NRA News.com will have it posted next week in their "Archived Materials" section.
Posted on 02/28/2007 8:36:50 PM PST by NautiNurse
CPAC-2007 is off to a great start! Tony Snow, David Keene, and a host of notable conservative policy masters greeted us earlybirds warmly.
This CPAC promises to be even better than ever.
I really NEED to get up there; I've got the "family" bassinet, but we just got back from St. John and have plans for the weekend; a drawer will have to do until I get there. (Or ship it one!)
Does anyone know if Dr Ron Paul(R.) TX is attending?
If so, will he be recognized?
If recognized, will he be speaking?
It was an interesting evening, fer sure. Two amazing awards--with incredible standing ovations for Yulia Tymoshenko, opposition leader and former Ukrainian Prime Minister, as well as Pfc. Joshua Sparling on Behalf of the U.S. Military. Very moving.
Photos enroute...
That sounds awesome! My husband is still there, I'm sure, milling about. Who won the Reagan Award?
Oh my...you are going to have to tell me who won the Reagan award tonight. We left just before the award, when my back started to spasm after sitting in those chairs for 13 hours.
NRA News.com will have it posted next week in their "Archived Materials" section.
No doubt! The Reagan dinner always goes long... don't know why.
I was actually going to leave the dinner early a couple of years ago myself -- I was pregnant then too and not feeling to great. But a friend I was sitting with insisted I stay. Turns out, I won the Reagan Award that year and her job was to make sure I didn't make an early escape!
I think they tell the award recipient now beforehand but I wasn't able to garner any intell on who it was.....
Wayne always does an awesome job -- always a highlight of CPAC for those of us gun-totin' mamas!
LaPierre was on fire today. He is an excellent speaker, and today was no exception. He had fantastic video clips too.
Thoughts from the convention...
Huckabee had a good speech...but his fiscal record does not match his rhetoric. He raised taxes and spending 66% in 8 years.
Giuliani did poorly. First, a lot of people couldn't sit in the hall, and had to watch standing up elsewhere. He had a long and winding speech and I couldn't keep track of the point he was trying to make. Newsflash, Rudy, you only have 2 bullet points: taxes and national security. Don't talk about education for 15 minutes.
Romney brought a ton of people, so had a high visible showing, but also the only candidate with visible opposition. I don't trust or like Romney.
Gilmore had the best speech of the conference, but he started the mudslinging, which I don't think GOPers should be doing this early. I guess he has to given his position.
Geesh... I just found your CPAC thread! Better late than never, I guess. Sure wish I had had a decent internet connection in our (crummy) hotel. ;-)
I love the Omni Shoreham venue, but David Keene said CPAC is getting so big they may have to hold it in some huge convention center in 2008. I think he said there were 4,800 attendees in 2006 and 6,800 attendees in 2007. It was very crowded, and you had to plan your exits from the main ballroom very carefully if you wanted to get back in!
I'm happy this conference continues to draw more conservatives each year, but worried that it may become too big and unwieldy...
All of the photos you took and posted on this thread are awesome, FRiend! Thanks so much for posting them.
Giuliani said that education was our most important issue. That's why he talked about it for so long and he is right, in the long term. This is part of the reason I think his speech was more thoughtful and more visionary than the others. If we don't get our schools in order, we can forget about everything else--national security, global competition, everything.
I felt it two years ago, even, when the kids started lining up way ahead of time for every big speech and it was very difficult to get in. When they don't clear the auditorium, it's even worse, as people think leaning a chair against the table saves their place for eternity.
Education is something that can be handled by the states. It's clear that the federal government hasn't done a great job at it.
It has become a federal issue because of what I said above: it affects national security, which the president is responsible for. The states haven't been doing it, and somehow it must be done.
The NCLB bill was watered down from what the president wanted--part of the reason the last five years have not shown much progress. We need more, not less, federal help on this issue.
I felt it two years ago, even, when the kids started lining up way ahead of time for every big speech and it was very difficult to get in. When they don't clear the auditorium, it's even worse, as people think leaning a chair against the table saves their place for eternity.
There certainly seemed to be more young people at this CPAC than in previous years. David Keene said there were 3,000 college students. The total of the attendees was either 6,300 or 6,800 (can't remember). As in previous years, there was much chair-leaning and seat-saving, by students and adults alike.
I agree that we want young conservatives exposed to events like this, but it was almost out of control this year. There were so many "main event" speakers on Friday in particular, we adults literally had to think twice about leaving the main ballroom to sprint to the bathroom (which was pretty far from the ballroom) because the lines were so long, with students waiting to get into the ballroom. I had to befriend a bouncer at the door on my way out, then fight my way up the long line of students trying to get in, and argue with several bouncers until I found my "friend" bouncer who I convinced that I was a Diamond Package attendee, and that my husband, jacket and briefcase were in the ballroom already. Other adult Diamond Package friends of ours had the same experience. It was insane.
Saturday was even worse. The students nearly took over all the "Diamond" tables that were up front. The tables were clearly labeled Diamond with tent cards, but by Saturday there was so much literature piled on each table, the Diamond tent cards were covered up. The youngsters swooped in and took over the tables, leaving some Diamond Package attendees (who had paid significantly more $$$) with no choice but to sit in the back or to stand along the sidelines. "Zelig" mentioned this to one of the ushers/bouncers who assured him that the students would be cleared out of those tables. No one ever came to "clear out" the students, so they stayed in their prime front-row seats. I will be mentioning this to the ACU, believe me...
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