 RELATED STORY Coffee with a conservative kick
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GLENN: Crown Point, Indiana. A coffee shop, it's called the Conservative Cafe. When you walk in, you might see the owner. His name is Dave Beckham. He'll be the one wearing the T shirt that says, "Zip it, hippie." Dave Beckham is on the phone with us. Hey, Dave.
BECKHAM: How are you, Glenn. It's an honor to be here.
GLENN: I've got to tell you, I read this story today. This is from the Chicago Tribune and I just laughed out loud. You're fantastic.
BECKHAM: Well, I appreciate that and I sincerely appreciate coming from a guy like you. It's been a real whirlwind with the Tribune article and we're a one man shop and invested a lot of money in this concept.
GLENN: Yeah. So what was the idea behind the Conservative Cafe?
BECKHAM: Well, there's just been left leaning coffeehouses for as long as coffeehouses have been around.
GLENN: Starbucks is a leftist leaning?
BECKHAM: I believe so. I don't like to be preached on my coffee cups, how I'm destroying the environment.
GLENN: Sure.
BECKHAM: And I don't destroy the environment.
GLENN: Do you use styrofoam cups?
BECKHAM: No, we use paper. We use paper. You know, we have so many people coming in here who are just thankful for an alternative and it's really just been a great, a great time.
GLENN: So now you have Ann Coulter books stacked by the fireplace.
BECKHAM: We sure do.
GLENN: Do you have my book yet?
BECKHAM: No, sir, but I'd love to have one.
GLENN: All right. We'll send you a couple of them.
BECKHAM: That would be fantastic.
GLENN: And you have a picture of Ronald Reagan hanging on the wall?
BECKHAM: Yeah, a couple of autographs my wife bought for me a few years before he passed. He turned me into a Republican, I came from an all Democratic family, he was the one who turned me into a Republican.
GLENN: Fox News.
BECKHAM: On all the televisions all the time.
GLENN: Well, you know, 7:00 Eastern you could flip it on.
BECKHAM: For you, for you I would, Glenn, honestly.
GLENN: Here's my favorite quote. You said coffee should do you know this quote? Coffee shouldn't be about can you finish this quote from the
BECKHAM: Well, I've had quite a few of them but I would imagine it would be something about, shouldn't be sitting and drinking coffee all day and on the Internet, on the Internet surfing on your parents' credit card. It should be getting you up and at them and making the world work. I don't know if that's anything close, but
GLENN: Yeah, pretty close. I think it's I think coffee is what we drink before we make steel for the rest of the world and head out into the fields.
BECKHAM: Yes, sir. You know, it's like I said, I don't have the clientele here. That's the most beautiful thing about this business is my clientele.
GLENN: Yeah.
BECKHAM: It's 30 plus and we don't have the people plugging in for eight hours on my electricity, surfing the net on their parents' credit cards. We have the businessmen who come in here, they make a few e mails, they write their do their e mails and have their coffee, they get their news, check out the stock market. We have blue collar workers come in here and start their day, you know, just reading the papers and having a good cup of Indiana roasted coffee and no Seattle coffee here. And we're just pushing, trying to push back against all the liberals that are pushing so hard to take away
GLENN: Do you have any
BECKHAM: Go ahead.
GLENN: Do you have any coffee that maybe has come from the rainforest?
BECKHAM: I don't believe I do. I think my supplier's pretty good about that. But, you know, our blends are all politically themed. So I'm sure you read that in the article.
GLENN: No, I didn't see that. What are the themes?
BECKHAM: Well, we've got our decaf is our Colombian decaf is our liberal and I always say that's because it's no substance. And then I have a moderate blend which is our Guatemalan. And I have a conservative blend which is our Kenyan. And then our strongest roast is our radical right Sumatran blend. So they progressively get stronger up the line.
GLENN: Do you sell these, do you sell these over the phone or the Internet?
BECKHAM: Yes, sir, yes, sir.
GLENN: Which one?
BECKHAM: We are on the Internet right now, yes.
GLENN: On the Internet? What's your Internet website?
BECKHAM: www.conservativecafe.com. And T shirts and everything.
GLENN: I want you to go, I want you to go to the conservative website. In fact, I love this T shirt and with your permission I'd like to steal it.
BECKHAM: Sure.
GLENN: Silly liberal, paychecks are for workers.
BECKHAM: That's my favorite, too, Glenn. I wear that one more often than any. Yeah.
GLENN: That's fantastic.
BECKHAM: I just, from what I think, a guy like you who's given a small guy out of Indiana an opportunity, a guy with a dream, a guy who basically put his you know what on the line. A lot of people said I was crazy, but I figured it was my way and 43 years old, I didn't want to be one of those guys who regretted not taking a chance and wanted to do something that I really thought could make a difference and I think if the right people were involved in this, this could be huge.
GLENN: I think you're absolutely, I think this is absolutely fantastic.
BECKHAM: Well, I really appreciate it, Glenn.
GLENN: You stay in touch with me. You let me know if anything if I can do anything.
BECKHAM: Glenn, all you can do is spread the word and like I say, we need people who can help us take this to the next level because I think it could really be big.
GLENN: Conservative, Conservativecafe.com and you go check this out. Dave, hang on the phone. I need to get an address. I want to send you some of the books for your cafe.
BECKHAM: You are a very sweet man.
GLENN: Thanks. Bye bye.
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