I just wanted to wish my fellow Dukes a very happy and safe spring break! I am leaving today to take part in a mission trip to Milton, Florida. I will be incommunicado (at least in the online sense) for the next 8 days, but will hopefully be back to blogging more frequently upon my return.
Take care until then!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
CPAC recap
I promised to give you all a recap of my CPAC experience when I returned, so here it is! The overall mood of CPAC was a bit dismal at the realization that we no longer have a truly conservative candidate in the race. Many speakers and attendees voiced their dissatisfaction with McCain’s platform and voting record. While I agree with their concerns, I have chosen to support him based on the fact that I would prefer to have a moderate Republican in office over a liberal Democrat. However, my intent in this post is not to sway people one way or the other, but rather to give a summary of CPAC from my point of view.
I arrived at the Omni Shoreham around 7:00 PM on Thursday. Since I had missed all of the candidate speeches, I just spent the evening mingling with fellow conservatives, and finally crashed around 12:30 AM to get a bit of rest for the busy day ahead.
My friends and I woke up bright and early (around 4:00 AM) on Friday morning in order to get in line for President Bush’s 7:30 AM speech. It was definitely worth the wait and I personally felt that he did a wonderful job of holding our attention at such an early hour. He mentioned issues ranging from his tax cuts to national security to the established representative government in Iraq, to education, etc. He also brightened the early morning atmosphere by throwing in several jokes throughout his talk, such as “Listen, I'm not known for my English…” and “I used to think that leading a group of strong-willed senators was one of the toughest jobs in the country. I may have found an even tougher one: father of the bride.” He closed by thanking attendees for our support and urging us to fight for another Republican victory.
Later that day, I attended the Thomas Phillips Student Luncheon with Michelle Malkin. She was wonderful and very friendly to those of us who stayed to get her book signed. However, the highlight of the conference for me was attending Ann Coulter’s speech (which was televised on C-SPAN) and getting to meet her afterward. She was absolutely hilarious, but made serious points, as well. She even joked on herself about her previous claim (before Romney dropped out) to support Hillary if McCain became the GOP candidate. I was extremely excited to meet her and get my book signed following her speech. Despite what some of you may think, she is without a doubt one of the most lovely, genuine, and congenial people I have ever met. As anyone who talked to me that evening will tell you, meeting her completely made my weekend!
Another memorable moment occurred when several members of the JMU CRs, myself included, along with other CRs from across the country, were interviewed by Fox News and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher regarding the presidential campaign. Our Fox News interview concluded with the reporter asking us to hold hands and sing “Kum Ba Yah,” which I heard was aired over the weekend and I’m sure was quite entertaining.
Newt Gingrich gave an eloquent speech on Saturday afternoon. He called for conservatives to declare independence from the Republican Party by embracing "Real Change" as elaborated on in his book of that name. Several people commented afterward that they wish he would be our presidential nominee, however, others responded that he has too many skeletons in his closet.
In sum, CPAC turned out to be everything I had hoped for and more! It was an exhausting, but fun-filled and motivational weekend. I only wish that the events could have been scheduled a little differently, since there were other speakers (Dinesh D’Souza, John Bolton, Mike Pence, etc.) who I wanted to hear, but missed because I was either attending another event or waiting in line to get a good seat for a highly popular speech. I came back with an armful of conservative books that I can’t wait to read! Now, if only my hectic schedule would allow for some free time to do that...
Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy VA Primary day!
I arrived at the Omni Shoreham around 7:00 PM on Thursday. Since I had missed all of the candidate speeches, I just spent the evening mingling with fellow conservatives, and finally crashed around 12:30 AM to get a bit of rest for the busy day ahead.
My friends and I woke up bright and early (around 4:00 AM) on Friday morning in order to get in line for President Bush’s 7:30 AM speech. It was definitely worth the wait and I personally felt that he did a wonderful job of holding our attention at such an early hour. He mentioned issues ranging from his tax cuts to national security to the established representative government in Iraq, to education, etc. He also brightened the early morning atmosphere by throwing in several jokes throughout his talk, such as “Listen, I'm not known for my English…” and “I used to think that leading a group of strong-willed senators was one of the toughest jobs in the country. I may have found an even tougher one: father of the bride.” He closed by thanking attendees for our support and urging us to fight for another Republican victory.
Later that day, I attended the Thomas Phillips Student Luncheon with Michelle Malkin. She was wonderful and very friendly to those of us who stayed to get her book signed. However, the highlight of the conference for me was attending Ann Coulter’s speech (which was televised on C-SPAN) and getting to meet her afterward. She was absolutely hilarious, but made serious points, as well. She even joked on herself about her previous claim (before Romney dropped out) to support Hillary if McCain became the GOP candidate. I was extremely excited to meet her and get my book signed following her speech. Despite what some of you may think, she is without a doubt one of the most lovely, genuine, and congenial people I have ever met. As anyone who talked to me that evening will tell you, meeting her completely made my weekend!
Another memorable moment occurred when several members of the JMU CRs, myself included, along with other CRs from across the country, were interviewed by Fox News and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher regarding the presidential campaign. Our Fox News interview concluded with the reporter asking us to hold hands and sing “Kum Ba Yah,” which I heard was aired over the weekend and I’m sure was quite entertaining.
Newt Gingrich gave an eloquent speech on Saturday afternoon. He called for conservatives to declare independence from the Republican Party by embracing "Real Change" as elaborated on in his book of that name. Several people commented afterward that they wish he would be our presidential nominee, however, others responded that he has too many skeletons in his closet.
In sum, CPAC turned out to be everything I had hoped for and more! It was an exhausting, but fun-filled and motivational weekend. I only wish that the events could have been scheduled a little differently, since there were other speakers (Dinesh D’Souza, John Bolton, Mike Pence, etc.) who I wanted to hear, but missed because I was either attending another event or waiting in line to get a good seat for a highly popular speech. I came back with an armful of conservative books that I can’t wait to read! Now, if only my hectic schedule would allow for some free time to do that...
Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy VA Primary day!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Romney Drops Out
Wow! I am completely shocked at Mitt Romney's decision to suspend his campaign for the GOP nomination. You can read more about it here.
"I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."Romney was quoted in his speech at CPAC earlier today. I believe this was a noble decision on his part, and because of it, I now have a greater respect for Romney. With McCain now clearly the Republican candidate, this will hopefully help bring the party together to focus on his campaign against the Democratic nominee, instead of continuing the inter-party conflict. While I do not agree with McCain on certain issues, I plan to support him, as I am much more closely aligned with his stances than those of either of the potential Democratic nominees.
This breaking news is going to make for an interesting turn of events and atmosphere at CPAC. Ah, never a dull moment in the world of politics! Well, I must go finish packing for the weekend! Check back next week for my CPAC recap!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
CPAC!!!
I will be attending CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) this weekend at the Omni Shoreham Hotel and I am extremely excited about it! Unfortunately, I will be arriving after the presidential candidates give their speeches on Thursday, however, there are going to be many other great speakers and events throughout the weekend. President Bush and Vice President Cheney are scheduled to speak, as well as many other big-time conservatives, such as Dinesh D'Souza and Newt Gingrich. Thank goodness I registered early for Ann Coulter's speech and Michelle Malkin's luncheon. I received confirmation to attend both of these events, sponsored by the Young America's Foundation, but apparently the waiting list is quite long.
I'm looking forward to a great weekend and the opportunity to network with other conservatives from throughout the nation. I will have a follow-up post on the conference sometime early next week after I return to JMU.
On a side note, following Super Tuesday's results, it looks as though our VA Primary next Tuesday will be a bigger race than initially expected. Instead of each party having a definite frontrunner, nominations are still up in the air. Obama and Clinton are in an extremely tight race on the Democratic side. On the Republican side, it should be interesting to see how things turn out between McCain, Romney, and Huckabee. For those of you who, like me, are still undecided about who to vote for, we have less than a week to decide.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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