Final Thoughts

The trip is over and we are all officially back in Bowling Green now. Now that its over I thought i would give my top 3 speakers and my bottom 3 speakers as I thought in my mind.

Top 3.
1. Marco Rubio
2. Allen West
3. Glenn Beck

Bottom 3
3. Scott Brown
2. All Speakers on the 2 minute Activist.
1. Ron Paul

The reason Marco Rubio and Allen West were my top 2 were because they gave speeches that truly blew me away and made me want to get more involved. Also Glenn Beck made one understand what truly living out the American Dream looks like. As a man who was an alcoholic and not a college graduate to get to the platform he has now is unbelievable.

The bottom 3 were in my opinion the speeches that made me one wonder about the person or they were just annoying. Scott Brown who is more moderate then Republican most likely will have to become liberal to ever get re-elected in his district. The 2 minute activist were the group who had the guy who came on stage and called out CPAC for bringing GOPRIDE a gay republican group. The bottom one is Ron Paul. I feel he is weak on military and would never be a good president. Also his followers are crazy and need to be kicked in the face. His supporters would be screaming out during other peoples speeches and were just plan rude.

Over all great trip and I made some new friends. Even though I spent most of the time trying to convince Dr. Turner to move my Politics and Mass Media classes test back a week I enjoyed getting to know one of my teachers. Even if he wouldn't change the test date, but hey why not try?

I hope to go back sometime.
Brent

Best day of my Political Life!

The smartest man I have ever had the pleasure of hearing speak, Glenn Beck.
Glenn Left his mark on the board he gave to the CPAC committee.
Glenn Beck visiting his discussion on Progressivism
Gross National Product - 24%
Note the book says VOTE COMMUNIST on the bottom right page.
Glenn Beck reading from a Communist/Progressive booklet for Rhodes Island.
Liberty man! isn't he weird?
Everyone Keeps asking how much snow DC has right now... Just think, it has already melted a lot.

The Black Board from the speech was signed and will be brought to American Conservative Union Meetings.
Glenn Beck Key Noting the CPAC conference. My favorite Picture!
Glenn Beck writing the number one problem facing democracy.
Glenn's "friend" the famous Blackboard made it's CPAC debut during his speech.

Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, the visionary for the party.

Today was the best day of my three years attending CPAC. The day started off great with Former Senator Rick Santorum and moved on to Newt Gingrich, Anne Coulter, Bill Bennett and lastly Glenn Beck. I will get to Glenn in a minute. Rick was running for president. Newt was too... Coulter was hilarious, Bill Bennett was inspiring. Glenn Beck was remarkable. Beck has the ability to turn everything you ever think upside down with the most simple history lesson. We are not dealing with politics as we know it, or as it has been/is being taught to us. In these times there are people that want to fundamentally change the way our country works. They want to disregard the rules that we have always gone by in sake of making life easier for them, and this is killing our country and our freedom. This is not just a Democrat issue, but a Republican one too. This is a personal question we need to ask ourselves, "are we happy with the way things are going?" Is spending our way out of a Financial Crisis the right thing to do? Should we blindly follow anyone that says they have the answers to all of our problems? Just a few scattered thoughts I've been dying to get out. On another note from today's speech, there was a panel on the 2010 elections. I waited my turn and was given the last question to ask. I asked, "In the Bluegrass state of Kentucky, we are having an ideological struggle to replace Senator Jim Bunning with a Conservative and Libertarian candidates. What are your thoughts and predictions on the race?" The best they could come up with was saying that they were proud of how far Kentucky has come from being a blue state to a red state. I was very disappointed, the response did not even hit on the same topic. I think the panel, granted rushed on time, was either afraid to tackle the subject, or ignorant on the race and dynamics of the state. Either way, I got my 2 minutes of fame and I am still wondering the Conservative movement's opinion on the KY Senate Race. I want to Thank Dr. Joel Turner for taking us on this trip, without his mentoring, we would not have had such a great experience.

Excellent Last Day, to a Long, Great, Fun, Four Days

From 8:30 till about 7:00, with a water break, and a bathroom break, I sat in the same seat and sometimes two, but it was well worth it. I got to hear many great speakers, including one of my favorite people.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton was very interesting to listen to. He described why President Obama has poor foreign policy decisions suggesting that he just doesn’t care about foreign policy, he doesn’t see world as dangerous, and that he believes international problems should be handled by sweet reason, not power. He didn’t describe the president as unpatriotic, or hating American, but instead as the first post-American President. This means that he does not believe that America is exceptional and that he is somewhat above America. Ambassador Bolton also criticized Obama’s announcement of a withdrawal date at the same time he announces his decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Bolton described this as a signal of weakness, that you have already said you will give up if you don’t succeed by this day. He really railed on Obama’s policies dealing with Iran, mainly on the fact that he wants to attempt and continue to negotiate with a rouge nation who’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shows no intention on halting Iran’s nuclear program. He also is the same man that wants to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. I always enjoy watching Ambassador Bolton on Fox News Channel, and usually agree with his analysis. I very much agree that our president must not take foreign policy lightly. In the near future I will be serving as an officer in the U.S. Army, and I would prefer that the president does not weaken our military’s superior strength by announcing withdrawal dates prior to the new boots hit the ground. An exit plan is needed, but not an exact deadline.

Glenn Beck, was the highlight of the convention for me. I have watched his show on Fox News since his came to the network, and have been eager to be able to see him in person. Most of what he said tonight, I had already heard, I was actually able to predict one of the percentages he wrote on the board (Tim can vouch for that, ask him). Beck’s enthusiasm and true belief in his convictions is what made his speech exceptional. He looked around the room more than the other speakers at the convention, and he moved away from the center stage podium, which makes him that much more captivating. I think it is important to have speakers like Beck and Ann Coulter speak because they are not politicians, and there for are not seeking any votes. They can say what is really on their minds and leave the political correctness at the door; everything they say is authentic.

Tonight after the adjournment of CPAC the group went to eat, and then the guys in the group went to view a few of the monuments in the beauty of night. It was intimidating standing at the bottom of the lofty Washington Monument, and invigorating touching the base stones. I got a real goose bump feeling seeing honest Abe sitting at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, and reading the Gettysburg Address on the right wall.

Overall the trip has been a blast. I have enjoyed my stay in D.C. and all of the speakers at CPAC; I would love to return next year. Tim lead the way and fought the Seat Nazis, Ali shared the truth, Brent was my fellow tourist and didn’t curse, Russell made everyday that much more interesting, Hunter and Caitlin were on time today, Alex shot a virtual shot-gun and is now under attack by liberal bloggers, Derek climbed every snow mound, Nickel collected many pins, Shane took many a photos, and Doc. Turner provided necessary and enjoyable commentary.

Johnson

Johnson, Day 3

We live in a country that allows its citizens and foreigners to visit the quarters of the head of state. Today, I visited the White House, and walking through each of the different rooms on the tour was surreal. I was walking in a building where forty-two presidents have previously walked, lived, and worked.

I attended a panel discussion titled, Saving Freedom in Urban Centers. Niger Innis was one of the panel members, Tim, Doc. Turner, Shane, and myself, went up to him to say hello. We remembered most of us, and by most of us I mean everyone but me. The panel interested me very much on the topic of school choice for inner-city children. I don’t live in an area where I have witnessed children not being able to achieve success because of where they go to school, but what the panelist discussed allowed me to better understand.

Texas Congressman, Ron Paul, was accepted with much applause, and chanting. He spoke about his usual view points: small government, ending the fed, and an isolationist view of foreign policy. Many people were chanting, “End the Fed”, which is also the title of one of Paul’s books.

Final Day

The final day at C-PAC was a long one. In order to have a seat for the keynote speech with Glenn Beck, you basically had no choice but to stay in your seat the entire day. So the entire day was building up to Beck, and you could tell that by mid afternoon people were starting to get anxious for the big moment. I was probably one of the few people at C-PAC who didn't necessarily enjoy Beck. I agreed with a lot of what he said, however I consider him to be more of a ideologue, where as I am more of a partisan. However, to see the level of excitement for Beck when we came out was pretty intense.

If I had to to list my top 5 speakers from C-PAC here's what it would look like...

- Liz Cheney/surprise appearance from Dick Cheney

- Ann Coulter

- John Bolton

- Marco Rubio

- Col. Allen West

This being my first C-PAC I had no idea what to expect. I enjoyed wearing my John McCain button around the entire week, who's not very popular among the C-PAC crowd, I received a lot of dirty looks. Regardless of where you fall on the conservative spectrum it was exciting to see so many people believe in the same things you do.

-Timothy

Ron Paul! CPAC Day 3

Well, the title of my post says it all. Today the Texas Congressman and former Presidential candidate (1988 and 2008) spoke at CPAC. This is the 3rd time I've seen him at CPAC, and I think it was one of his more effective speeches. His warnings were dismissed and he was treated as a loon during the 2008 election, but since then he has been taken more seriously, becoming a regular on cable news networks talking about the financial meltdown.

Another highlight of today was a tour of the White House. Derek and I stopped for a little photo-op. Enjoy.

During the panel of young conservatives, I felt very embarrassed after the outburst from Ryan Sorba, who denounced CPAC for including GOPride (a gay conservative group). It was in poor taste and was a very narrow minded view. The purpose of CPAC is to exchange ideas between conservatives, even if you don't like all the ideas there.

In reference to yesterday's photo of me at the NRA booth, it appears the liberal bloggers are having fun with me.

http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2010/02/cpac-1-kids-with-guns.html

-Alex Gerard

Derek, Day 4

Today, Ive reflected on my time at CPAC, and decieded a few short essential narratives from the week. First, Glenn Beck, Mark Rubio and the young Marine from Ohio had probably the most stirring presentations, with Glenn Beck being the highlight of the three. Secondly, Ann Coulter and our MC provided limitless one liners and entertainment for the day, as I stayed in my seat from 8am-7pm to ensure my seat for Glenn Beck while listening to endless drivel about immigration reform and global warming science. And Lastly, there are some wierd people in the subways at night.

"Saving Freedom" on the Last Day of CPAC 2010

The day started with former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. He stated, "Progressives love this country for what they hope it could be, conservatives love this country for what it is." He then explained how these two ideologies affect how our leaders construct America's problems and how they go about solving them. Progressives deal with the currently unproved problem of global warming, while conservatives deal with the jihadist attacks recently and currently taking place on American soil. The reason I agree with conservative construction of spectacle problems? We won't survive to deal with future problems if we don't alleviate the pressing problems of today. There's nothing wrong with hope, but progressives tend to play off hope to divert attention from serious economic woes and threats to the very foundation of our democracy because those problems are difficult, those problems take time, and those problems require ACTION. Taking action to save freedom in America is what this year's CPAC was all about.

CNN contributor Bill Bennett also offered sharp words of wisdom when he said that he hopes the future's book about the present will not have to be titled "While America Slept." He expressed his worry that president Obama's apologetic attitude in foreign affairs will lead to a loss of respect for America as a leader in international politics. There is nothing to be sorry for when you are leading a country whose strength comes from the freedom of its citizens to think, challenge, and innovate, Mr. President.

Newt Gingrich, Ann McElhinney, and of course, Glenn Beck were some of the other favorite speakers of the day. While I enjoyed listening to them speak, I was not as enthused as most other individuals in the audience. I am glad that honorable, more notable figures speak out on important conservative topics, but I refuse to be one of those people who stand up and clap at everything Glenn Beck says because she is star-struck.

MY favorite speaker of the day, then, was Monica Crowley at the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute's 2010 Woman of the Year luncheon. Besides being eloquent and quite beautiful, Monica instilled a real enthusiasm in me for finding and pursuing a particular path in politics. For her, it was foreign policy. Her first job out of college was as foreign policy assistant to President Richard Nixon and it was all because of a letter she wrote to him after reading one of his books. I am often overwhelmed by the world of politics, but Monica made it simple- follow a passion. America gives us the freedom to pursue our passions, and that is why Monica was my favorite speaker of the day. She reached out to individual women because she recognizes that that's where empowerment begins. I had the opportunity to speak with her briefly after her speech, and she assured me that if I read her book and wrote her a letter like the one she sent to Nixon, she would write me back. That's definitely now on my to-do-list.

Overall, the trip has been an enjoyable experience. This is my second year attending and I plan to keep coming in the future because this conference reminds me why I'm a political science major and pushes me to work harder by making me realize that I have so much more left to learn. CPAC 2010, you've been great, but I'm ready to go home.

Ali Edelstein

So Long, Farewell, It's Time To Say Goodbye!

So today was the last day of the conference. We got up, bright and early again, and headed out. Once there, Brent said his goal was to out tweet Shane. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so that was my goal too. The tweets have been tallied, and the winner is: NICKEL!!! 31 tweets compared to Shane's 27. I rock! This only counts the tweets at the conference, so the one Shane had about dinner didn't count. Not that it would have helped him beat me or anything because he still would have been 3 short. Today was pretty cool. The emcee guy was HILARIOUS! At the conference, there was an interesting character dressed in full Scottish garb, complete with kilt, and waving a "Don't Tread On Me" flag. He was a curious individual. Shane and I wanted to go to a panel about using technology to rile up conservatives, so we left the big ballroom a little bit early to get to the other ballroom. While we were headed there, we were interviewed by a reporter from American University for the American Observer paper. That was pretty cool. When we got to the panel, it was really boring so we left to go back to the big ballroom to wait for Anne Coulter to speak. She was really funny. I liked her speech. After that, Shane and I went to grab McDonalds. The place was PACKED!!! I got a cheeseburger and fries, then we went to CVS to get snacks to hold us through the rest of the day because we had to keep our good seats for Glenn Beck later. I got some Chili Cheese Fritos, Kit Kats, and a cheese danish. Newt Gingrich made quite the entrance. He came in the side door of the floor, to the tune of Eye of the Tiger. It was great! His speech was really good too! Later, a guy was talking about global warming, and asked if we had gotten the hockey sticks yet. He said there were only 400 of them. I saw the guy with the box, and ran back to get one. Two guys tried to cut in front of me, so I stepped on their toes. Then when I finally got the last one from the box, some guy tried to grab it from me, but I held on really tight and he let go. Then, another guy pushed me and I almost fell onto a row of conference watchers, which prompted a lady to say "Watch who you boys are pushing!" Nice lady. I think I may have scratched a guy in my attempt to prevent myself from falling into the people. But I got my hockey stick, so I'm happy. There was a crazy Irish lady who spoke, and she was hilarious! I liked her, her accent was great. After that, they released the straw poll results. Unfortunately, Ron Paul won the presidential straw poll. Then *drumroll* Glenn Beck! His speech was absolutely amazing. He even brought a blackboard with him lol. It was pretty cool. He was really funny too. Shane got some good pics of him. Then we left the conference. We went to Good Stuff for dinner. The burger was really good, but it made a few of us sick. The ones that didn't feel sick are out at the monuments now, but I've already seen them, so I was ok with missing it. Time for bed though. Early morning tomorrow! Heading back to the airport bright and early!

NRA

White House, Pauls, Gnomes, and more Surprises!

Gnome Finally gets a Gnome photo at the White House!!!
Gnome and Nickel at the White House.
The whole crew!
Several of us got to meet Wayne LaPierre, the President of the NRA!!! Big Fan!
Our old friend, Niger Innis! He even remembered us!
Another Surprise visit, this time from Va. Governor Bob McDonell. Also passed him in the lobby.
The infamous teleprompter that is the butt of too many jokes.
Ron Paul fans getting waaay too excited.
The Man, The Legend, The Paul. Dr. Ron Paul.
Wheres Waldo? I don't know, but I found Russell!
End the Fed was a long chant during Ron Paul's speech.
Annie Oakley, aka Nickel Aho, shooting it up at the NRA booth.
Russell met his hero Dr. Paul.
Ron Paul signed autographs for a while following his speech.
Full house. I can only imagine how full it will be with Glenn Beck tomorrow night.
2 Gnomes and a Nickel.
Do not let this girl go without eating for too long...

Today was another great day at CPAC and in Washington DC. We started the day off by visiting Fords Theater, where Lincoln was shot and killed. Then we walked across the street and saw where Lincoln died. Learning about President Lincoln was a great segway into our visit to the White House. Thank God for the I-Phone, because Tim is the only reason we have pictures from Casa De Obama. There is a rule that you can't bring a camera into the building... dang near killed me, but I managed to get a Gnome of the Day. Following the White House we made it back to CPAC for some great panels, including one with our friend Niger Innis about saving Charter Schools. We also caught a session on 2 minute activism with youth. In the panel, a young conservative who spoke got up there and condemned CPAC, and anyone else who supports gays. This was ridiculous and uncalled for. The continuous bashing of homosexuality by members of the GOP is counterproductive and hypocritical to the conservative principles of limited government. But, he got his 2 minutes of fame and then stormed off the stage as he was boo'd by most everyone in the crowd. After the adrenaline pumping crazy guy we got to see Ron Paul speak and inspire the Libertarian wing of the party. I respect all opinions and view points and even share some with the Ron Paul fans. However the behavior of some of his supporters was not only rude and disrespectful, but disgraceful to anyone they stand for. These individuals remove the legitimacy that these candidates may have. If they can shake the supporters that yell and scream and throw things at people who have done nothing but serve their country, they will never get anywhere as candidates. Back to Ron Paul, I always enjoy hearing him speak because he makes us think about things we would otherwise not think about. So, today was another great day and I am sooo looking forward to tomorrow and Glenn Beck!!!!!!

You Will Never Silence Us.

Well Truth be told I started this blog yesterday but here I took to the trend of Hunter and fell asleep while typing....so lets just back track back to Thursday.


Wow. Well let me just say that I found that motivation I was looking for today(Thursday). First let me just start with letting everyone know what a beautiful person and wonderful speaker Marco Rubio is. Rubio 2010! What a great representative of not only his constituency but also the American Dream. His statements on "where you are born is not where you will stay," and the opportunities that America holds was really motivating. My future husband was followed by another awesome speaker Jim DeMint. Both of their speeches went right along with CPAC's theme this year of "Saving Freedom." Rubio talked about the "Greatest American push back, starting with the Tea parties and the election on Mass. Representative Scott Brown." Demint as well continued on with Rubio's discussion with dubbing this the era of "American Awakening."


Next was the "Saving Freedom for Future Generations," a very motivating session for I think all of generation "X" to hear. Especially Rep. Joshua Mandel of Ohio, a very young but motivated young man. He had a great story about walking door-to-door to gain his votes and wearing out 3 pairs of shoes (my boots look worse then his walking around this city however.) He had two bits of advice for all:
1) Stand up and hold steady to your principles, and no one Else's.
2.) Don't be outworked.

A quick stop by the snack bar, and then we headed back to the Ballroom to hear Liz Chaney speak. What a well spoken and strong women!
"We need to stop apologizing and start defending"
"This is America, and far too many men and women have lost their lives so we can speak."

and my favorite.
"President Obama, you will NEVER silence us."

Then the awesome surprise of former Vice President Dick Chaney. I think hunter just about wet herself out of excitement.


Not too long after was the next surprise of the day when Scott Brown appeared to introduce Mit Romney. I thought Brown to be a great speaker and a handsome man, and it wasn't until later in the day when I was directed to google image search that I found his "Most eligible bachelor pic." Yet another moment when Hunter just about wet herself.

Fast forward to today.
Ford Theatre. Check.
within 12 inches of the gun that killed our 16th president. Check
witnessing 8th graders from a charter school butcher Lincolns speech's. FAIL. but check.
eating at my favorite bakery, Au Bon Pain. Success. and Check.
Standing in line and maintaining a British accent with Hunter the entire time. Check.
Three security checkpoints at White house. Check.
White house tour. CHECK.

Moral of the story. CPAC you rock, Snow that almost crushed Shane hilarious, Au Bon Pain is delicious, and Washington, D.C. your wind is bullshit, but your history is legit.

Don't Let The Facts Get In The Way Of My Liberally Biased Story!

On Thursday, Marco Rubio spoke about the importance of free-enterprise, lowering taxes, simplifying the tax code, getting control of our debt and deficits, and fighting terrorism in a smart, effective way. He also eluded to the wisdom our founders demonstrated in crafting our founding documents in a way that ensured individual liberty and guaranteed all the chance to succeed.

These are simple governmental principles that are important to people of many political persuasions, not merely conservatives. In addition, these principles are easy to comprehend. Well, apparently easy for everyone to comprehend except Chris Matthews. When Matthews discussed Rubio’s speech on lowly rated yet somehow still televised show on MSNBC, he referred to the Rubio’s vision as “constitutionally fundamentalist”, which would potentially lead to overturning civil rights legislation, separate but equal, and otherwise set the country back by potentially overturning 50-100 years of Supreme Court decisions. I can’t quite comprehend the mental gymnastics Matthews had to go through to reach such an asinine conclusion. I can only assume that Matthews understands that he can’t compete with Rubio in the marketplace of ideas, so he has to resort to trying to marginalize Rubio, and others who share his views, by making them appear to be racist. This tired strategy is a crutch often used by Matthews and many others who share his views, and it has stifled meaningful debate for far too long.

In addition, these statements by Matthews demonstrate just how completely inept and out of step with reality that many in the news media are. This is a shame, and it illustrates a larger problem with the news. The media is supposed to serve as the political informant of the American public. The have access to politicians that we don't have, and as a result they should be providing us with meaningful, accurate information to help the public make well-informed political decisions. Unfortunately, as Chris Matthews demonstrates with his analysis of the Rubio speech, the actions of many in the news media are doing the public a major disservice.