The Experiment
“In planning my project, I needed some guidelines. While sitting in a Starbucks in Seattle with my Apple laptop computer, I jotted down some parameters to try to get to a place hitherto unknown by people in Seattle working on their Apple laptops in Starbucks.” — John Moe in Conservatize Me (page 6)

Rules of the Self-Conservatizing Experiment

* No lies, no fake names, no deception. No stating an opinion that isn’t really my own. I’m free to be cryptic about my opinions and turn questions around when asked them, but it has to be me going through this.
* Activities are to be based on a purely unscientific but highly personal idea of what American conservatism means. While I will surely meet academic conservatives who have no use for country music and working-class folks who don’t read The National Review, both of those things represent conservatism to me and so will be part of the research.
* Throughout, I will be sleeping with a hot liberal woman, but as I’ve been married to her for ten years, that’s grandfathered in.
* On the issue of the president of the United States, I’ve always had a hard time putting the name George W. Bush after the word president. The 2000 election was highly controversial and the 2004 seemed a little shaky too, in Ohio especially. But during the experiment, he will be President George W. Bush. Full title. Every single time.
* All news and information will be gathered by conservative outlets. No daily newspaper or radio from any source that has ever been accused of liberal bias (which is most of the news media I currently rely on). When something happens in the world, I will find out about it through the filter of conservatism. If Bush is caught selling heroin on the White House lawn, I want to hear how it was actually the fault of the degenerate liberal culture propagated by the Democrats in Congress who somehow forced Bush, against his will, into dealing smack and who have probably done things that were a lot worse. And then someone would bring up Monica Lewinsky. Nothing goes into my head without conservative context.
* No talking politics with liberal friends. If the subject comes up, I must literally put my finger in my ears and say la-la-la.
* Music must be by artists known to be conservative, Republican, or sympathetic to those causes. Artists who have performed at either of President George W. Bush’s two inaugurals are acceptable.
* Movies will be gleaned from a list provided by devotees of FreeRepublic.com. They must either enforce conservative values or implicitly or explicitly endorse conservative beliefs or Republican policies.
* Another rule and a big one: no arguing, only listening. It’s easy when you hear things that you might not agree with to dismiss them out of hand or find flaws in the argument or compose pithy withering retorts that you’re sure will put the offending talker in his place. It’s harder to just shut up and listen.
* Drink Coors beer. The family is famously blamed by liberals for everything from union busting to putting prospective employees through polygraph tests in the 1970s to determine if they were gay. Pete Coors, current family scion, ran for Senate as a Republican but lost when conservatives questioned the company’s sponsorship of a gay-themed festival in Canada. Play with fire and you get burned. Play with gay fire and you’ll get gay burned.
* Steak whenever possible. Also beef jerky.
* This all must take place within the space of thirty days.

This little idea had become a real experiment. I began referring to it as The Experiment, the capital letters emphasizing its importance. Summer came and it was time to get started.

I heard this guy interviewed on Michael Medved today. Classic stereotype (oops) of a Seattle Libturd.
The premise was interesting and had potential although the caricature of NEOCONS went over and above. I’d have been much more impressed if he’d tried to see Conservatism without all that. He’d have a much truer picture. He seems to have some humor but it’s very condescending at best. The way he went about it proves that he had no personal experience with anyone even remotely Conservative before and his experiment is a bit flawed with all the extreme.

All in all I’ll read the book when I can find it in a bargain bin or at a garage sale.

I forgot the most important part.
A US soldier phoned in to ask why this guy didn’t spend any time with any mil peeps...as supporting them is very big with Conservatives. (paraphrased....he said that).
Moe replied that he didn’t have enough time to cover everything.  Hmm. But he went to Idaho because that embodied everything Conservative to him.