Posted on 02/28/2015 7:04:26 PM PST by ziravan
So. I flew from Texas as a guest of Ted Cruz' PAC to attend CPAC. I'm in my hotel room in Crystal City getting ready to go back home in the morning.
This was my first time to attend CPAC.
My observations:
1. Three types of pepole in attendance: college intern type, political operative type, and far fewer: average people.
2. The Paul people were everywhere. Judging by the idiot sitting behind me at the "Big Government Sucks" rally, I'm not impressed. This college kid was trying to explain, very patiently, to his buddy that the problem isn't really big government, but how that big government is run. Oh! and the Constitution was designed to be flexible with the times.
3, Paul had a huge group there, all college kids. Cruz had a decent group present. Ben Carson had a decent crowd. I didn't see any Walker people there. Anybody else was negligible. The only time I saw el Jefe people was when they raided the ballroom before his speech.
I prefer Cruz over Walker. Indeed, I attended for the sole reason to vote for Cruz. I have to give Walker this prop: his showing was based soley on his current rise in awareness for the early campaign.
Let me also say that candidates could invite people to attend, and it seemed to be standard that invitees from candidate could get half price tix: 67.50/day instead of 125. I believe the campaigns paid the difference.
2, I was surprised just how many interns filed in for Bush during his speech. It was the only time we saw Jeb! stickers on interns the whole event. They literally crowded the ballroom to SRO.
3. Rick Perry came across angry and focused his whole speech on foreign policy. He didn't play to his strength as one of the most successful Govs in recent history. At all.
For all the talk of a walkout for Bush, the real walkout was on Santorum. Half the room left when he got up to speak. Of course, he was on right after Rand Paul spoke and all the Paul-ites were leaving as Sen. Santorum was coming to the podium.
4, I met Freeper C. Edmund Wrigt and he gave me a copy of his book, "How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again." I'm going to read it when I get home. Thanks.
5. I bought a T-shirt of the Cruz Tattoo Pic.
6. I finally learned how to manipulate the Metro to my advantage...now that I'm leaving.
7. CPAC 2016 is Wed Mar 2 - Sat Mar 6. The Texas Primary is now set for Tueday, Mar 1. That should make CPAC 2016 a shake-up event for the race.
8. I went to a breakout session w/ FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. Essentially, everybody thinks this will go to Court and there's a good chance that they Administration didn't cross it's Ts and dot its Is to survive a challenge.
I had a good time. I'm more jaded about politics and how it works. And less so.
I’d like to see Cruz get the nod, but I think the GOPe is too fat, corrupt and lazy to let it happen.
Let him and his blinkered supporters throw their money away on an impossible dream. He’s going nowhere.
I agree. People don’t want another Bush and especially one who comes across as an arrogant jerk, among other negative things.
He’s toast.
What was your impression of Dr. Ben Carson and his supporters?
Great report btw...
Most Democrat voters are simply grossly uninformed and conditioned by a lifetime of liberal propaganda to think/vote in lock step with the party. Few of them have ever sought to honestly inform themselves of the differences between the parties, what they stand for, or what effects their respective policies have created upon our country.
I was only able to break out of that mental prison when I made a conscious choice to give the 'other guys' a serious look, and find out for myself why "everyone" hated them so much.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for me to discover that I'd been tricked and lied to, my entire life. After that revelation, I steered to the right and never looked back.
“90% of the people in this world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contamination.”
Except that he and his moneyed supporters think that they own the USA and in reality they do. We middle class just fund our government and send our kids to war for corporate and banker interests.
Listening to these guys on Hannitty I found I most liked Trump, because he want to beef up the military, does not want to cut Social Security and knows money and business, as he said, better than all those other guys. I believe that.
You did a good job, it was informative to get your impressions.
We shall see. If the GOP insists upon rigging the system to nominate yet another establishment tool, we might well have a revolt at the convention.
Bookmark
That seems to be the ONE thing that Team Bush is pointedly ignoring.
The American people have no desire to see another Bush in the White House, and there is no grass roots pressure for Jeb to run.
It's a fool's errand.
I would love to go one day. Maybe I’ll drag my younger brother along as a traveling companion. I think he voted for Obama!
He can't win the nomination without our votes. It's up to us to be savvy enough not to let the GOP steer their chosen prince into winning it.
Stay out da Bushes.
Thanks. Fine report.
That Phil Robertson and Mark Levin gave the best speeches?
And they’re not even running.
Ben Carson’s people were fine. I traveled with a friend that waited too late to get passes from Cruz’ PAC so he searched and found the same discount w/ Carson’s PAC. (And he felt honor bound to support Carson in the straw poll as a result).
Carson’s people were polite and friendly. They wore stickers with their suport.
I will say this. I got an “Red” pass for admittance. My friend got the better equipped “Blue” pass that included lunches while there, etc. So, Carson’s people were subsidizing better passes...
The same thing happened in 2012. Romney people showed up by the bus load right before his speech. And disappeared just as quickly. Probably the same people. All clean cut K street interns...minus the Mormons.
The bussing thing is nothing new. I saw it a cpac when I was in college a ways back. The interesting thing here is that the bush people bussed I a bunch of people and he still failed badly in the straw poll. Basically no one else there wants anythig to do with the guy.
No she won't evidently, and she is a Cruz fan, to the extent that Cruz says he would not have become a Senator without her.
Care to show us Palin endorsing and campaigning for Mitt Romney?
I was distracted during Phil Robertson’s speech because that was when el Jefe’s interns started storming the room. I was sitting in the back where the empty 20% of seats were. His interns filled them up. It was very distracting to have Jeb! stickers sit down all around me.
el Jefe’s people were making a ton of wise cracks while Robertson was on stage about how any bum from the street could take the stage at a conservative event...
I also heard one of them ask if Robertson was really lecturing them about STDs...
Good job with the report!!!
Thanks from those who couldn’t be there.
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