Free Republic

Young Republicans of the East End Brian Tymann was more than a little suprised when a local 16-Year-Old approached him about starting a Conservative Political Group at Westhampton Beach High School.

<p>The conservative commentator James Hirsen, a columnist for Newsmax.com and a regular on Fox News and "The Sean Hannity Show," once played keyboards for the touring Temptations. At the time he was the only white face in the group.</p> <p>His hiring, he says, was "no affirmative action decision. I really had to be funky, or I lost the gig."</p>

<p>The conservative commentator James Hirsen, a columnist for Newsmax.com and a regular on Fox News and "The Sean Hannity Show," once played keyboards for the touring Temptations. At the time he was the only white face in the group.</p> <p>His hiring, he says, was "no affirmative action decision. I really had to be funky, or I lost the gig."</p>

Glen Mills residents Charles Mitchell and Denise Chaykun captured national attention after landing on the cover of the New York Times Magazine section. The May 25 issue of the Times included an article by John Colapinto about the rise of conservative action groups on college campuses, focusing in particular on what Mitchell and Ms. Chaykun have accomplished at Bucknell University with their conservatives club. Mitchell, the organization's 2003-2004 president, has since appeared on a number of television programs. Mitchell, 20, and Ms. Chaykun, 21, are 2001 and 2000 graduates of Garnet Valley High School, respectively, where they began dating. They...

<p>HUEY Lewis may have been right when he sang that it was "Hip to Be Square." Gavin McInnes, the co-founder of Vice magazine, a hipster bible that caters to the too-cool-for-school Williamsburg set, has proclaimed it cool to be conservative. Writing in the new issue of Pat Buchanan and Taki Theodoracopulos' American Conservative, McInnes says its "become fashionable to link liberalism with weakness and conservatism with honesty. Underground film iconoclast Vincent Gallo ("Buffalo 66," "Palookaville," "GoodFellas") is now quoting Nixon and Reagan as if they were Wordsworth and Yeats. Fashion photographer Terry Richardson (Gucci, Sisley, Levi's) is showing up at conservative book launches and publicly trashing Clinton. Even high school students are getting in on the act, like the southern California artist collective called Sofia that made T-shirts and panties with the illegal-immigrant-crossing logo on them." McInnes says conservatives still have much work to do. "I would estimate that only 12 percent of our readers would dare call themselves conservatives - but that is at least twice what it was five years ago."</p>

When liberals wear ties and jackets, it's not news. But for some reason, when conservatives put on baggy jeans, it's a huge story. That seems to be the upshot of a recent cover story of The New York Times magazine titled "The Young Hipublicans," which explores the world of campus conservatives. The article's teaser says it all: "No taxes, no gun control -- but these days blue blazers and gay bashing are not required. College conservatives have learned that by acting like everybody else, they can sway their peers and become the most influential political act on campus." The article,...

History books are sure to remember the presidential election of 2000 as the Florida Fiasco, an epic tale of pregnant chads and endless recounts. But what if the upcoming election in 2004 becomes so close that its fate will ultimately rest upon how college students vote? Some experts suggest that an April poll sponsored by Harvard University's Institute of Politics may prove this to be a possibility. According to the poll, which surveyed 1,200 college undergraduates, 78 percent say they are registered to vote, and 59 percent plan to definitely vote in the next presidential election. "This is an enormous...

How young conservatives got their groove Young conservatives achieved prominence on campuses across the nation by zooming in under the radar. Now they've even made the cover of the New York Times magazine, the bastion of politically correct liberalism. The Times limited its focus to one campus, Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., and that's too bad. The politically correct armies of Mailer-lite are in retreat in a lot of other places as well. Tenured liberal professors who have dominated campus politics since the 1970s haven't been knocked off their pedestals - not yet - but moss is spreading at their...

When liberals wear ties and jackets, it's not news. But for some reason, when conservatives put on baggy jeans, it's a huge story. That seems to be the upshot of a recent cover story of The New York Times magazine titled "The Young Hipublicans," which explores the world of campus conservatives. The teaser for the article says it all: "No taxes, no gun control -but these days blue blazers and gay bashing are not required. College conservatives have learned that by acting like everybody else, they can sway their peers and become the most influential political act on campus." The...

You've got to hand it to the New York Times. Reeling from the Jayson Blair scandal and now the suspension of Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, the Old Grey Lady needs a shot in the arm. What better time, then, to run another sneering piece on young conservatives in the Sunday Magazine? The latest entry is "The Young Hipublicans," a cover piece by Rolling Stone editor and novelist John Colapinto profiling a group of conservative students at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. Colapinto's young conservatives are hip because they occupy a role once played by the New Left in the 1960s:...

PlatonNot your father's coterie of campus conservatives: from top, Charles Mitchell, a founder of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club, and his fellow members Denise Chaykun, Allison Kasic and Michael Boland. The temptation, upon entering Charles Mitchell's dorm room at Bucknell University, is to assume that he's kidding. The doormat features a picture of Hillary Clinton and the injunction, ''Wipe Liberally.'' A vast American flag festooned in red, white and blue Christmas lights adorns one wall, along with a faded Reagan-Bush '84 poster and a small photograph of the cowboy-hatted Gipper himself. The sole concession to any interest outside right-wing...