Tom Adkins

Tom Adkins (born January 13, 1958) is an American political pundit, political writer, public speaker and real-estate investor.
He is widely recognized by his trademark long hair, conservative-libertarian politics, and an 18-inch tattoo of Ronald Reagan [1].

Political writing

Tom Adkins political writing career began as a prolific letters-to-the-editor campaign to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Inquirer editors eventually asked him to contribute op-ed pieces, and Adkins became notorious for attacking controversial subjects with a hard-right, confrontational approach. Numerous articles were picked up nationally, along with viral internet distribution. Dissatisfied with the members-only process of selecting contributors by most national conservative publications, Adkins united with similarly disaffected conservative internet writers to form the web magazine "CommonConservative.com."

A few notable articles:

• ”Burn That Flag”[1] has been republished for several years in Chicken Soup for the American Soul.
• "Traditional Mother and Father: Still the Best Choice for Children" is featured in Patterns For College Writing, America's most widely used primer for college freshman English composition instruction.
• "Sun Tzu and Four American presidents," [2] comparison of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton through the eyes of Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War.
• "Strange Bedfellows," [3] debates the unholy alliance between homosexual America and the Catholic Church.
• "Threats From Within" [4] warns of excessive racial terrorist profiling, while ignoring possible American terrorists.

(all articles originally published but no longer cached by the Philadelphia Inquirer)

Eventually, Adkins writing gained national exposure and numerous republications in local and national magazines and newspapers. CommonConservative.com eventually folded as Adkins expanded his radio and television appearances.

Television

Adkins television appearances began on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher in September 1999. This created opportunities for various TV appearances at local Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia, then Comcast CN8 in Philadelphia and eventually CNN and Fox News Channel.

In December 2006, while on Fox News, Tom Adkins claimed home prices would rise 10% just prior to the housing market collapse. When Peter Schiff correctly observed that this was not economically feasible, Tom laughed and said "so what?"

Adkins appears regularly on talk shows as a political pundit, on various networks. To date, Adkins has made over 500 television appearances, including:

A few selected TV high and low moments:

• Predicted Democrats would "carp endlessly" if they lost the 2000 Florida recount
• A CNN Live Today heckler demanded "What do you know about torture?" Adkins replied "I've been married 20 years... I know all about torture, sir!"
• In late 2007, predicted real estate prices would rise 10% in 2008.

"Adkins defends the obvious miss on the 2008 real estate prediction by noting the 1987 Alar scare, when a scientist appeared on 60 minutes and claimed the chemical Alar caused cancer in children. Within a week, Americans had thrown out all their apples. Within 60 days, most American apple growers were bankrupt. The cancer claims were later proven greatly exaggerated. In 2007, the banking industry had essentially suffered and withstood their sub-prime lending losses at somewhere around $5–6 trillion worldwide. But in an election year, the mainstream media seized upon the foreclosure issue, and pounded that story into the American lexicon, thus frightening normal home buyers in a moderating economy into totally withdrawing from the market. Supply and demand took over, and prices crashed. Thus, Adkins makes the case that the real estate price drop was a manufactured crisis of confidence, produced by a liberal media intent upon discrediting a Republican administration in an election year, and legitimized by financial hustlers who profit from selling gold."

Tea Party

Adkins is more recently known for his speeches at various Tea Party rallies. A few examples:

• Morristown Tea Party July 4 2009
• Morristown 9-7-2009

Personal

Adkins was married to Fox News host Brenda Buttner 2005–2010.