Ok, so I didn’t exactly get the last day of CPAC done the next day like I said I would. I hope that you have listened to mine and Andrew’s podcast, which is what I spent that time on instead… I went into some detail about a plan I have to eliminate the National Debt. After I finish putting up my notes from CPAC, I will work on putting that plan down in written form with more details.
As for CPAC, I got off to another late start on Saturday and this one I can’t blame on getting the times wrong. It’s just hard to get out of bed on a Saturday morning…
Rick Santorum
I missed his speech because of the late start, but I did catch enough to know that he did a good job with his question and answer time. Unfortunately, that’s all I know.
Andrew Breitbart
What a character! He is very … interesting? The stereotypical ADHD kid on steroids, he seemed like his conversation with a guy backstage was interrupted by the speech he made. He riled the crowd up pretty good, though. Talking about his personal fight with ACORN, he said, “We tried to be nice to you, nice is over.” He went on to shout into the microphone, “It’s over!”
Jonah Goldberg
Founding editor of the National Review Online, Goldberg said that the goal of the left is to “Europeanize” the United States. He went on to give a very good talk about the difference between the United States and Europe. He said that, after the Revolutionary War, those loyal to the crown migrated north to what is now Canada. This led to one of the best lines of the conference. As a result of this, Canada has become “northern Puerto Rico with an EU sensibility.” The biggest difference between the US and Europe, he said, was that “we don’t take orders from government, it’s in our nature.”
Amity Shlaes
Author of The Forgotten Man, an absolutely excellent book that I would recommend to everybody who reads this, Shlaes was a little hoarse for some reason so she remained subdued in her speech. Still, it was one of the better speeches of the event, in my opinion.
She discussed the history of the struggle between what we now classify as liberals and conservatives. She said that we need to recapture the term of classical liberalism which is all about freedom and liberty.
She made it clear though, that the worst things for us to do are to resort to ad hominem attacks or to be Democrat light. She noted that repeatedly throughout the twentieth century, Republicans reacted to periods of long Democrat strength by trying to take parts of what they suggested and just offering a little less of it.
She also mentioned that ad hominem attacks like what we resorted to in the era of McCarthyism saw little actual political success.
In the end, she made the point that we must actually promote something of substance that we stand for ourselves.
I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Shlaes after her speech at her book signing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my copy of The Forgotten Man, but she graciously signed my piece of notebook paper that I will put in my book as soon as I get back home to Tennessee. I told her that I am a history minor and that I learned more history from her book than in any of my classes. Once again, I would like to recommend it to everybody out there. It tells the true story of the Great Depression and how we have been taught the wrong lesson by some skewed histories of it.
Unfortunately, in order to see Ms. Shlaes, I had to miss John Bolton’s speech. Oh well… it was worth it.
Don Devine
Former Director of the Office of Personnel Management under Ronald Reagan, Devine painted a slightly different picture of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy than what you typically hear. He noted that the genius of Reagan’s foreign policy is that he exercised peace through strength and knew when to strategically use force with minimal risk of casualties. He clearly was referencing the change in Republican foreign policy after 9/11 that led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Joanne Herring
If you have seen Charlie Wilson’s War then you will know Joanne Herring as the character played by Julia Roberts. Yes, she is still alive and believe it or not she is still trying to fix Afghanistan. And yes, she is every bit as odd as Julia Roberts played her. She still had some very interesting points to make, though.
She noted that we are not the world’s policeman, but also said that “we cannot leave a gaping wound.” She noted that this is the third time we have been involved in some way with a war in Afghanistan and that we cannot just leave, saying “thank you” like we have every other time. If we do, she made it clear, we will be back.
She said that the key to rebuilding Afghanistan was to fund their own military and the rebuilding of their country through nonprofits that are wildly successful in Afghanistan already, existing in 27 provinces. She said that the funds to do it are sitting at the DOD if only we would do it.
If we do not, she said that Pakistan would surely be the next country to fall due to the destabilization of Afghanistan. Pakistan, a nuclear state, would be slightly more disconcerting.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz – Utah
Once again, I didn’t take much of substance from Rep. Chaffetz’s speech, but there was one particularly good line. “A politically correct war is a lost war.”
Ann Coulter
Ok, I have been forced to listen to an Ann Coulter “speech” twice now and it is excruciating. You know those ad hominem attacks that Amity Shlaes said we need to beware of? Well that is all Ann Coulter does. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the titles of a few of her books…
Slander: Liberal Lies about the American Right
Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism
How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)
Godless: The Church of Liberalism
If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans
Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America
So, basically, liberals are slanderous, treasonous, stupid, atheists…
And now you have basically heard the substance of every speech Ann Coulter will ever make.
The rest is a bunch of punch lines meant to startle the audience with their complete over-the-topness. Imagine a conservative version of Keith Olbermann, and that is Ann Coulter.
So, have you figured out yet that I really don’t like Ann Coulter? The kicker to me was that she was introduced as having introduced conservative ideas to college students across the country as part of the Young America’s Foundation college speaker program. What conservative ideas? All she does is make fun of everybody who isn’t conservative.
Edward Lynch
Lynch is a candidate in the 19th District House seat in Florida that will be holding a special election before too long. He also happens to be the President of the Latin American Republican Club. He said that legal immigration isn’t a problem, that illegal immigration is the problem. He said that he wished those answering machines would be changed to say, “Push 1 for English, push 2 for Go Home!”
He said that the most racist thing we do is not making English our national language. His own parents immigrated to the United States, so his statements are given a little extra weight. Though he didn’t go into any detail behind his claim about not making English our national language is racist, I am going to assume he was saying that it indicates we don’t think they can learn a new language. It also puts a limit on the success they can have here when they don’t learn English.
Robert Rector
Rector, of the Heritage Foundation, went into further detail on illegal immigration. He said that the best estimates available are that 5-6 million jobs in the United States are taken by illegal immigrants, which is half of the current unemployment level.
He said that this could be fixed simply by instituting a program called “E-Verify” that would check a person’s name, birthday, and social security number against the records at Social Security when they apply for a job.
Linda Chavez
Chavez presented a somewhat different view of the immigration problem that I have wondered about for a while. She said that what we need is to secure the borders first, yes, but also to back it up with legal immigration reform. She said that we can tell everybody to get in line like they should but she also quoted a recent Secretary of State who said that that line for the typical Mexican man is 120 years long.
Obviously, something must be wrong if people are willing to risk their lives to cross into this country the way they do every day by the thousands. I wish more people would stay away from the fringes of let’s all just live in peace with the rest of the world or let’s just kick everybody else out and not let anybody else in. What can we do to really fix the situation so that people can get into this country legally with the interests of national security in mind but also in a reasonable time frame? I wish we could hear more real discussion on that.
Rep. Bob McEwen – Ohio
First of all, I would like to say that Bob McEwen gets my five star rating for surprise of the event. Sure, I heard some amazing speeches from people like Mike Pence and Glenn Beck, but I expected it from them. Rep. McEwen gave a dandy and I had never heard of him before CPAC.
He noted that the Arkansas GDP is greater than the entire GDP of Pakistan (6th largest country on Earth.) Louisiana’s is greater than Indonesia (4th largest country on Earth.)
He then went on to go from point to point highlighting the basic conservative principles that he stands for. He said that politics = integrity + economics.
He said that he believes in a limited government, in fewer taxes, and a strong national defense. He made the point that all of these are linked by the notion that we must protect our freedom.
He said he also believed that our rights come from God.
He closed by telling a story about a man he know in the Czech Republic when they were forming the basics of their government and how they would operate their fiscal policy. Rep. McEwen asked him how high the Capital Gains Tax would be in their country. The other man told him, “Congressman, we’re not stupid.”
Conclusion
It was a pretty good start to the day, for sure, but it was about to get a whole lot better. CPAC saved its best for last from Newt Gingrich all the way to Glenn Beck. For now, though, I need some sleep. I’ll be back with the rest of day 3 and to close out CPAC 2010 sometime over the next couple of days!
No comments:
Post a Comment