Pinstripe Politics: CPAC 2008
I just came back from my trip to Washington D.C’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference. I saw Romney, McCain, Paul and Huckabee, as well as President Bush and Tony Snow.
My thoughts:
Romney gave the greatest speech I’ve ever heard him give. In fact, if he decides to run in 2012, I’ll be his number one supporter. I kind of knew that he was going to drop out of the race, as he looked like he was going to cry throughout the entire speech.
McCain continues to bore me with his speaking. When he came on stage, a majority of the crowd applauded, but there were definitely some loud boos. I think he’s not that great of a public speaker and that hurt him. The reaction from a lot of CPAC attendees though was that he did a good job to start to convince people that he can be a conservative, too.
Paul did virtually nothing to help his case, and I don’t see his appeal ever growing any more. His supporters are very passionate – and it’s not a “good” passionate either… it’s more or less a crazy “I’m the president of the Ron Paul fan club” kind of passionate. He also made the claim that Osama bin Laden “likes our foreign policy.” I didn’t know that Ron Paul had talks with Osama… apparently he does.
Huckabee gave a good speech, though nothing like the speech he gave at CPAC 2007. I thought he hit all his major points and stressed that he was staying in the race because voters deserved an election, not a coronation.
I also got to see President Bush speak to the crowd. I literally waited in line for over 5 hours to make sure I got in there. He gave a great speech. Though I forget most of what he said, I do remember that he talked about how his daughter was getting married. Also there were various screams from the audience saying things like “I love you George!” and at one point the crowd erupted in “4 more years!”
Tony Snow closed out the convention with an outstanding “rally the base” speech. I heard him speak last year and I didn’t think he did a good job, but I was very impressed this year. He rallied the crowd saying that the conservatives may have finished Act 1 when they defeated communism and liberated millions, but there was more work to be done.
Overall, good convention. Romney won the straw poll 35% to 34% over McCain, but I walked away with the feeling that conservatives will come around and support him if and when he is the nominee.
My thoughts:
Romney gave the greatest speech I’ve ever heard him give. In fact, if he decides to run in 2012, I’ll be his number one supporter. I kind of knew that he was going to drop out of the race, as he looked like he was going to cry throughout the entire speech.
McCain continues to bore me with his speaking. When he came on stage, a majority of the crowd applauded, but there were definitely some loud boos. I think he’s not that great of a public speaker and that hurt him. The reaction from a lot of CPAC attendees though was that he did a good job to start to convince people that he can be a conservative, too.
Paul did virtually nothing to help his case, and I don’t see his appeal ever growing any more. His supporters are very passionate – and it’s not a “good” passionate either… it’s more or less a crazy “I’m the president of the Ron Paul fan club” kind of passionate. He also made the claim that Osama bin Laden “likes our foreign policy.” I didn’t know that Ron Paul had talks with Osama… apparently he does.
Huckabee gave a good speech, though nothing like the speech he gave at CPAC 2007. I thought he hit all his major points and stressed that he was staying in the race because voters deserved an election, not a coronation.
I also got to see President Bush speak to the crowd. I literally waited in line for over 5 hours to make sure I got in there. He gave a great speech. Though I forget most of what he said, I do remember that he talked about how his daughter was getting married. Also there were various screams from the audience saying things like “I love you George!” and at one point the crowd erupted in “4 more years!”
Tony Snow closed out the convention with an outstanding “rally the base” speech. I heard him speak last year and I didn’t think he did a good job, but I was very impressed this year. He rallied the crowd saying that the conservatives may have finished Act 1 when they defeated communism and liberated millions, but there was more work to be done.
Overall, good convention. Romney won the straw poll 35% to 34% over McCain, but I walked away with the feeling that conservatives will come around and support him if and when he is the nominee.
Labels: Bush, CPAC, Huckabee, McCain, Pinstripe Politics, Romney, Ron Paul, Tony Snow
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