Hawkins picks his 20 favorite CPAC quotes

Some good ones.

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Studs and Duds at #CPAC10

Studs:

The biggest stud of CPAC-2010 was Marco Rubio, the first major speaker of the conference. He delivered an impassioned call for preserving American freedom from the creeping statism that would make us look like the countries people leave rather than the ones to which they flock.  He also got his digs in against the Republican establishment, saying endorsements aren’t enough to avoid a primary challenge, and one-liners aren’t enough to avoid substantive policy discussions.  Rubio and his introducer, Jim DeMint, repeatedly raised the specter of another, well, Arlen Specter.  Most of all, Rubio was a stud because of the energy he brought to the room.  Anybody there who didn’t have an emotional response to Rubio either wasn’t paying attention or had press credentials (-but I repeat myself).

Andrew Breitbart was another major stud at CPAC.  The guy is intellectually savvy and media savvy.  He called out the dinosaur media for failing to recognize the viscerally undeniable evil captured in the ACORN undercover videos.  He captures an audience’s attention like few others.  Breitbart will be a force to watch in conservative activism and punditry for some time to come.

(More Studs & Duds under the fold...)


more...

Posted by: JoeCollins at 01:35 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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CPAC Lies Down With Dogs, Gets Up With Fleas ( #CPAC10 )

There’s been quite a kerfluffle about Ron Paul winning the CPAC Straw Poll.


[Really? You voted for this guy?]

Well, the ACU was practically asking for it. Paul-bots are normally over-represented at CPAC, and bringing Glenn Beck on as the keynote speaker is going to bring the most rabid of the 9/12'ers out of the woodwork. Not content to just complain about the Federal Reserve, the Campaign for Liberty events were particularly aggressive this year. I made sure to attend an event on state nullification (“When All Else Fails: Nullification and State Resistance to Federal Tyranny”) featuring Thomas Woods.

One can tell Woods is a fairly smart guy, but it’s painfully obvious that he hasn’t an ounce of tact in his entire body, nor any grasp of electoral, political, or legal reality. He did take what was in my mind a completely insane topic and gave an interesting historical and philosophical defense of it... leaving out the part where it fell by the wayside and is now the favorite topic of cranks. Members of the public used the word “secession” a time or two in the Q&A session and nobody batted an eye.

Woods’ rather whimsical defense of the modern nullification/interposition movement is basically that nothing else has worked to stop government growth and encroachment, so why not try it. Well, you don’t try it because it isn’t legal and doesn’t work. (Ask anybody in a medical marijuana state who has been busted for pot.)

I'm no Constitutional lawyer, but did the “strict Constitutionalists” read this part of Article VI?:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Also at CPAC were the Oath Keepers, who have been discussed on DPUD before, and the John Birch Society, who still refuse to shy away from crank conspiracy theories.

So I say the ACU shouldn’t have been too surprised at Ron Paul’s straw poll victory. They invited all the nutters to town and gave them all the rhetorical crack cocaine they wanted. If the ACU wants a more reputable poll outcome, they should take better care to vet their sponsors, speakers, and panel topics.

(Cross-posted)

Posted by: JoeCollins at 12:10 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Crap crap crap...

Keep Dick Cheney in your prayers, he's been hospitalized with chest pains.  Reported stable.

Posted by: Alice H at 07:43 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Why I Will Never Be A Liberal

Here is the video of Ronald Reagan announcing his candidacy for President in November of 1979. This video, while a bit long, hits every point concerning why I am conservative, and will never be a liberal: optimism, faith in the future, belief in the goodness of mankind, contempt of government's spiked fisting of the people, and an unwillingness to accept our best days are behind us.



Here is the text.

My favorite portion:

In recent months leaders in our government have told us that, we, the people, have lost confidence in ourselves; that we must regain our spirit and our will to achieve our national goals. Well, it is true there is a lack of confidence, an unease with things the way they are. But the confidence we have lost is confidence in our government's policies. Our unease can almost be called bewilderment at how our defense strength has deteriorated. The great productivity of our industry is now surpassed by virtually all the major nations who compete with us for world markets. And, our currency is no longer the stable measure of value it once was.

But there remains the greatness of our people, our capacity for dreaming up fantastic deeds and bringing them off to the surprise of an unbelieving world. When Washington's men were freezing at Valley Forge, Tom Paine told his fellow Americans: "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," we still have that power.

We--today's living Americans--have in our lifetime fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom and done more to advance the dignity of man than any people who have ever lived on this Earth. The citizens of this great nation want leadership--yes--but not a "man on a white horse" demanding obedience to his commands. They want someone who believes they can "begin the world over again." A leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way. I want to do that more than anything I've ever wanted. And it's something that I believe with God's help I can do.

Contrast that optimism with the shit Obama spews on a daily basis. Contrast Reagan's optimism with Obama's clueless fatalism. Contrast Reagan's belief in the things that made and continue to make America great with a fool who bows before anything in front of him. And contrast the hope and change that Reagan promised (and delivered) versus what we have now.

America's best days are ahead of us, and fuck those who disagree. Fuck them with the sonicblasted hurty stick of hurt. Fuck them for pushing the clowns on us who are preventing our best days. Fuck those fuckduckcocks of FAIL. Fuck them because we need people at the helm who are optimistic, not whining fuckwhiners who blame others. And fucking fuck them with the fucksicle of fucking get outta my fucking way for being dead fucking weight holding America back.

We need people willing to dream and accomplish big dreams, not fucking pussies who tell us we should accept less in order to spread the wealth. We need people who refuse to leave a shithole for their children to live in, not clowns who continue to burden and enslave our future to a life of penury and chattelism to the bureaucracy. And we need somebody with the balls to tell the left to fuck off and take their fuckitude with them. And all of this was accomplished with the projection of strength, confidence, intelligence, and a refusal to accept nothing less than the best for all.

So, fuck you lefties. Take a look at how a real man with optimism can save the world.  It happened once, and may soon happen again in 2012.

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Happy Birthday Mr. President

I do not believe that I am capable of articulating how much I miss Pres. Reagan or how much he means to my life.  I firmly believe that without him and Mrs. Thatcher, there would have been nuclear war and the Soviet Union would never have collapsed in the manner it did. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.  I know the Moron Horde misses you terribly. 

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