Dittos from a cab driver

Having previously noted Rod Dreher's criticism of Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech and Andrew Breitbart's praise now check this from my column today at The American Spectator:

Wally Onakoya drives Fairway Cab No. 1 and said he had hoped to listen to Rush Limbaugh's speech on WCSP-FM, but was disappointed that Washington's C-SPAN radio station was not broadcasting it live.
He came to America from Nigeria in 1983. A quarter-century later, he now drives his cab in the nation's capital to pay tuition for his daughter, Seun, a freshman biochemistry major at Maryland's St. Mary's College, whose school emblem adorned the blue hoodie Onakoya wore Saturday with paternal pride.
Onakoya has been a loyal Dittohead for years. He explained that not all who ride in his cab appreciate his radio habit of listening to Limbaugh from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays.
"Some people say he is the second coming of the devil," Onakoya said with a deep baritone chuckle. . . .

Please read the whole thing. And I am sure that praise from an immigrant cab driver means more to Rush Limbaugh than anything any pundit or critic has to say.

UPDATE: Linked by But As For Me and a big shout-out to Ken Shepherd of Newsbusters.

How to Get Two Million Hits in Your Second Year of Blogging

CPAC face-time with Professor Glenn Reynolds and Dr. Helen probably won't hurt, but with a face like mine, you never know -- this tactic could backfire disastrously.

On the other hand, Ed Morrisey said if I'm ever passing through Minnesota, look him up and he'll buy me my own brewery.

To be fair to Ed, I should explain that I learned, from studying the online operations of some of my young friends, the Zen of posing the "Classic Facebook Photo":

1. Arrange a random group of your buddies, preferably holding beverages;
2. Have them lean in on each other like a football huddle, to suggest an artificial sense of intimacy; and
3. Everybody act as if they're up to mischief and shenanigans.

Bonus points if you can convince either a famous celebrity or the prettiest girl at the party to pose with you and your snowball's-chance loser buddies. The general idea is for the undergraduate geek with substandard social skills to assemble a series of Facebook photo albums that convey to others the impression that, in fact, he is the all-time mack daddy who hangs with his posse at the coolest venues and gets jiggy with the hotties like an NBA superstar during All-Star break.

At any rate, two photo albums from CPAC 200: The Pink Camera Files and More Delicious Pink Camera Goodness.

Tales from a CPAC reception: The transvaluation of all values

An anonymous 21-year-old blogger left a comment at Hot Air (4th comment down, at 7:47 p.m.) denouncing me as a "JERK OFF," in all caps. He posts no e-mail address at his blog, so I attempted to reply on his "about" page, a reply that -- when last checked -- was still awaiting moderation:

Sir, as you have no contact information listed on your blog, this is the only venue in which I may address your assault on my character in the comment field at Hot Air.
I do not recall meeting or seeing you at CPAC. If such an interaction as you describe took place — and I doubt it took place as you describe it — perhaps it was because you failed to notice that I was attempting to pose a photo of Jed Babbin and his colleagues and was surprised at an unexpected intrusion.
Please understand that my professional circumstance requires extreme exertions during CPAC, so that after two or three days I'm running so low on sleep that I occasionally become irritable. Furthermore, you may inquire of many young conservative activists about what an easygoing person I am, and how often I have helped and assisted them.
If I was less than the soul of courtesy during our encounter at Friday's reception, please accept my most sincere apology. And if you were less than courteous or respectful (then or since), please accept my forgiveness and continue to regard me as your most humble and obedient servant,
Robert Stacy McCain

My late mother always told me to mind my manners and be respectful to my elders, an instruction I have on too many occasions sadly neglected. But as my late father often told me, after I had misbehaving children of my own, "Son, you pay for your raising." Indeed, and that I should be basely insulted by this impudent young whelp is just another installment on my payment schedule, I suppose.

Perhaps our young friend at The Sheikh Down is attempting to employ Rule 4 ("Make some enemies") from "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year," and I'm happy to apply Rule 2 to this situation. Too bad our young friend -- though he fancies himself a writer, and has some evident aptitude in that direction -- doesn't have SiteMeter or Technorati on his blog, so as to measure the traffic that will lead to so many encouraging comments (hint, hint, Smitty, Dave, Jimmie, et al.).

I may have more to say about this overnight, so bookmark and check back. Meanwhile, I must upload more photos to Facebook, write an article for the American Spectator, et cetera.

UPDATE: While the photos are uploading (or not) via my much-abused laptop, let me clarify what is meant by the subtitle. Nietzsche once employed a phrase, "the transvaluation of all values," that expressed the terrifying anti-natural condition of modernity.

It is natural and appropriate that age should command respect of the young, that wealth should be admired by the poor, that weakness should yield way to strength, and that wisdom rule over ignorance. Nietzsche was just crazy-genius enough to perceive, in the helter-skelter tumult of 19th-century Europe, the dawning of an era in which the natural order would be upended. This is a profound and (to use a word that has been worn threadbare) nuanced understanding of what a potentially horrible thing modernity is.

Being raised by perhaps the last generation of non-ironically "old-fashioned" adults, my puerile impudence was relentlessly chastised. My parents, teachers, and coaches had gone through the trial of the Depression and the ordeal of World War II. I was born in the penultimate year of the Eisenhower administration, and the shadow of the Cold War loomed darkly over my youth. It seemed to be the belief of my elders that us young whippersnappers had things entirely too soft and easy, and that we were in danger of absolute effeminacy and dissolution if they did not take it upon themselves to instill some small measure of rigor in our existence.

Hard times make hard men, and my parents' generation had an adamantine quality that now, in middle age, I appreciate far more than I did when under the lash that they applied to my youth. So excuse me if occasionally I feel the need to give these upstart pups a tiny taste of what it was like, back when youth-league football coaches believed that providing water to their players during summer drills, on afternoons when the temperature was over 100F and we 10-year-olds had been doing Oklahoma drills for an hour.

Bruce Catton, in one of his Civil War histories, recounted the occasion when a rookie Yankee regiment was marched overland in a cold rainstorm, to make their bivouac in a miry field, scarcely able to kindle a fire to boil coffee. A young officer expressed some concern for the health of the troops, a remark that prompted one company's top sergeant -- a grizzled Prussian immigrant -- to scoff: "Bah! It is but seasoning for the recruits!"

WTF? 'Red-headed stepchildren'?

"This year's CPAC was the largest on record. It was encouraging to see the large herds of students moving throughout the hotel. Unfortunately, the constant theme those students heard during this year's CPAC was that the proper role of the conservative movement is as cheerleader for the GOP. . . .
"What should have been one of the most important events of this year's CPAC, the appearance by Dutch parliamentarian and anti-jihad activist Geert Wilders, was relegated to the opposite side of the hotel, divorced from all of the other conference proceedings. . . .
"I have no doubt that if Bristol Palin had suddenly come available to address CPAC on the virtues of teen pregnancy, David Keene and the American Conservative Union would no doubt have moved heaven and earth to make room in the schedule for her. But they could not accommodate a man who lives under constant death threats by a long list of Islamic terrorist organizations."
-- Patrick Poole, PajamasMedia

(H/T: Dan Collins at PW) The decision-making processes of CPAC are opaque to those not directly involved. Some of my dearest friends are involved in the process, or have been in the past. What has been said of sausages and legislation applies equally to the business of establishing the annual CPAC schedule. Friendships forbid me to elaborate, but if any outsider is naively idealistic, let me merely say that "coalition unity" is at times an ugly and brutal line of work. This is true even in a good year, when conservatives are riding the floodtide of victory, flush with cash and influence; you may let your imagination wander as to how it is in the ebb.

CPAC Director Lisa DePasquale, her boss Mr. Keene, their hard-working staff and a nameless legion of volunteer activists are deserving of the highest commendation for organizing the largest conference in the 35-plus years of this annual gathering. Whatever legitimate disgruntlement, disappointment or dissatisfaction there may be, (a) it is far less than the positive accomplishments of the conference, and (b) it would be better addressed to the conference organizers than to the general public.

Ronald Reagan once said that you can accomplish almost anything, so long as you don't care who gets the credit. And my art-history professor used to share with us an ancient Persian proverb: The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on.

Attention, New York Times

Ailing G.O.P. Risks Losing a Generation
-- NY Times headline, Feb. 28

Which party has the strongest youth movement, full of America's most promising young people? To answer that question, let's take a look at a few photos of young conservatives taken during the three days of CPAC 2009:

No captions. I'll leave it to the geniuses at the New York Times to figure out which one of the many young faces in the several photos above is:

• Cato Institute's manager of external relations.
• President of the Young Conservatives Coalition.
• D.C.'s hottest young blues pianist.
• Researcher for a leading talk-radio program.
• Spokesman for the Young America's Foundation.
• Managing editor of The American Spectator.
• An officer of the Westmont College Conservative Club.
• A promising young features writer.
• An economist for the Acton Institute.
• An official of Pro English.
• George Freaking Will.

OK, probably anybody can guess that last one, even the employees of the New York Times. For myself, I have no doubt that young conservative promise a hopeful tomorrow. Look at those kids -- their future's so bright, they gotta wear shades.

(Attention: "Rule 5 Sunday" will start this afternoon. First, I must have some sleep.)

Attractive economist loves . . .?

He's an Alpha Male, a leading voice of America's future, and Michelle Lee Muccio is interested in him:

UPDATE: Welcome Hot Air readers. For more on CPAC 2009, please be sure to check out:

• Tales from a CPAC reception
• WTF? 'Red-headed stepchildren'?
• Attention, New York Times

Full Metal Jacket Saturday

Applying Rule 2 of "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog," we offer this round up of posts from blogs that have linked here in the past week:

• PAX PARABELLUM: The Grand Illusion of Obamanomics,
• CONSERVATIVES4PALIN: More "GOP insiders" trashing Sarah.
• LITTLE MISS ATTILA: "They only love me for my blog!"
• PUNDIT & PUNDETTE: No "sacrifices" for Obama.
• AMERICAN POWER: Class warfare in Obamanomics.
• SUNDRIES SHACK: Confessions of a CPAC fanboy.
• MOE LANE: Thoughts on GOP "doctrine."
• WONKETTE: When they call me a "wingnut," I'm grateful for the compliment.
• ANDREA SHEA KING: Hanging out with Geert Wilders at CPAC.
• SUPERPOWERS THAT BE: A weak reach-around is better than no reach-around at all.
• HOT AIR: Ann Coulter at CPAC creates -- wait for it -- controversy.

This is just the starter list. I didn't get home from CPAC until 4 a.m. and am very tired. (It's CPAC Syndrome, a state of extreme exhaustion caused by sleep deprivation.) I'll try to update to add more linkage this afternoon before I go back to DC for the big Rush Limbaugh event tonight. And don't forget to do some Rule 5 blogging today for the Sunday roundup.

BTW, a big shout out to Georgia Tech graduates Ruth Malhotra and Orit Sklar, whose victory over political correctness on campus earned them the Reagan Award at Friday's gala CPAC banquet.

On CPAC and 'image'

Via Donald Douglas, we have Patterico concerned about conservatives projecting the proper "image" at CPAC.

The question you have to ask yourself is, why were Cliff Kincaid and John Bolton selected to give main-room speeches at CPAC? Well, Bolton was a Bush administration official and we don't know if his jokes were vetted in advance.

Still, the question of who was selected for main-room speeches is interesting. I know lots and lots of conservative activists who would crawl through glass and climb over three strands of concertina wire for the chance to give a main-room speech at CPAC. It is not as if there is any shortage of would-be CPAC speakers. So . . . how are the choices made?

I don't know the answer, any more than Patterico knows the answer. But it is important to ask the right questions, you see.

VIDEO: Ziegler vs. Blumenthal

Thanks to James Joyner of Outside the Beltway for uploading this video.

Max Blumenthal was doing one of his video ambushes in the Omni Shoreham lobby at CPAC, and was confronted by documentary filmmaker John Ziegler. I just happened to be there with my camera when the argument started. I couldn't overhear much of what was said between them, but Ziegler was very angry, and his body language was very aggressive.

UPDATE 2/28: Savane was there, and I should note that, in a Friday night conversation with Ziegler, he said that it was Blumenthal, not he, who initiated the confrontation I captured on video. I didn't start rolling the video until after the confrontation began, and quit recording before it ended, so am in no position to say what did or did not happen, other than what's on the video. Frankly, I'm under such a fog of CPAC Syndrome (a state of severe sleep deprivation and sensory overload) that I would be unable to contradict anyone's account of events. So the video is what it is.

UPDATE: Donald Douglas has a good roundup of CPAC blogging.

UPDATE II: Some more exclusive videos from CPAC today, starting with Tom DeLay:

"People ask me if I hope [Obama's economic plan] is gonna fail. I tell 'em, I don't have to 'hope' anything. It's gonna fail."
-- Tom DeLay

(NOTE: Becky Banks of Students for Life asked me to take down her video until further editing can be done.)

John Munger of Imagine Arizona:

Thanks to Kerry Picket for uploading those last three videos.

CPAC Day 2: LIVE!

BUMPED; UPDATE 2:31 p.m.: Exclusive video interview with Chris Maligisi, president of the Young Conservative Coalition:

Thanks to James Joyner of Outside the Beltway for uploading the video. (More of that reporting that Tucker Freaking Carlson says conservatives don't do. I was in the media center when I heard Carlson giving his arrogant lecture and resisted the urge to go down to the Regency Ballroom and beat that elitist punk into a coma, which would have been a Change We Can Believe In.)

UPDATE 3:05 p.m.: Linked by Jimmie at Sundries Shack, who's having waaaay too much fun at CPAC.

Expect further updates . . .

PREVIOUSLY: Excuse me if I am a bit late returning to blogging at CPAC today. After spending most of Thursday schmoozing networking and introducing my old cronies professional associates to hotties aspiring activists, this morning I had to do some reporting for the American Spectator, about Sen. Jim DeMint and the Young Conservative Coalition.

Just ran into my beer buddy conservative mentor Phil Kent, which means that tonight we will be closing down the lobby bar engaged in political strategizing.

CPAC Day One -- LIVE!

BUMPED, UPDATE 10:25: In his keynote address, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) just called for "sound money" -- evincing cheers from the Paulistas.

UPDATE 10:06 a.m. -- David Keene of the ACU just introduced Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation. Ed Morrisey is livechatting from Blogger's Row. The Omni Shoreham lobby is full of earnest young Paulistas handing out leaflets for Friday's Liberty Forum with Ron Paul and Andrew Napolitano. Will continue updating throughout the day . . .

UPDATE 10 a.m.: Just ran into Kelly Vlahos of The American Conservative, who's checking in and trying to resolve her own Wi-Fi issues. Also ran into Franklin Raff of Radio America, Orit Sklar (who ran Jews for Mitt in 2008), and radio hostess Martha Zoller. I've already gotten credentialed for the Victory Solutions VIP lounge.

PREVIOUSLY: I'm live from the Omni Shoreham, where I had breakfast this morning in the lobby with Ed Morrissey of Hot Air. Last night, I was hanging out with Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs, Stephen Green of VodkaPundit, investigative journalist Matthew Vadum, Ken Hanner of Human Events and Kirby Wilbur of KVI Radio.

Guess who I ran into in the lobby? John Ziegler, who didn't punch me in the nose, so I guess things are all right.

I'm having Internet connection issues that need to be fixed, so I'm writing this post from Internet Row in the Exhibition Hall. Please keep hitting the tip jar! Will have to solve the connection issue before full-time blogging can commence.

CPAC: Mardi Gras for the Right

From my latest American Spectator column:

CPAC is, of course, the world's largest gathering of conservative activists, and a great deal of serious activism is on the agenda when the three-day conference begins Thursday morning with a welcome speech by David Keene of the sponsoring American Conservative Union. CPAC director Lisa De Pasquale has once again organized a splendid schedule of speeches, seminars and other events, with a record attendance of more than 5,000 expected.
Yet for all wonderful events on the official agenda -- including speeches by Ann Coulter, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele -- much of the fun at CPAC is unscheduled and unofficial.
When I try to describe it to friends who've never attended, I tell them CPAC is like Mardi Gras for right-wingers. Or as Wendy Sullivan says, "It's like what you see on MTV's Spring Break, but with pearls and navy blue suits." . . .

Please read the whole thing.

CPAC planning

Messaged a friend Monday afternoon:

"When you get to DC Wednesday evening, call and I'll meet you at the lobby bar of the Omni Shoreham. All the bloggers will be there, and I may even let you buy them drinks. (One works up a powerful thirst blogging.)"

Won't you please contribute? It's for the children!

BTW, the first party of CPAC will be the Reason Happy Hour at the Big Hunt, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday. It's a libertarian scene, but neocons, paleocons and social conservatives are always welcome. Reasonoids are open and tolerant like that.

It used to be that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel. Now, it's libertarianism. And speaking of Nick Gillespie and scoundrels, Nick informs us that Obama has entrusted his economic recovery plan to . . . Joe Biden.

Hit the tip jar. Things are getting scary.

UPDATE: Speaking of scary, CPAC granted credentials to Jimmy Bise Jr. of the Sundries Shack. Just bring gin for Little Miss Attila, Jimmy.

Breitbart gets it

CPAC, culture and Hollywood:

The timing of the yearly Conservative Political Action Conference could not be better suited for evaluating the strategies of the standard bearers of free markets and limited government as free-spending and nanny statist Obamaism runs amok with nary a media check or a legislative balance.
Attendees of the wonky three-day forum should pay close attention to what their ideological counterparts had to say earlier in the week at their annual get-together in liberalism´s capital, Hollywood.
On Sunday night at the Kodak Theater, where Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama debated each other in front of the same prideful crowd a year earlier, the political left convened to celebrate its progressive political agenda. The Oscars communicate post-modern, post-American liberal values more effectively than elected Democratic officials themselves. The liberal establishment understands this and uses the glamorous Hollywood elite and its incessant stream of left-leaning product and promotional vehicles as its proxy messenger. . . .
If "the medium is the message," as Marshall McLuhan formulated 45 years ago in "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man," then Hollywood-style liberalism is America´s current and future message. And conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for not investing their collective efforts in the pop cultural and the greater media experience.

Read the whole thing. And speaking of CPAC, please don't forget to hit the tip jar. It's for the children!

DC Tea Party at CPAC

Dan Riehl has the news about planning for an anti-tax, anti-"stimulus," anti-Hope protest to be held in Washington this week, so go there and find out how to sign up.

For the past two months, that "CPAC 2009: Register Now!" button has been featured prominently on my sidebar. If you've never been to CPAC, you owe it to yourself to go. It's a right-wing Mardi Gras, with a little bit of infield-at-Talladega thrown in for good measure. Imagine it: 5,000 conservatives in one hotel, with speakers like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, plus the Pajamas Media "Conservatism 2.0" Conference with Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin and more.

If you're a conservative, CPAC is like Disney World. The exhibition hall is full of cool displays, book signings, T-shirts, and bumper stickers. There's Radio Row, where you can watch guys like G. Gordon Liddy and Kirby Wilbur broadcast live. And of course, there's Blogger Row, where you can -- believe it or not -- watch the Ewok-looking Ace of Spades doing his blogospheric voodoo.

Myself, I'm usually somewhere near the lobby, schmoozing. It's amazing who you can meet in the lobby of the Omni Shoreham during CPAC. You'll be strolling through the lobby, look up and say to yourself, "Hey, isn't that . . .?" And sure enough, it is: Phyllis Schlafly or Mark Krikorian or Elaine Donnelly or Don Feder or whoever. The lobby bar is a whole 'nother scene unto itself.

The parties! The receptions! The hordes of College Republicans! The VodkaPundit vs. Little Miss Attila Martini Debate! Jason Mattera! Michelle Lee Muccio! (Yes, she will be there.) If you miss it, you'll regret it only once -- and that will be for the rest of your life!

"But Stacy, I have to work. I can't just drop everything at short notice and fly off to D.C."

Look, you wienie, it's simple: When you go into work Monday, find some excuse before lunch to go into your supervisor's office and, while you're talking to him, just sniffle a little. In the afternoon, make sure you cough once or twice an hour. Not too much, but just a little. And if anybody says anything about it, just say, "Oh, it's nothing." They don't know that Sunday afternoon you already went on Travelocity and booked your flight and hotel for D.C.

Now, Tuesday: Bring a box of Kleenex and some Hall's Mentholyptus Cough Drops with you. Put them on your desk and use frequently. You're coughing, you're sniffling, you're blowing your nose. But when they ask you about it, say, "No, no, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Just a minor cold. . . ." At lunch, though, tell the boss you've got to run to the drugstore and pick up some Sudafed. "Just in case."

Needless to say, about 2 or 3 o'clock, you announce to your co-workers that the chills, the aching in your bones, the dizziness and nausea have finally convinced you that maybe you're coming down with something. And, besides, you're needed at home because your wife just called to say they closed your kid's school at noon. Something about viral meningitis going around . . .

That's it -- and Wednesday morning, you call in sick, you're off to the airport, winging your way to the nation's capital for the wildest three days you've spent since the spring break in college when you and your frat buddies made that road trip to Panama City Beach.

And hit the tip jar: Advice like this is worth $20, and the L.A. Gin Monster's coming to town.

The Little Miss Attila CPAC 2009 Emergency Martini Fund

Little Miss Attila insists I'm not blegging stylishly enough. So here's the thing: That lady can drink her weight in gin, and because she's been linking me routinely since the days when I was a micro-blogger with Site Meter envy, I'm probably on the hook for half her CPAC bar tab by now. But I've also got a loving wife and six sweet children depending on me, creditors hounding me for car payments and Internet bills, and only the meager earnings of a freelance journalist standing between me and bankruptcy.

Because the Democrats carefully wrote the "stimulus" bill to ensure that I didn't get one red cent out of it, I'm on my own here. That means I'm counting on you -- The American People -- to help me meet this looming crisis. Trust me, if you've ever had the misfortune to meet Little Miss Attila when she's sober, you don't ever want to see that again.

Won't you please hit the tip jar? It's for the children!

UPDATE: Don't be deceived by Little Miss Attila's charade -- no matter how much money you give her, when she gets thirsty, I'll be on the hook for her gin. (And she's always thirsty.)

So give her money for her plane ticket, give her pearls and diamonds and rubies if you want, but for the love of all that is holy, help me be ready when the L.A. Gin Monster hits the Omni Shoreham bar like Godzilla hit Tokyo.

UPDATE II: Welcome Five Feet of Fury readers. Your Canadian hostess has mistakenly described this as a fund to get me drunk during CPAC. In fact, I'll be sober as a judge, as always. The purpose of the Emergency Martini Fund is to prevent Little Miss Attila from getting sober, which is at least theoretically possible. And VodkaPundit's going to be at CPAC for the first time ever, so this year's Cirrosis Derby is going to be a closely-watched competition this year.

Give now: Vermouth is a terrible thing to waste.

'Grassroots Woodstock'

Both Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin will speak at CPAC Feb. 26-28. Hmmm. Guess they couldn't get any really big names like David Brooks or Kathleen Parker.

Wait until my Samoan attorney hears about this . . .

My Samoan attorney . . .

. . . may be coming to CPAC. It's a question of whether he's driving up in the Red Shark, or just hopping a plane. Also, if he flies, does he come via Dulles -- closer to my house -- or does he fly into Reagan, in the heart of downtown?

Either way, I told him to rent a two-room suite at the Omni Shoreham and try to make friends with Jesse the hotel security man. We'll need the suite to interview all the hot Republican women high-ranking dignitaries who show up at the invitation-only VIP reception. And since high-ranking dignitaries at CPAC are inevitably accompanied by swarms of unruly "citizen journalists" trying to mooch the free booze score an exclusive "scoop," Jesse must be warned that important investigative journalism can sometimes be rather noisy.

But don't worry, we're all trained professionals. And as my attorney must explain to Jesse, this kind of work is protected by the First Amendment, and I'm sure that $50 and a quart of single malt devotion to Constitutional principles will persuade Jesse that his duty is to make sure that our sordid bacchanalia deadline-sensitive reporting is not interrupted.

Also: Since it is entirely possible that some dignitaries from Alaska may show up, Jesse must told to keep a keen eye out for dangerous stalkers like Kathleen Parker and David Brooks. If those deranged weirdos are seen anywhere near the Omni Shoreham, they should be tazed immediately, and without mercy.

Not too many Samoans in the Federalist Society, but my man's one of the best.

CPAC 'somber and reflective'?

(BUMPED - UPDATE BELOW) Ed Morrissey recalls the past two Conservative Political Action Conferences:

In 2007, we had just lost the midterms but the activists sounded hopeful that the Republican Party had finally gotten the message about greed, corruption, and big-government solutions. In 2008, when it became apparent that John McCain would win the presidential nomination, it got somewhat somber and reflective.

Eh? Mainly I remember how Mitt Romney's resignation Thursday morning caused some of his supporters to hit the bars for lunch and not emerge until they were stinking drunk. Funny? Man, you haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of "family values" types staggering back into the Omni Shoreham after four hours of crying into their margaritas. Oh, the stories that could be told . . .

Ed's right, however, that Crazy Cousin John ruined the mood. I remember his arrival in the hotel lobby, surrounded by an army of College Republican types in blue blazers, which inspired the Ron Paul supporters to start humming the Darth Vader theme from "Star Wars."

This year, of course, the news that Sarah Palin will speak has made CPAC (Feb. 26-28) the hottest ticket in town.

UPDATE: For some reason, Memeorandum linked this post on the same thread with Marc Ambinder and James Antle -- discussing George Allen's status as front-runner in 2006 -- although neither of them linked here. Curious.

Palin confirmed for CPAC?

The Anchorage Daily News reports that a spokesman for Gov. Sarah Palin isn't sure she will be at CPAC:

Bill McAllister said Palin has merely been invited and that she has not confirmed. "It's not scheduled, she's not told them yes."

Solution? Fire your spokesman, governor! You absolutely don't want to miss CPAC this year. (H/T: SarahPalinBlog.)