Sunday, March 01, 2009

Final thoughts on CPAC

I will try and get some of my interview with Cornyn uploaded tonight. But you will get my full interview in a Texas Magazine edition coming out soon.

I know that Rush has taken over all the coverage on CPAC. Rham Emanual has seen to that. And that's too bad.

Look, Rush is an entertainer. He is the first to admit that. He is also highly intelligent. He speaks the truth, even if it's hard to hear. The rhetoric that he speaks hate couldn't be farther from the truth, and anyone who really listens to him knows that. On a personal level, he is far from perfect and he would also be the first to tell you that. Rush's gift is being able to put in simple terms how destructive liberalism is and how powerful and empowering conservatism is. That's the bottom line.

But it's too bad that the media focuses on the entertainer (Ann Coulter is an entertainer as well, highly intelligent also), because the REAL leaders of our party did speak at CPAC and had incredible things to say. When I get back from Church I will link the texts of John Cornyn, John Boehner, Michael Pence, and Jim DeMint. They are the ones who really inspired me. They are not entertainers my friends, they are LEADERS. Everyone should listen to what they have to say. Impressive doesn't even begin to describe it.

I know that Newt Gingrich is brilliant with brilliant ideas, but to be honest with you, I cannot get over the fact that he cheated on his wife at the same time Clinton was cheating on Hillary. Hypocrite is too mild of a word. I can't get past it. So I didn't even try to see him speak while there.

Bottom line. Let the media go on and on over Rush. We have little control over the media. But here in the new media, we do have control and we should use to advance the conservative agenda that was laid out by our leaders that spoke at CPAC.

There was a lot of excitement and energy at CPAC. We need to use it for our good and the good of this nation and not let the msm confuse and define it on their terms. Here, it's on our terms. Let's use it wisely.

Ok, here is Cornyn's speech (text). John Boehner speech (youtube). Forgot to add Mitt Romney's speech as well here(text). Mike Pence's speech here (text) Ace has the Pence video here. Jim DeMint's speech is here (text), but you have to scroll through John Cornyn's to get to it. It's worth a scroll, I promise you.

I think I'll add some of my favorite highlights.

From Cornyn's speech:

So the message to the voters seems pretty clear to me. The American people will support us if we stick to our principles and they will abandon us if we don’t.

Now to reclaim our party’s identity, we must demonstrate our principles in respectful opposition. Principle opposition means supporting the idea of the stimulus bill, if it’s timely targeted and temporary, and opposing when it’s not.

Principle opposition means supporting the administration, when it calls for greater transparency and accountability in government, and exposing their hypocrisy when their rhetoric doesn’t match reality.

And principle opposition means reading the fine print on what the Democrats are actually doing and explaining the American people what they’re trying to get away with.

From DeMint's speech:

When we stand together for Americans to make their own choices about where their children go to school and their way to choose their own doctors and to own a health plan, a health plan that they can afford and keep from job to job; when we fight for them to have a choice to own their own social security account and to keep a larger share of what they earn in their paychecks; when American see us fighting, not just talking, but fighting for their rights and freedom, then we will earn their trust and their votes.

Most Americans don’t expect the government to give them the American dream. But they do expect their elected officials to make sure that they have the opportunity to work for it and to earn it. That dream begins with individuals, not the government.

John Boehner: (The last part is just over the top terrific)

But that’s freedom that we enjoyed, economic freedom is really under assault today. And I think the stimulus was the opening of salvo. It was supposed to be focused on jobs, jobs, jobs and it turned into nothing more than spending, spending, and more spending.

But when you put this in the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed, it obviously became a gravy train for leftwing pork, and I knew something was wrong when I read the first version of the bill, and it had the word contraceptives in it, $230 million.

And I brought up to everyone’s attention and guess what they have finally decided to take it out, but...

Sitting in my desk right when this outline came out before -- long before they have resolved the bill, and I was looking at this outline eating my lunch, getting ready up to the press gallery and talk a little bit about it, and all I could think of was, “oh my god.”

When you look at all of the spending that was in there, for every leftwing idea there whatever it was, you began to realize that we were on the wrong path.
............................

All this is being done though on the backs of our kids and our grand kids, and all of these bills seek to replace our economic freedom of what their wins and mandates of politicians and bureaucrats.
Listen, I took to meet from liberals for my speech on the House floor opposing the stimulus.


They didn’t like it when I pointed out, but no member of the Congress had read the nearly 11,000 -- 1,100 pages in this bill.

And they didn’t really didn’t like it when I toss this bill on the floor of the House. They called it disrespectable.

Well, I tell you it was disrespectable, it’s taken a trillion dollars from our kids and grandkids and giving it out to people like A. Corman (ph) and other liberal groups at America.

Disrespectful is spending a trillion dollars of money that our kinds and grandkids going to have to pay for in the dark of night behind closed doors without even giving the Americans more -- less than a day to actually read the bill. Don’t talk to me about disrespectful.