Andrew Breitbart’s spirit permeates CPAC 2013, from his image emblazoned on T-shirts to the Happy Warrior’s willingness to battle the left without compromise.
Andrew’s message that culture is upstream from politics could be heard loud and clear Friday during a panel of Hollywood heavy hitters who implored to directly engage the entertainment industry.
John Sullivan, director of 2016: Obama’s America, told the crowd the biggest deficit conservatives face today isn’t at the ballot box. The “cultural deficit” remains staggering, Sullivan said, estimating about $4 billion is being spent “working against conservative values” when one considers the total money spent on movies and television product.
“Republicans will come into an election year, and they’ll match the Democrats in political campaign contributions and pat themselves on the back on doing a good job,” Sullivan said, ignoring the culture imbalance.
“Why don’t we win elections? I ask, ‘Why DO we win elections?” he said.
Andrew Marcus, the director of Hating Breitbart, clearly took away some lessons while following Andrew around with a camera for the two-plus years it took Marcus to shoot his award-winning documentary.
“If you win the political argument you’ve still lost the culture if you haven’t fought the culture fight first,” Marcus said.
Panel participants, including Oscar-winner Gerald Molen (Schindler’s List), producer Mark Joseph (Reagan) and pollster Pat Caddell, sounded an optimistic theme that America is more than ready for patriotic themes to enliven good, old fashioned storytelling. Conservatives must not only pick up cameras and start telling solid stories, though, but those holding the financial cards must do their part, too.
“Donors … don’t give another dollar until you give one back on entertainment,” Sullivan said.