While the eyes of the world have been on Egypt the past few days–congratulations to the heroes of Tahrir Square!–my eyes have been fixed on the parade of Republican presidential hopefuls selling their wares at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Their speeches have ranged from the substantive (Mitch Daniels, who courageously offered zero red meat [...]
That’s Vice President Biden with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor at the White House on Wednesday. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
If cliches are the enemy of good writing, they can also be the core of successful speeches. Putative presidential contender Tim Pawlenty killed the crowd at CPAC this afternoon, and perhaps no line drew more applause than this string of platitudes. “We’ve had enough of the hype and speeches filled with rhetoric that soars — [...]
While potential 2012 candidates were cracking the occasional crowd-pleaser on CPAC’s main stage — “The closest I’ve come to being on a reality TV show is C-SPAN’s coverage of the Senate floor,” Sen. John Thune said at a certain Mama Grizzly’s expense — professional comedians were trying out various means of conversion elsewhere around the [...]
I wrote earlier this week about Orrin Hatch’s Tea Party courtship. Yesterday, Hatch won a bit of conservative cred for his voting record, notching a perfect score — one of 12 — on the American Conservative Union’s index. ACU is also the host of the festivities at CPAC, but some of the event’s attendees may [...]
The investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff led to 20 convictions, millions of dollars in restitution, a congressman’s downfall and four years in prison for Abramoff himself. Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s partner and co-conspirator, helped set it all in motion. Scanlon, a former PR executive and one-time aide to Tom DeLay, was an early target of a [...]
The press areas of CPAC are filled with idle cable news producers and correspondents. In normal times, they would be busy filing updates on the coming 2012 campaign. But the nation, and the cable news bookers, are distracted these days by Egypt, where people are cheering in the streets, fireworks are exploding, and the 30-year [...]
The Obama administration released its report on what to do about the government’s role in the housing market this morning. Politically, the proposal looks like a punt to House Republicans — it noncommittally gives three options for ending/replacing Fannie and Freddie with the feds playing a very different role in each one. Substantively, our colleague [...]
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington yesterday sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics demanding an investigation into members sleeping in their offices. By CREW’s estimation at least 32 members — and as much as a fifth of the freshman class — save on rent and sleep on cots, [...]
Mitt Romney isn’t quite ready to formalize his bid for the Republican nomination, even if his wife gave him the green light when she introduced Romney Friday morning at CPAC. But it’s clear that Romney is in. The theme of his speech was “Believe in America,” and the content was similarly squishy: thick with platitudes, [...]
