No Runny Eggs

Before Rep. Allen West (R-FL) went to the stage to close out CPAC, he stopped up on Blog Row to do a quick Q-and-A. He spoke on Egypt, GOProud’s invite to CPAC, the debt ceiling, being the only Republican in the Congressional Black Caucus, and cuts in military spending.

Click to listen

Revisions/extensions (4:45 pm 2/12/2011) – Ed Morrissey grabbed video and cut through the instant web crash to get it posted. Did I mention Hot Air has an open thread up?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yi6PQrcBmY[/youtube]

CPAC closed out the day session yesterday with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaking. He started off by mentioning he is “the other Paul”, and that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is a Packers fan, and saying that it’s halftime. He went on to point out that there is now a conservative majority in the House (side note – while he was speaking, the House leadership announced that the return to FY2008 non-security discretionary spending levels would not be pro-rated).

Ryan also noted that the voters back in November want a battle for a singular idea – the American idea. He noted there is a basic difference in the world view between conservatives and liberals.

The quality may not be the greatest (once again, I didn’t hook into the multibox), and I’m sure there’s better quality versions of the speech, but I’ll offer up my copy anyway – CLICK FOR THE RYAN SPEECH

Just before Ryan took the stage, talk-show host and (likely) 2012 Presidential candidate Herman Cain stopped by the Blogger’s Lounge. Instead of covering former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, we decided to ask a few questions. CLICK FOR THE HERMAN CAIN AUDIO

Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday, but as is usual for a conference with a high number of bloggers, the internet was quite sketchy. Oh well; I got a few pics to share with you (you already have Ron Johnson and his speech from yesterday)…

Fausta has decided to jump into the massive time-consuming wonderful fun of aggregating the best posts from the gang that will be officially blogging at CPAC. Her plans are to do this every evening until we roll into DC next Thursday.

Damn, I wish I had thought of bringing back The Morning Scramble before snowblowing through 5-foot drifts took all the steam out of me for the week; now I don’t have to :-)

First things first, I have to tip my hat to the host of CPAC, the American Conservative Union, and especially Lisa De Pasquale. They really outdid themselves with this year’s event, especially with sneaking former Vice President Dick Cheney in on Thursday.

I also have to tip my hat to Erick Erickson of RedState. That was simply the best Blog Row that I’ve been a part of – from access to the main hall (we had a balcony in the main hall plus the room behind it) to Internet access (always an issue at an event like this, but far less an issue this time).

If you’re looking for a comprehensive write-up, I must refer you to John Hawkins’ posts from Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. I’m no good at lengthy write-ups, so my stream-of-consciousness thoughts from earlier in this category will pretty much have to suffice.

As Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, CPAC is a place to recharge the conservative soul. A big part of that is renewing acquaintances, of which I renewed many. Since I don’t have as good a memory as John, I’m sure I’ll miss a few (feel free to slap me upside the head if I forgot) – Sean Hackbarth, Kevin Binversie (for those who complain that the Wisconsin boys are first, talk to the hand), the aforementioned John Hawkins, Ed Morrissey, E.M. Zanotti, Dr. Melissa Clouthier (Chris, you’ve got competition in the mandatory hugs department), Katie Favazza, Jimmie Bise, Bruce Carroll Anita MonCrief, Robert Stacy McCain, Obi’s Sister, Fausta Wertz, Aaron Marks, Ali Akbar, Tabitha Hale, Mary Katharine Ham, Erik Telford, Kerry Pickett, Ericka Anderson from the House Republican Conference (Sean’s counterpart on the other end of the Capitol), Skye, and Doug Welch (who is Pinky unless he shouts it out first; then he’s the Brain). Also, as John noted, Michelle Malkin, who is now the Boss Emeritus with the sale of Hot Air to Salem, made a special appearance at BlogBash over at FreedomWorks, where Ed won the first of his two blog-related awards.

CPAC is not just about renewing acquaintances, it’s about making new ones. Just some of the people I finally got to meet were Nice Deb, Juliette Ochieng (BTW, I do recommend her book, Tale of the Tigers), Smitty (the other half of The Other McCain blogging team), Jenny Erikson, DaTechGuy, Sammy Benoit, Caleb Howe, Ben Howe, Breeanne Howe, Tommy Christopher (yes, I know, he’s left of center), Cheryl Prater, Dahlhalla, Sarah Peppel, Moe Lane (and again, if I forgot, hit me with something).

The overarching theme of CPAC this year was reducing the size and scope of government. Both the bulk of the speakers and the non-Presidential portion of the straw poll reflected that. The loudest applause lines were when the speakers spoke about slaying the leviathan (shameless plug for a friend, buy Slaying Leviathan: The Moral Case for Tax Reform).

I suppose I have to deal with that straw poll, specifically Ron Paul’s winning of the Presidential portion of it. One of the PaulNut groups brought in a massive amount of people for the purposes of stuffing the box (which closed early Friday afternoon) and hear Paul speak late Friday afternoon. That was reflected in the decidedly-negative reaction from the crowd when the results were announced.

Revisions/extensions (7:13 pm 2/23/2010) – I knew I’d forget somebody, and Moe is the vengeful type (well, not really, but you’ll have to read his wrap-up to get the joke).

I may have missed the start of Rick Santorum’s speech, but he’s still on as I start this. Like yesterday, I’ll be using CoverItLive to do this deal.

Sorry about the lack of actual blog coverage yesterday. To make up for that, I’m firing up Cover It Live to do Day 2 coverage.

Revisions/extensions (11:00 am 2/19/2010) – I can’t get the CiL console to respond. I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way when interesting things happen.

R&E part 2 (11:21 am 2/19/2010) – CiL seems to be back, but I will be away from the keyboard for a bit.

Jimmie Bise, who like me attended his first CPAC last year, wrote a guide for rookies making their first appearance (bullet points here):

1) Dress for Success…and a Lot of Walking.
2) Prioritize.
3) Grabbing Grub:
4) Prepare for Brushes with Conservative Fame:
5) Love the Nightlife, But Not Too Much:
6) Remember Why You Came:

Meanwhile, Robert Stacy McCain has the plan for sneaking into the big events:

Yeah. Then there’s Plan B: Hang out with me in the hotel lobby bar, saunter down to the main ballroom right after the crowd reaches fire-code capacity, then I’ll tell my buddy the security guy that you’re a VIP and — presto! — you’re in like Flynn.

For some reason, Plan B works best when the alleged VIP is an extremely attractive woman. And here’s the thing: Even if Plan B doesn’t work, we just go back to the lobby bar, which is where all the real fun is, anyway.

That’s a Plan B I can get behind.

I wish I had that guide last year, but I lived, overspent, and learned. Catch you on the flip side.

I got the official and good news from Erick Erickson that I will be in the CPAC Bloggers Lounge presented by RedState.

For those of you who haven’t yet made it to CPAC, it is not too late to register. They’ll have Sen. Jim DeMint kick things off, Glenn Beck close things out, and a heap of fun in the middle (and only some of it during the official activities).

For those of you who are young, or at least young at heart, Kevin McCullough and Stephen Baldwin put together XPAC. They’ll have WiFi, the Fox News Strategy Room, games, and all-day/all-night Thursday and Friday activities.