EFM Author Charles Mitchell

About Charles Mitchell

EFM’s resident Yankee, Charles Mitchell, works in the non-profit arena in his native Pennsylvania. He graduated summa cum laude from Bucknell University, where he was featured in a New York Times Magazine cover story and, more importantly, where he was converted to Christianity. He was subsequently a colleague of David French’s at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, during which time Human Events named him one of the top 10 young conservative activists in America, and then the program director at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Charles has been interviewed on C-SPAN, NPR, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and has written for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Townhall.com, the Harrisburg Patriot-News, and other publications. Charles and his wife, Charissa, live near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with their daughter, Adeline, and are members of a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America.

On Liberty

By Charles Mitchell

Fair warning:  The following comes from someone whose friends named a cocktail after him that is based upon the Old Fashioned.  (That should be enough to offend someone in just about every camp.)

I listened to Gov. Romney’s commencement address at Liberty University yesterday, and I have to admit:  I was prepared for the worst.  Yes, I am both an evangelical and a Romney fan, but I also live in reality.  And if you live there, it’s tough to deny that we evangelicals can be tough to please–and that the Romney campaign doesn’t have a track record of cracking our code consistently.  Having confessed that, let me say that I agree with Santorum fan Tony Perkins and others (probably a first this cycle!) that Gov. Romney hit a grand slam home run.  The main reason is that he made clear that there is a difference between theology and values.  … Read the Rest »

Thank You, Sen. Santorum

By Charles Mitchell

From an e-mail to his supporters:

The family and its foundational role in America’s economic success, a central point of our campaign, was discussed at length. I was impressed with the Governor’s deep understanding of this connection and his commitment to economic policies that preserve and strengthen families. He clearly understands that having pro-family initiatives are not only the morally and economically right thing to do, but that the family is the basic building block of our society and must be preserved.

More:

The primary campaign certainly made it clear that Governor Romney and I have some differences. But there are many significant areas in which we agree: the need for lower taxes, smaller government, and a reduction in out-of-control spending. We certainly agree that abortion is wrong and marriage should be between one man and one woman. I am also comfortable with Governor Romney on foreign policy matters,

… Read the Rest »

A Bizarre Confluence

By Charles Mitchell

Item 1: Secular headline blares, “Mitt Romney’s Long Fight Against Gay Marriage.”

Item 2: Conservative evangelical headline charges, “Romney goes full Etch-A-Sketch twice on gay agenda.”

Item 3: Longtime Romney skeptic blasts conservative writers who leaked from off-the-record meeting.

Some loving advice for the conservative echo chamber, from a longtime pal:  When your opponents see someone as a big ally of yours, yet you continue to kick sand in his face, and then a frequent critic of that would-be ally in your own camp tells you (on a different but related front) that you’re being childish, it might be time to check yourself.

It is one thing to reject real Republicans In Name Only.  That’s why I’ve never voted for the preeminent RINO, who comes from my state, former Sen. Arlen Specter.  It’s another to become a “clanging cymbal,” and I fear that’s where … Read the Rest »

Sympathy Saves No Babies

By Charles Mitchell

As you know, the Pennsylvania primary is tomorrow.  This post is for my fellow conservative evangelicals in the Keystone State who might be tempted to cast a sympathy vote for Sen. Santorum.

I’m not being hyperbolic here, folks:  Sympathy saves no babies.  We have the most pro-abortion president in American history.  We know who his opponent is going to be.  The only question is whether that opponent wins in November.  And if the story coming out of tomorrow is about how many evangelicals took their balls and went home because their preferred candidate dropped out, that opponent is weakened and that most pro-abortion president in American history is strengthened.

By the way, despite the disinformation that is out there, that opponent is pro-life.  Yes, he was wrong earlier in his political career.  So was President Reagan, who signed as Gov. Reagan legislation that made California a national “leader” in abortions… Read the Rest »

Broccoli at Liberty

By Charles Mitchell

As you all know, I write from deep in the heart of what was, until very recently, Santorum Country.  Democratic operative James Carville wasn’t too far from the truth when he quipped that Pennsylvania is Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Alabama in the middle.  I live in the Alabama part–and you know how Alabama went this primary season.  My Facebook feed was full of my friends getting their pictures taken at Sen. Santorum’s local events, and my posts about Gov. Romney tended to produce crickets chirping, not friends liking.

Now, obviously, Sen. Santorum has stood aside, and I find the attitude of my friends now towards Gov. Romney is very similar to the attitude a lot of people have toward broccoli:  Yeah, I know, it’ll be good for me, and I’ll eat it eventually, but I really don’t want to.  The trouble is, it isn’t enough for stoutly conservative folks simply … Read the Rest »

We’re All Aliens Now

By Charles Mitchell

Over at Buzzfeed, McKay Coppins has posted a piece entitled “Why Ann Stayed Home” whose thesis is so simple as to be self evident to some of us:  Mrs. Romney stayed home with her kids in part because her faith encouraged her to do so.  But don’t tune out, dear reader.  This is an immensely important article and it presages much that is to come.

If you read through what Coppins offers, it’s by no means a hatchet job.  It strikes me as a reasonable effort by a journalist who is an outsider to a community to convey to a bunch of outsiders what that a certain community believes.  But hard as he seems to try, it’s hard to escape the vibe that Coppins is an Earthling detailing breathlessly to a bunch of Earthlings what how a strange group of extraterrestrials conduct lives that are clearly, well, … Read the Rest »

Not Subtle, If True

By Charles Mitchell

From today’s Harrisburg, Pa. Patriot-News, regarding Sen. Santorum:

One prominent Pennsylvania Republican, who has remained neutral in the party’s presidential contest, said the Romney campaign “thinks they have to crush him like a bug in Pennsylvania.”

Remember, the race is currently within the margin of error here in Sen. Santorum’s home state.

Also interesting:

The day before he and Santorum appeared in East Pennsboro Twp. for the annual gathering of conservative activists at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, Gingrich met secretly with Romney to “discuss the way forward,” according to Romney.

… Read the Rest »

Your Dispatch from Pennsylvania

By Charles Mitchell

On Saturday, from the Pennsylvania version of CPAC, National Journal reported as follows:

In 2006, Pennsylvania voters ended Rick Santorum’s Senate career. Six years later, could the Keystone State shut down his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination?

Home states have posed critical tests for GOP candidates this year, from Mitt Romney in his birth state of Michigan to Newt Gingrich in Georgia, the state he represented in Congress. Next month’s Pennsylvania primary is a must-win battle for Santorum in the state he served as a congressman and senator for 16 years.

If Santorum fails to win Pennsylvania’s April 24 primary – and there are signs he’s vulnerable here despite his longstanding ties to the state – it could puncture any hope he has of capturing his party’s presidential nomination. A primary race that had threatened to last until the summer could end more suddenly if front-runner Romney manages

… Read the Rest »