VIDEO: Ziegler kicked out of CPAC West

Via Gateway Pundit and Texas for Palin:

Perhaps if I'd have been there, I could have intervened to prevent this ugly confrontation between John Ziegler and David Keene of the American Conservative Union, Alas, I was left off the invitation list. Just sayin' . . .

NY23 UPDATE: Beware the MSM spin!

How much more in the Democratic tank could the Associated Press possibly be?

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton are lending their political star power to an unlikely Democratic bid to win a special congressional election in an area that's been a Republican bastion for more than a century.
The Nov. 3 contest in upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District, a sprawling, 11-county area where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 45,000, is shaping up as a test of a struggling GOP and a possible gauge of Obama's coattails.
Obama, who carried the district by 5 percentage points in his landslide victory in New York last year, forced the special election when he named the incumbent, Republican John McHugh, his Army secretary. The president will host a fundraiser for the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, later this month in New York City.
In a fundraising e-mail for Owens, Clinton called the special election "bigger than just one candidate or one office ... victory or defeat will also be seen as a referendum on President Obama's agenda." . . .

Yeah. Not even until the fifth paragraph that they mention either the RINO Dede Scozzafava or Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

Oh, please don't even get me started on Jazz Shaw of the woefully misnamed "Moderate Voice." (With alternative New Media like this, who needs the MSM?) And because Allah Hates Me, he goes out of his way not to link me at Hot Air. -- even after I went out of my way to toss him a softball chance to unload more snark on Sarah Palin.

Pause. Deep breath. Calm. I'm chopped liver, and chopped liver doesn't have feelings. (Blame Eric Telford.) For something truly interesting about the NY23 race, we turn to libertarian Jason Pye:

Scozzafava supports tax increases (refuses to sign a no tax hike pledge), bailouts, the stimulus bill (she would have been the only Republican to support it), card-check legislation, Cash-for-Clunkers, earmarks, the Davis-Bacon Act and the minimum wage. One of the more ironic twists of this race is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Bill Owens, the Democratic Party nominee, are slamming Scozzafava as a tax-hiking liberal. Even Markos Moulitsas called Scozzafava "the most liberal candidate in the race." . . .
This reminds me of the 2004 GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania between Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Pat Toomey. President George W. Bush and the Republican establishment behind Specter, raising money and campaigning for him. While the principled candidate was left behind.
While many conservatives and libertarians are looking for the GOP to get its act together, they are showing that they are still the party of big government.

Indeed. But for a more cheerful outlook, we seek refreshingly factual reporting, and find it from WTTI in Watertown, N.Y.:

Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug Hoffman opened campaign offices in Watertown, Plattsburgh and Canastota on Saturday.
In Watertown, the Lake Placid CPA rallied a group of supporters at the new office at 106 Court Street, telling them it's time to end the careers of career politicians.
"They want to tell you what you want to hear. And then they get elected and they do what they want to do to promote their career. We don't need more politicians like that," Hoffman told the cheering crowd.

A cheering crowd? For a candidate the Associated Press doesn't even mention until the fifth paragraph? I'm shocked!

More at Memeorandum. I might update later, after I go jab some more pins in my Erik Telford voodoo doll.

'I Ain't Got Time to Bleed'

Action-movie fans will remember that line spoken by Jesse Ventura's character in Predator, and it characterizes my attitude right now regarding the political situation in general and Doug Hoffman's NY-23 special election campaign specifically.

My friend Eric Dondero of Libertarian Republican has pointed out that, in 2006, my friend Erick Erickson of Red State (like many other conservatives) refused to support Libertarian candidate Bob Smither in Texas.

Like the NY-23 race, that 2006 Texas congressional election was a unique situation -- long story, no time to explain now -- and many people misunderstood it. My good buddy Stephen Gordon was on the Libertarian Party national HQ staff at the time, and he was in that Houston suburban district up to his eyeballs.

Gordo made it clear to me that the GOP's idea of running a hand-picked write-in candidate (lonnngg story) was a guaranteed loser, a harebrained scheme that would surely fail. If conservatives wanted to stop a Democrat from winning that seat, their only viable option was to support the LP candidate, Smither, who was a solid citizen, not any kind of radical wacko, and much preferable to the Democrat Nick Lampson.

However, unless you knew the specific on-the-ground details (which Gordo spent hours explaining to me in phone calls from Texas), any conservative Republican might reasonably think that Tom DeLay and the local GOP bosses knew what they were doing.

But they didn't, and Lampson stomped the crap out of DeLay's handpicked successor (who had a hard-to-spell hyphenated last name, a big reason why the idea of her as a write-in candidate was so ROTFLMAO ridiculous). The Democratic pick-up could have been avoided, if any influential conservative at the national level would have listened to Gordo. Three years ago, I was even less inlfuential than I am now, and no other conservatives of greater influence were listening to Gordo and so . . "For want of a nail," as they say.

Erick Erickson was not alone in making the mistake he made. So I have no problem with Erickson for not having backed Smither. A mistake is not necessarily a sin, and Erickson's willingness now to back the Conservative Party candidate Hoffman in NY-23 might indicate that he's learned from the mistake he and others made three years ago.

Whether there might be future occasions when similar calculations of principled pragmatism lead Erickson to back an LP candidate, who knows? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Whatever happens in the future, or whatever happened in the past, it is absolutely vital in this time of crisis that all friends of liberty focus laser-like on doing now the things that must be done now. I can't fix what went wrong in 2006 and, if there is still any bad blood between my friends Dondero and Erickson, I don't have time to negotiate an armistice.

Right now there is a battle being waged in upstate New York that may, to some important extent, determine the future of this nation. Meanwhile, in Washington, a tooth-and-nail struggle rages over the ObamaCare abomination. There is too much important work to be done now for anyone who is a genuine friend of liberty to be engaged in intramural score-settling.

There are now 17 days until Nov. 3. Let us lay aside everything incidental and focus all our efforts on doing what must be done now, or our common cause is surely doomed.

Like that squad of commandos in the jungle, faced with a deadly and relentless foe, we are in a fight for survival. And I ain't got time to bleed.

UPDATE: Rhymes With Right, a Texas GOP activist, puts a more detailed account of the 2006 Sekula-Gibbs fiasco in the comments. He makes mention of a meeting where the GOP "leadership" declared that it would be "out of order" to make a floor motion in favor of LP candidate Bob Smither who was already on the ballot. My man Gordo was on the phone telling me all about this, live from the scene, when that dirty little deal went down.

This is how the "Establishment Insider" crowd operates, see? Just like the House GOP "leadership" forced Jeb Hensarling to walk the plank for Scozzafava, the GOP "leadership" in Texas forced the local parties to walk-the-plank for Sekula-Gibbs. And this is just what Cornyn and the NRSC want to do by shoving Crist down the throats of Florida Republicans.

This kind of crass manipulation of the GOP mechanism by the insiders is absolutely deadly, in terms of destroying grassroots enthusiasm, and that's what Not One Red Cent is about: Fighting back against this kind of corrupt, crooked, backroom "kingmaker" crap.

As for the inside-libertarian-baseball criticisms from my friends Mr. Knapp and Mr. Dondero, it is beyond the scope of my influence to convince Erick Erickson or anyone else of what course of action they should take. Nobody in the GOP has ever solicited my advice, and on those rare occasion I've played armchair strategist by volunteering my advice, they always ignore me and do the opposite.

So none of this is my fault. If you're looking for a scapegoat, Blame Erik Telford. (I always do.)

Finally! Somebody invites me to a major gathering of conservative activists

This Erik Telford "let's not invite Stacy" thing was starting to annoy me, but apparently Telford's influence doesn't extend to The American Spectator, which not only invited me to attend, but invited all my friends, too:

The American Spectator
2009 Robert L. Bartley Gala Dinner
Celebrating Conservative Journalism with a Wink & a Smile
Mix and mingle with prominent national journalists, business leaders, policymakers, and others who champion economic freedom, individual liberty, and the values of a free society.

Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Mike Pence

Barbara Olson Award for
Excellence in Journalism Recipient
Daniel Henninger

Presenters
Alfred S. Regnery, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. & Other Friends

Entertainment
Alex Donner & His Orchestra

The Capital Hilton, Washington, DC
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Reception: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner & Awards Ceremony: 7:30 p.m.
Dancing to Follow
Cocktail Attire

All that for only $250! Wow! But wait . . . there's more!

Yes, by special arrangement with the American Spectator, I can promise that everyone who attends will have the opportunity to meet Mrs. Other McCain and tell her personally how cool her husband is.

What the heck are you waiting for? RSVP now! You can also call Patrick Pyles at (703) 807-2011 ext. 25 or e-mail Patrick for more information. .

* "Cocktail attire" means that young, atttractive female guests are required to wear their slinkiest and most revealing Little Black Dresses.

RightOnline: Just the Facts, Ma'am

Neutral, objective journalism:

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Donna Scala was surprised to find she felt so at home among her fellow attendees at this weekend's RightOnline conference.
"I've never been in a room with this many conservatives before," Ms. Scala, a Democrat from Beaver Falls, Pa., said after attending the two-day conference sponsored by the Americans For Prosperity foundation.
During Saturday afternoon's final panel discussion, Ms. Scala drew applause when she stood up to ask a question, which she prefaced by introducing herself as "a Democrat who did not vote for Obama." . . .

Read the whole thing. And hit the tip jar. Oh, yeah, Erik Telford is here, too:

That's Peggy Venable, AFP Texas director, the surprisingly cheerful Telford, and Texas grassroots hottie activist Nina Sidoryanskaya.

It would probably be wrong to beat Telford into a coma in front of the ladies. But I haven't ruled it out.

UPDATE: I just helped my new blog buddy, Barbara Espinosa, install SiteMeter and Technorati on her blog. Please visit Barbara at American Freedom blog.

UPDATE II: Michelle Malkin had to catch a plane before I arrived, so I didn't get to see her, as I'd hoped. Maybe next year?

Humor-Impaired Commenter Syndrome

This rare condition can strike without warning:

If you want to know why Erik Erikson was invited to speak and not you, go to Alexa and compare your stats to Redstate. Orders of magnitude, buddy.
Why the difference? Redstate is about issues. This blog is about three things: 1) Who does and doesn't link to you, 2) Your resentment over real and imagined insults, 3) Begging for money in every post.
You want to be a player in conservative circles? Write about something that matters to a national conservative audience. And no, that would not be a two-part, line-by-line dissection of a column written two weeks ago by an unknown kid in a newspaper read only by people who eat whale blubber. Nor would it be a book-length rehashing of your personal disappointments at the Washington Times.
Seriously, this is the fourth time you've posted profoundly juvenile fantasies about hurting Telford because you're not on the program. If you ever do make it, your blurb will say, "We invited Stacy so he would stop whining."
-- "plarson," 7:55 a.m.

Research indicates that anonymity is closely associated with Humor-Impaired Commenter Syndrome, perhaps because people are afraid to advertise -- under their own names -- the fact that they are too stupid or ignorant to get the freaking jokes.

Or that they are too stupid or ignorant to tell the difference between (a) a Republican discussion board about "issues" and (b) the personal blog of a journalist who has been called (by L.J. Miller of Red State, ironically enough) "the conservative Hunter S. Thompson for today."

And speaking of "issues," let's have an informal poll. Please read the following statment aloud:

A major problem of the Republican Party today is that in recent years the GOP has attracted too many humorless self-important blowholes who take everything literally and who only want to talk about "issues."

Do you (a) strongly agree, (b) agree somewhat, (c) disasagree somewhat, (d) disagree strongly, or (e) froth with rage because you're the humorless self-important blowhole "plarson" who is belatedly realizing what a complete fool you have made of of yourself?

Of course, a poll measures what is merely a matter of opinion. As a professional journalist, I am trained to deal strictly with neutral, objective facts.

Important fact: I arrived late to the blogosphere. In 2003, one of my interns at The Washington Times, a promising young feature writer named Amy Doolittle, came to me with the suggestion of writing a story about something called "blogs," a term she had to explain was short for "weblogs."

Miss Doolittle began to explain the concept of these do-it-yourself personal online journals, and my reaction was, "Oh, you mean, like MichelleMalkin.com or The Corner at NRO?"

Yes, kind of like The Corner, answered Miss Doolittle, but she then told me that, although some of these "blog" things were about politics, they could also be about . . . anything, including the personal hobbies and daily activities of the individual bloggers. Some of these sick freaks even blogged about their cats.

This seemed rather an obscure sort of topic for a feature article in America's Newspaper, but young Miss Doolittle had her heart set on it. So we presented the idea to assistant managing editor Maria Stainer who, while perhaps even more mystified than I -- "OK, now, explain to me one more time: Why do we need to do a story about this?" -- nevertheless approved the proposal, rather than to break poor Miss Doolittle's heart.

Fast forward to December 2006: Having survived the final deadline required to complete the manuscript of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party, I'm on the phone with my co-author Lynn Vincent, discussing the promotion and marketing of the book.

"We must have a Donkey Cons blog."
"Well, a Web site, maybe, but why a blog?"
"Because we must. Everybody does blogs to promote their books nowadays."
"Stacy, a blog will eat your life."

Lynn had been assigned blog duties at World magazine, where she was features editor, and thus knew whereof she spoke. Did I heed her warning? Oh, no, no, no.

So at 10:55 a.m. on Friday, January 13, 2006, the Donkey Cons blog made its inauspicious debut. Immediately, I was confronted with a problem: If an author writes in the blogosphere and nobody reads it, why bother blogging at all?

What followed was a crash course in what are known as Traffic Enhancement Strategies, a subject subsequently explained as "How To Get A Million Hits On Your Blog In Less Than A Year."

There are people who make money writing books and teaching seminars about this topic -- including the kind of important people who get invited to RightOnline -- but I am notoriously averse to expert advice and, indeed, have been known to share Hayekian critiques of the entire concept of expertise.

Having never been a big fan of self-help books ("Dr. Phil's Guide to Sexually Abusing Interns"), the last place you'll ever find me is sitting in a hotel conference room listening to some neurasthenic geek drone on about SEOs and Web 2.0 social networking technology.

Sorry, geek-face, I don't roll that way. What I know, I learned by the bootstrap trial-and-error method and, proud though I may be, I am not too proud to occasionally display the scars that are the inevitable result of the "error" part of that process. Mr. "plarson" is invited to read the motto atop this blog:

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up."
-- Arthur Koestler

It would be a disservice to my readers if I were less than honest about my own motives. "I Write For Money," as I once explained to that notoriously self-important blowhole Rod Dreher. Tthere is nothing I hate worse than a professional writer who, in a sort of bait-and-switch marketing scheme, endeavors to attract a gullible readership prone to believing that he, the writer, is a disinterested philosophe who has no interest in grubbing for filthy lucre.

This is not a blog for chumps and suckers. If you're too stupid to recognize that "crunchy" conservatism is a crooked game of three-card monte, if you don't get the ongoing schtick when I indulge in self-deprecating mock-Gonzo humor, you are obviously reading the wrong blog.

The correct reader for this blog is a certain mischievous resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, who just hit the tip jar for a full Benjamin, and included this double-dog-dare-ya message: "Roadtrip to PA. GO! Tell MM, Hi from Sharon. She does not know me."

So while I would like to stick around here and expend another 1,500 words explaining exactly what I meant to say when I started this post, there is now no time to waste. Sharon in Cincinnati must have a personally autographed copy of the Best. Book. Evah! and there is only one man in the blogosphere who can get it for her.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro . . . and hit the freaking tip jar. Erik Telford's going to be buying the beer in Pittsburgh tonight, but man does not blog for beer alone.

Erik Telford offers 'peace for our time'

"My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time . . . Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
-- Neville Chamberlain, Sept. 30, 1938

On Thursday, July 21 -- 24 days ago -- I posted this in reference to my non-invitation to RightOnline:

No, my feelings aren't hurt. I'm chopped liver, and chopped liver doesn't have feelings. But why does Americans For Prosperity hate me so much? What did I ever do to Erik Telford to deserve this purposeful snub?

Puzzled and hurt, I intended merely to make mention of this, to serve notice that this insult -- this backhanded assault on my personal dignity -- had not escaped my attention.

A brief explanation: In D.C. Republican circles, if you allow yourself to be treated like Fredo Corleone getting slapped around by Moe Green, you might as well get "Chump" tattooed on your forehead, because you will never be treated with any courtesy or respect.

You've got to understand how these D.C. Republican operatives think. They're all sadistic sociopaths by nature. Maybe Erik Telford is so powerful, and I am so insignificant, that he can slap me around like Fredo and not have to worry about it. But if I don't even mention that he's slapping me around, Telford might start to thinking I'm so stupid I don't even know when I've been insulted.

OK, so on July 21 I merely noted the insult and was prepared to move on. Then, on Saturday, July 25, after speaking at the Richmond Tea Party, I ran into Ben Marchi, Virginia state director of Americans For Prosperity, and asked him if it was Telford's habit to casually insult Hayekian public intellectuals:

When I mentioned Erik's name, Ben reminded me that Telford recently made No. 2 on Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list. As usual, Olbermann gets the facts wrong -- Telford's No. 1.
That surge of registrations for RightOnline the past two days was caused by my friends signing up for a seminar Telford left off the Pittsburgh conference agenda: "I've Got T-Shirts Older Than You, Punk: Stacy McCain Explains Why He Just Beat the Crap Out of Erik Telford in the Sheraton Lobby."

That was three weeks ago and Telford, perhaps hoping nobody else had noticed, continued ignoring me.

Finally, this morning sometime after 1 a.m. -- no doubt after toasting his buddies in the Sheraton hotel bar, as they all laughed while Telford recounted how he'd insulted me -- and in response to an earlier post, someone claiming to be Erik Telford left a comment.

This commenter offered to have me as a featured speaker at RightOnline 2010, and invited me to a future "Beer Summit" to make amends. That comment was rejected for three good reasons:

• There was no independent verification that it indeed was posted by the actual Erik Telford. No responsible journalist could permit a potential "Erik Telford" impostor to perpetrate online fraud. Exactly why someone would wish to impersonate Telford, I don't know, but these Nigerian scam artists are cunning devils, and you can never be too careful.
• The commenter claiming to be "Erik Telford" left a telephone number which could not be verified and which, for all I know, might be the number of a transvestite escort service. Exactly why someone claiming to be Telford would use such a subterfuge to lure unsuspecting blog readers into calling "Vonda, the Shemale of Your Dreams, I don't know, but these Nigerian scam artists . . . well, you can never be too careful.
• Finally, even if this commenter was the real Erik Telford (and neither Nigerian nor a transvestite hooker) I fear that accepting an invitation to a "Beer Summit" could prove a prelude to disaster, like Chamberlain's 1938 summit in Munich.

How can I be sure that this "Erik" -- and readers will note the suspiciously Aryan name -- is really who he says he is, and that this is a sincere offer of peace?

What Would Reagan Do? Trust, but verify!

If the real Erik Telford truly desires to secure a lasting peace . . . Mr. Telford, come to this blog! Mr. Telford, hit this tip jar!

Of course, we encourage all our regular readers -- including Nigerian scam artists and transvestite hookers -- also to hit the tip jar.

I haven't seen Michelle Malkin in person since CPAC. It's 184 miles one-way to Pittsburgh, less than two hours drive, if the Pennsylvania State Highway Patrol hasn't been alerted that I'm on my way.

Whether or not I'm actually crazy enough to race westward on I-70 at 110 mph in order to ambush Telford and beat him into a coma, it's important that he believe I might do it. So hit that tip jar, folks. Gas, coffee, cigarettes, donuts, bail money -- expenses can add up on a spur-of-the-moment road trip like that.

"Go home and get a nice quiet sleep," Telford. And keep an eye out. Because you never know . . .

UPDATE: Humor-Impaired Commenter Syndrome.

Erik Telford, Internet expert

The guy who didn't invite me to Right Online -- who cannot even be bothered so much as to send an e-mail to explain this insulting omission -- finds time to give an interview to Dan Nephin of the Associated Press:

The Netroots Nation conference is much larger, at about 1,800 people, and lasts four days. RightOnline has about 700 people and lasts two days.
Erik Telford, executive director of RightOnline, concedes the left has been better about using blogging and social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
"I think for the past few years, they (the left) have had an advantage, but the tables are turning and rapidly so," he said. "The Internet is a great place for people to turn when they want to get involved. And people really want to get involved when they're locked out of power."
Telford pointed to the right's activism on "Tea Party" demonstrations across the country against stimulus spending and town hall meetings on health care as examples.
Conservative leaders were slow to embrace online activism, he said.
"But the fact of the matter is, the paradigm has flipped completely upside down. And we can either embrace it and succeed, or we can remain in denial about it at our own peril," Telford said.
"At Americans for Prosperity, we realize we can't just give marching orders to our activists. They have access to these tools. We want them to self-organize. We want to rebuild the movement from the bottom up," he said.

"Rebuild the movement" = Don't invite me.

Remember this, if you're a conservative organization for "people [who] really want to get involved." Whatever you do, make sure you leave me out, the way Erik Telford of Americans for Prosperity did, because you wouldn't want your event covered by a mere conservative journalist.

Whenever important bloggers gather . . .

. . . I'm not invited. Two weeks ago, I was not invited to the Red State Gathering in Atlanta. This week's big blog shindig to which I am not invited is Right Online in Pittsburgh.

Ed Morrissey is a featured speaker at Right Online and Twitters who he's hanging out with in Pittsburgh:

Having dinner with ... um .... everone. @ewerickson, @saorendayton, @boteleprompter, @E_lizabethCrum, @oetaxpayer, @johnhawkinsrwn

Also at dinner: @seanhackbarth, not eating.

Hey, @katiefavazza just showed up, kind of like my AIP columns ... just a wee bit late. ;-)

Right Online is organized by Americans For Prosperity, which assigned Eric Telford not to invite me.

Telford, who's every bit of 26 years old, probably thinks I was only joking about driving to Pittsburgh and whupping his impudent young ass. And probably I was.

On the other hand, I just did a Mapquest (184 mi – about 3 hours 11 mins) to the Pittsburgh Sheraton Station Square Hotel, and I've been known to do far crazier things than drive two hours -- hey, I drive fast -- for the pleasure of laying a long-overdue ass-whupping on an arrogant sumbitch who did me wrong.

If only I had enough gas money . . . but nobody loves me, because my blog sucks.

Richmond Tea Party Report: Liberty 101

Among the Virginians I met at Saturday's "Liberty 101" event in Richmond was the charming Kayrn McDermott who files a report today at the Examiner:

[Richmond talk-radio czar] Doc Thompson . . . told the assembled throng how his political views were formulated after reading Ayn Rand’s tome ‘Atlas Shrugged’ whilst in his twenties. Thompson then went on to introduce over ten speakers . . .

. . . including some guy who gave "a fiery yet humorous address," so read the whole thing.

You meet the most fascinating people at these Tea Party events. The temperature was more than 90 degrees Saturday, so I went searching for ice water amid the vendor tents at the shade-deficient Chesterfield County Fairgrounds.

This thirsty quest led to a conversation with Patrick McSweeney of Restore the Founders' Vision, a Virginia-based grassroots organization, and Ben Marchi, Virginia state director of Americans For Prosperity.

Of course, my feelings were still sore that AFP's Erik Telford insulted me by leaving me out of next month's RightOnline National Conference in Pittsburgh with Michelle Malkin. When I mentioned Erik's name, Ben reminded me that Telford recently made No. 2 on Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list. As usual, Olbermann gets the facts wrong -- Telford's No. 1.

That surge of registrations for RightOnline the past two days was caused by my friends signing up for a seminar Telford left off the Pittsburgh conference agenda: "I've Got T-Shirts Older Than You, Punk: Stacy McCain Explains Why He Just Beat the Crap Out of Erik Telford in the Sheraton Lobby." But I digress . . .

Among the folks attending the Richmond event was John Berlau, director of CEI's Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs and author of Eco-Freak: Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health. Yesterday's blazing July sun was a health hazard, so John had slathered his face in sunscreen, but I told him, "Why bother with that stuff? If you get skin cancer, ObamaCare's got you covered!"

Gadsden Flags abounded at the event and the Second Amendment Sisters were out in force. Nothing like a woman packing heat to get a fellow's attention. And, yes, I finally got some ice water at the Protest Warrior tent, where I met the famous Concrete Bob of Free Republic.

Alas, as Pink Elephant Pundit Tabitha Hale informed me, At The Point of a Gun's Dave C. had a family emergency, so I didn't get a chance to meet him.

Glenn Reynolds has more on the Richmond "Liberty 101" event and other Tea Party events. Hey, professor, want to come up to Pittsburgh for the RightOnline conference? I noticed Telford left you off the schedule, too. If that punk's still conscious after I get through pounding on him, Jimmie Bise has called dibs on seconds, but you can have a shot if there's anything left when Jimmie gets done. Which isn't likely, but still possible.

Michelle Malkin coming to Pittsburgh --and everybody important will be there!

Mark your calendar, folks: The author of the Best Book Evah! is going to be in Pittsburgh Aug. 14-15 for the RightOnline National Conference at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel.

Americans For Prosperity has invited everybody who's important in the conservative blogosphere: Erick Erickson of RedState.com, Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com, Matt Lewis of AOL’s Political Machine, and Ronald Kessler of Newsmax.com.

Most importantly, they've invited you! So go there and sign up now!

Y'all have fun. I wasn't invited. Like I said, "everybody who's important in the conservative blogosphere."

No, my feelings aren't hurt. I'm chopped liver, and chopped liver doesn't have feelings. But why does Americans For Prosperity hate me so much? What did I ever do to Erik Telford to deserve this purposeful snub?

Never mind. It's all my fault, I'm sure. Blame me.

UPDATE: Dave C wants me to remind you that, even though I'm chopped liver to Erik Telford and AFP, the Virginia Tea Party Patriots love me, and I'll be in Richmond on Saturday for their Liberty 101 Conference. Thanks, Dave. It's nice to know that not everybody hates me.