User Name: Turk (Michael Turk)
Email: turk-at-kungfuquip-dot-com
Homepage: http://www.KungFuQuip.com
Bio: Everyday is a good day to be Turk because every day Turk keeps getting better.
Seriously. Turk rocks! You have no idea! This is a guy who can’t walk too fast or the heat he puts off will cause others around him to combust. He started this blog because he is so self-interested he knows everyone is dying to hear his thoughts.
Ok, if you got through that, I’ll tell you the truth. I started this blog because I am fascinated by three things – politics, pop culture and technology. There is so much going on in all three, that I wanted a place where I could vent about it.
Just a little about me. I was the eCampaign Director for Bush-Cheney ’04. It was my second presidential campaign and went a hell of a lot better than the first. After the first one, I was afraid I was going to end up like Bob Shrum – a lifetime loser.
We ran a hell of a race thanks to the dedication of a lot of really good people. For my part, the eCampaign team was probably the best group of people I’ve ever worked with.
After the campaign, I gravitated to the Republican National Committee to run their online operations. I am now working from an undisclosed location as a professional agitator and nothing on these pages should be construed as the opinion of my employer. For more on this, click here.
In my life, I have spent about ten years living on the edge of politics and technology and it’s afforded me some great opportunities. I’ve seen some remarkable changes in the technology landscape, but nothing compared to what I think is coming.
I’ve worked in Government, private industry, for political parties and political campaigns. In all of that I have discovered a simple truth. The only difference between politics and entertainment is the quality of the food.
So now I’m writing about what I know. The political process, technology, the role it plays it campaigns, and my deep love of all things film, radio and TV.
You’ll find I’m not the hard core Republican you keep hearing about. I’m socially moderate, fiscally conservative, and firmly believe that real conservatives are scared to death by the concept of a constitutional amendment on abortion.
I believe in three universal truths.
* bad policy is bad policy no matter which party advocates it
* fiscal discipline has never been a bad idea
* taxation has never been a good idea.
So feel free to stick around and read some of my ravings. If you enjoy them, let me know.
[...] One of the highlights for me at Politics Online a few weeks back was meeting Michael Turk. Turk was the eCampaign chair for the Bush/Cheney ‘04 campaign, and held a similar role at the GOP. In a panel discussing online campaign tactics, Turk consistently made sharp points, showed a depth of understanding of the need to integrate online tactics with offline tactics to have an effective campaign strategy, and clearly enjoyed what he did. [...]
[...] I co-moderated a panel at the end of the day with Michael Turk, who ran the Bush-Cheney ‘04 Internet campaign. I’ll never get over what a strange thing it is to speak to a large audience. As you speak each sentence, you can feel the hundreds of different interpretations being drawn among the audience. Some people have the art of choosing their words carefully–as if they can think through all the implications in advance. I haven’t gotten there yet. One example was the ribbing I got from several in the audience (especially my friend Ari Melber) for saying to Obama staffer Josh Orton, of their emails, “I’m not feeling Obama…I want to feel Obama!” [...]
[...] one of the leaders of a young cadre of conservatives trying to save the GOP from itself, along with Michael Turk, David All and many others. Keep your eye on these [...]
[...] Mark Penn’s assertion that Barack Obama’s supporters “look like Facebook.” Mike Turk, former e-Campaign Director for Bush-Cheney ‘04 and a friend of Ruffini’s, posts the [...]
[...] a month ago, Michael Turk (formerly the e-campaign director for Bush-Cheney ‘04) created a meme about Sarah Palin in the vein [...]
[...] some great future thinkers in the Republican Party: Patrick Ruffini, Erick Erickson, Justin Sayfie, Michael Turk, Mindy Finn, and [...]
[...] not involve being abreast of media or culture, or this would be embarrassing.Michael Turk, “eCampaign Director” for Bush-Cheney 04, made an abortion joke. Quick, someone make an equally funny comeback [...]