Was the poll still open Saturday? I didn’t see it. Couldn’t attend Thursday and Friday.
Not surprisingly, the next POTUS Palin was smart enough not to be there, and no other serious conservative ever will be again.
Remember that over half the attendees were under 25. Ron Paul plays well to conservative student activists.
The media can bark all they want about Ron Paul--nobody outside us political addicts even knows who he is.
Regardless, CPAC is finished, based on its RINOism and attempt to integrate gays into Conservative ranks, with predictable results...
CPAC Speaker Gets Booed For Condemning CPAC For Inviting Gay Organization
Checked out GOProud's website...
They are focused like laser beams on gay issues.
If this is CPAC material, CPAC is a fraud.
That being the case, a conservative Republican will definitely distance him/herself from this group of POSERS.
Thanks for this post. I hope the conservative media will pick up on your very valid points and put this pig in the poke to rest.
During the Republican primaries, Ron Paul signs covered yards like snow as we drove for miles and miles in southern PA two years ago.
Also, all the youth in my church are Paulites.
I don’t understand it either, but I think that conservative youth saw the Iraq war as the biggest thumping they got in school and in college. But they still wanted to be conservative. Thus, Paul.
They just want to be cool and want something brand-new and anti-establishment.
Kind of like Goldwater and Reagan.
But they will come around on the defense issue.
KOOK? The Contsitution was Kookish, when it was written.
George Will was head and shoulders above the rest of the speakers at CPAC.
He exposed the left’s flawed beliefs, cut them into little peices, and left them in a pile on the floor.
And he did it all with style and humor.
I was here at CPAC for the full three days, and it was pretty obvious that the straw poll was targeted by the Ron Paul supporters for “special attention.” The poll got less than 3,000 votes total from the over 10,000 attendees, so it’s not really an accurate representation, just a response to those who were motivated enough to swamp it.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many things I agree with Ron Paul on, like auditing the fed. But then there are the other wacked out positions that make you say “huh?”
Seeing the people lined up for Paul’s autograph after his speech, I couldn’t help but think of the Star Wars bar scene...
Plus, expect a huge swell of new Repub registrations (If Obama does not have any challengers).
Hard to say a if viable “conservative” candidate will make it “out”.
I heard on Fox that of the 10,000 people there only 25% voted in the poll.
Between the Ron Paul nutters spamming the straw poll, the John Birch Society and David Keene's well-known penchant for selling his soul for money (he threw Ronald Reagan under the bus in 1980 for a better job with GHW Bush), CPAC has jumped the shark. I'm sure the parties were great, though.
Sarah Palin looks like a freaking genius for staying away from this mess.
You are correct about David Keane. He could sell his mother’s soul to the devil and not lose a moment’s sleep. The national Tea Party convention and CPAC were an interesting study in contrasts. Sarah Palin gave the Tea Partiers the star power and national recognition they needed.
Head Kook nothing more here 82% lifetime conservative voting average.
This straw poll diminished my opinion of CPAC. Ron Paul’s win taught me that CPAC is easily hijacked by an extremely small, extremely vocal group. I don’t think the Paulinistas needed any help from liberals on the outside.
Judging from the results, I take it that McCain, Collins, Snowe and Graham weren’t in the running.