The Ricochet Podcast - CPAC #5: National Review Roundtable

Episode Date: February 27, 2015

National Review’s Jay Nordlinger, Jim Geraghty, and Charles Cooke discuss the opening day of CPAC 2015. Source

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Visit een-ireland.com and take your business global today. So it's Jay Nordlinger at CPAC for National Review and Ricochet. I've got Jolton Jim Garrity here. Charles C.W. Cook. He's Sir Charles to me, although he's more American than everyone else. You having a good time, Jim?

I am. I actually think it's not quite as subdued CPAC, but I think it's not quite as frenetic and energetic. There have been past years where people have been ready to climb on the chairs and then just start throwing them across the Potomac and Washington. Are you a little bored, Jim? I'm not quite bored, but I think there's two things that are kind of on the mood of conservatives right now. We elected a Republican Senate, and we're so charged up about that election day.

Finally, we're going to send a message to Obama. We're going to get something done. And things haven't quite turned out that way. And now there's the ongoing fight over Homeland Security funding and things like that. And also, I think the election of the Republicans just freed Obama to be

exactly what he wants to be. Instead of YOLO, YOPO, your only president wants. And he's just going to do whatever he wants. And so I think there's kind of a sense of powerlessness. What does full Bullworth mean? I think inspired by that god-awful Warren Beatty movie, that he's just going to say what he thinks,

and he's not going to button himself up. He's going to be his true free spirit, and that somehow, as the movie, people will love it, as opposed to saying, boy, what a jerk. So I think there's some frustration in that. I also think there's now serious thoughts. This is a crowd that's thinking seriously about 2016. It's easy for you to say.

Oh, okay. Why? No, it's easy for you to say. No, because it's not easy for me to say? So speaking of Charlie Cook. Speaking of easy to say. There was a man on a panel this morning named Charlie Kirk. I know, I saw that. Every time his name was said, I was thinking Charlie Cook? Charlie Cook? He's not tall enough.

Not British enough. I knew that I wasn't on that panel, obviously, but when they said and now Charlie Cook, I heard that. I turned to Patrick and thought oh my goodness, am I supposed to be there? That eight-year-old in school,

the dream you have when you turn up, it all came back to me. Charlie, is this your first CPAC? It is my first CPAC. Mine too. What do you think? Well, I sound a little ungrateful when I say this, but it's so much smaller than the NRA convention. Everyone said to me, it's so big, so big, you'll be so impressed.

The NRA is such a gun nut, Charlie, and I mean that the nicest way. Joe's Second Amendment. I am, I am. But honestly, the NRA convention is a Madison Square Garden sized affair with a convention center sized gun show attached. So it's not a criticism of this, but this is a smaller affair. You think it's like a meeting of the Cub Scouts or something? Absolutely. Any speakers in particular impress you today? I like Carly Fiorina.

Me too. Fiorina. Fiorina. I thought, although I think he has many problems, and I was a little bored of what's going on about the New York Times, I think Chris Christie is a talented performer. Oh, yes. And I've forgotten how talented a performer he is, because I've written him off in my calculations for 2016. You're a typical elite media. New York Times writer occasionally. He'll do very well if he does run, in fact, against the Democratic Party's

nominee, the New York Times. But he is a remarkable performer. And he sat down with Laura Ingraham, and he stole the show. You pronounce it, man, with three syllables. That is so charming. How am I supposed to do it? I think we say Ingram, but Ingraham is interesting. Jim, did you hear Carla Fiorina? I actually got an advance copy of her remarks. She says she's running for president or that she's got her super PAC operating, but she's actually, she wants it.

I think a lot of people look at her and say, no, no, you're running for vice president. Whether you know it or not, you're not going to be the nominee of the Republican Party in 2012. You have a good chance you may end up being a beep candidate. I think she's somebody you could easily see in a Republican presidential cabinet. And I think because she ran for Senate in 2010 and lost in a campaign that's perhaps best remembered for the demon sheep ad. The cybernetic Terminator-like sheep that was an attack on Tom Campbell. It was a 10-minute web ad that just went on forever.

And then this nightmarish creature was featured at the end. A lot of people say, you haven't been elected to anything. How could you possibly think of doing this? No, she's an accomplished, very successful career, rags-to-riches type operation, like rise to the top. A bit more international experience than I think people recognize, and she really talked a bit about that. By the way, I thought her speech was really compelling and even-moving. She was very autobiographical, yet it was all to a political purpose. And also, she was robustly interventionist.

I didn't know how that would go down at CPAC, which I think is sort of a Paulite gathering, at least to a large degree. The people were roaring. I don't know if they heard correctly, but they were roaring. So there were a couple of beheadings to kind of make that whole rant fall apart. To concentrate the mind. To suddenly make, like, remember there was that libertarian moment? It was indeed a moment. It came and it passed.

And now, look, Iran's going to get a nuclear program within 10 years, and ISIS has taken over the Middle East, and Yemen collapsed right after Obama called it a success. The world is turning to you-know-what. And so I think it kind of concentrates the minds, and all of a sudden this, hey, let's go out and get the bad guys approach doesn't seem so scary. Bill Buckley used to say that within every conservative is a streak of libertarianism.

How wide is your streak? I find that mine is like an accordion. I make it expand or contract depending. It's almost as if somebody should write a book about the relationship. If only there was something, you know. Is there something between hardcovers that one can read? Is it on Amazon? Is it available at white bookstores everywhere? There was something, you know, yeah. Is there something between hardcovers that one can read? A little bit of a Korean, maybe a manifesto. Is it on Amazon?

Is it available at wine bookstores everywhere? It is available for pre-order. It's out on March 10th. And how many middle initials does the author have? Two. It's CW. His name's Charles C.W. Cook. So do you have hijinks planned for tonight? I think I'll have a few drinks. Hijinks, maybe. Those aren't my hijinks.

Painting the town red or something? Let me tell you all about the parties that you're not invited to. There are certain blogger parties that are honest to goodness. First of all, they're in a club, they rent it out, and they give you little drink tickets. It's free drinks.

If you're in college, it would sound fantastic. At this point, you kind of outgrow at a certain point, but it's still a very big deal. I am hearing unbelievable fights over who gets to these parties. And I just want to let everyone know, it's not that great. Just find people you like, go out, have dinner, enjoy the company. That's much better than any of these fancy organized parties that people are like elbowing each other to get to and all that kind of stuff.

That's great consolation to me. So this is Jim Garrity and Charlie Cook and Jay Nordlinger signing off for National Review and Ricochet with our splendid producer Scott Emmerget. Scott Emmerget,

known to much of the world as Blue Yeti. Talk to you later. Are you Blue Yeti because of the snowball? Yes, exactly.