A public-service announcement by martial arts, television and movie star Chuck Norris and his wife, Gena, that encouraged people of faith to vote in this election included a quotation from President Ronald Reagan in which he said failing to preserve the United States would be to sentence children “to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
So this is what the establishment media wrote:
- “Vote for Romney or Suffer ‘a Thousand Years of Darkness,’ Says Chuck Norris” from Adweek
- “Chuck Norris: If Obama Is Reelected, It Could Bring About ‘One Thousand Years Of Darkness” from Mediaite
- “Chuck Norris Warns of ‘Thousand Years of Darkness’ if Obama Reelected” from Hollywood Gossip
- and “Chuck Norris: America faces ‘1,000 years of darkness’ if Obama wins reelection” from NBC
The video has gone viral, being viewed by millions. There’s no doubt of its influence, even though it does not endorse a presidential candidate, because of the impact of previous statements from Norris that were endorsements.
During the 2008 election, Norris wrote of his endorsement of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who was holding support from about 8 percent of voters, according to Rasmussen Reports, which is considered one of the most accurate tracking polls.
Within a couple of days, the time it took for the Norris column to make the rounds of the blogs and media sites, Huckabee’s support rose to 10 percent. It was his first time ever in double digits, and within another day it was at 12 percent.
Huckabee’s campaign also reported a surge in campaign contributions – of about $550,000 – just days after the Norris endorsement.
But to counter the spin created by the legacy media reports, those who made the original public service announcement now have released a new edition, this time including a video clip of Ronald Reagan, to make doubly sure people understand who was making that statement.
In the original, Gena Norris said, “President Reagan went on to say that ‘You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take this, the last step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.'”
The new video has Reagan stepping into the video to state, “We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
The following is the PSA:
[jwplayer izzfH4Py]
When the original was released, millions of people watched the message from the Norrises calling on evangelical Christians across the nation to join together in crushing the advance of socialism.
“We are here to talk about a growing concern we all share,” Chuck Norris explained. “If we look to history, our great country and freedom are under attack. We’re at a tipping point and, quite possibly, our country as we know it may be lost forever if we don’t change the course in which our country is headed.”
Gena Norris warns that voter apathy among evangelicals in 2008 may have contributed to Obama’s election in the first place.
“With our country at a crossroads, Chuck and I have asked ourselves what we can be doing to help support this great country we’re blessed to live in and how we can encourage our like-minded American brothers and sisters to unite and let their voices be heard,” she said. “It is estimated that in the 2008 election, 30 million evangelical Christians stayed home on voting day and Obama won the election by 10 million votes.”
“We know you love your family and your freedom as much as Gena and I do,” Chuck Norris said in his appeal to Americans. “And it is because of that we can no longer sit quietly or stand on the sidelines and watch our country go the way of socialism or something much worse.”
Gena urged Christians to register and cast their votes on Election Day to ensure “our voices will be heard.”
Chuck recalled the cautionary words of great patriots on the subject of preserving liberty: “As Edmund Burke said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing.’
Norris has been writing a weekly column exclusively for WND since Oct. 23, 2006. The star of “Walker: Texas Ranger” and action pictures such as “Expendables 2,” Norris has also reached a new generation as part of the Internet craze for one-liners labeled Chuck Norris “facts.”
In “The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,” Norris gives readers not only his favorite “facts,” roundhouse-kicked by the man himself, but also the stories behind the facts and the code by which he lives his life.
In his bestselling book, “Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America,” Norris provides real solutions for solving the nation’s problems, moving the country forward and changing its course for the better.
As history shows, millions of Americans follow when Chuck Norris leads.
In 2008, Zeta Interactive confirmed that when Norris endorsed Huckabee in a WND column, it sparked a spike of 66 percent in Internet posts on Huckabee.
Norris’ career began not in movies, television or in the world of Internet trivia. The man who has employed martial arts in so many of his pictures first came to the world’s attention as a real-life martial arts star. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional MiddleWeight Karate Champion. He was also a renowned teacher in the martial arts, with celebrity students including Steve McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley and Donnie and Marie Osmond.
He has gone on to found the United Fighting Arts Federation with more than 2,300 black belts all over the world. In 1997, Norris achieved another milestone in his life by being the first man ever in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an eighth-degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do system. This was a first in 4,500 years of tradition.
The Norrises say that next to their family, their greatest mission in life is their KICKSTART KIDS Foundation. In 1992, with the help of President George H.W. Bush, the program was launched in four public middle schools in Houston. For over 20 years, KICKSTART KIDS has developed and delivered an in-school physical education program based on martial arts that teaches responsibility and character development, while building self-esteem and engaging kids in a school-based activity. The program is dedicated to giving middle school students the tools and support necessary to resolve conflicts, avoid participating in gangs, choose a drug-free lifestyle, resist negative peer pressure, remain in school until they graduate, achieve a higher level of academic success and ultimately become productive members of our communities. Today KSK serves more than 7,000 children daily and has graduated approximately 70,000 students, with many going on to college.
Norris also has been cited as the most-wanted among celebrities to endorse a Republican candidate.
And his PSA was rated atop the standings.
The Washington Wire, which bills itself as “one of the oldest standing features in American journalism,” noted the PSA’s 1.3 million YouTube views, which would be on top of the million or so who watched it on WND.com, where it debuted.
Tim Hanrahan said, “The action star and his wife, Gena, speak directly to the camera, and warn of the country’s creep toward socialism – or ‘something much worse’ – under President Barack Obama.
“They quote Edmund Burke and former President Ronald Reagan: From President Reagan, Mrs. Norris quotes this line: ‘We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness,'” the column said.
The column ranked the Norris project as the top political ad, with 1,366,826 views at that time. The WND views of around a million would be in addition to that.
