Today was a very interesting day. Starting out on the Metro, we were serenaded by an interesting woman singing 'Danny Boy'. Note to self: During rush hour, if you see a car that has an empty spot, there may be a good reason for that.
Upon arriving at CPAC, the day only got more interesting as it went on. Surprise after surprise. Scott Brown made an unexpected visit, along with the dark emperor himself: Dick Cheney. The speakers were informative, but the Obama teleprompter jokes grew old...quickly. The best laugh of the day came from Mitt Romney. Regarding the winter games, he informs us that USA Gold Medalist Vonn had been stripped of her medal that she won last night for skiing. Turns out that Obama has beaten her record for going downhill. My favorite speaker, no surprise, was Wayne LaPierre, the president of the NRA. In previous months, I had not been a fan of Wayne. Maybe the Clinton gun bans were just ancient history to me, but LaPierre courageously took on Clinton and Gore and was credited by the Dems as having a huge impact on electing my dear W.
The real fun for me came when I visited the exhibition hall. I visited the NRA booth, of course, and after playing with the shotgun simulator for a while was asked by the guy there to help him calibrate the unit (after talking shop and mentioning that I'm a gunsmith in training). While helping him sight the shotty in, the AP managed to snap a nice photo of me, which is now on their website, as well as the Yahoo! news coverage of CPAC. I am personally quite happy to be the posterboy gun toting redneck of CPAC.
Derek and I paid a visit to the 'Tradition, Family, and Property' booth as well. Having my own personal opinions about repealing 'don't ask, don't tell', we thought it would be interesting to listen to what these guys had to say. While discussing their spokesman\leader, the exhibitor mentioned that they were against women being in combat. They were even opposed to women working in non-combat administrative jobs. I had decided not to share my views on homosexuals in the service, but this was too much. After talking to them for about 15 minutes, we had arrived at the logical conclusion. These TFP people were seriously saying that a woman's only purpose was to bear and nurture children. Based on that same logic, I suppose they think women should not be in politics or even vote. I was surprised and taken aback that these attitudes not only still exist, but are being promoted. I actually felt like a liberal for the first time in my life, arguing progressive ideology to a bunch of dinosaurs. To add some icing to the cake, after Derek politely stated that we would agree to disagree and be on our way, the men simply crossed their arms when we tried to get a handshake. Unbelievable.
All in all, a very interesting day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds at CPAC 2010!
-Alex Gerard
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