Kevin Roberts

No, it was very difficult to actually go into the county clerk or the parish clerk and register as Republicans.

Exactly.

And there's no Republican Party as an institution after Reconstruction.

Before.

Really?

It had to have been.

Well, Texas Longhorns, anything they play.

You sound like a Knicks fan.

I was trying to trigger you.

I'm a Celtics fan.

I was just growing to like you.

Come on now.

The American people.

No, the people.

Now, some of the... When I say people, I really mean everyday Americans, people who are small business owners, blue-collar workers, grandmas, whoever they are.

Now, of course, several hundred thousand of them will also be donors to us, for the most part, small donors, and we very much treasure them.

So in no way am I being dismissive or ungrateful, obviously, but the reason Heritage has been so successful...

The reason people call us, other people say this about us, we try not to engage in this, call us the most influential conservative think tank in the world is because we put the American people first.

And so I'll tell you a story that underscores this.

A few years ago, four years ago now, I was asked to come into a meeting of Republican senators to try to, by the conservative senators in the Republican conference, stop the end of your omnibus, which is just fancy Washington speak for spending more money that we don't have.