The Conservative Political Action Conference in DC wrapped up today. I tromped down there Friday and got a few photos.
There were heaps of books on Sarah Palin and several organizations touting her political future. Joe the Plumber was there, along with lots of people who retain faith in all the nation’s recent wars and are confident that the next war will finally produce perpetual peace.
Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty was there. Paul’s activists were a breath of fresh air amidst the True Believers. A few other antiwar organizations or publications (like the American Conservative magazine) also had booths at the conference and were doing their best to wake folks up. There were also a number of free market or anti-tax organizations that were not pimping for carnage and/or the Pentagon.
Here are a few snaps from the scene: [full-size versions of the photos are available at my Flickr site here]
Joe the Plumber and a big fan:
A female fan of Joe the Plumber forgets the old rule about making eye contact:
The proper smile:
T-shirt on the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty table:
How long did it take for you to shower and feel clean afterward?
And, um, who’s “Joe the Plumber” and why is he famous?
I always carry Purell hand cleanser for such events.
“Joe the Plumber” was John McCain’s Last Great Hope in October 2008.
Here is the Wikipedia entry on him -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_the_Plumber
Jim,
Did you attend Ron Paul’s speech? If so, I would be interested in the reactions you observed. After all, he had some pretty hard-hitting attacks against the Iraq War and the Empire in there. I have to believe that some of the attendees weren’t too receptive to this aspect of his message. But maybe he changed some minds.
Saul, I was planning to catch the Ron Paul speech but I got buttonholed for a radio interview about the time that his speech started. (This wasn’t the Brian Wilson interview – that was the one that caused the Sarah Palin Anti-Defamation League to file a complaint about the references to overexcited College Republicans desecrating the life-size cutout of Palin).
I checked on the RP website and did not see a transcript of the speech. [http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-02-27/ron-pauls-speech-at-cpac-2009/] If somebody is aware of a transcript, if they could post the link, that would be helpful.
I’m glad Ron Paul is speaking at events like CPAC. But I am not sanguine about the corrigibilty of most of the diehard attendees.
Team Sarah ehhhh? Gosh, I’m feelin perkier and perkier about the prospects fer this wonderful Republican Party to be born agin donchaknow. And with Joe the Plumber remindin me of those Colsen kidders at the Watergate, why I’m jest feelin its gonna be a swell resurrection.
With Ron Paul’s candidacy gaining little traction during the best demonstration of what he has been saying for years..well, we can assume the GOP will continue it’s determined effort to become the kind of caricature generally reserved for West Village Transvestites…like, say, Hedda Lettuce who , come to think of it, looks quite a lot like the venerated deity of Team Sarah.
And on top of this, the media is trying to bring back Newt Gingrich.
Hey Jim, sorry I missed you at CPAC. It is always nice to see another sane person at these events.
I covered all three days of CPAC. I have a grungy recording of Paul’s speech. He did the right thing and spoke out against the mainstream conservative foreign policy. He got some boos and some applause as expected.
If you’d like I can send you the mp3 of his speech. I also posted a short write up with photographs focusing on the foreign policy divide at CPAC at http://www.fr33agents.com
Morgan, likewise – would have enjoyed catching up with you at the conservative hoedown.
fyi – Morgan has excellent photos of RP and others at his link.
On the mp3 – I appreciate the offer. The reason I was fishing for a transcript is that that is a quick way to see exactly what RP may have said differently in this speech compared to his earlier attacks on warmongers, Obama, etc.
I recall a couple comments regarding warmongers that RP made that seemed unfamiliar to me. He made, I believe, 2 references to killing a million Iraqis. He described our foreign policy as built on fallacy after fallacy. He did not hold anything back here. Perhaps he saw an opening with the GOP out of power and GWB in retirement.
I’m glad RP took a hardline in the speech.
I hope there is such an opening in the GOP post-Bush – but many of the folks I saw at CPAC looked ripe for picking by the next Designated Demagogue.
Jim, I have to ask you. Does Pat Buchanan speak consistently against the war in Iraq when he is not writing columns for anitwar.com? I’ve noticed that when he is interviewed on many of the TV talk shows, his position becomes rather invisible — almost as if he is trying to “pass” among his war-mongering colleagues. Have you noticed this? He seems to act in a chameleon-like manner — issuing different messages to different groups. Or do you think that there was some kind of “separatedt at birth” thing going on here — with two Buchanans wandering around, one a Bushie and the other a Bush-beater? PS: I liked your comment about CPACers “passing gas,” which makes me wonder what the CPACers are packing. Sorry, bad visual.
Larry- I have heard similar criticisms on Buchanan but I don’t know. I don’t have cable so I don’t see what he says on the air. His columns are often very good on policy and written very well. Then there are his other columns…
Buchanan often falls into the role of resident Republican in TV forums where the others are Dems. In these cases, he often compromises on if not repudiates hard-line positions he has taken elsewhere. I suppose the ratings go up when guests are at each other’s throats.
Newty and his merry band of Lobbying Trolls should get themselves a nice little Contract with Obscurity.
The GOP is worse than dead, its undead and will continue to thrash about and destroy any credibility for any conservative philosophy……even though it has none…..to the bitter end.
OK, so memberships in the Rush Fan Club are selling poorly here…