We all told you so, GOP.

Republicans are conservatives and classical liberals. Despite his strong security stance, real conservatives have been very sore with GW Bush for the past 6 years or so, given his government bloat. Conservatives do not like spending money willy-nilly and getting taxed to death. While Bush has been decent with taxes, he has certainly been wild with spending.

John McCain was never meant to be the Republican candidate. McCain is big government. Conservatives do not agree with him at all, and that disagreement was evident last night. Even if you disregard the one-issue voters, like the pro-life or pro-marriage people, and focus only on the bulk of conservatives, we really did not want McCain. Hundreds of thousands of Republican voters talked about “holding their nose” to vote McCain. Even the addition of an uber-conservative like Sarah Palin was not enough to make the base give a damn.

At CPAC, the annual conservative conference in Washington, John McCain actually had to bus supporters in to negate the booing he would have otherwise received. Like children we were admonished by David Keane, head of the American Conservative Union, to behave ourselves and be polite to Senator McCain. And to have been there when the last real conservative - Mitt Romney - dropped out of the race that same day, we knew it was over.

Most of us expected a Hillary presidency. Instead the world turned upside down, and the people chose a socialist anarchist with a dodgy past and hateful streak (yes, hateful: wife not proud of her country, preacher hates America - what other kind of mindset could he have?). Joe the Plumber will be collecting welfare of going off to live in the valley with John Galt.

Next time, when the base speaks, GOP, try listening. CPAC is where the money comes from. CPAC is where the action and the GOTV comes from. CPAC is where the conservative “community organizers” can be found. Flipping us the bird was a bad move. We have spoken.

People warned me about being photographed in compromising ways. Well, as my regular readers, you may as well see what all the fuss is about.

Please don’t think any less of me for it…

Joy is in my room.

Just sayin’.

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With the usual group. Did I mention I love CPAC?

There’s some random guy in our room who says he likes Dick more than Bush.

I love CPAC….

George. I finally stood in the same room with George.

Our wake-up call at the hotel this morning was at 3:30. Horrible. As far as I’m concerned, that’s still the dead of night. A race to get ready, and then into a cab that was still charging the nighttime surcharge to get to the Omni in time to see the President. We were told to arrive there for about 5am to go through Secret Service. When we arrived there was already a line throughout the lobby of the Omni. Apparently, some people started lining up around 3. There was a moment or two that we worried we wouldn’t even get in. Our new friends (met in the Steyn line yesterday) Gina and Jaycee of Clarion University in Pennsylvania and their crew were already there, and downright cranky. It seems that when they arrived there were no organizers on site to direct people traffic. A line had formed itself, which as it turned out was not in the right place, and everyone who had been in it ended up getting displaced to the back of the correct line. Jaycee especially was livid:

“All these years everyone has hated Bush, but now when we want to see him, everyone loves him?”

Hundreds of people didn’t make it into the ballroom for the 7:15 start. Thankfully, we did.

The anticipation was palpable. I couldn’t help but make the comparison to back in the days when I used to camp out for concert tickets!

When Senator McConnell introduced the president, the crowd erupted.

He thanked us for coming out so early (the speech had originally be scheduled for 10:20, but he had to fly out to TN to survey the tornado damage), cracked a few jokes about becoming “father of the bride” to Jenna as she prepares to marry, and then went on to praise his vice president, calling him the “best Vice President in history”.

The theme of the whole speech seemed to be how history would view the Bush administration. And how at this time, decisions made that many people criticized are already proving to have been right. Stem cells. Court appointments. Afghanistan. The Surge….

You know, since I’ve come to Washington, I’ve been reading a lot of history. Laura notes it’s probably because I’m making up for lost time. (Laughter.) Over the past few years I’ve read three books on George Washington — or as I call him, the “original George W.” (Laughter and applause.)

It is interesting to me that they are still analyzing the record of our first President. My attitude is if they’re still analyzing Number 1, 43 doesn’t need to worry about it.

… send money.

Thanks!

Ok, I’m a bit of a groupie, I admit. I was first in line for the booksigning. I dropped Kathy’s name to elicit a positive response. I’m just really glad I got to meet Mark Steyn.

And doesn’t he look so much more friendly than some of the others??

Yes, that is me with the Great Undead, Bob Novak.

Mitt Romney has announced that he’s pulling out of the race for President of the United States. That leaves us with McCain, a man who believes in open borders while he preaches national security.

“I entered this race in because I love American, and now - in a time of war - I feel I have to step aside because I love America.”

America will have a liberal president in 2008, whether it’s Hillary, Obama, or McCain. But I agree with Mitt Romney on one point of this: McCain will continue to fight the jihadists, and the Dems won’t. So he’s doing the right thing by making McCain stronger. But still… ow.

In his last year as Vice President, Dick Cheney once more took time to address the CPAC conference.

He reminded us that the fact that American hasn’t been attacked since 9/11 because of the work of the military overseas, and the CIA everywhere. I have mixed feelings on that particular view, but more on that later.

About to tune into important news from Mitt Romney.

Chilled at the bar at the Omni tonight with some of the CPAC blogging crew. It was great to team up with Joy and see Sean again. Also got the chance to meet John Hawkins (RWN was one of the first blogs I ever read, so it was like meeting royalty) and Pamela - both of whom I will be sharing Blogger’s Alley with tomorrow.

And a special thanks to Dr. Roy… the margaritas were delish!!

You are always so generous! I am only $300 away from breaking even on my CPAC expenses thanks to ya’ll. Keep it up!

Now as for my Canadian readers… well, I kinda understand. We’re heavily taxed, we expect the government to pay for stuff, etc, etc. Feel free to prove me wrong, though… Paypal button is to your right.

(Is it possible that my Canadian readers have no clue what I’m talking about, and think I’m going to the Ottawa cable TV station that parliamentary matters are shown on? To clarify, I am not. I am headed to Washington DC for the Conservative Political Action Conference. Send money!)

I blog for free, providing you with entertainment and insight (and often a whipping girl that you get to pooh-pooh on your own pages when I say something that doesn’t conform with Canada’s view of multiculturalism). CPAC is an integral part of that, where I get to rub shoulders with policy makers (and in the case of this year’s CPAC, with presidential hopefuls as well as the current president). While I don’t mind turfing out a couple of hundred a year for hosting etc., these little blog field trips are costly. Give a girl a hand, wouldja?

Thanks much. PayPal button is to your right.

Joy and I are talking dirty over what we’ll do for CPAC money. Give generously. It might be worth your while!!

How do I know this? Well, one reason is that I have an extremely high forehead. Really high. Like, I could sell ad space on my forehead.

The other reason is that I tend to flip-flop on important stuff, much to my detriment. In this case, I flip-flopped on CPAC.

First I was going. Then I took my tropical vacation and decided I couldn’t afford CPAC. Then Joy busted my balls and flat out told me I was going. So I’m going (those of you who’ve met Joy will understand her tenacity).

Please send money.

Some of you have already emailed me or joined the Facebook group “Canadians Attending CPAC 2008″ to let me know you’re coming. You can register at www.cpac.org

WWW.CPAC.ORG