Hanging with GOP'ers

 

Saturday night was spent in Manchester attending National Review's debate night event with fellow bloggers Jackdied and Bobsalive of team blog jackdied. Ostensibly, the main draw was the chance to rub elbows with columnist-God Mark Steyn and NR editor Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism. The event offfered ample portions of cheese & crackers, pasta dinner, and instant smarmy punditry from the NRO stars.

The crowd was an attractive mix of thoughtfulness, intelligence, and good-natured humor - what you would expect to find at a gathering of conservatives. The mere sight of Bill Richardson induced howls of laughter from the crowd. John Edwards was termed the "boy candidate". And with alcohol served a drinking game was established for anytime the democrats mentioned change or anytime John Edwards mentioned that his father worked in a mill. Indeed, one of the NRO insta-bloggers deciphered that by CHANGE the democrats are meaning it as an acronym for Corporate Hatred And New Government Expenditures.

Interestingly enough, Bill Clinton happened to be in the function room right next door, leading a rally of special interest labor unions in support of his wife. We made sure that our howls of laughter could be heard in the next room.

Also, it must be said that John Edwards is the most repugnant presidential candidate on the scene since perhaps when George Wallace advocated racial segregation back in the '60s. Edwards' fight for the middle class and frothing-at-the-mouth anti-corporation screed is delivered so psychotically it's frightening. His outright slander of America does not deserve to be rewarded with a bestowing of the office of President upon his shoulders. The faster Edwards disappears from the political scene the better.

Another observation: the revolt against Hillary by a majority of Democrats suggests that the self-styled Party for Women is anything but. Its evident that the party finds the historic candidacy of a black man more compelling than the historic candidacy of a woman. If women still come up as #2 in the Party for Women, then what's a woman to do if identity politics is her bag? With the Dems, women come up short.

The crowd at the NRO event were largely for Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney. There were a few Hucklebees and a few "Paul-pots" there. I fell into a minority as a Guiliani supporter. Oh well. It simply served to show that even in a hotel function room the party is a Big Tent of conservatives, social conversatives, economic conservatives, and libertarians.

Food, beer, and good fun laughing at Dems. A good night.