-By Warner Todd Huston
Well, Friday evening, June 8, 2012, we marked the end of the first CPAC event held in Chicago and what a great event it was. The triumph in Wisconsin was on everyone’s mind but so was Obama’s dismal record. Not just dismal, but according to several speakers, even dangerous. The economy and the election of Romney were focal points but so was foreign policy this day. One theme, though, was constant: Obama has to go.
Because of other things going on and the several press availability sessions, I didn’t catch every speaker in the main hall, but I did hear the speeches of (in this order) former Senator Rick Santorum, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Illinois Representative Peter Roskam, Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann, and Illinois Representatives Joe Walsh and Randy Hultgren. I also heard and recorded the press availability sessions of Herman Caine, Peter Roskam, and Michelle Bachmann and I caught most of Kansas Representative Tim Huelskamp’s.
Other notables whose speeches I missed were Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner, and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
The event was a great success with well over 2,000 participants, all seats filled for the most part during the speeches and some great groups like the United Republican Fund, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Heartland Institute, Champion News, and others hosting and participating.
I’ll say a few words about the speakers I did see in the order I saw them and I’ll do this in a few installments so that this won’t be one long, overly taxing post. Now, as each of these speakers appeared before us I live Tweeted their comments, so the following quotes are pulled from my Twitter feed.
But before I do that, each speaker was quite enthusiastic over the win of Governor Scott Walker who defeated an effort by the far left and their union overlords to recall him in Wisconsin. Each speaker praised Walker and crowed about the left’s loss in there. I won’t regurgitate the Wisconsin hunk of each speaker as they were pretty much all the same; exuberant. The essential point was that we are all cheeseheads now.
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum on the main stage
Former Pennsylvania Senator and recent GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum gave one of his well-crafted, typically workman-like speeches. One of Santorum’s early points was that America is at a “tipping point” and we’d better be there to tip it in the right direction.
Continue reading “
CPAC Chicago, Wisconsin Praised, Obama Razed — Part One: Rick Santorum, Ron Johnson”
With the news of Stanley Kurtz’ NRO 
Back on May 24 I posted 
One-time Disney cutie Amanda Bynes was pulled over for drunk driving in Hollyweird this week. What was her reaction to this personal low? 
The L.A. Times has a 
A few moments ago Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard 
As I write this it is only hours before the polls in Wisconsin open to take votes for the Walker recall effort. Polling data says that Walker will likely win this election, though the media spin this as a “close” thing. Whether Walker will win or not I won’t guess on the eve of voting day, but one thing I can say for a fact is that if Walker does win this election the media will claim that the election is meaningless as to any greater import to the 2012 election cycle.
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Corey Booker is apparently now washed up. He went from being one of the most prominent up-and-coming black Democrats to being on the outside looking in merely because he said something that diverges from Obama’s war on capitalism. Now even NBC is kicking him out of its Meet The Press studios. Yep, ol’ Corey is finished.
What an inelegant way for such an illustrious career to end — perhaps if only temporarily. Congressman Thad McCotter (R, Mich) not only didn’t get enough signatures on his nominating petitions to get himself on the ballot for his reelection, the petitions his team did turn in were rife with duplicates and outright fraud. Now he’s announced that he is not running for reelection because of all this.
A new show is soon to debut on Fox Business Network. The new show, Money With Melissa Francis, will premiere on June 4 at 5PM/ET featuring 
Illinois House Rep Mike Bost (R, Murphysboro) came to his wits end over the last second introduction of a pension reform bill by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D). The bill was introduced only minutes before Madigan wanted to force the House to vote on the bill. As the bill was introduced, Bost went nuts on the floor screaming and throwing papers in a rage.
Many of you are aware of the recall election being held in Wisconsin. There, leftists and union thugs throughout the state are trying to oust the only recently elected Republican Governor, Scott Walker. But something many don’t realize is that Walker’s Lt. Governor, 
For such a blue state, Illinois has some rather good Republicans in Congress, but on one issue many of them consistently fail. That is in their unfortunate support for Big Labor. The issue of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) is a perfect example of this penchant to support issues dear to the hearts of Big Labor.
After a morning in remembrance of our fallen troops and an afternoon firing up the gas grill to burn up a mess of burgers, hot dogs, and brats for my family as we observe what has become a traditional American Memorial day meal (Some of us in my household are working tomorrow, so we had our meal today), I find that MSNBC is observing this holiday in true liberal* fashion: denigrating our troops.
A few years after the Civil War as the nation started upon its long road toward reconciliation, rebuilding, and healing the wife of one of the war’s union generals noticed the touching devotion of Confederate widows, wives and their children as each year they came together to place flowers and little flags at the graves of their fallen. Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan was so moved by the devotion she witnessed that she urged her husband, Illinois General John A. “Blackjack” Logan, to look into creating what was to become Memorial Day.
But, Obama has done this now at least four times. Along with today’s new effort, there was Attack Watch, Fight the Smears, and Flag.gov. Obama has indulged the tattletale system many times in his short tenure at the White House.