CPAC 2014 Straw Poll Results

Rand Paul 31%
Ted Cruz 11%
Dr. Ben Carson 9%
Gov. Chris Christie 8%
Gov. Scott Walker 7%
Rick Santorum 7%
Marco Rubio 6%
Paul Ryan 3%
Gov. Sarah Palin2%
Gov. Mike Huckabee2%
Condi Rice 2%
Gov. Bobby Jindal 2%
Gov. Rick Perry 3%

Close to half, 46% were between the ages of 18 and 25

51% disapprove of republicans in congress.  I am actually surprised it was that low.

52% would like to see Europe and other allies start to provide their own national defense.

41% would like to see marijuana to be legalized and taxed.

Rand Paul on NSAGate and Immigration

Rand Paul at Howard University

Rand Paul has decided to take the bull by the horns and go out to the black community.  About effin' time as far as I am concerned.  The GOP must do this.  Yes, it will be painful.  Yes, it will be for only a few votes.  Yes, they will be uncomfortable.  But, it still must be done.  We cannot continue to ignore 12% of our population and expect to win national elections.  

Did he do a perfect job?  No.  He made some mistakes, but overall he did a good job.  Now, I wouldn't have gone into the history of civil rights and the republican party, nobody really cares today that once upon a time that people such as Marting Luther King was a republican.  I also don't buy into the meme that most blacks don't understand that history.  They feel that the republican party is now racist.  Granted, that is something that they are conditioned to believe from childhood, but they have access to the same history books that we do.  

He also missed some opportunities.  The most important coming in the Q&A section.  One young man asked about government staying out of your life.  He didn't do enough to explain the difference between limited government and no government. Precious few believe in "no government".  

For those who call this pandering, grow up.  He promised them nothing, except the promise of what a limited government can do improve their lives.  School vouchers is a big issue within the black community and it is something that we need to hit hard in order to get them to see that we are indeed on their side.  

This was a small, but important step.  

Photo of the Day - Rand Paul Filibuster Word Cloud

This was done by New York Magazine.  I thought it was kind of interesting.  I am suprised the word "Cafe" didn't make it to the top.

Rand Paul's Tea Party Response to the State of the Union Address Video

I don't agree with him on everything, but I love him.

Rand Paul at Republican National Convention - Video

The Paul fans need to face facts.  The closest Ron Paul will ever get to the oval office is if his son becomes President.  Which is very possible one day.  

Romney Wins Big in Illinois - Let the VP Stakes Begin

First, I take no pleasure whatsoever saying this.  Romney will be the GOP nominee.  Santorum has run out of field.  There are not enough truly conservative states left to get him to the nomination.  Of course he will keep going in the hopes of a contested convention, but in their hearts of hearts they know it is not in the cards.  

Therefore, it is time.  VP Stakes:

There are plenty to choose from.  

Herman Cain: I don't see it.  The issues that came up about the affair would scare off any candidate in my mind.  Why deal with that distraction when you don't have to?  I give this almost no chance.  

Paul Ryan: A great choice, but very young.  He also has very young children who he doesn't want to put into the spotlight at their tender ages.  Which just makes me love him all the more.  Also, very remote chance of this happening.  

Chris Christie:  This is a non-starter as far as I am concerned.  I like many things about Christie, but he adds nothing to the ticket.  He won't bring NJ over to the GOP.  He is just as moderate as Romney is in most respects.  So I give this almost no chance.

Michele Bachman: She will excite the base, but let's be honest; she is a loose cannon.  Romney won't take the chance of her blowing his last chance at being president.  

Marco Rubio: He is dynamic and from a swing state.  He had a great deal of tea party support.  Notice I said had.  There are many in the Tea Party who have lost confidence in him.  He has some issues with a brother-in-law who has had some drug dealing issues.  Of course that has nothing to do with him, he didn't marry the guy, but the media will have some fun with that.  He also has said that he has zero intention of taking it even if offered.  Of course much easier to say no to a reporter than to the nominee.  He is also young.  He may feel he isn't ready yet.   I would give this a 50/50 chance.  

Allen West: West has been favorable towards Newt, although he never came out and endorsed him.  West has the entire package that the conservative base is looking for.  He will make an excellent attack dog on the stump.  He will pull no punches with Obama, which will allow Romney to stay above the fray and concentrate on comparing and contrasting policies with the Obama administration.  West had some issues in Iraq that will come up again.  He sometimes doesn't always filter what he is saying.  He also just moved in order to run for congress again.  I would give this maybe a 40% chance.  

Sarah Palin: Heaven knows she has been vetted.  But she is also very polarizing.  I also don't think she would accept.  Why be the small dog again when she had the chance to run for the big seat and decided to bow out?  I give this less than a 20% chance.

Rand Paul: I like Rand.  A lot as a matter of fact.  He also is another that will take on Obama without fear.  His down side is that it will add fuel to the fire to the people who accused Romney and Ron Paul of working together and Rand getting the VP seat as the payoff.  It will alienate the people who believe this.  But, it may bring in Ron Paul fans.  Not likely, but some may be willing to vote for him.  I would say this is about a 30% chance.  

I don't see him taking any of the candidates he went up against.  The blood between Newt and him is way to bad for it to be repaired.  It looks like it is starting to get that way with Rick now as well.  I would give this the least likely of the scenarios.  

My pick is Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia.  He is currently the head of the RGA.  Has a rising profile nationally.  He has spoken at the Reagan library recently and was received well.  His administration has been very successful.  He has increased revenues without raising taxes, VA's ratings has increased under his administration, he has kept most of his promises when he was elected, (one more year to fulfill the balance).  He is also a very good campaigner.  He is a staunch conservative, which Romney needs to excite the base.  Virginia is a swing state, and right now is trending to Obama by 8 points with Romney as the nominee.  (Which Romney was the best of the remaining candidates).  

Your predictions?  

CPAC Day One Recap

It was quite the day in Woodley Park Today.


Rumors started early on in the day that The Donald would be coming to speak. He was not on the original schedule that we received. I actually liked his speech. Don't get me wrong, I won't support him, but it was a good speech. That is until he bashed Ron Paul. The Paulites (which dominate the CPAC crowd) booed him. It was quite amusing.

Donald Rumsfeld was given the Defender of the Constitution award and he was introduced by his very close friend VP Dick Cheney. The Paulites didn't take too kindly to this either. They were called war criminals. Kinda rude I thought. But, I was not surprised.

I met Herman Cain this morning. I am even more smitten now. He is so charming and kind. He stood in the bar lobby and was willing to shake the hands and talk to anyone that wanted to talk to him. He was not surrounded by a bunch of handlers like most politicians are. He will be giving his speech Friday at I think it is 4:30 EST. He also hosted the blogger bash after today's session ended.

I was willing to give GOProud a chance. And while I still feel that allowing speech is important in our country, the people who were against it were right. There is an agenda. I don't know what the agenda is, but an agenda it is. They were trying to plaster everyone with stickers and had placards everywhere.

The Muslim group that was there kept a very low profile and while I didn't pay too much attention as I had other things to attend to, I think they were ok. They were way in the back and you really had to look for their booth. They stayed in their booth and engaged the people who went to speak with them. None of the woman were veiled.

I also got to meet Bridgette Gabriel today. Oddly we ran into each other in the ladies room. She was more than willing to answer my questions while were washing up. She is very lovely, articulate, and smart. I have travelled through the Middle East and I love Jordan. It is a beautiful country. We talked about my experiences as an American and she told me my experiences were what she expected, as they are kind and giving by culture. She also told me that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live their lives like I do, but since we can't tell who is who, we must pay attention to the dangers. She told me something very, very disturbing. Something like 90% of Egyptian woman have genital mutilations performed as children. That is amazing. She is not optimistic that the Brotherhood will be held off for long after Mubarak leaves. She also explained that Mubarak needs to save face and he will leave the country for medical treatments and that is how she believes it will end. At this point we were still under the impression that he would step down today.

I spent some time volunteering at the Smart Girl Politics booth. It was great to see that a group that is barely more than two years old to have such name recognition. We signed up some new people and did make a few bucks for a worthy organization.

I ran into Joe Klein. I guess he wants to go on MSNBC or Meet the Press and mock us.

I ran into Richard Dreyfuss of all people. I have no idea what he was doing there as we don't seem to be his type of crowd. I walked by a poster for him but again, I was in hurry to get to my next place and didn't read it. My biggest surprise was that he didn't try to perform a citizen arrest on Cheney. He agrees with the Paulities on that front, at least.

I really heart Paul Ryan. His speech was a little policy wonk, but I personally like that. If he does want to run for president one day, he needs to work on that. He will only fire up a small segment of the voters with his current style.

The morning started off with none other than Michele Bachmann. She of course got the crowd going. She made a funny joke about making sure she was looking at the right camera. You may not realize it, but she is tiny. And for me to say that, she is really tiny. Because I am very petite.

I missed most of Rand Paul. I was doing my volunteer work at the time.

Tomorrow features Mitt Romney. I am not going to that. I do want to hear what John Thune has to say. He is at 1 pm EST. I also would suggest catching Mike Lee who follow Thune. I saw him speak the other night at the Tea Party Townhall and he is very engaging. The ever so exciting Tim Pawlenty will also be speaking tomorrow afternoon. For me, besides Cain of course, the highlight of the day will be the seminar on school choice. They are rightly pushing the notion that it will help grow the conservative movement. I firmly believe that to be true. Education is topic that we can all agree we have to do better on. The home schooling, vouchers, and charters are becoming more popular within the inner cities. This is a chance for us to do outreach to those communities to spread the conservative message. Many minorities are more conservative than they think they are. They just don't know what republicans/conservatives are. They have an image in their heads that is simply wrong. It is up to us to try to show them we are not what Pelosi and Co. have told them we are. Ron Paul will be speaking mid afternoon. Not going to make that; not a fan. Gov. Perry's name is being brought out as a GOP presidential hopeful yet again. He has said he won't run, but who knows. And yes, Herman Cain is the final speaker of the day. LOVE HIM.

I took no pictures today. I wanted to enjoy the day and just absorb everything.

CSPAN 3 is televising it. If you don't have that channel it is being live streamed over the web.

Oh, there is no chance that anyone other Ron Paul will win the Straw Poll. The only question will be who comes in second.

Tea Party Town Hall

Tonight was a town hall held at The National Press Club for the tea party movement.  Mike Lee, Steve King, Allen West, Michelle Bachman, Orin Hatch, and Rand Paul were in attendance. 









Yes, most of my videos are of Allen West.  I am not going to upload everything.  But feel free to go to my you tube page.  There are plenty more to see.

Senator Rand Paul's Floor Speech

This man is principled and disciplined.  Exactly what this country needs to get us out of the financial mess we are in. 

Welcome Speaker Boehner

Yesterday the 112th Congress started off with the election of Speaker John Boehner. I had the opportunity to attend a viewing party given by the NRCC, so of course I took advantage of the invite and went. The room was packed with guests from all over the country. Even with some relatives of new members that couldn't get a seat inside the chamber.



Afterwards there were receptions being held by many of the new members. Some offices were much more full than others. Tim Scott's office was so packed it spilled out into the hallway. I actually came about his office by accident because the updated office listings were not to be posted until today. So, I got to have a little chat with him. My local tea party has decided to welcome the new tea party fav's with some baking, and I went around today finding out about baked goods requests. Although, that was not all I did, but it was part of my assignment. We want the new members to feel welcome, yet we also want them to understand that we are watching.


I also went to a few other tea party favorites to say hello. Senator Rubio wins the prize for worst ever senate office. It is no better than a cubicle. It is literally across the hall from the senate stationary office in the basement. Rand Paul has not fared much better, but it is still a step up from Rubio.  I do hope that they get better digs soon.  Those offices are shameful. 


I happen to run into Congressman Pence during my travels as well. I explained to him that while I realize that he was looking for the office of Governor, we really need him to be president. I asked him nicely and even said pretty please. So I figure he will be announcing for president any day now!! In all seriousness, he would make an amazing president. If you have not read his speech given on the limits of the executive branch you should.

Without proper adherence to the role contemplated in the Constitution for the presidency, the checks and balances in the constitutional plan become weakened. This has been most obvious in recent years when the three branches of government have been subject to the tutelage of a single party. Under either party, presidents have often forgotten that they are intended to restrain the Congress at times, and that the Congress is independent of their desires. And thus fused in unholy unity, the political class has raged forward in a drunken expansion of powers and prerogatives, mistakenly assuming that to exercise power is by default to do good.

I also paid a visit to Congressman (I really like the sound of that) West, Congresswoman Bachmann, and to the new Speaker. I had an interesting run in with Congressman Sandy Levin. For those who are not aware, some of the elevators in all the congressional buildings are for "members only". Sandy must have forgotten where he was, because he wouldn't let this lady get on the elevator with him, but he was on the public elevator. I guess he didn't want to mix with the "people" who were there to support the new republican class. There was a large group of people who were all stunned by his actions. I also ran into Congresswoman Waters and she didn't seem all that pleased with all the hustle and bustle around the new republican class offices. Oh well, she will get over it.



It was a very nice day filled with way too much food and more cake than I should have allowed myself to eat. My night ended with a dinner that was given by Americans For Prosperity. There were some very interesting people there, such as Terri Christoph; one of the founders of Smart Girls Politics, Stacy McCain of The Other McCain, and some writers from Townhall.


Sadly, I didn't make it to every party that I had an invite to, but it was still a very full and happy day. The only question that I have is why did Nanny Pelosi enter the chamber after Boehner? Did she not realize that her time has now passed?

In case you missed the speech:

 

Quote of the Day - Charles Krauthammer Edition

"There is something about an Aqua Budda man"

Rand Paul and Jack Conway had a very nasty exchange about the below commerical during last night's debate.