CPAC 2008 Impressions

Today’s events at CPAC were worth waking up a 4am and driving 3.5 hours through beltway traffic. Mitt bowing out, McCain hires a Reaganesque speech writer and VP Cheney stopped by for a visit – and this was just day one! Meeting Atlas Shrugs, chatting with Mark Steyn, and employing my moonbat slayer skills livened up an already eventful day.

Videos will be up shortly after I get some sleep. Until then, I’ve posted a few select photos of the day for your perusal.

Join Skye Tonight Live On The JPA Live Show

LIVE! 9PM Eastern / 8PM Central / 7PM Mountain / 6PM Pacific
CPAC 2008: Day 1
Call In At 1-646-716-8993
AUDIO With Chat Room
AUDIO ONLY
Once the live show is over,
the above links will play the recorded broadcast.

CPAC Live Video Feed

I found this live video feed of CPAC at C-SPAN. They’re using Real Media Player to embed it on their site instead of Windows Media for some reason. You can make the image bigger, but then it gets blurry. Anyway, check it out. You just might see Skye walking around. In combination with C-SPAN, you should also check this FOX News Live Media Stream. They use Windows Media instead of Real Media.

UPDATE: Skye told me that Cheney received a warm reception. In his speech he defended the war on terror and defended waterboarding (without using the word waterboarding). He stressed the importance of national security although he didn’t say anything about the borders. He did stress however, that the fact that their hasn’t been another 9/11 is not an accident. Skye will have audio/video up shortly.

UPDATE: News just broke from several sources that Mitt’s about to announce at CPAC that he’s bowing out of the campaign.

UPDATE: Romney doesn’t sound like a man who’s about to concede.

UPDATE: There it goes…the Romney campaign. It’s because of the war and the threat of the libs taking over the war that Romney feels it’s more important to concede so that “someone else” can start their national campaign against the left. Skye said is was so sad. The emotions in the room were heavy.

UPDATE: Skye met Pamela “Atlas Shrugs” Geller.

UPDATE: McCain currently at the mic saying all the right things.

UPDATE: McCain brought up immigration and got an outcry of boos while he stood there grinning. Then when the booing stopped, he promoted a “secure the borders first” policy that made everyone happy.

UPDATE: Listening to McCain now, this is the good old McCain that I remember from pre-2000. Will it last or is this just a “suck it up at CPAC” speech?

UPDATE: O.K. McCain finished his speech. Here’s the transcript.

UPDATE: Oh no. Now we have to hear from Ron Paul.

UPDATE: The live video feed has suspended for the day. Ron Paul was the last of the scheduled appearances. Skye should have audio/video up as soon as possible. Don’t forget to join both of us live for a wrap-up of CPAC 2008: Day One.

How Will McCain Address CPAC Conservatives?

Michelle Malkin will be one of many conservatives at CPAC this week. She’s posted these schedule highlights of conservative and/or Republican appearances and events. Many conservative bloggers will be there. HotAir.com will be there, Mary Katharine Ham, Atlas Shrugs and of course Midnight Blue’s Skye. McCain is “scheduled” to appear at 3PM. I put scheduled in quotes because I can’t imagine the Maverick allowing himself to be approached by strong conservatives like Michelle Malkin, Atlas Shrugs, and oh yes…Skye! They’d hammer him for sure! But others are suggesting that he has no choice but to appear. If he intends to win the general election in November, he’s got to reach out to the conservative base. Without them, he doesn’t stand a chance against Hillary or Obama. After 8 years of alienating conservatives on almost every issue and constantly boasting about how well he gets along with Democrats, what will he say tomorrow to the conservative base that would alleviate their appropriate and strongly passionate sense of betrayal? It’s my bet, he won’t even try. He’ll probably continue to shoot the finger at the conservative base by not even showing up tomorrow. But I could be wrong. We’ll see.

I wish Michelle could have been allowed to respond to Linda Chavez. People who continue to tout McCain as a Reagan conservative seem to have retrograde amnesia. The McCain we all knew and loved died in 2000. He was seduced by the dark side of the liberal party and it will forever dominate his destiny.

Skye @ Flopping Aces

I’ve been deputized as an official member of the Posse over at Flopping Aces. Lord help that blog…and its liberals.

Skye @ Flopping Aces

I’ve been deputized as an official member of the Posse over at Flopping Aces. Lord help that blog…and its liberals.

Your Moonbat Slayer Has Drafted Me !!!

As you all know, Skye will be attending CPAC this year. To better serve you and the rest of us, she’s temporarily granted me the incredible honor of guest blogging here at Midnight Blue. Skye will be taking her usual gear to CPAC, but to get all that juicy info to you faster, she and I will be in constant contact during the entire 3 days of February 7th, 8th and 9th so that I can keep her blog updated as each day unfolds. If there’s anything you’d like Skye to address while she’s there, send in your questions in the comment threads either here at Midnight Blue or at my blog. I’ll get them to her ASAP. In addition to almost live-blogging the event, I’ll be hosting an hour long radio show on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for Skye to call in and give us a summary of the proceedings and to take more of your questions. She’ll also be going to Walter Reed on Friday, so stay tuned!

Sunday Night Screams

Otherwise known as a Code Pink Crash of General Petraeus’ report to Congress.

In other news….The City Troll weighs in on Election 08:

Sunday Night Screams

Otherwise known as a Code Pink Crash of General Petraeus’ report to Congress.

In other news….The City Troll weighs in on Election 08:

Lordy, Lordy…FA is hitting 2 Million!!

Skye congratulates Curt and the posse at Flopping Aces on their upcoming 2 millionth hit. This is quite a milestone and I am so proud of them for their dedication and hard work to make Flopping Aces cerebral treat!

2 million hits cannot be wrong!