The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

CPAC: The Rev. Cruz Preaches It

Posted on | March 6, 2014 | 11 Comments

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland
Ted Cruz was on stage in the Potomac Ballroom when I turned to Dave Weigel and said, “He can really preach it, eh?” Weigel said, “Well, that’s what his father did.” Indeed, the Texas senator’s father, Rafael Cruz, is an evangelical pastor, and the son’s sermon was the straight-up Tea Party gospel for the CPAC flock.

“Our country is at a crisis point. . . . Liberty is under assault,” Cruz told the opening session, with the ballroom at about 80 percent capacity. Despite the dire outlook, the Texan’s speech included lots of good humor: “I’m going to suggest a radical agenda: Hope and Change.”

Cruz discussed the impact of the Democrat administration’s economic policy on young people. “Under President Obama, we’ve had five years of the Great Stagnation,” he said, and included both parties in his indictment of the capital’s political class.

“We need to tell the truth,” Cruz said. “The truth is, Washington is corrupt.”

* * * * *

CPAC NOTEBOOK:

  • Media Blues — Several reporters were locked out of the Potomac Ballroom during Cruz’s speech, because of the long line at the media registration booth. Jon Ward of Huffington Post and Robert Costa of the Washington Post were among the journalists who stood helplessly at the entrance, the way barred by a college-age volunteer staffer who was under orders to admit no one without credentials. “Trust me — these are good guys,” I said to the gangly young volunteer. But he had his orders, my two friends were S.O.L., and they weren’t alone. As I exited the ballroom after Cruz’s speech, I noticed Byron York of the Washington Examiner was also stuck on the wrong side of the barricade, Fox News celebrity status notwithstanding.
  • The Conspiracy Continues — Walking through the hotel lobby on my way out to have a smoke, I encountered Red State’s Erick Erickson, one of my co-defendant in perjuring bomber Brett Kimberlin’s federal RICO suit. We greeted each other cordially, and I remarked how silly it was for Kimberlin to have claimed that I was part of a “conspiracy” with Erickson, considering how I had been at odds with Erick during the 2012 GOP primary campaign. Erickson was cheered by the federal judge’s orders Wednesday which gave Kimberlin 14 days to show cause why several defendants (including the lead defendant, the National Bloggers Club) should not be dropped from the lawsuit.
  • Alumni News — At Wednesday night’s “RINO Con,” I met Amanda Read in person for the first time. Read, one of nine children from an Alabama homeschooling family, is here working for Tea Party News Network. She’s a recent graduate of my alma mater, Jacksonville (Ala.) State University, so I feel a special duty to encourage and promote her career.

 

Category: CPAC

Comments

11 Responses to “CPAC: The Rev. Cruz Preaches It”

  1. ChandlersGhost
    March 6th, 2014 @ 1:28 pm

    I’ll email you some Ibogaine and a pizza roll, Doctor.

  2. CrustyB
    March 6th, 2014 @ 1:55 pm

    You don’t have to be good looking to be a conservative but, doggone, it sure seems that way.

  3. Adjoran
    March 6th, 2014 @ 3:07 pm

    Leftists are much like The Picture of Dorian Gray except they just won’t stay in the attic.

  4. Moldy Oldie in Motown? | Regular Right Guy
    March 6th, 2014 @ 3:07 pm

    […] CPAC: The Rev. Cruz Preaches It […]

  5. Adjoran
    March 6th, 2014 @ 3:10 pm

    Erickson is bit of a dot connection. His involvement in Weinergate and all that stuff was peripheral at best, as I recall. Yet he was “SWATted” and now named by TDPK in the big federal lawsuit to end all lawsuits. Hmmm.

    I smell a Rauhauser.

  6. Ted Cruz speech at CPAC 2014
    March 6th, 2014 @ 4:16 pm

    […] first day of CPAC 2014 featured some great patriots like Ted Cruz. Mike Lee and Tim Scott. It also featured progressive RINOs like Chris Christie, Mitch McConnell […]

  7. Bob Belvedere
    March 6th, 2014 @ 6:53 pm

    If you do smell one: open the windows and leave the house immediately!

  8. K-Bob
    March 7th, 2014 @ 8:50 am

    “Dana” is one show we still record on Beck’s channel.

    She does a very good job.

  9. rmnixondeceased
    March 7th, 2014 @ 8:56 am

    Congratulations are due! Stacy was awarded the Activism Post Award at BlogBash! last evening!

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    […] Stacy McCain and a funny lady named Ginny. […]