Campaign Crawlers
Party Time for the Right
Are conservatives celebrating too soon?
Reagan Palooza 2010 kept cranking into the wee hours of Sunday morning on Capitol Hill. Young right-wingers were jammed onto the upstairs dance floor of the Hawk 'n' Dove where they partied past midnight after the final day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
The fire-code capacity crowd was drenched in sweat as they writhed rhythmically to the thunderous bass beats pumped out by the sound system beneath the strobing disco lights. Several of the 20-somethings were singing along to the lyrics -- "This is all so crazy, everybody seems so famous" -- when investigative reporter Matthew Vadum nudged me and shouted into my ear, "This is that Hannah Montana song." Further research (which is to say, a phone call to my daughter, a college junior) confirmed that the reggae-inflected tune was in fact performed by Miley Cyrus, the teenage star of the popular Disney TV series.
"Party in the USA" was certainly appropriate as the soundtrack for this year's CPAC, where conservatives signaled that they have regained the confidence they lost in the debacle of 2008.
Young and old at CPAC seemed energized by harbingers that the 2010 mid-term elections will produce a GOP triumph, but at least one middle-aged Republican was hesitant to accept the most favorable interpretation of the auspices and omens.
"Frankly, I'm worried," David Frum said at an earlier Saturday gathering at Murphy's Grand Irish Pub near the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel that hosted the record-breaking three-day conference. "But then again, I'm always worried."
It was a self-deprecating jest with strategic significance. For months, Frum has been pessimistic about the conservative movement's confrontational strategy to sparking a quick Obama-era bounce-back, similar to the GOP's historic gains in the 1994 "Contract With America" campaign. This has put the former Bush speechwriter at odds with most on the Right. Last year's CPAC keynote speech by Rush Limbaugh was enthusiastically applauded by attendees but denounced by Frum as "rancorous."
Little rancor was in evidence at Murphy's Saturday evening, where Frum and his wife Danielle Crittenden provided free draft beer for a diverse collection of young conservatives. Obviously, CPAC organizers hadn't heeded Frum's criticisms -- following up on last year's Limbaugh appearance with a keynote spot for Glenn Beck -- but if Frum has lost an argument over the conservative movement's rhetorical tone and strategy, he at least was determined to be gracious in defeat.
There still remains the question of whether the past year's Tea Party uprising can be translated into GOP victory this November. If the populist approach fails to produce major electoral gains for Republicans, Frum and others who have consistently criticized those figures beloved by the grassroots Right -- Beck, Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sarah Palin and others -- will be quick to say, "We told you so." So far, however, conservatives demanding head-on confrontation with the Obama agenda have every reason to believe that their strategy is working.
Over and over on the CPAC stage, speakers referenced last year's Republican wins in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections -- and especially the emphatic punctuation of Scott Brown's Massachusetts victory in January -- as proof that voters are ready to elect GOP candidates who offer a conservative antidote to the poison of progressivism.
Beck's Saturday chalkboard talk on that topic involved blunt criticism of a Republican establishment. In his closing-night speech, the popular Fox News host accused the GOP of having become "addicted to spending and big government." Beck's diagnosis was applauded by the crowd at CPAC, swollen to record levels this year by the addition of many first-time attendees from the Tea Party movement. This injection of new blood may have had something to do with the conference's presidential straw-poll result, in which Republican Rep. Ron Paul scored a surprising 31 percent plurality. The Texas libertarian is almost certainly not going to be the 2012 GOP nominee, but his support in the CPAC poll was indicative of conservatives' desire to return to a message of limited government and fiscal responsibility.
Finding the right messengers for that message was one major task that the conference aimed to accelerate. Congressional and senatorial candidates were ubiquitous at CPAC, shaking hands and passing out business cards, a process that continued even amid the Reagan Palooza crowds.
Les Phillip, a primary challenger to party-switcher Parker Griffith in Alabama's 5th District, also showed up at the Hawk 'n' Dove to meet and mingle with the young activists. (One Republican National Committee staffer was required to point out that party rules strictly prohibit interactions between RNC staff and candidates in contested primaries.) Phillip didn't go upstairs for the disco scene, however, and there were no such rules forbidding him from chatting up Christopher Malagisi of the Young Conservatives Coalition, which sponsored the Saturday night event.
Malagisi was proud to display the slogan on the back of his Reagan Palooza T-shirt -- "Drink One for the Gipper" -- and that mood of cheerful celebration was in spectacular abundance upstairs where the lights pulsed to the bass-heavy rhythm.
Somewhere in that throbbing mass of humanity was another GOP candidate. He'd earlier explained to me that he had worn out three pairs of shoes during his campaign so far. He was breaking in his fourth pair on the dance floor.
A couple hours later, the lobby of the Marriott was nearly deserted, and a few conservative college students clustered at one table. In their midst was one recent graduate, Will Gregory. At the ripe old age of 24, Gregory is a Republican candidate in Connecticut's 4th congressional district.
Can such a youngster actually win? That would be the kind of shocking upset that only happens when one party scores a massive electoral landslide. If that's what happens this November, it would spark a GOP celebration more frenzied than even that crowd at Reagan Palooza could imagine.
Election Day is still eight months away, and there will be a lot of hard work required to make that kind of "Party USA" happen.
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
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Siegfried X| 2.22.10 @ 8:30AM
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
The struggle against Democrats and RINOs can never end.
loulou| 2.22.10 @ 10:32AM
Maybe Frum and Brooks need to leave the party.
Margie| 2.22.10 @ 4:11PM
They've already left. They just don't know it.
Louis Jenkins| 2.22.10 @ 8:30AM
No need to party like its 1999 just yet. Yes, a new awakening is in the air, but it won't be easy and it's coming from from the ground up. Not from a CPAC extravaganza. The kids and the Conservative elites can do what comes natural, celebrate, but the 'adults' will be the ones getting their hands dirty. Folks, enough of this feel good antics! This is a dog fight and the Statists curs are in a corner. Anyone who thinks otherwise is badly mistaken.
Franklin| 2.22.10 @ 1:50PM
YES! I posted this on a previous article:
Taking this country back from the progressives is going to be tough. We have a movement that we want to capitalize on to march into the fray and declare victory in one fell swoop. It just won’t work that way; reality must prevail.
There will be times we must compromise and times we stand our ground. This isn’t TV or a movie; it won’t be resolved in 30 minutes or two hours. It won’t be resolved by picking one “savior” and then sitting back with a tub of popcorn to enjoy the show.
No human is without fault, so our duty is to find candidates that we can support and do so. If they disappoint you in one area, just don’t give up or run to another candidate. Talk to them, engage in the process and work it out.
Engage in the discussion, watch what your candidate does and says. Be careful when someone makes a statement about a candidate; don’t just take it for truth – do your research.
If we don’t get behind this movement to guide this country back toward its origins – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – it will be no ones fault but our own. Not the Democrats, RINOs, Republicans or Progressives; but us.
As in US of A.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.10 @ 9:08AM
Louis,
Well spoken, sir. "A dog fight" we must absolutely win, and the curs are indeed cornered.
Be very alert, folks, and keep alerting your friends, family, and loved ones.
The communists, (pardon the shorthand), and their "useful idiots" in congress and the media are very big tough curs.
Shamus| 2.22.10 @ 9:20AM
Democrats still plan to pass their health care bill.
Matt Morehouse| 2.22.10 @ 9:57AM
don't start rearranging the furniture in the Oval Office just yet.
Beware, be wary, and be aware, the jackals in control are slicker than deer guts on a doorknob.
Neo-libertarian| 2.22.10 @ 9:58AM
"Frankly, I'm worried," David Frum said… Don’t worry, be happy Dave at least you can fall back on the laurels of being the speechwriter for the eloquent, economically astute and champion of small government, George Bush.
Radioman777| 2.22.10 @ 10:20AM
I have real problems with guys like David Frum; they have a really corrosive effect on the Republican Party and conservatives in general. I also have problems with Glenn Beck, who I regard as a formerly drunken sot besmitten with his own self-importance. It's really no surprise that Beck teamed up with Bill O'Reilly, one of the most arrogant, self important guys on TV. The big reason O'Reilly and Krazy Keith Olbermann have such animosity is that you can't fit two pompous asses into the same timeslot without reaching critical mass. But, more on Mr. Beck and his speech at CPAC. It struck me as one of the most disgusting and destructive screeds laid out by anyone in any forum. Maybe he should go back to drinking so he can refloat that brain cell run aground.
Kim | 2.22.10 @ 12:13PM
Trouble is....O'Reilly though pompous, is much more apt to let you hear both sides before he gets pompous....Olbermann is simply taking quotes out of text and then ranting, spitting, and basically lying. Beck...well, he just happens to be historically correct and you can dislike the messenger, but the message is "right on." What's your real problem? And who DO you like?
Radioman777| 2.22.10 @ 6:47PM
I'll definitely agree that Olby is insane, literally, not figuratively. His rants could only be attributed to some sort of mental defect. Beck is sometimes right, but his tack of saying one party is just as bad as another is misleading and, furthermore, a common tactic used by the left to discourage political participation.
Margie| 2.22.10 @ 2:06PM
Hey Radioman777~ You'd like this:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/.....2101900945
L. Ross| 2.22.10 @ 10:42AM
David Frum is worried. Thank God, I knew there was hope for the Republicans this year. If only he were terrified, we would be a shoe in.
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Seek| 2.22.10 @ 12:10PM
In all fairness to Glenn Beck, he's far more an entertainer than a thinker. His job is to create a politics of dramatic effect via manic, cartoonish style. And like any actor, his private self is a world apart from his stage persona.
Oldefarte| 2.22.10 @ 12:58PM
Excellent POINT! It's never WORDS that count, only ACTIONS can bring about true change. Conservatives have to elect administratively-capable conservative politicians, who in turn have to govern by eliminating/decreasing governmental expenses [it not so much tax cuts that are critical now, but expense reductions that will save us]. These elected politicians have to refrain from human frailties [keep it in their pants,etc], do the job that they were elected to do, and always remember who they represent [and to be constantly reminded of same by their citizen/voter constituents]. When they replace their WORDS with appropriate ACTIONS, we will all benefit!!!!
martin j smith| 2.22.10 @ 1:32PM
Here is what I think as an outsider: Those people who "put down" the Republican Party by comparing them equally with the democrat Party are not only wrong but helping our opponents by giving fodder to our enemies .
The single most important thing is goal of defeating the Democrat Left--thats it.
Anyone who does not support that goal is on the wrong side.
As for the Republican Party there are some weak links --RINOS--but the majority are not. And, even some of those RINOS hcan be helped to see the lite. The Democrat Party on the otherhand are led by and controlled by a Left group and there are very few if any that are willing to truly buck the system. Even Evan Bahye who recently
stated his intention to back out, voted Left all the way.
My sense is that the Republican Party should follwo the Tea Party lead and it could bring record tunouts. Stop the negativity and divisions. That is unhelpfu.
Margie| 2.22.10 @ 1:49PM
OK~~ Rush just nailed it: This is the American People against Obama. And the Republican party has the majority.
David Frum? Ha! You call him a Republican? Yes indeed he is one.. of the Royal Republican In Name Only order. I guess there are RINOS and then there are RRINO's.
Anyhow~ I agree with martin j. smith.
And so does Mark Levin. And so does Bill Bennett. And some of us, here.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/.....2101900945
True Republican| 2.22.10 @ 2:02PM
A new awakening? Joe Stack fan clubs .. groupies .. wanna-bes .. hero worship? Extolling the virtues of Suicide Bombers like this guy? Is anyone surprised? Afterall, disturbed sentiments and belligerent rhetoric from the GOP are sermonized everyday by the likes of their Mullahs .. Limbaugh, Beck and others. These extremist avocations are not limited to just the activists, they are part of the GOP mainstream .. as exemplified in the recent CPAC gathering by GOP Presidential hopeful Gov. Pawlenty:
“I think we can learn a lot from that situation, not from Tiger but from his wife. She said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ She said, ‘No more.’ I think we should should take a page out of her playbook and take a nine iron and smash the window out of big government in this country.”
Grotesque irresponsibility is what we have come to expect from movement conservatives. But what should concern free spirited Americans of all stripes is the co-mingling of these people with the right-wing militia. It was once said that if fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the American flag. With all this pseudo-constitutionalism, flag waving, repetitive and presumptuous channeling of our founding-fathers and Godism .. it would appear that the day has arrived.
True Communist| 2.22.10 @ 3:41PM
I couldn't agree with you more. Beck is actally a facsist because he believes 1st amendment speech should apply to corps and 2d amendment rights are actually a good thing. Come over and join us, and get awy form thos rite winged baatards.
Margie| 2.22.10 @ 4:59PM
Actually, if you were a true Communist you would love your "fascist" brother.
Louis Jenkins| 2.22.10 @ 3:38PM
Right wing militia? Illicit militia’s are out there, but if you read you read the 2nd Amendment a militia is a given fact. Most state constitutions provide for militias. In fact, the majority of men posting here, if their state constitution is taken literally, are members of their state militia regardless of whether they like it or not, or are on the left or right of politics. A group of individuals hanging out in the woods, eating snakes and bugs, wearing camo, and carrying military grade arms doesn’t make for a Constitutional militia, although that’s the commonly held image. The Constitution provides for the Congress to call out the state militias, appoint officers over them, and provide for them. Militias are not legally the sole property of the right wing. Verbal jests about the militia is a poor joke at the Constitution’s expense.
It would be more truthful to say that if free spirited Americans of all stripes get any angrier they’re going to start shooting. At what remains to be discovered. Heaven help us if it should come to that.
As for wrapping facisim in an American flag and implying that its arrival will be at the hands of right wingers is a mis-nomer. We’ve heard many times over that its our patriotic duty to pay taxes, that this is the first time (when we won) I’m proud to be an American, if you disagree with Obama’s policies or a Congress that’s acting like monkeys on sticks you’re a terrorist, etc. So, who is wrapping themselves in an American Flag? And what is the product they’re selling? That day may have indeed arrived.
Tom in Michigan| 2.22.10 @ 5:16PM
Don't party too soon. The People haven't forgotten the Republican shift away from the American value system; tolerating corruption and perversion in the ranks (Randall Cunningham, Larry Craig, etc.), enacting new entitlements (Prescription drugs - like we can afford the entitlements we already have), pork spending and "reaching across the aisle" (McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman, etc. – lot of McCain in there) and “compassionate Conservatism” giving the Left its wish list as part of an ill-conceived “bipartisanship” all underscored by an inarticulate failure to communicate. The only thing that has people looking back to the GOP, after all that, is the absolutely incredible overreaching of the Obamaviks which has exposed the Left like a cockroach to sunlight. As far as I'm concerned; GHW Bush gave us Clinton and GW Bush gave us Obama. Going even further back; do you seriously think Jimmy Carter would have EVER been President except for Nixon? If the Republicans ever do regain power they better have their sheet together or, it's all over for the nation.
Tom in Michigan| 2.22.10 @ 5:42PM
One indication the Republicans have already begun their classic “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” fumble was having Glenn Beck do the key note at CPAC. I guess he’s entertaining and all but, the lesson of Obama is; the United States and, the world for that matter cannot afford another cosmically unqualified President who is elected because of a slick marketing program and the zeitgeist. We need solid, qualified leadership to right this ship. I'm reminded of that scene in "Lord of the Rings" where the hobbit tries to give "the Ring" to the elf queen, assuming she'd be able to handle its power but, she defers stating that this would only give that terrible power to an evil queen instead of to an evil, whatever Sauron was - a big Eye, I guess and that, "All would love me and despair." Well, that's what happens to us if we replace a doofus of the Left with a doofus of the Right. Leadership, not appearances or populism is what the Republicans need to develop to get themselves and us back to where we need to be. Then, we can all party.
PCC| 2.22.10 @ 7:36PM
What would David Frum know about being a conservative?
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jfmoris| 2.22.10 @ 11:13PM
Lets not forget that the democrats have hundreds of billions left from the "porkulus", that they plan to spend this year. They are trying to vote more stimulus money even now, and trying to steal the returned TARP funds.
Money talks loud. They will be making a lot of unemployed people happy, just in time for the elections. These new hires will be supervised by career "public servants". The way the democrats operate (blatant corruption, unchecked by news media), these new hires will likely be presented with absentee ballots to fill in "correctly".
And all that spending WILL make the economy look better , for a while.
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Yosemeti Sam| 2.23.10 @ 10:36AM
Re column - "Is our Children Learning?"
To American Spectator:
Appears I strike Liberal/Leftist nerves.
Do you or do you not validate email addresses
with posts?
You let an asshole - pardon the shorthand -
speak as if he were me.
Get your AS act together!
Do you have hacker firewalls - at all?
If not - moving on!
AS Webmaster - what's up with this compromise?
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JmsA| 2.23.10 @ 6:23PM
Where's H.L. Mencken when you need him? The stupid party, i.e., Republicans, will find a way to muck it up, and I suspect the culprits will be the so-called moderates.
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