Day One, Part Three: Magical Mystery Tour
| By Conventioneer - Feb 9th, 2006 at 9:31 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog | Undercover at CPAC 2006 |
Don't feel like reading the entire recap? Check out my CPAC 2006 Quick Facts:
Final Ronald Reagan Quotometer: 12
Official Day One "Swagventory"
30 Leaflets
17 Booklets
16 "Count Me Red" Bracelets
15 Bumper Stickers
12 Pamphlets
10 Misc. pieces of info
9 Buttons
9 Magazines
4 Business cards
3 Key chain bottle openers
3 Tote bags
2 Calendars
2 Cups (plastic)
2 "Don't tread on me" flags
2 Faux-newspapers
2 Foam pigs
2 Frisbees
2 Magnets
1 Bookmark
1 Pen
1 Potato chip bag clip
1 Report (Global Climate Change)
1 Shirt - "Don't get screwed"
1 Tin of mints
Oddest piece of swag: Probably the Red "Livestrong"-style bracelets that College Republicans were giving out. Not because they mimic the "Livestrong" bracelets, but because the motto on them is "Count me Red." I guess they missed the communist undertones.
Number of contact sheets filled out: 6
Number of times anti-spam alias used: 6
Conservative Craziness Meter
|------|--------------|
0 10
Mildly Crazy (Santorum and the Voter Fraud Panel) with a 30% chance of severe craziness.
Day one is on the books. All in all, it was a pretty crazy day--I saw a lot of things I expected, and some that I didn't. I didn't get as many pictures or talk directly to as many students as I would have liked to, but there's always tomorrow and Saturday. After Sen. Santorum finished speaking, I sat in on a panel on stealing elections and voter fraud, which basically was a session where all the panelists were in agreement that liberals are dishonest people who rig elections in their favor, and conservatives are losing elections because of it ( I suppose they all missed the 2000 election). They went on to say that we need stricter voting regulations so that the liberal organizations (such as ACORN…yes, ACORN) cannot continue to win elections by cheating. After half an hour of rehashing the same argument, I pretty much zoned out and began scanning the room.
I was pretty disappointed by the lack of seersucker suits--I don't think I saw one all day. I was pretty disappointed, because I was hoping to get a lot of good photos today. Unfortunately, besides ACLU Satan, Ostrich woman, and Weiner Girl, everyone was dressed pretty normally. I'm really hoping that in the days to come that will change.
Anyway, as the voter fraud panel rehashed the same argument for what I believe was the fourth time, the attendance in the room began to border on "Ghost Town." Had I not been watching Conventionette's stuff while she was at a different panel, I'm sure I would have been long gone as well. But, unfortunately, I had to listen to the whole thing. After that panel closed, people began to file in to hear Dick Armey (insert your favorite name joke here) speak. I ducked out to hit the exhibit hall for some more stuff and to check out the scene. I was really hoping on seeing some good costumes or crazy propaganda, but all I got was a couple nerds by the blogger's corner arguing about the merits of Babylon 5 versus the merits of Star Trek--it was pretty craptastic, so I bailed and met back up with Conventionette for the Secretary of Labor's speech.
The SoL's speech was BORING. She threw out a bunch of numbers and talked about how the Dept. of Labor is the best it's ever been--I tried to pay attention, but when she started to drone on about the reports they're using, I was pretty much done. She was the last speaker of the day, so Conventionette and I decided to make one more round at free stuff. We did pretty well too--mostly candy and propaganda, some of which we had to sign up for an email list to receive. Luckily, I hate spam and love aliases, so I'll let you figure out whether I'll be getting emails from these groups or not. Anyway, we made out like bandits.
At the end of the day, the only thing that still baffled me were the conservatives (speakers or otherwise) who spoke out in support of the President's illegal wiretapping program. For an ideology that is rooted in the idea of protecting liberty by decreasing the size of government, the support of such a vast intrusion into the liberty of American Citizens seems to be completely contradictory.
Nonetheless, it was still a pretty good time, kickin it with the conservatives in their natural habitat. With speakers such as Ann Coulter and Bill Frist, I don't think I need to mention that tomorrow looks very, very promising.
More to come…
Final Ronald Reagan Quotometer: 12
Official Day One "Swagventory"
30 Leaflets
17 Booklets
16 "Count Me Red" Bracelets
15 Bumper Stickers
12 Pamphlets
10 Misc. pieces of info
9 Buttons
9 Magazines
4 Business cards
3 Key chain bottle openers
3 Tote bags
2 Calendars
2 Cups (plastic)
2 "Don't tread on me" flags
2 Faux-newspapers
2 Foam pigs
2 Frisbees
2 Magnets
1 Bookmark
1 Pen
1 Potato chip bag clip
1 Report (Global Climate Change)
1 Shirt - "Don't get screwed"
1 Tin of mints
Oddest piece of swag: Probably the Red "Livestrong"-style bracelets that College Republicans were giving out. Not because they mimic the "Livestrong" bracelets, but because the motto on them is "Count me Red." I guess they missed the communist undertones.
Number of contact sheets filled out: 6
Number of times anti-spam alias used: 6
Conservative Craziness Meter
|------|--------------|
0 10
Mildly Crazy (Santorum and the Voter Fraud Panel) with a 30% chance of severe craziness.
Day one is on the books. All in all, it was a pretty crazy day--I saw a lot of things I expected, and some that I didn't. I didn't get as many pictures or talk directly to as many students as I would have liked to, but there's always tomorrow and Saturday. After Sen. Santorum finished speaking, I sat in on a panel on stealing elections and voter fraud, which basically was a session where all the panelists were in agreement that liberals are dishonest people who rig elections in their favor, and conservatives are losing elections because of it ( I suppose they all missed the 2000 election). They went on to say that we need stricter voting regulations so that the liberal organizations (such as ACORN…yes, ACORN) cannot continue to win elections by cheating. After half an hour of rehashing the same argument, I pretty much zoned out and began scanning the room.
I was pretty disappointed by the lack of seersucker suits--I don't think I saw one all day. I was pretty disappointed, because I was hoping to get a lot of good photos today. Unfortunately, besides ACLU Satan, Ostrich woman, and Weiner Girl, everyone was dressed pretty normally. I'm really hoping that in the days to come that will change.
Anyway, as the voter fraud panel rehashed the same argument for what I believe was the fourth time, the attendance in the room began to border on "Ghost Town." Had I not been watching Conventionette's stuff while she was at a different panel, I'm sure I would have been long gone as well. But, unfortunately, I had to listen to the whole thing. After that panel closed, people began to file in to hear Dick Armey (insert your favorite name joke here) speak. I ducked out to hit the exhibit hall for some more stuff and to check out the scene. I was really hoping on seeing some good costumes or crazy propaganda, but all I got was a couple nerds by the blogger's corner arguing about the merits of Babylon 5 versus the merits of Star Trek--it was pretty craptastic, so I bailed and met back up with Conventionette for the Secretary of Labor's speech.
The SoL's speech was BORING. She threw out a bunch of numbers and talked about how the Dept. of Labor is the best it's ever been--I tried to pay attention, but when she started to drone on about the reports they're using, I was pretty much done. She was the last speaker of the day, so Conventionette and I decided to make one more round at free stuff. We did pretty well too--mostly candy and propaganda, some of which we had to sign up for an email list to receive. Luckily, I hate spam and love aliases, so I'll let you figure out whether I'll be getting emails from these groups or not. Anyway, we made out like bandits.
At the end of the day, the only thing that still baffled me were the conservatives (speakers or otherwise) who spoke out in support of the President's illegal wiretapping program. For an ideology that is rooted in the idea of protecting liberty by decreasing the size of government, the support of such a vast intrusion into the liberty of American Citizens seems to be completely contradictory.
Nonetheless, it was still a pretty good time, kickin it with the conservatives in their natural habitat. With speakers such as Ann Coulter and Bill Frist, I don't think I need to mention that tomorrow looks very, very promising.
More to come…
!
Comments are closed for this post.
The Next Generation, the Star Trek series I've seen the most episodes of, is all about progressive values: exploration and outreach to diverse cultures and species; aversion to imposing our own culture on others, but still stepping in to mediate, regulate, and even throw down when one culture goes too far (e.g., the Borg); and favoring smarts over muscle to get oneself out of sticky situations, which is usually more effective and less destructive.
If it's any one group the conservatives would be for, I'd have to be the Klingons...thrill killing, blood feuds, lots of knives and guns, a language that sounds like they're clearing their throat...on sheer nerd badassery, GOPster Klingons should be out there.
Shocking, except people don't wear seersucker suits in February. Might have been a funny line in August, but doubtful.
I attended CPAC last year undercover for my student mag, and that was by far my favorite offering of swag.
Keep up the good work! Hope you can make it through the convention without succumbing to the need for heavy intoxication after Ann Coulter encourages the crowd to oppress and persecute people just like you.
Did he speak out against the program in his speech? If he did, how did the crowd react?