In the secretly taped video, smuggled out of the White House and leaked to The Minority Report, President Barack Obama explains his economic system in full detail.

No one knows, for sure, if the president will ultimately include this portion in his much anticipated Jobs speech Thursday night, but sources close to the White House confirm that this new direction or pivot, by the president, actually telling the American people the truth about his economic system will garner support for his plan.

Transcript:

My Fellow Americans. The real problem with my economic system is that the folks who are getting free stuff don’t like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff, can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff, and the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop, and the folks who are getting the free stuff, want even MORE free stuff on top of the free stuff they’re already getting!

Now….. The people who are forcing the people who PAY for the free stuff have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff that the people who are PAYING for the free stuff are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So …. the people who are GETTING the free stuff have been convinced they need to HATE the people who are PAYING for the free stuff by the people who are forcing the people who are PAYING for the free stuff and GIVING them the free stuff in the first place.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once upon a time there was an enchanted place called Imagination Land, where everything was just as wonderful as you could make believe it was.

President Obama is in Brasilia as this article is written paying a visit to President Dilma Rousseff. With much pomp and circumstance he arrived in a motorcade of 51 vehicles.

There has been much speculation for the reasons of the trip. He has with him Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to name just a few.

Yes, we hear about the trade issues, hence Locke being with him. From an article back in February Geithner is tagging along because Brasil is in the market for a new fleet of F-18s for her air force, and Boeing is in the running. But the person who immediately caught my eye was Steven Chu so I did some digging.

All of us are aware of the Gulf drill moratorium after the BP spill, the lack or new oil, gas and oil permits being issued and the myriad of new EPA regulations which caused Shell to become fed up and give up drilling for oil in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. We are all aware of the thousands of people out of jobs in the energy area and the oil and gas companies who have declared bankruptcy, been sold to larger companies or simply pulled up stakes and went to a friendlier regulatory atmosphere. Not in the US.

There is nothing on the White House blog that tells us the reason for the visit, so I decided the best source was the people on the ground in Brasil, namely the newspapers and blogs. The following caught my eye bigtime:

In a time when record oil prices and record-producing nations in the Middle East and North Africa are in crisis, U.S. President, Barack Obama, arrives in Brazil on Saturday with an eye on Brazil’s potential to become a major supplier to the United States in the future.

Obama himself also announced last week that oil imports will be one of the themes of his agenda with President Rousseff in Brasilia. The U.S. government seeks to reduce its dependence on oil, but also diversify its portfolio of suppliers.

“Brazil will become a major player in global energy markets with its recent oil discoveries in deep water,” said deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs from the White House, Mike Froman. In addition to ministers of the energy sector, Obama also travels with dozens of entrepreneurs.

According to the executive director of the Brazil Business Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce American Steven beepers, after passing Brasilia, these entrepreneurs will go to Rio to consider the prospect of investment in the oil and gas. “Given the current circumstances facing the Arab countries, Brazil is a candidate very important supplier of U.S. oil in the medium term,” he said on a visit to Washington the president of the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil, Gabriel Rico.

Hmmm…we have billions of barrels of oil in the US, trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, and millions of tons of coal, yet Obama may be seeking to buy oil from Brasil? President Obama, if you would just allow us to get ours out of the ground, the US could become energy independent. The experts tell us so.

But wait! There’s more. Back in August of 2009 Obama “loaned” Brasilian oil giant Petrobras $2 billion dollars. Why? That is the $64,000 question. They don’t need it. Brasil is oil independent thanks to Petrobras, who has the third largest deep-water rig in the world, #52. Petrobras is the largest company by revenue and market capitalization in Latin America. It’s a world leader in drilling technology, has assets in countries all over the world and in 2008 its reported assets were $133.5 billion.

But here’s another little interesting tidbit. Several days before Obama made the announcement of the “loan” George Soros dumped 22 million shares of US listed Petrobras common stock and bought 5.8 million of the 10% dividend-paying preferred. Hmmm..

And one more little fact for you all, back in December of 2010 Obama’s cozy pal Jeff Immelt of GE bought UK company Wellstream for $1.3 billion.

Wellstream expands GE’s operations in Brazil, where Exxon Mobil Corp., BG Group Plc and state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA may need to spend more on the U.K.-based company’s flexible pipes and risers to ramp up energy production. The deepwater Tupi and Libra fields, discovered in the past three years, together may contain more than 20 billion barrels of oil.

Nicholas Heymann, an analyst with Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. in New York had this to say about the purchase:

“Importantly, Wellstream has little Gulf of Mexico exposure, a region where development has slowed sharply.”

Yes, Mr. President. Development has slowed sharply in the Gulf, thanks to your drill moratorium. And oh, by the way, when is Interior Secretary Salazar going to be hauled off to jail in handcuffs for being in civil contempt of court for refusing to obey a Louisiana judge’s order to lift said moratorium?

Not drawing any conclusions from all the above, just throwing it out for thought.

Obama will travel to Rio later today where he’ll be staying at the ultra-luxurious J.W. Marriott Hotel in Copacabana ( he was originally scheduled to be at the Sheraton Rio, but security changed his location at the last minute.)

Wanna see pics of you dancing the samba, sir.

I’ll keep you posted on what develops.

The promise that the Bush-McCain weary heard was that there were no red states and no blue states, but just the United States. The stimulus would arrest the recession and keep unemployment under 8%. ObamaCare would lower the deficit and you could keep your own insurance if you wanted. Foreign nations would love the anti-cowboy, and oh yes, anyone that was saddled with white guilt would have it instantly purged.

Two years later down the yellow-brick road, the curtain has been rent and revealed, not a wizard, but rather a lawless, arrogant alien in the White House that is not just presiding over American decline but actually egging it on.

He is not alien because he wasn’t born in Hawaii, but, rather because he doesn’t love America and what is and has stood for. Rather, he loves the Obama-nation he is in the process of building in which he issues waivers to those that tickle the King’s fancy and organize communities for his Democrat like the hordes of spoiled public sector union brats in Wisconsin.

But what to expect from a man raised by proud Marxists; educated by those that deem Bill Ayers a colleague; and preached to for 20 years in a church that honors a racist that our President Obama always calls “Minister” Farrakhan (and with whom his Most Reverend Wright traveled to Libya to honor a tyrant that survived Reagan’s bombs and surrendered his WMD to Dubya but who recently finally found a U.S. Chief Executive he could praise in B. Hussein).

On Day One of the Obama Era, the dreams from his UK-hating Kenyan father prompted him to remove the post-911solidarity gift of Winston Churchill’s bust from the Oval Office. To make amends he gave the Queen of England a CD of his speeches, slapped her on the back and gave Russia Britain’s nuclear secrets. All before bowing until his ears hit the floor to every two-bit Muslim potentate during two Apologize for America tours.

In further efforts to secure the love of the “international community” it equates the death cult in Gaza with the building of apartment buildings in East Jerusalem and sides with Iran’s mullahs over those innocents mowed down in Teheran streets. The result? Saudi Arabia mocks him in public, Pakistan tries a diplomat for murder despite immunity, Mexican soldiers treat the Arizona as grounds for maneuvers and China plays anti-American ditties in the White House to polite applause as Attorney General Eric Holder exonerates billy club-wielding New Black Panthers and sues Mexico’s Arizona territory.

Have we discovered any High Crimes or Misdemeanors yet, because it’s about to get worse?

Reform instead of recovery

How is ObamaCare working out for the nearly 20% of Americans that are either out of work or so under-employed that they can’t pay for necessities at Fed-inflated prices, much less consume any wants greater than Le Seuer brand-peas. Things are so bad that stories of proposed municipal laws banning roosters in backyards fill newspapers.

John Maynard Keynes complained of FDR’s misplaced focus on NRA price-fixing reforms while the nation cried out for recovery, but at least he put some folks to work through the WPA.

Obama delayed public works until his second year and then claimed there never was any such thing as “shovel-ready” projects. Has he even seen Hoover’s Dam or FDR’s TVA?

As senator and president he supported and fostered a TARP for Paulson, Geithner & Company that hasn’t even protected banks when one out of every nine of those that haven’t already closed are at risk of failure. No troubled assets have been recovered and no small business loans are being made since there are no expected profits with which to pay back said loans from a stimulus that only saved state and local government jobs and created federal regulators that kill jobs.

While star-struck Americans gazed upon the underside of Obama’s skyward-pointing chin and exposed nostrils, and so missed his promises to bankrupt the coal industry and have us learn a lesson from skyrocketing oil prices, now, thanks to lawless violations of court orders denying oil-drilling moratoriums, followed by lawless EPA attacks against oil drilling on Texas fields and denials of permits for power plant construction after even a Democrat Congress refused his cap-and-trade attack on the poor and middle class; when it snows in New Mexico, we have to beg Old Mexico for heat.

The left-hand touts the Muslim Brotherhood as part of the “host of important non-secular actors” in Egypt while the right hand deems them not very religious. The MUSLIM brotherhood are not very religious? He must be referring to his own not very religious, and rare darkenings of churches or to the irreligious audacities issued from Wright’s pulpit about the CIA’s conspiracy to infect Blacks with AIDS.

Empty Promises

Restructured underwater mortgages never materialized while policies prevented the reaching of the necessary bottom to a housing market, when all the while 1000-page Dodd-Frank financial “reforms” paid off revolving door Democrat pals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that blew the bubble up to bursting size in the first place.

Meanwhile, middle class taxpayers subsidize vanity GM cars for the rich as its stock dips below the IPO price.

He promised to end the running up of debt like Bush. He delivered on that one, as he ran up the debt at a currency-threatening rate three times the Bush rate and nearing post-WWII levels.

Promises were forthcoming that you could keep your own health insurance while attacking the very foundations of risk assessment and pricing with demands to cover “children” as old as 26 and pre-existing conditions on the day after cancer is diagnosed.

When all else fails, just take the painkiller and go home. Your life is no more precious at age 95 years than those 95+ day-old born alive infants he refused to protect from the floor of the Illinois Senate.

A Stranger in our Midst that chooses American decline

He seems a stranger in our midst that seems to get every issue not just wrong, but exactly wrong. He is no Jimmy Carter. No, Obama seems to choose American decline as a choice with no paean to “human rights” unless it is the right of humans to do right by his decrees. He takes apologize-for-America tours abroad to accept Nobel prizes while his rib-eating wife lectures the obese in a nation growing in numbers of those who will soon be able to see their own ribs if the great recession doesn’t abate.

Many of us are not surprised. We didn’t put our hands over our ears to drown out Rev. Wright or Obama’s musings on the flawed Constitution and Founders. Many of us were not so anxious to purge misplaced white guilt and give this stranger in our midst the nukes.

Must we endure two more years of this near-dictator while he continues to systematically dismantle the economy at home and our alliances over seas? While he defies court orders and “evolves” away defenses of traditional marriage?

Can he be stopped before the deluge? What will be left of America on Inauguration Day, 2013 if he remains our Chief Magistrate and Commander in Chief for another 23 months?

Democrats, have you no shame at what you foisted on this great country?

Mike DeVine

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

As some of you are aware, earlier this week I published a post that was chockerblock of full pictures documenting my adventures at CPAC. Well, included in that post were pictures of myself with the hilarious Red Eye guys, the hysterical Stephen Kruiser (who is a frequent guest on Red Eye, as well as the host of the Kruiser Kabana), and the lovely blogger Sarah Rumpf. (See the pictures below.)

[Above is a picture with me and Greg Gutfeld, the host of the Fox show Red Eye.]

[Above is a picture of me with Stephen Kruiser (in a purple shirt to my immediate right), and Bill Schulz (to my left) and Andy Levy of Red Eye fame.]

[The above picture is of me and the beautiful Sarah Rumpf, who is the proprietor of the blog Sunshine State Sarah.]

This past week, Stephen was kind enough to pass along the two pictures that my husband took of me with the Red Eye guys–and some pictures of Sarah taken with the Red Eye guys–to the Red Eye producers. Well, on Friday night, multiple pictures of Sarah and me posing with the Red Eye cast appeared in a photo collage on Red Eye! (Go to approximately five minutes into the video embedded below to see multiple pictures of Sarah and me posing with the Red Eye cast members.)

As I previously stated in my prior post, always bring a camera with you everywhere you go at CPAC.

Oh, and thanks for letting me brag a bit. I can’t wait to see you all again next year!

PS–Robert Stacy McCain was kind enough to write a cool post about Sarah’s and my “brush with fame”.

PPS–Thanks so much to Brian Henchey, host of The New England Job Show (who is pictured in my earlier post), for alerting me–via Facebook–to the fact that my pictures were featured on Red Eye.

This column is cross-posted from Parcbench, and it is also posted at The Green Room, Right Wing News and The Minority Report.

[A big thank you to Richard Hornsby for the photo]

This past Wednesday through Saturday, The American Conservative Union sponsored the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. CPAC was open to all conservative activists who wanted to attend. This year, I had the honor of being a credentialed blogger for CPAC, and, thus, was able to sit in the bloggers’ lounge that was sponsored by Freedom Works. Tabitha Hale, the brains behind the bloggers’ row who put the whole thing together, really outdid herself. (All attendees should participate in a quiet “golf clap” for Tabitha.)

Folks, I had a blast this past week. Seriously, if any of you ever get the opportunity to attend CPAC, I highly suggest going. In fact, there are three very good reasons to attend CPAC next year (or any similar national conservative activist conference in the future). So, without much fanfare and ado, let’s get right to it.

1.) CPAC is a great place to hear some awesome political speeches, and meet many famous conservative political activists and politicians.

This year at CPAC, participants had the opportunity to listen to many famous pundits and politicians speak. Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Haley Barbour, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, David Horowitz and Andrew Breitbart were some of the many famous speakers that were there. However, there were three speakers in particular that I, personally, thought brought down the house.

Herman Cain (who is a radio talk show host and the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza) gave a speech that greatly exceeded the expectations of many people in the political class. Ed Morrissey–who wrote that Cain “stole the show” on Friday afternoon–has done a good job of collecting many of the highlights of Cain’s speech (the embed is below):

Cain said that the American Dream is being attacked by what he calls “the -ations” — legislation, regulation, and taxation. He continued that Republicans need to repeal and replace health care reform, and also “throw out” the “messed up tax code” and replace it with a new system.

The “objective of the liberals is to destroy America,” he Cain continued, but “if you can get a liberal to engage in an intelligent in the first place, ask them to strip away labels.”

Like, for example, Cain said, when liberals call anyone who disagrees with Obama a “racist.”

“They call me racist too just because I disagree with a President who happens to be black,” he continued. He told the crowd: “You are not racists — you are patriots.”

However, my favorite part of Herman Cain’s speech came when he said the following at around 8:10-8:20:

“Stupid people are ruining America.”

My husband and I nearly fell off of our chairs laughing when we heard that.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, Ann Coulter gave an excellent speech that had many good moments in it (particularly, from 4:40-5:15, 5:40-6:30, 7:40-8:20 and 12:50-13:45). (Oh, and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses was a cool choice for an entrance song).

However, Coulter was absolutely on fire during the Q&A that followed her speech (Q&A is her forte’). I would say that the best moment of her Q&A session with the crowd was when someone asked her, “Who is your least favorite Democrat?” (at 10:48-11:30 in the embed below), because Coulter responded by giving the following answer:

“That’s like asking me my least favorite disease. I can’t do my least favorite, I’m sorry”.

Then, she quickly quipped, “Cancer”. Again, my husband and I almost fell over laughing.

Now, immediately following Ann Coulter came Representative Allen West, the keynote speaker of CPAC. Before starting his speech though, Congressman West was kind enough to visit the bloggers’ lounge and take questions from the bloggers there.

Oh, and Colonel West was gracious enough to take a picture with me as well.

[Thanks again to Richard Hornsby for the picture.]

And finally, Congressman West gave an incredible stem-winder that finished up CPAC with a bang. He was introduced below by Sargent Jason Auburn who guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As Congressman West walked onto the stage, you could hear Right Now by Van Halen playing. All I have to say is Dammit, you know that you’re at CPAC when you see a colonel–introduced by sergeant who guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier–walk on the stage while Van Halen is playing. (None of that wussified“Yes We Can” foolishness over here. And yes, wussified is indeed a word–look it up.)

Now, onto the second reason why CPAC is a must for any aspiring conservative activist.

2.) CPAC is a great place to meet people and network, network, network.

First of all, I obviously can’t stress the whole networking part enough. It is one thing to converse with your fellow bloggers/activists online or via email–it is a whole ‘nother ball of wax to meet them face to face. When you meet someone in person, you can get a much better feel for who they really are by their body language or facial expressions–which are things that cannot possibly be conveyed by simply communicating with someone online. Furthermore, if you form a personal bond with someone at a conference like CPAC–even if you only talk to the person for, say, fifteen minutes–given the choice, they are much more likely to link to, or pimp, your stuff than someone that they think is a total douche (no matter how good of a writer the douche in question might be). (Hey, I don’t make the rules–those are just the facts. You have to accept the world how it is, not how you want it to be.)

Moreover, at CPAC, I had the unique privilege of meeting some of the most iconic bloggers/writers online. It was a phenomenal experience. I mean, it is so totally cool to actually meet people that you’ve been reading or conversing with for years online. (See the photos below that my husband took in and around the bloggers’ lounge).

The above picture is of Daily Caller reporter, and CNN contributor Matt Lewis on my left and Garrett Quinn of The Boston Globe (or Boston.com) on my right. Both of these gentlemen are extremely knowledgeable about politics, and Matt Lewis told me interesting stories about his experiences covering the NH primary. I highly suggest picking their brains if you ever get the chance.

Above is a photo of me and Caleb Howe, a man who needs no introduction. He is the assistant editor of Redstate.com, and is a legend in the blogging community. The dude is just too cool for color TV, and he makes any party that he attends teh awesome.

Above is a picture of me with the totally cool editor of the highly influential Right Wing News, John Hawkins (where I am also a contributor).

Above is a photo of me and my husband (Chris Fleetwood) that was taken right after Herman Cain spoke on Friday afternoon.

Above is a picture of myself with the awesome, iconic Ed Morrissey of Hot Air. He is the driving force behind what becomes newsworthy in the conservative blogosphere. A link by him is huge–nay, monumental. Enough said.

Above is a picture of myself with Fingers Malloy of FTR Radio and Parcbench (where I am also a contributor). Fingers is an intimidating looking guy, but don’t let the mohawk fool you–he’s a real sweetheart.

Above is a picture of Jeff Dunetz who is the proprietor of Yid With The Lid. Jeff is a great blogger who blogs at all of the “Big” sites.

Above is a picture of Doug Welch, otherwise known as the popular blogger Stix 1972. (Doug also blogs with me over at The Minority Report, and can fix any technical issues that you might have.)

The above photo is of lovely Adrienne Royer (proprietor of the awesome blog Cosmopolitan Conservative) on my left and talented writer Warner Todd Houston on my right.

Above is a picture of me with the great Jimmie Bise Jr–who is the proprietor of The Sundries Shack, and who also blogs with me in The Green Room.

Above is a picture of Oregon Tea Party head (and former congressional candidate) John Kuzmanich on my right, and a blogger from Red County named Jeff Reynolds on my left.

Above is a picture of me with two adorable, talented, young bloggers who make me feel old–Amy Miller of Pundit League and Alex Knepper.

Above is a photo of me with the adorable Tabitha Hale who was the brains and the force behind the bloggers’ lounge at CPAC (and who is also a contributor to Redstate.com). Again, she deserves a round of applause for her outstanding organizational abilities.

The above picture is of me and Nice Deb who owns the excellent blog Nice Deb. My husband and I had dinner with her and John Hawkins later in the evening, and she was very….well, nice. She just exudes this whole Midwestern class/politeness from every pore. Her blog is quite aptly named.

And, here is another photo of my buddy, the awesomely, awesome John Hawkins (with a myriad of boggers scurrying around in the background).

And finally, here he is ladies and gentlemen. The man, the myth, the legend who made the fedora cool–it’s the one and only Robert Stacy McCain (with me) in the above picture. This guy is only the coolest cat in the conservative blogosphere. Getting linked on his blog means that you’ve finally arrived. Enough said.

Oh, and I almost forgot to give you all one final piece of advice before we move on to point number three. ALWAYS BRING A CAMERA EVERYWHERE YOU GO AT CPAC. Why? Because you never know who you are going to run into there. For instance, when I went downstairs to get a sandwich I ran into Johnathan Martin of Politico. He was an extremely nice guy and we talked for a good ten minutes, but I had forgotten my camera upstairs. I never made that mistake again. So the next day, when we went to McDonald’s, I took my camera with me and look who I ran into:

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, that would be Alfonzo Rachel of PJTV who is famous for his “ZoBama” impersonations–and, who was personally attacked by Charles Blow for being part of a “minstrel show” (because liberals are all “tolerant” and stuff).

And then, when we returned to the hotel lobby, I ran into Jim Hoft–otherwise known as Gateway Pundit. He is pretty famous in blogging world and was mentioned by William Kristol on Fox News Sunday for breaking open the Van Jones story. (Oh, and he’s a very nice guy as well.)

Now, onto the third reason why CPAC is the bomb for all budding conservative activists.

3.) You get to party like a rockstar in the Kruiser Cabana with the Red Eye guys and various other conservative celebrities.

During every major conservative convention, like BlogCon or CPAC, Stephen Kruiser of PJTV is kind enough to host awesome parties in his room–or, turn his room into the “Kruiser Cabana”. Stephen is just a stitch (as we say down south). And, besides working for PJTV, he is also a stand up comic and is a frequent guest on Fox’s Red Eye. Therefore, Kruiser tends to get a lot of high profile guests to come to his parties (like, for instance, the guys from Red Eye). In fact, the Kruiser Cabana was so kickin’ this year, that Stephen Kruiser was named CPAC’s Miss Congeniality.

[Below are some pictures that we took in the Kruiser Cabana, as well as at other CPAC hot spots.]

Above is a picture of me with Stephen Kruiser (in a purple shirt to my immediate right), and Bill Shultz (to my left) and Andy Levy of Red Eye fame.

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Above is a picture of Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld and me. How cool is that? (Gee, I sound like highschooler.)

Oh, and here is a little bipartisan love for everyone. On my right is conservative writer Philip Klein of American Spectator and Politico, and on my left is liberal writer Tommy Christopher of Mediate. (They both know a lot about politics and are awesome to hang out with, by the way.)

Above is a picture of the lovely Pamela Geller who became quite famous when she discussed her opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque on 60 Minutes.

And, above is a picture myself with the lovely Kristina Ribali and the lovely Pamela Geller. Did I mention that they were lovely?

Above is a picture of Stephen Kruiser and my husband. I think that they are both cuties, but I’m probably a little biased. (I’m married to one, and I had a blast at the other one’s parties.)

And, above is a picture of the awesome Ben Howe of Redstate.com (brother of Caleb Howe–awesomeness runs in their family) standing next to my adorable hubby.

Now, that handsome man in the tri-corner hat above is frequent Fox News Business panelist Paul Erickson. He threw a killer party earlier that evening. (Yes, there is life outside the Kruiser Cabana at CPAC. But hey, Stephen, you’re still Miss Congeniality and no one can take that away from you.)

And, above is my good friend Amy Miller posing with me at Mr. Erickson’s party. (She’s so cute isn’t she?)

Above is the always awesome Robert Stacy McCain and the very gracious Paul Erickson. (Hmmm….I don’t know what I like better, the fedora or the tri-corner hat.)

Pictured above is me with the always adorable Alexa Moutevalis and the always awesome Caleb Howe. (Remember, awesomeness runs in the Howe family.)

The above picture is of myself with Steve Eggleston (proprietor of the great blog No Runny Eggs) and the always awesome Ben Howe.

The five cute guys in the above photo are as follows (from left to right): Kevin Eder (who runs the Facebook and Twitter pages for the Media Research Center and Newsbusters), Stephen Gutowski of Human Events and Eyeblast TV, Fingers Malloy, Chris Fleetwood and Steve Eggleston.

And, here we have the iconic Robert Stacy McCain on my right and John Howting on my left, who is president of Miami Universities ISI Chapter. (Man, those college Republicans are just so darn cute, aren’t they?)

Oh, and here is another picture of the beautiful Kristina Ribali. I’m sure all of you gentlemen reading this just hate seeing her again.

Above is a shot of me talking to Da Tech Guy, who is one of my all time favorite bloggers–and favorite people–in the conservative blogosphere. (Oh, and check out his cool fedora!)

Above is a photo of me talking to the always charming Christopher Renner. (Hmmm….what’s better, the fedora, the tri-corner hat, or the cowboy hat? Decisions, decisions.)

The above picture is of me and the lovely Sarah Rumpf, who is the proprietor of the blog Sunshine State Sarah. This was my first time meeting Sarah, but she struck me as a, well….very sunny person–not to mention, she was a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with.

In the above picture (starting from left to right), you’ve got the adorable Jenny Erickson whispering to the uber-cool and super hilarious Larry O’Connor from Breitbart TV. And next to them, is Dr. Gina Loudon (in the grey) whispering to Meredith Dake, Mr. O’Connor’s very pretty producer.

And, in this picture, I am posing with the lovely Dr. Gina Loudon on my right (yes, that Dr. Gina Loudon who smacked down sleazy VF columnist Michael Gross), and the lovely and talented Jenny Erickson on my left.

Above is a photo of John Hawkins and Nice Deb at a killer Thai restaurant called The Thai Kitchen (they have great red chicken curry). John, Deb, my husband and I ventured over there after CPAC on Saturday night prior to heading over to the Kruiser Cabana.

The above picture is of me and charming, polite Glen Asbury, who is the proprietor of the popular blog Ramblings.

Above is a picture of a gentlemen by the name of Brian Henchey who is the host of The New England Job Show. I just met Brian late that evening in the Kruiser Cabana when I blurted out to him that he “had great hair”, and then asked to take a picture with him. He laughed, thanked me for the compliment, and then politely complied with my request. However, Brian turned out to be a great conversationalist and an all around funny dude; therefore, I really hope to see him again at CPAC next year.

And finally, rounding out my collection of party pics is this final parting shot of me and Stephen Kruiser. (Oh, how I will miss the Kruiser Cabana). One more thing. That button on my hat says, “Dale Peterson for President”.

So, in conclusion, I think that I’ve concisely summed up why CPAC is a must for any and every aspiring conservative activist–not to mention, why it’s truly a “can’t miss” event if you want to meet the who’s who of the conservative blogging/activist world.

However, I just have one more thing to add before I leave you all. I think that next year’s theme song for CPAC’s keynote speaker should be “Dreams” by Van Halen, because it’s got a very patriotic video that mainly consists of incredible footage of The Blue Angels flying and performing stunts. Since we had one Van Halen song this year, why not have another one next year?

And on that note, I say that I truly can’t wait to see you all again next year!

PS–I took those hats home with me that I was wearing in those photos. (You can clearly see them poking out of my tote-bags in the above picture taken outside of Reagan International Airport on Sunday afternoon.)

PPS–I see you over there doing air guitar at your computer.

This column is cross-posted from Parcbench, and it is also posted at The Green Room, Right Wing News, The Minority Report and Hillbillypolitics.

Tuesday night, President Obama gave his State of the Union Address. Then afterward, Republican Congressman Paul Ryan gave the official GOP response to the president’s SOTU address, and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gave the unofficial Tea Party response. Most in the political world expected fireworks from Ms. Bachmann’s response, but, in the end, her speech proved to be highly unprovocative. In fact, many Republican pundits, like Redstate’s Erick Erickson, wrote that they were pleasantly surprised at how well Congresswoman Bachmann came across. As Da Tech Guy pointed out, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, there was “not a single word of snark from the panel” when the topic of her speech came up. However, perpetual GOP critic, Meghan McCain, found a way to say something, not just critical of Ms. Bachmann’s speech, but over-the-top and mean-spirited as well. To be specific, Ms. McCain said the following to Laurence O’Donnell when he inquired as to whether Michele Bachmann giving the Tea Party response to the SOTU was “your worst dream come true” :

“Michele Bachmann is not the leader of the Republican Party. Michele Bachmann is a poor man’s Sarah Palin, and I think the fact that MSNBC and Fox elected not to run this is admirable to the kind of journalism that Fox and MSNBC is airing, and I think that CNN should be ashamed of themselves for airing this. This is one rogue woman who couldn’t even look into the camera directly.”

Oh, where to begin, where to begin. I guess I’ll start off with question number one.

1.) Why should CNN be “ashamed of themselves” for running Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech?

As Allahpundit pointed out, “Bachmann did a good job in both emphasizing her role as a spokesperson for Tea Party Express rather than the GOP and sticking with economic and fiscal issues”, so she clearly wasn’t some “rogue woman”. And yes, her not looking directly into the camera was slightly distracting, but it wasn’t disgraceful. In fact, I have embedded the dreaded Bachmann speech below.

Oh, my eyes, my eyes–it burns, it stings!! The inhumanity of it all! I can’t believe that I just watched that hateful woman talk about job numbers, debt ceilings and unemployment for six minutes! I mean all of that talk about spending and inflation and other “hateful” stuff that John McCain’s always talking about and Zzzzzz….Oh, I’m sorry, I’m awake now.

Yeah, you see, the reason why most networks didn’t carry Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech is not because it was hateful (as Meghan McCain implies by stating that “CNN should be ashamed of themselves”), but because it was boring–as most of these SOTU replies are. However, if CNN’s viewers find Ms. Bachmann’s speech to be interesting for some reason, then it is CNN’s right as a private company to put it on the air. CNN should not be forced to make its business decisions based around who Ms. McCain personally likes or dislikes. Hey Meghan, censorship much?

2.) Ms. McCain, do you want to be a political pundit or a Valley Girl?

During the first few minutes of her interview with Laurence O’Donnell (see the embed above), Meghan McCain said the following when Mr. O’Donnell asked her if she “enjoyed prom night”:

“Um, I enjoyed following on Twitter all what the congressmen and pundits were saying and there were a lot of jokes about prom night that I enjoyed and I think it was good…um, it was definitely a very metaphorical thing to do.”

Really?! That’s your actual response when asked–as a political pundit–to give your opinion about the SOTU address? “A metaphorical thing to do”? I don’t even know what that means. Oh, and could we please have some more “ums”, name-calling (like “poor man’s Sarah Palin” or “H8er”), and over-the-top rhetoric (like “CNN should be ashamed of themselves”) because all of that really makes you sound so professional. Seriously Meghan, if you sound like the actress from the 1983 movie Valley Girl when giving a political opinion, then it’s time to step it up a notch.

I imagine that if the character from Valley Girl was asked by Laurence O’Donnell to give her opinion on the STOU Address, she would probably sound something like this:

“Oh. My. God. I just loved the whole prom night theme from the SOTU–it was like totally awesome. Um, I mean, I like couldn’t shut up about it on Twitter. Date night totally rocks!! It was just so metaphorical and stuff. But then that H8er Michele Bachmann had to come on and just ruin it for me. Like gag me with a spoon. Um, she like totally sucks! She is such a loser and is just a poor man’s Sarah Palin. CNN should totally be ashamed of themselves for putting her on the air and ruining prom night for me!“

And yes Ms. McCain–even though it is a bit of an exaggeration–that mental image is what people are reminded of when you start to talk. It might sound catty, but if you are going to give an outrageous opinion–like say, stating that a network should censor a politician’s speech simply because you don’t like that person–then it would help if you didn’t sound like a walking, dated parody yourself. (That movie was made in 1983.) In other words, if you want people to start taking you seriously, then start taking yourself seriously and drop the Valley Girl routine.

3.) What in the heck does the Tuscon shooting have to do with Michele Bachmann’s SOTU rebuttal?

In the beginning of Meghan McCain’s interview with Mr. O’Donnell, he immediately started off with the discredited meme that “heated political rhetoric” somehow played a part in the Arizona shootings. Well, when Ms. McCain had the chance to respond and set him straight, she instead gave the following reply:

“Although I do think that it’s a wake-up call for what’s going on in the country, I don’t think that the shootings were necessarily politically motivated.”

Again, really??!!! “Weren’t necessarily politically motivated”? So, in other words, they might be politically motivated, but you’re really not sure, huh?

Then, to make matters worse, Ms. McCain goes off on a tangent and plays useful idiot to Laurence O’Donnell by agreeing with him that having Michele Bachmann speak is her “worst nightmare”, because of Bachmann’s supposedly “hateful rhetoric”.

[What pray tell was hateful about her speech? Bachmann was talking about spending and deficits--basically, the exact same thing that your father has talked about his entire political career. Does your father engage in "hateful rhetoric"?]

However, what is particularly galling about Ms. McCain’s willingness to play useful idiot to Mr. O’Donnell, is that MSNBC was ground zero for hateful rhetoric for pretty much the entire week after the AZ shootings by perpetually insinuating that Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party were somehow responsible for the shooter’s rampage (and they failed to mention that the killer was an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic). I think that David Brooks (of all people) said it best when he wrote the following:

“All of this evidence, which is easily accessible on the Internet, points to the possibility that Loughner may be suffering from a mental illness like schizophrenia.

In short, the evidence before us suggests that Loughner was locked in a world far removed from politics as we normally understand it.

Yet the early coverage and commentary of the Tucson massacre suppressed this evidence. The coverage and commentary shifted to an entirely different explanation: Loughner unleashed his rampage because he was incited by the violent rhetoric of the Tea Party, the anti-immigrant movement and Sarah Palin.

Mainstream news organizations linked the attack to an offensive target map issued by Sarah Palin’s political action committee. The Huffington Post erupted, with former Senator Gary Hart flatly stating that the killings were the result of angry political rhetoric. Keith Olbermann demanded a Palin repudiation and the founder of the Daily Kos wrote on Twitter: “Mission Accomplished, Sarah Palin.” Others argued that the killing was fostered by a political climate of hate.

These accusations — that political actors contributed to the murder of 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl — are extremely grave. They were made despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that Loughner was part of these movements or a consumer of their literature. They were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky. They were vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.”

So, isn’t it a bit ironic that you, Ms. McCain, and Mr. O’Donnell were calling out Michelle Bachman for engaging in imaginary vicious, heated rhetoric, when it was you guys who were actually being the vicious ones by falsely accusing her (her speech was standard wonky stuff), and implying that her past rhetoric had something to do with the shooting. (Yes, you guys were clearly doing that by mentioning her speech right after you talked about “heated rhetoric” with regard to the AZ massacre.)

4.) Ms. McCain, what “hateful rhetoric” is specifically over the line for you?

For instance, it’s now a well-known fact that MSNBC was part of the MSM cabal that falsely implied that Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party and conservatives in general were accessories to mass murder. Moreover, as Robert Stacy McCain recently pointed out, Chris Matthews went on a sexist rant a couple of nights ago calling Michele Bachmann a “balloonhead”, and referred to her as “that woman” five or six different times. Of course, sexist rants are nothing new to Chris Matthews. John Guardiano gallantly called out Matthews, in a recent column, for his disgraceful bullying and abuse of Sarah Palin on Harball. Not to mention, liberal columnist Amy Siskind wrote a column for The Daily Caller where she asked the question, “Why does MSNBC tolerate Chris Matthews’ misogyny?” (Siskind even pointed out the fact that Chris Matthews has a long history of making sexist comments towards Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann–and pretty much every major female political player.) Oh, and speaking of MSNBC and misogyny, who could forget Keith Olbermann stating that “someone should take Hillary Clinton into a room and only he comes out”?

And finally, Ms. McCain, your pal Lawrence O’Donnell is a well-known anti-Mormon bigot who went on a long tirade a couple of years ago trashing Mitt Romney for his faith (see the embed below).

So now, my question to you Ms. McCain is exactly what is your definition of “hateful rhetoric”? Because, right now, it’s starting to look like you would give the following answer to my question:

“Um, like I don’t really mind the misogyny at MSNBC so much, because those guys are cool and hip unlike that stick in the mud Bill O’Reilly, so they’re just blowing off steam. They don’t really mean it when they call Michele Bachmann a “Balloonhead” (which she is), or say that people should kill Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, Sarah Palin like totally ruined my book tour, so she and her family kind of have it coming in my opinion. Umm…and, as far as Larry O goes, well, he’s my buddy–and besides, Mormons are weird and creepy anyway. Oh, and everyone knows that those teabaggers are all a bunch of H8ers and racists, so I don’t really care what people say about them–mocking them is kind of like a metaphorical thing to do because they are just so gross. But dammit–I draw the line when it comes to giving speeches about the debt ceiling and spending, because that will just like totally rile up all of those H8ers and teabaggers. Gag.”

So, in conclusion, Meghan McCain seems to think the reason that she rubs conservatives the wrong way is because we’re all a bunch of haters and bigots who want to automatically exclude her because of some of her more liberal sensibilities. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I am not a big social conservative and I feel right at home in the Republican Party. The Republican Party is indeed a big tent party–we have social conservatives, libertarians, fiscal conservatives and defense hawks all happily co-existing under the same roof together. Meghan McCain’s problem is that she demands tolerance for her views, but shows none in return towards her fellow conservatives. My friend and colleague Amy Miller hit it out of the park when she wrote the following dissecting Ms. McCain’s writings:

“There is a place for the far right in this party, Malkin included, and I respect their right to be heard. But the Republican Party will continue to lose elections unless we start reaching out in a more effective way to people my age and to moderates. Barack Obama won the last election on the slogan “Yes We Can,” and there is no reason why Republicans can’t go forth and win elections with equally positive messages. We will not get anywhere by continuing to sell hate and fear…The old conservatives of the past need to start accepting that this is a new era and I am a part of a new generation. I am as sick of the infighting as everyone else, but I would like to point out that I am not the one starting this fight or demanding that the other half of the party leave.

Uh huh. There’s a place for me, a member of the “far right” crazy mob, but we should probably shut up so we don’t offend the sensibilities of those members of the party with questionable morals and an overwhelming desire to please everyone. Got that, everyone? Moe? Erick? EPU? STOP OFFENDING PEOPLE! It’s your fault we’re losing elections. Wake up, think young, and get serious. We, the youth of the world, have our iPods, our motorcycles, and our tattoos, and we’re taking over. And we’re going to be POSITIVE about it, because God knows all of your hateful fear mongering over the years has completely destroyed any chance the Republicans have of kissing the butts of people who live to destroy conservatives. UGH. Now my buzz is totally harshed. Thanks a lot.”

In other words, Meghan McCain has no problem going on television shows that routinely trash conservatives and playing useful idiot by joining in the fun. However, she wants you to be totally cool with her calling you an ignorant racist/hater on MSNBC, all the while, sounding like an ignoramus herself. What this behavior demonstrates is that Ms. McCain has no real interest in helping out the conservative movement–she is just in it for herself and to raise her own profile. Furthermore, someone needs to explain to Meghan McCain that one sounds disingenuous when her mantra is, “Everyone should be tolerant and listen to what I have to say, but shut your mouth you stupid teabagger because you should be ashamed of yourself for even wanting to give a speech. The First Amendment only applies to enlightened people like me–not to H8ers like you.” Tolerance is a two-way street. It’s high time that Meghan McCain realizes this simple fact.

This column was originally posted at Parcbench, and it is also posted at The Green Room, The Minority Report, Right Wing News and Hillbillypolitics.