Yes, faithful readers. Once again, we lept into the elephant's den. And this time, I took a tape recorder.
Welcome to the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC, day 2.
Now, before I start, let me preface things by saying I didn't get anything really, really juicy on tape. I tried to get a guy at Progress For America to admit that they're really about getting rid of Social Security (rather than just the joys of partial privatization), but he didn't bite. If I do say so, though, I do a pretty good impression of a wingnut.
Anyway, today was "Ann Coulter and Kill Social Security Day" at CPAC. When I first arrived, Ms. Coulter was on a screed about Professor Ward Churchill, saying not only is he a traitor, but his scholarship was crap, too (she presented no evidence to back this up, of course, but when you're ANN, you don't need any). Interestingly, I later overheard two people discussing an earlier part of her speech in which she mentioned Gannon and Talon news. Evidently, Ann was all a-twitter about how much energy liberals are "wasting" on this story. The two thought it was interesting and important that Ann made no mention of GOPUSA, though.
As an aside, I'd like to note that the vile Coulter was looking even more emaciated than usual. Obviously, she has not Fed lately. It is to be hoped that parents in the DC area are keeping an eye on their children tonight.
I wandered through the throngs of Young Men In Ties and Ann Coulter Look-alikes, checking out the various booths in greater detail than yesterday. In the process, I confirmed a couple of impressions I had the previous day. The first was that there were basically no non-caucasians at the expo. I saw one person of Asian descent, and the gentleman manning the Progress For America display was African-American. Other than that, I saw one guy who may have had a slight tan.
Dean has nothing to apologize for.
The second impression was just how many young people were at this bash. It seems that they were specifically courted -- Young Americans for Freedom and others held young people's conventions and dinners, and they managed to draw in quite a few people. I'd say at least 50% of the attendees were in college, maybe more.
By far, the most interesting material was coming from the speaker's stage. By the time I actually got in to the auditorium where the VIP's were speaking, they were on the topic of Social Security. I'll need to review my tape and work up a transcript, but here are a few notes:
- Much of the time was spent trying to boost morale and convince the audience that this (Social Security "reform") is a fight they can win.
- They know they are seriously off-message, and that they're not in control of the debate. One speaker lamented the fact that the topics of benefit cuts, tax increases and deficits have crept into the debate, and that conservatives are talking about these things, too.
- They know what's at stake -- that if they lose this, it will be a nasty blow to their entire agenda, and if they win, anything else will be smooth sailing.
- They believe a winning strategy will emphasize the overwhelming benefits of private accounts, but especially to lower income people.
There were other important points, and I'll post them once I do that transcript. I'll also look over the written material I collected from Eberle's direct mail company and other booths, and post the good stuff.
By the way, the Center for American Progress had a blogging mole at CPAC as well. Check out the mole's reports here.
Update [2005-2-19 12:33:18 by Jonathan]: I thought I'd emphasize something from the above. The conversation I overheard about "Gannon" and Talon news struck me as a tad odd. The two guys talking seemed to think it was remarkable that Coulter had not brought up GOPUSA. I took away from that that those guys, at least, thought GOPUSA might be where the paydirt can be found.