words. now, this is buckley again f don't use those words o people have no attention span. raise year hand if you have clicked out of a individually in the last week, because the advertisement was 15 seconds. that's where our on the attention pan. she is a group of people who came to washington, d.c. to sit in seminars and learn. if you sit -- don't make them stop to google something. let them know how smart you are with your point, not with your vocabulary. do not shy from learning words and loving words and understanding words. they are their place, but not in the newspaper. also, make an ass you have yourself all the time. people using big words incorrectly is great. also be very careful with the word ironic, because you almost always will screw it up. s on oh, and don't get too grand. my goodness, i was reading this great story from a war reporter, and he went on with flowers and flowers and the stench of death creeps ones a the souls of those who suffered and went on with flowers and grandiosity. it made him like lie a poofter, but don't despair. he has a lot of lessons. there's more than one way to approach an issue. for example, if you're talking about abortion, you don't always have to come at -- you can talk about the social costs, the libertarian cost of a family that's childless, of a country that's childless, or talk about divorce, the monetary costs of this. or you can cub at lib are taern issues, know your audience, don't be afraid to branch out. practice -- balance your ideal and practicing ma temple, don't just light pyres and light them up. you're going to win some and lose some, and use your local professo professors, call up experts, doctors. a lot of people will -- there's a lot of brilliant people that you can reach on yourtake risks, don't be detardy, accept responsibility. work hard. you hear all this from lee edwards. this graph is wildly out of date. our traffic is more an 16 to 18 million. write for "the daily caller." you can join this awesome list of reporters, a lot of who sat in your seats years ago, and a lot of which, ted gooman, went to law school, now a reporter. you can skip all that dead. you could drop out right now. i'll leave that on the board for a minute. these are some of the e-mails. i'll -- you can also emale me. send tips to us, thinking that are going on on your campus, hey, bedford, this is going nuts. now go eat some snickers and eat all the junk food they got for you. ? just a minute or two, british prime minister david cameron will participate in a discussion on the uk's refer ren democrat later this month on whether to remain a member of the european union. we'll have live coverage here on c-span3. madam secretary, we proudly give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the understanding. united states. and voting light, as north carolina holds primary election. we're covering the results from today's primaries from california, montana, new jersey, new mexico, south dakota, and north dakota, with candidates speeches and viewer reactions on c-span starting tonight at 9:00 eastern. now let's go live to that forum on the uk's member in the eu. british prime minister david cameron and uk independence party leaders nigel farage will present both sides of the debate. the referendum happens later this month. this televise the forum is courtesy of itv. we're standing by for a forum in the eu. david cameron and nigel farage will present the various sides. the two party leaders will then each take questions from a studio audience during the hour-lounge on program. british voters take part in an in-and-out referendum on june 24th. plismt f ais-- mr. farage will questions first. the prime minister will then take the flare. on julie etchingham, who is moderating this program is one of the it's successful leaders in debate program moderators. during the 2015 general election campaign. we're going to that forum. >> announcer: the battlelines are drawn on the biggest decision of a lifetime. ♪ good evening. there are just 16 days ago to go on a momentous decision. david cameron wants is to remain. nigel farage, leader of the independence party, has gained his political life campaigning to get out. over the course of the next hour both men will be quizzed. first up this evening is nigel farage. [ applause ] welcome. our first question is from daniel green this evening. >> the majority of the uk and business leaders believe that leaving the eu has a significant risk of decline. i don't understand what i stand to gain. >> 25 years ago we had a government backed up by the tuc, backed up by the so-called expert economists and mr. cameron at the time worked in the treasury, and they took is into a exchange rate mechanism. they pegged the level of sterling against the deutsche mark. i was dealing in the commodities business, you whole thing was stone bonkers. within two years all the experts were proved wrong we had record bankruptcies and record house repossessions. ten years went by an the very same people were all saying to us, ah, if you had jon join the euro, the city of london will close, terrible things will happen to you, all i can say is thank god we didn't join the euro. now this same gang, who seems to be a bit wrong about everything, through this process of group-think, and because in many cases, though these masquerade as being independent, they're actually being paid by the government or paid by the taxpay taxpayer, are telling us terrible things would happen outside of the european union. they've been wrong before and they are wrong again. people lining john longworth, who resigned his position to speak out against this, and people like digby jones, the former director general of the cbi. the trend is if they're currently in post they on support of stat cuss quo. once they resign, then they speak more freely. i would say this to you. trade is not made by governments. trade is not made by bureaucrats. it's made by people like you. you buy products, you choose to buy a product or you don't. you know what? once we have divorced ourselves amicably, we will then go on buying cars and wine and trading happily. >> thank you very much indeed. thank you, daniel, for the questions. we're going to go to a gentleman not far away, aaron barnsby. >> hello, i work in the pharmaceutical industry, they're here because we're in the eu. do you think or independence is going to risk thousands of jobs and billions of annual income to our economy. >> well, i don't buy the fact that a pharmaceutical company is in britain because we're in the eu. they're in britain because they want. >> i interrupt you had. some operations can only be done in the eu. i can't do my job in switzerl d switzerland. you have to be in the eu, and that's why they have eu headquarters in the uk, which makes it worth $34.2 billion. >> i have to say i'm not wholly happy with much of the way the industry has been behaved. they're lobbying in brussels, which is massive, and i see the way they've been very good at putting out of the business people producing alternative medicine, so not everything -- >> and this is did imptsds i've had heard these arguments about car manufacturers, that the people are only here because we're in the eu. you know what? we have in this country actually a big domestic market. to give you a sense of perspective, right? only 12% of the entire british economy, 12% is exports to the european union -- >> this is specific -- >> and also about jobs, too. >> 20 on 4 report from the government, 34.2 billion. the agency is in london. it's all medicines or groundbreaking once for the whole of europe are reviewed in london. you can't do that from another part of europe. >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. this is -- this is entirely and utterly false. for example, our biggest industry isn't pharmaceuticals. our biggest industry by a mile is, of course, financial services of all kinds. from stocks and shares to pensions to h-funds, you name it, it's our biggest industry, brings or biggest revenue, all of that has been transferred to agency that are scattered around the europe. >> i think we've had plenty on that, mr. farage. thank you for the question. we're going to go to heather reeves. >> if we leave, we may find ourselves punished to set examples for other countries. what safeguards are in place to protect us especially when the negotiations don't go our way. what did our generation vote for 40 years ago? tariff-free access to the european market. 40 years on, what we find is that tariffs across the world have come down because of globalization. for the benefit of tariff-free access to a market that sells us more than we sell them, that regulates not just the 12% of the economy that sells to the eu, but the other 88% as well. gives us unlimited free movement, and bans us, make our own trade deals with the rest of the world frankly the cost of membership far outweighs any benefit. if those renegotiations went badly, let's say the worst-case scenario, the french and germans decide to cut off their nose to spite their face -- hold on -- with their biggest export marked in the world, do you know what? if they put harvs on us, those already lower than or net financial contribution, so no deal with better than the rotten deal we have at the moment. and the reality of that -- >> allow us to come back on that. >> the president of the eu commission has already said that deserters will not be welcomed. >> i know, isn't he lovely? >> and the uk -- will not be handled with kid glove. we talked to the chancellor and prime ministers of spain and -- >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. we're british. we're better than that. we're not going to be bullied other than the not elected jean-claude. forget it. steven dennison smith has a question. >> mr. farage, you have maintained that wages are kept low by uncontrolled immigration in the uk, and if we leave the eu, one of the benefits will be that wages rise. >> yes. wirchlts wouldn't it be so that increased wages will make us less competitive globally, and is it far better we allow wages to rise because we have a stronger economy in europe and artificially restrict the pot -- and boost labor rates that way? >> what we have done is artificially given or labor market a situation where there's been a dramatic oversupply. that has driven down the cost of labor. that's just simple market forces. indeed, they have backed up the fact that the people on average salaries their living standards are 10% lower than they were in 2008. >> if i can come back to you on that, what i say is just artificially jacking -- the cost environment in the uk up by restricting labor supply -- the problem you've got is that you've seen traditional industries move to other parts of the world to lower cost manufacturing environments, and simply if you make us more expensive to do business artificially -- >> this is the art of lord rhodes, of course, the chairman of the britain is stronger europe group that appears to have gone into hibernation. when he was asked if britain leaves the european union, has a work perform system, wouldn't wages go up? he said, yes. but i don't think that would be a good thing. you know something, there is more to this country than just being competitive -- >> aren't we artificially rgets i'm sorry, sir, what is artificial is to open dyers, flood our labor markets and see some of the best, finest -- i'm -- >> in a nursing home and needing someone to mop up behind us if you double the cost of that kind of work. what are you going to do? >> i don't know about double the cost, but significantly higher. i'm saying it's wrong wrong wrong that average decent names in this country, their living standards have fallen, and it's about time, as a society we started thinking, not just about gdp figures, not just about the rich getting richer, but ordinary britton britons versus a rotten time. how can you have the audacity to use some of blatant scaremongering tactics in light of the recent sectionium assault in germany, you have basically suggested that a vote to remain is a vote for british women to be subdued to the same horrific assaults. >> just calm down there a little bit. >> i'm perfectly calm. >> sometimes what it says at the top of a newspaper page and what you have actually said can be slightly this different. i'm used to being demonized -- just let me finish -- and i have -- what i first suggested, we should have an australian style point system. you would think i had said something dreadful. >> that's not what i asked. >> what i said about cologne, it's a huge issue in germany, a huge issue? sweden, i think angela merkel has made a being mistake by saying please, anyone comes, and what's happened is a very large number of young, single males have settled in germany and in sweden who come from cultures where attitudes towards women are different. i haven't scaremongered in any way at all. >> are you embarrassed that justin wellby said you're legitimizing racism. >> i'm sorry. i'm not going to sit here and attack the archbishop of canterbu canterbury, but he would have done better to hear what i said -- and he would do well to see what the head of the roman catholic church in jenny has said, because he's made very robust pop comments. >> you're using people as foos bates to many -- >> this is an tilledly issue farce i'm concerned in this election campaign, but i knew at shall point the remainers would come for me and would try to conflay something i had said out of all proportion. i do believe in border controls. i believe we need a sensible balanced migration, and i do believe germany has made a mistake. >> we're going to stay on this issue and go to enrile morgan. >> i know a lot of issues that have been raised is that you are going to increase the fear and discrimination of black british people through your anti-pip gra -- anti-immigration red rick. >> how are you going to safeguard that? >> i take a very strongly pro-commonwealth view. i think it was very bad and wrong of us to turn our backs on the commonwealth in favored a upiansh all now what we do, if you have a qualification and you come from india or parts of africa, you now find it very, very difficult to get into this country, despite the historical strong -- >> you're still anti-immigration -- >> i won't have that -- >> you are anti-immigration, with the scaremongering comments and that have gone against people that look nonwhite. if you are not white british people going to -- about their identity and nationality in this country. that is what i really want to know. >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. i tell you what. if you want to think that, and you don't -- >> i don't think that. that's the majority of people who look black british or nonwhite have very real concerns. >> can i tell you that lots of them voted for my party in the last election? >> did they? >> stand for us on candidates. >> on what number -- >> you're not listening, are you? >> how much -- >> i can't do a lot the unless i'm allowed to answer. i take a view that's strongly pro-commonwealth. if we have an australian style point system rather than an open door to 508 million people, then actually it will be better for black people coming into britain who currently find it difficult, because we have this open door. i would also say this to you, once again, this team to demonize the lead campaign or me actually, there is big support for this among the ethic minority in this on country that know our open border policy is damaging all our communities. and here's our command, maybe the one and only chance to get a grip on this issue. >> thank you very much. we're now going to go to john nightingale. >> mr. farage, a number of high-profile studies have shown that my grant contribute far more than they take out. how can you constantly ignore these findings and continue to to tell that you immigration is a disaster for the uk? >> we see reports that say that eu migrants pay more tax thain they take out. i saw a report yesterday that suggestsed that actually it's a marginal loss. i meet you in the meddle, we agree with the house of lords who looked at this and said, in economic terms it's probably about equal. all right? but my argument is this, mr. cameron, who will come on afterwards will tell you it's a wonderful economic benefit, and despite his pledge in the general election of reducing immigration to tens of thousands a year now it would be disastrous for our economy. the real truth is that the population of this country is rising at a number where we need to value people's quality of life and standard of living, and not just national gdp figures. if immigration continues at the current rate, our population will be 80 million by 2040. just to cope with that, you know, we need to built a new house every four minutes night and day just to cope with the current number. what i'm saying is let's have a builded approach. >> we as you well know, have an aging population here that we are going to need migrants to pay our pensions, to pay for hospitals, to pay for the nhs, all that is going to be necessary. if you think you can actually stop people coming in here, when you -- if you persuade or country to leave the european union, and then you find in fact every country, every european country that wants to trade in the free market has to have free movement of people, what are you going to do in two years' time? are you going to ask to join again? >> you're bringing something else in here. nowhere else in the world is the argued made that to trade with each other, you need free movement of people. >> it does in the eu. that's -- we live in europe. >> the americans sell more into the european market than we do. they are not members of the european union, they don't have a trade deal, and they most certainly don't have free movement of people. >> every european country that is not in the eu, but wants to trade with the eu has to have free movement. >> but it doesn't have to have free movement. the swiss have just voted against it, as you well know. >> thank you very much indeed. year being to move on, and turn to dominic rath, who has a question on law and order and security. >> according to the director of injure yo a number of former police chiefs saysh wouldn't it be a huge backward step to leave the eu for security? how do you ensure our safety isn't compromised? >> it's the same debate. some people say it's much better to be with the european union, and they tent to be the people who are currently employed. >> when you say former -- >> and then -- >> okay, look, and then ri67 ar dearlove, who says actually it's a dangerous place for us to be. look, i take this very simple view. you quoted europol at me. the say boss said that the my grant policy -- these are not refugees, mostly economic my grant policies, sparked by angela americale, has led topoto 5,000 jihadis coming into the european union in the space of the last 15 months. the former boss of entinterpol. the question is how do we deal with issues like this? the first point is this -- this is -- should be a british passport, it says european union on it. i think to make this country safer, we need to get back british passports so we check anybody else coming in. i really do. >> i completely agree on the border control, but our security is not just about that. terrorism accounts for some tiny proportion of the cases that our police are involved with around europe. you've had the convention which allows the databases to be says up. car fraud, you have the arrangement where car fraud losses are much lower than outside of it. there are all these reasons that aren't actual terrorist or mime i my grant related. and we're the leading people in europe that have caused a huge number of -- >> he obviously has a lot on his plate. >> i notice he has. >> you have to be very brief. >> two approaches. one, as a sovereign nation, we cooperate and exchange information with our friends and felts neighbors, but no one says we have to become the 51st state of america to do this. i think we do it as a sovereign nation and not give away the authority. >> and the director of europol is spoke in favor of remaining. >> we have a lot of intelligence to come in to do with terrorism outside. the ones within the union aren't in that vein, and i don't think you -- >> dominic, thank you very much, dom any. we're going to speak now and here from jonah tanbridge. >> even if we leave the eu, we're a po member of a whole different organizations, all of which involve sovereignty trade-off, so we're leaving the eu really to establish uk, or is it a bit of an emotional red herring. >> we have no vote on the world trade organization. britain and sometimes we're asked to even leave the room, because we have given the ability to do that, to a bureaucrat -- >> i keep hearing that. >> the european commissioners are unelected, they're appointed, and they have the sole right -- >> again my understanding is they're point by elected representatives by -- >> mr. yunker, we can't vote for him other remove him. >> thank you very much. >> the point by this referendum, this is a referendum for us to vote to get our independence as a nation dish. >> thank you. >> we make our own laws in our own parliaments. >> thank you, mr. farage, one more question. we just wants to get one more question, please. mr. grimwood, you have a question. >> we've been told this referendum is a once in a generation opportunity. i'm just interested to know what you think the eu will look like in 20 years' time if we stay in it. >> well, i think it's done for, frankly. i think the eurozone is a catastrop catastrophe. look what has happened to greece and the mediterranean countries dividing within countries leading to a whole new brand of politics. the money has run out, and yet at the same time they're saving up for the day after our referendum, announcements about a european army and increased budget. the project doesn't work. i want us to get back our independence, but to say we'll be good europeans. we'll trade with europe, cooperate with europe, but govern ourselves. i believe when we do that's correct the rest of the europe will do that, too. a happy europe will be a democratic europe, who are good neighbors in the same streak. that's where i want to get us to. >> thank you very much indeed. i need to stop you there, mr. farage, thank you so far to all you're questioners and to you, too, mr. farage. we will let you take your leave from us. >> thank you. [ applause ] we're going to take a short break now. when we come back, david cameron will be here to take more question from our audience. so do please stay with us for that. and we are watching a live forum on the uk forum on referendum. mr. farage has been campaigning for britain to leave the eu for more than to years, and he made his case tonight on itv. after this break, we'll hear from british prime minister david cameron. the referendum is schedule fold later this month. coming up tonight on c-span, the results from primaries in five states. sglooz our live coverage of the presidential race continues tonight with primaries in six states -- california, montana, new jersey, new mexico, and north and south dakota. >> a more different visions for our country than the one between our side of democrats for progress, for prosperity, for fairness and on opportunity than the presumptive nominee on the republican side. >> so we're going to win on education, no more common core, bring it down, bring it down, we want it local. we're going to win with health care, win with the border. >> we have got to redefine what politics means in america, we had need people from coast to coast standing up, fighting back and demanding a government that represents all of us, not just the 1%. join us live at 9:00 p.m. eastern for election results, candidates speeches and your reaction, and we'll look ahead at the fall battleground states, taking you on the road to the white house on c-span. c-span radio, and cspan.org. madam secretary, we proudly give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the united states. we'll be following those elections and have results on the six states' primaries on c-span tonight at 9:00. right now we're going to return for the uk's forum on the eu referendum. we have heard from nigel farage, who was the leader of the uk independence party, discussion his reasons for opposing the membership. next up will be prime minister david cameron whose government sports staying in the eu. he'll be talking to an audience of people, julie

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