The Ricochet Podcast - Habemus CPAC

Episode Date: March 14, 2013

We’re live from CPAC this week, as we cover all the news and controversy from the conference with Troy Senik, our man on the ground in Maryland, and Keith Urbahn, one of the most plugged in members of the movement. Also, a franc (pun intended) discussion on French dogs, and we go around the horn on the new Pope. Music from this week’s show: Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum We devoutly thank... Source

Activate program. What is it about right to work that you oppose so much? Get the f*** out of my face! You do your work, and we will do our best. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Live from the throbbing heart of Radio Row at CPAC, it's the Ricochet Podcast. We've got Troy Senec on the scene, we've got Keith Urbann, and of course, Peter Robinson and Rob Long. I'm James Lalix, and we'll also be discussing the new pope.

We're brought to you by Hillsdale College, and let's have a podcast. Yes, this would be a Ricochet podcast. It would be at number 159 if you keep track of them all, and it would be brought to you by Hillsdale College. As a matter of fact, it is. They've got this new free online course on the Constitution and Western Heritage. We're going to be talking about that a little later in the show. But it's free, and it's Hillsdale.

See, here's the problem. If you don't sign up for this, you're an idiot. But you can solve that by signing up for it. It's a self-healing situation. Anyway, we'll be talking to Hillsdale folk about this, and we'll be talking to Rob Long. Matter of fact, we are talking to Rob Long. Hey, Rob, how you doing? James, I'm doing very well. Yourself? How are things over in Minneapolis? I'm not

in Minneapolis. I'm at CPAC. Don't you hear the background noise that indicates the buzz? No, it's in Minneapolis, where last year... Can we hear background noise? Where's the background noise? I think so. Pot it up there if we can. Hello? There, listen to that. And there's Peter too. Hail, hail the gang's all here.

Yes, we've got this impromptu CPAC thing going. We're just throwing this entire podcast together at the last second. I'm not there. Peter's not there. Rob's not there. But the Yeti is. So, you know, it's the strangest thing. It's like the actual guys who do

the talking are not at the place, but it's EPAC itself. You know, I don't – I'm not – I don't know – I don't know why I would go. It doesn't seem like – it doesn't seem very fun. And I'll tell you, I'll be quite honest with you, the idea that they invited Donald Trump, that's kind of when I thought, no. Well, that's been the controversy this year. They don't want Pamela Geller, who is, you know, who is a lightning rod, a drawer of criticism, a polarizing figure, et cetera, et cetera.

And apparently Trump isn't. There have been, there's been lots of talk about whether or not CPAC has rendered itself not as effective and as influential as it may be in the future by kicking out or not letting in GeoProud or GoProud, however you pronounce it, right? Well, I just think they should have everybody. If it's a convention, have it all.

I don't understand that not letting the people in. I mean, just in terms of how it appears to everybody else. Do you want to confirm everyone's worst belief about what it means to be a low-tax, low-regulation guy? You're a gay hater. You hate this stuff or at least if you're going to do that do not do not then invite donald trump no no so we'll talk to some people on the ground there because it is still a magnet for a lot of folk peter are you there or are you waking up there's a there's a passage in one of bill buckley's books many years ago now at this point in which he describes answering his mail.

And he receives in the mail an invitation to a big event in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan to award the first annual Donald Trump Humanitarian of the Year Award. And Bill writes that he replies, unfortunately, Mr. Buckley sends his regrets. That week he will be in Australia, if necessary. Yes, the short-fingered Bulgarian, as we were going to call him back in the 80s and the days of Spy. Rob, you had something you were going to say. Well, I was going to say that the similar thing, I think the great British comedian Peter Cook,

who used to perform with... Ellie Moore. Ellie Moore, was used to perform with... Ellie Moore. Ellie Moore. Was sort of curmudgeon and hilarious near the end of his life. And David Frost called him up and said, oh, Peter, you know, I was just having dinner with my dear friend, Diana, Princess of Wales.

And of course, you know, David Frost, a huge dame dropper. She loved talking about you and how much she loves you and how much she loves to talk to you. And so I'm going to have a dinner party in about three weeks on Thursday. And you and the Princess of Wales, who's a big fan, and a few other people, please come.

And then there's a long pause. And Peter goes, oh, three weeks from Thursday. Oh, I'm so sorry, David. I'll be watching television that night. Well, I would like to, I mean if I was hanging around there, I'd go to see Trump's speech just to see the fellow himself and discern the exact means by which that hair of his has been fixed into place on that day. And I have no interest in what he's saying. I'd just sort of like to see him say it. I mean so what's the problem?

Anyway, well, there's not that. There's other things. Well, before we completely trash CPAC, we actually have correspondents on the scene, James. Yes, I know. Are we hooked up and ready to go to Troy? Troy, are you with us? I believe I hear the telltale exhalations of Troy Sinek on the other side of the line coming in dimly over the madding crowd. Troy, can you hear us?

Yes, I can. Those are indeed my exhalations. And we are sitting here on Radio Row at CPAC, actually just outside of Washington, D.C., in Maryland. And it's back to the gills, guys. A lot of people here, but everything is still kind of in the offing. They've only had a couple of speakers so far this morning. And the big ticket this afternoon is Marco Rubio followed by Rand Paul. Wow. Hey, so, Troy, where exactly is it?

You said in Maryland? It's in National Harbor, Maryland, right across the bridge from Alexandria, Virginia. So they picked the bluest possible location they could in this area to hold it. Or that's just how down-and-out CPAC is. They can't afford to deposit at the omni. Is there – what's – I mean, I hate myself for asking this. I hate myself for a lot of reasons, but for asking this question. Troy, what's the mood? Is it – disabuse me of this notion.

I've never been to CPAC. That it's kind of a – you walk in and it's just people – a lot of people selling buttons and bumper stickers and a lot of fringe groups, weird little people on card tables trying to convince you that the fluoridation of water was a space alien thing. Is that my close or not? Well, that would be the ricochet table, actually. That's pretty much the line we've been telling. No, there's a little bit of that. This is my first time at CPAC. That was also sort of my impression of it.

But not as much as you'd think. And, you know, again, it's just gotten underway, so it's hard to take too much of a pulse on the crowd. But what I would say, from what we've seen thus far, is this group does not seem dim or depressed in the way that you might expect given the tone of the past few months. Now, it may be because all of them are gathered in one place and this is sort of the caves to which they're retreating.

Could it be that they're all paid consultants who have their salary met no matter who's in or out? There's a good chance that that's the case, too. Actually, you know what? I have not seen thus far an awful lot of those types. I mean, you're seeing a lot of kind of grassroots activist groups here. Am I correct? I seem to remember seeing somewhere, although I can't find it online just now, that Ted Cruz gave the opening remarks yesterday?

I believe, actually, the remarks that he gave, we all got in here last night afterwards, but I think it was separate from CPAC proper. He was giving sort of an introductory speech last night, which I believe was at a different venue in D.C. Oh, okay. So the follow-up question, how did Senator Cruz do, would be out of place entirely.

Yes, because at least for this humble correspondent, the follow-up question how did senator crews do would be out of place entirely yes because at least for this time will correspond and i was somewhere in a snowstorm in the middle of rural virginia time but i think our is important thing there's going to be a straw poll right and this uh... the straw poll is the sort of thing that uh... that i believe kicks off the the next presidential election cycle as who are they talking about this time

was uh... who's looking good? Because we're all so anxious to start this up again. Right, yeah. There are actually downstairs balloting right now. There's electronic machines that are set up for people to go by and cast their ballots for the straw poll. To the limited extent that we've been able to talk to people so far, the two names that I've been hearing over and over

have been Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal. In fact, I haven't heard a third name. Almost everybody that we've talked to, and granted, it just started, but I've heard both of those and probably Rubio about a third more than Jindal. All right. Well, then it's begun. Kill me now. Let's throw this. Let me ask Rob. Rob. Rob, you actually do you think the general's got a shot at this or do you think that he's going to come off as too brainy, too nerdy, too small, not not broad shouldered and presidential gravitas stuffed enough? Well, he's definitely all those things. I mean, he definitely is a little, you know, scrawny little wisp of a guy. But Louisiana politics are pretty hard, pretty bruising, and he is the successful multi-term Republican governor. So he cannot be – I don't know. Look, I think first of all, it's typical to say at this point it's too early, but it is too early in fact. But it's also I think true to say anyone can win.

I mean, really, anyone can win, I think. You just have to catch yourself. There is no second guy. We're in a good spot for the Republican Party just to be a spectator to this primary because there's no obvious second guy. The giant melee kind of weird scrum of the 2012 nomination didn't leave – usually Republican – the Republican tradition is it gets down to two guys and then one guy – it gets kind of dirty and one guy drops out. And then that guy is the next guy. And then we have all sorts of like weird little kabuki theater between now and – between then and the next guy. And then we have all sorts of weird little kabuki theater between now and between then and the next primary. But in Republican tradition, the next guy gets it.

I don't know who the next guy is. So if I'm Bobby Jindal, I've got a shot. Sure. Peter, does that sound right to you? That sounds exactly right. In some sense, what the campaigns of Bob Dole and John McCain and Mitt Romney came down to was, doggone it, it's my turn. And there's no one in a position to say that this time around. It is as wide open, it may be wider open than at any other time in my adult life. Is that true? Yes, it is true. Richard Nixon had been vice president to Dwight Eisenhower, so he was the presumptive front runner for many years. Ronald Reagan, governor of California, huge figure.

He was the presumptive nominee or second place finisher at least for many years. No, this is, I cannot recall a time when it has been as wide open. The two large pools of candidates, as best I can tell, would be the 30 Republican governors. And there's no Republican governor who dominates the others at this point, in my judgment. Bobby Jindal may be on the lips of everyone at CPAC, but there's no real reason to prefer Bobby Jindal or to suppose he is a head start over, say, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, or if Rick Perry decides to run again, Rick Perry of Texas. Likewise, in Washington, you've got Paul Ryan, but you've also got half a dozen figures, young figures, newly arrived figures in the Senate, including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Mike Lee of Utah and John Barrasso

of Wyoming. And there's no reason to suppose that any of those has a real advantage over any of the others. Completely wide open. I imagine that Newt Gingrich, however, is saying that he's the number two man, but you're all too stupid to realize it, so there's just no point in having another shot at it. He's still working the circuit right now. Newt is compelling enough to make me believe in string theory. You know this notion that there are alternative universes? In an alternative universe, Newt is already president. Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. I think he's written that book, actually. That's not string theory. You know this notion that there are alternative universes? In an alternative universe, Newt is already president.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. That's not string theory. I think he's written that book, actually. That's not string theory. But go on. It's not string theory, but go on. So let me ask you something, Troy.

Hold on. No, wait a minute. I want to get back to what Peter did say, though, about Newt. I don't want to leave that point there. I know we'll get people in the comments saying, actually, guys, string theory is this. You're talking about perhaps multiverse, but go on. Well, I am talking about the multiverse, which I thought was tied to string theory, but that was just trying to make a light, brief joke, which is the moment has already asked for more of that joke than it can deliver. In an alternative universe, Newt is

already president. No. In an alternative universe, Newt is already president. In an alternative one, I'd love to have him as the press secretary. That's what I always thought would be a great role for him in the Romney administration. You saved the moment by getting a real laugh out of it. Thank you, Jack. Well, he's cerebral enough to cut those people to shreds. But when we talk about people like Rubio coming up and Jindal coming up, these are guys who we like because you have the feeling that they get the concepts of liberty. They understand the word in their gut.

It's not just a cerebral thing that a college professor could discuss on a test for some stupid students. No, it's something they get. When the president uses the word liberty and equality, when the progressives use the word liberty and equality, they mean actually different things than what the founders meant in the Declaration of Independence. We need to get back to what that means. And that requires a history lesson, which means maybe you should wander on over to Hillsdale College, physically if you like, but if you want to use the Internet, well,

hundreds of thousands of people took their free Constitution or American Heritage course, and now Hillsdale is offering what the country needs at the right time for free. Ricochet.com slash Hillsdale. You'll see Hillsdale has created a 10-week, 10 weeks of an online history course called American Heritage. And it's based on the course that all students at Hillsdale have to take, by the way, if they want to graduate. In this 10-week course, you'll get Dr. Larry Arnn and other members of the history faculty for free, mind you, teaching you on topics like the American founding, the crisis of the Union, and the Civil War,

America's rise to a global power, and the Reagan Revolution. This course has lectures, readings, and yes, quizzes. Not pop quizzes. It's not like the browser is going to open up at three o'clock in the morning and demand that you answer some questions, but it's a real rigorous course. It's as close as you can get to being a Hillsdale student without ever leaving your home. And like I mentioned, free. Ricochet.com slash Hillsdale. Ricochet.com slash Hillsdale. Take it free.

And we thank the fine folks at Hillsdale for sponsoring this, the Ricochet podcast. Now, Peter, I'm sorry. I did step on what you were saying there. I just hate to see string theory misused. But, you know, let's talk about rope theory, which is giving the Republicans enough of it, and they'll do something really, really stupid.

So... Please, Troy back? Do we have Troy back? Hey, Troy, so here's my question. Do you guys have, like... I mean, are there going to be... Are there set speakers? Is there a lot of milling around?

Are there breakout sessions, or is it all just big events and then people milling around trying to sell each other buttons? There's an agenda of set speakers. There are a ton of panels as well. I mean, this thing runs the entirety of three days. And then in between the speeches, you've got people breaking out, heading into the exhibition hall where Ricochet is located. So if you're here, you're a Ricochet member, come down and see it. But, yeah, it's kind of a constant. If you look at the schedule for this thing, there are three or four events scheduled almost every time.

I mean, it's a full 72 hours pretty much worth of programming. And so what – Rio and Jindal were like the big people waiting for? Or is there some other kind of surprise event happening? I mean I guess what I'm trying to say is like when NR does something like this, I know who's in charge. I know it's Jack Fowler. I know Rich Lowry. Who's like the person in charge here? There doesn it's jack fowler i know rich lowry who's who's like the person in charge here it doesn't seem to be a face of cpac and that's no there really isn't it sort of a controlled chaos for the entire three days but as far as what people are are

looking forward to uh ruby is a big one there's been a lot of people out here today talking about ran paul uh in fact there's a lot of people walking around handing out stand with Rand stickers to people. Everybody that is getting a fair amount of attention that people are buzzing about going to the remarks are the people who are mentioned as potential 2016 candidates, which, you know, at this point is a ridiculously high number of people. And there's also a few people who are interested for the car crash dynamic in the Donald Trump speech. Yeah, well, I think that's a very that, that's why I would be buying a ticket. Troy, Peter here. Listen, you said something right at the outset that I find very interesting.

You said that the mood is not as bad as you might expect, if I'm recalling your words more or less correctly. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. I mean, again, I again, it's early on, so we haven't talked to a huge sampling of people, but everybody here seems fairly cheerful, and it's not sort of a cheerful resignation

where they've decided to distance themselves from politics, obviously because they're here. But the sense that you get from some people, and maybe this is just putting the best possible spin on it that they can, is that the upside to this whole thing is you're on the back end of the Obama presidency. We're now into the second term, and now the enthusiasm is here, but the enthusiasm is pinned to what they think is going to happen, hopefully in the midterms next time, and then in the 2016 election. There's a feeling that they've been through the worst of it. May I just register for a moment how impressed I am with CPAC? We joked, as of course we would joke, about how ghastly large gatherings of any group of human beings, but including

conservatives are, even the National Review cruises that we love. And as you know, it's only a random event that James happens to be in Minneapolis today instead of on a cruise right now. Even those things have their aspects of crowds and too much food of this kind. All right. But setting all that aside, here we have a moment in American history when the cover story on Commentary magazine is five ways to remake the Republican Party. And the authors, Pete Wehner and Michael Gerson, spend most of the article describing the ways in which the Republican Party is doomed. The cover story in the current issue of the Weekly Standard is between a rock and a hard place, how the Republican Party is its own worst enemy. And the demographics are turning against us. Barack Obama is regnant.

The press continues to prove idolatrous toward him. Republicans can't seem to get any traction anywhere. And yet there you have CPAC, which is overwhelmingly made up not of the Koch brothers. This is not a conference of billionaires, people who hope to get something out of what they're doing at CPAC. It's people who love politics, love the principles of liberty, want to get to know each other because they want to help think through ideas and find candidates. I just find it tremendously impressive that there's enough energy on the conservative side and enough hopefulness and sheer good cheer to think that in spite of all that's against the GOP and conservatives at this moment, it's still worth going to Washington and having a good time. I'd just like to note that in spite of it all, in spite of being in, where is it, Natural Harbor, Maryland, instead of downtown, in spite of what

I'm sure is questionable food catered to hundreds of people at a time, it still strikes me as an impressive event. And I'm glad you're there, Troy. Yes, and if you're a Ricochet member, you're listening to this podcast, you should head over to the Ricochet booth and say hi. May I puncture that optimism for a moment, Peter? Go right ahead. I'm sure I'm misusing string theory again. I'm in a multiverse. I'm in

the wrong universe. No, although I should note that it's National Harbor, not Natural Harbor. So, oh, right. It's a minor error. What I would say is that you've got to remember that the optimism here is also a little bit of a function of a selection bias in the crowd, which is to say that this group attending this event are a group of conservatives, conservatives. And they, from the limited interactions that I've had with some of the folks here, they would not countenance the sort of arguments that are being made in these big think pieces that are being written about what the Republican Party should do next, oftentimes it comes down to, for them, well, if we're just more rigorously conservative, if we're just more forceful, it's a question of amplification sometimes.

Right. You don't understand. In my heart of hearts, that's exactly my position. Rob, James, and you, that's a different matter, but I'm with these folks. Well, this is where my conflict comes in. I wish that they were right. That would make my life much easier.

But I suspect that there's more to it than that. Fair enough. Hey, I really don't know the answer to this question. A similar thing on the left? You know, I'm not aware that there is. I know that some of the, well, I guess they have, what is it, the Netroots Conference? I mean, kind of their blogosphere does it. But, you know, while there are a number of blogging groups here, thank you.

I'm being handed a ricochet hat, by the way. One more reason for people to come down here most of the organizations i think that do this on the left are exclusively the bloggers and here there's a there's a good amount of bloggers right but pretty much everybody from the conservative universe is here i mean all the think tanks are represented um a lot of the advocacy groups obviously nra club for growth folks like that and there is somebody downstairs downstairs from a group that I've never heard of before, but they have already taken the best in show trophy for CPAC because in their booth they have a full-size transformer. I have no idea what that has to do with tax policy, which is what they're advocating for.

But it could get pretty real. Well, I mean, there is something, I mean, I guess useful and, I mean there is something, I mean I guess useful and – I mean useful. I mean politically useful and spiritually useful and just in general useful in that kind of messy way of clearing the decks, of having some place where everybody is going to show up. I mean now that you're describing it, I kind of wish I was there. Everyone is going to show up and just kind of like sort it all out or get a good look at each other. And there's something about that I think is kind of healthy. I guess I'm with Peter. Whether – I mean whether we should be cheerful or not,

there's something cheering about the idea that everyone's going to get – everyone's going to go to this hotel in National Harbor and – National Harbor, I guess I did it right, and just get a look at each other because we're going to be arguing to a certain extent for the next couple of years, and then at some point we're going to have to sort of come together. But it's nice to know everybody. I mean I wish they had been – there was a little bit more logic to the guest list, and I guess I wish that the guest list was more inclusive of people

who are going to be political forces and less inclusive of certain buffoons from New York real estate world. Because I think that would be, that is a conference that I think would be useful. Not a conference that takes a stand, but a conference that kind of just, okay, here's the tent. Everybody get in the tent. Got to pay a certain amount.

Set up your booth and let's just have it out. Or let's at least figure out who we all are so we can argue more effectively later. Ah, there's the key. The arguing more effectively. It doesn't matter who you put out there if they can't get the message across. One of the reasons that Ronald Reagan followed Jimmy Carter is because he could talk to people. He could get the message out there.

And if you want to follow a two-term Carter with somebody who's going to do the same thing that Reagan did, they'd best be able to connect with folk. If somebody, if the only worry is that we've got to send out somebody there who's the most conservative, that's all it's going to take, basically, is that once Americans realize that the most paleo form of conservatism

is what they really want in their bones, even though they just put a socialist in office for a couple of terms, that's what they want. Then just throwing up some old guy who's going to get up there and talk about first principles isn't going to do it. I was amused yesterday by hearing everybody on NBC, ABC, CBS talk about how the Pope has got to use social media to get his message across, this being the 21st century.

As I tweeted about that, just ousted Benedict as Pontifex at St. Pete's on Foursquare. Yeah, right. But you're going to have to have a machine that's far more nimble than, shall we say, the Orca that we had in the last cycle. So, Troy, is there anybody there who's having a seminar on how to get your brain around new media and isn't explaining to people why it's important to tweet and how you can pin your favorite positions to your Pinterest board for all the ladies out there who are into that?

I mean, or is it just a bunch of old folks who have no idea how important this is going to be the next cycle? I think there's one or two sessions on that, but for the most part, the tactical issues and the sort of campaigning issues are not nearly as much of a focus here as kind of the ideological issues and the focus on where we should be going in terms of policy. Can I add one note that in response to what you said, James, and also in response to the

conversation we were having at the top about Bobby Jindal, the one thing, and admittedly, it's silly to have these kind of discussions now, but the one thing that I would flag where Bobby Jindal is concerned, that concerns me a little bit as far as his prospects, because I think he's been a fantastic governor of Louisiana. He is, I think, a hard sell to people on the question of sort of those intangible presidential qualities. And I say this because I've talked to a few people who are not invested in politics the way that we are and don't follow it at the same level, who look at the guy and don't see somebody with the kind of presidential command. Precisely for the reasons that Rob identified.

A lot of it's the aesthetics. A lot of it's the look. A lot of it's the fact that you've got a skinny guy who gets compared to Kenneth Page from 30 Rock. Well, but can I just say, I got to say, though, I understand you. Is that a dog?

I'm hearing the amazing mathematics dog. That's right. He's got the wolves of smack. Guys, by the way, I want to let you know that we've got, we have our first guest who's just stopped by. My old colleague from the Young Guns podcast, the head of Javelin, D.C., and former chief of staff at Donald Rumsfeld, Keith Urbann, is with us here. Hey. Gentlemen, how are you?

I'm doing very well. Yourself? How are you, Keith? I'm doing well. We're trying to keep afloat here among the crowds of thousands of rabid conservatives looking to, angling to get a

picture with Alan West and Newt Gingrich and all the luminaries of the movement here. Are they actually milling around? Keith actually just came and sat down with us moments after Newt Waves us off. The Blue Yeti corralled me here and said, hey, we can't get Newt, but you're second best, so come on. Wow, that's not bad.

Let me ask you, you're on Radio Row, which I believe Yeti told us you were next to the Tea Party network. And I've been to Radio Rose. I know that a lot of these places are the sort of networks that have three affiliates and they all have the output of a hot plate warmer, right? And they all, the networks that have quarter page ads in Talkers magazine, maybe if they got a rate. Are people sort of looking at these vast numbers of microphones and actually confusing

it with influence? You know, I think it's hard to say. I mean, there are interspersed with the big, there are a few big guys here. There's some of the big Salem radio hosts, Dub AMLs, the big local affiliate

here. They've got pretty good talent. I think anyone who's got a microphone and an access to a blog wants to have a slot here on Radio Row, and a lot of them get it. And I think there are a lot of conservative talents, not A-list, B-list, C-list, but they want to get on the air. And so they come down here and they talk with people. And whether it goes out to five people, 5,000 or 5 million, they feel happy about it. So it's a mixed bag. Keith, I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Rob. I was going to ask Keith, what are you doing there? Well, we're here. Our firm is running the Media Filing Center. So all the bloggers and journalists, they come in. We've got a big area set up for them in the middle of the main ballroom. And there are probably 400 chairs with power strips and Internet. And so they come in and file their stories there.

And we're just basically traffic cops making sure that they're happy and keeping keeping reporters happy is a full-time job okay now one of the other points of cpac or one of the other purposes that serves besides gathering conservatives together under one roof and and i let you hear from uh you know the next crop of candidates who show up is it gives uh other journalists sort of mostly liberal journalists a chance to go and wander the halls and find the craziest looking person, ask him a series of very open-ended and leading into crazy town questions, and then reporting that CPAC, you know, makes some kind of sneering roundup or sneering profile of the typical CPAC goer. Have you spotted those guys yet are they around do you know who they are they're they're around and they're here

in full force um there's a guy rolling around in a yellow was a transformers costume um i'm not sure what what what his issue was but he uh was about seven feet tall and hitting people with his styrofoam wings as he walks through. But, yeah, I mean, it's Friday or the Thursday of the CPAC, the first day is usually pretty tame. It doubles in about size by the second, third day. And I think people, you know, this year, you guys have probably been talking about it, but I think it's a tough year for conservatives. Obviously, we're coming off a hard election, and people are demoralized.

And sort of the irony of ironies is that the highlight of CPAC, the thing that everybody is buzzing about, is Mitt Romney and his speech tomorrow, which is Friday afternoon. And people are really looking forward to it. What do you expect from that speech? I think above all else, I think Romney wants to probably wipe the slate clean from some of his post-election comments that sounded bitter. You know, he had that GIFs comment where he said, you know, the main reason he lost was because Obama was handing out things. And, of course, there was an element of truth to that.

But I think he probably wants a fresh start. He's been laying low in California. I don't know if you guys have seen him out there. Yeah, we're not in the same neighborhood. I have heard people say, yeah, we saw him in La Jolla. We saw him. He's just a normal dude. And you feel like, I mean, said, like, yeah, we saw him in La Jolla. We saw him, you know, he's just a normal dude. And you feel like, I mean,

is that, like, necessary? I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is, what I imagine CPAC has never been, but what I always imagine is it's a giant bazaar where you can kind of, you see it all. You see all of what conservatism at that moment has to offer. Everybody's got a card table, and you can kind of wander around

and see whatever these little points of view are. But I suspect with the Mitt Romney thing that there is that sense of, okay, now we've got to turn this page. Yeah, no, I mean, I think... He's going to make news. Yeah, I mean, that's sort of the paradox of it. People want to turn the page. They want to forget the disaster of November,

and they want to, you know, I think elect, most of the people here were not first on the Mitt Romney bandwagon. In fact, they reluctantly brought along, and so I think a lot of them want to sort of expiate the Romney brand from the national, you know, party, and so they're looking for someone else, but at the same time everyone is in such disarray that that's still the highlight of CPAC so far.

Maybe I'm talking to the wrong people. XB-8, the Romney brand, what a bunch of faithless round heels. If he'd won the election, he would be a god among men, striding in there with a golden glow about him. But now we've got to kick him to the curb. That's what winning gets you. That's why you've got to win.

Winning is better. This is a tough task. Can I ask you a question? This is both actually to Q and to Peter. If you're given the task of putting this speech together, what are you doing? I mean, what are the bullet points for this? This strikes me as a very difficult task. Yeah, I wouldn't begin to want to advise.

No, exactly. I'd want to know what you would advise here. You're the White House speechwriter. I think he's got to somehow bridge the idea that, at a minimum, he needs to be a little more fluent about conservatism than his last go-round where there was the comment about him being severely conservative. At a minimum, he needs to be a little more fluent about conservatism than his last go-round, where there was the comment about him being severely conservative. So he's got to do one-up that.

Now, maybe that's not a tall order, but that first that. Yeah, and I guess, listen, I don't mean to sound terribly ungracious. I do truly believe that Mitt Romney's hour as a presidential candidate has passed and that he can do much more good for the party and the cause in smaller roles as an advisor taking on this cause or that cause. But he should announce that his moment has passed. It's time for a new generation to step forward, and he intends to be helpful to the cause and to the party in any way that he can, but particularly in helping over the next few years

to find the Republican Party's next standard bearer. That would just take it all off the table and permit people to say, okay, fair enough. Now let's listen to what he actually has to say, in my judgment. But if he's in any way coy about whether he might run yet again, I just don't think he's going to get a warm reception. I don't think there's anything he can say that would permit him to get a warm reception. Everybody, every sentient conservative whom I know,

which includes everyone on the line right now, recognizes that at this point we do have to just get past that last campaign. Mitt Romney should go ahead and say so himself in my judgment. Hey, could I ask a little quick sort of word association game with Keith and Troy? If I may, let me name a name, and you tell me one or two of the most recent comments you've heard about that name. Rand Paul and filibuster. Keith? Everyone's handing out here, every single group that I've seen that's Tea Party or fiscal conservative oriented,

they're handing out things with, I stand with Rand. And that is the hot ticket moment, besides Mitt Romney. Everybody, you know, even the people who are, you know, self-described defense hawks are finding ways to align themselves with the Rand Paul filibuster. So that was a big moment for this group. Let me ask you this, Troy. John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Oh, God. You'll hear nothing,

nothing unprompted. And if it is prompted, it'll be withering scorn and contempt. I mean, there is a there's a growing sense. I mean, obviously, this is part and parcel of what Keith was saying with the Rand Paul. It has energized so many people. And the response from McCain and Graham was such that people who I think just sort of moderately dislike them have come to the point of thinking that they're both yesterday's men, and that they are an obstruction to the kind of

Republican Party they want to have, amongst people who are at sea with them. Well, Withering Scorn was a great Bronte novel, but from the outside, our newspaper, for example, taking the lead of the New York Times, no surprise, did virtually nothing on Rand Paul's filibuster. And when they did something, there was a big story on page three that talked about how

Rand Paul's maneuver, whatever that was, revealed deep schisms within the Republican Party. That's the narrative that the New York Times and all the newspapers across the country trumpeted. But actually, that's the impact. I mean, if people inside the party are buzzed and jazzed by it, that's great, that actually that's the impact. So if people inside the party are buzzed and jazzed by it, that's great

because it was an interesting moment. But how this plays outside to the electorate that isn't paying attention, usually, and really isn't paying attention now, that's a little... Keith, Paul Ryan. You know, over the last week, his budget's out, and people are talking about it. I think

what's more interesting is that this is the first budget where people are talking about a Democratic alternative. We've now gone something like 1,450 days, which is, what, three and a half years almost, without a Democratic alternative. So people are talking about Patty Murray and the Senate budget that they put together which um is an abomination but let's give them credit they at least put down their priorities on paper then let me ask you one one last question this sort of word association game we've been talking about washington figures is this a washington centric crowd is that i know they come from the rest of the country to washington for this event but is the attention on Washington figures, or are you hearing comments about Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Chris Christie of New Jersey,

Chris Christie was not invited, is there conversation about that? Sam Brownback of Kansas, who just enacted the biggest tax cut in Kansas history, are the governors being discussed? There's a lot of talk about governors, and I think, you know, the attendees from CPAC are overwhelmingly from around the country. And they get really, really excited when, you know, even a Mitch McConnell, even a D.C., you know, quintessential D.C. type, they still get a lot of love because, you know, they're the guys that get the airtime. And, you know, there is a lot of talk about what's going on in the states. I guess one of the big mini-controversies is the fact that Bob McDonald wasn't invited, obviously Chris Christie as well.

So that is sort of imbued with the whole states versus Washington discussion. Got it, got it. And Troy, Mitch McConnell, that interests me because Mitch McConnell, I personally have always read Mitch McConnell as a very conservative man who couldn't be as conservative as he wished people on our side view him as someone who's holding back the true conservatives in the Senate. Is there a view of Mitch McConnell at CPAC? No, you know, he is probably the figure in the leadership who is mentioned the least, and I'm sure that that's probably a function of – when people feel like somebody in the leadership is selling them out, it's usually a reference to Boehner, which I think is partially just a function of the fact that he's presiding over a majority, and McConnell's not.

But to the extent that you hear anything about McConnell, I sort of thought this was a superficial gesture at the time, but in talking to people around here, it does seem to have earned him a fair amount of goodwill that in hour nine, or whatever it was, of Rand Paul's filibuster, he showed up on the floor in a measure of support. And as I said, I thought that that was something that he just felt pressured into.

It probably was. But it seems to have convinced a few people that they may have misjudged him. He's also got the potential of a primary in Kentucky, which is a big reason why he did that. Right, right, right. Rand Paul is his new best friend. And my last question, this is something that James and Rob, all three of us are trying to get at, but I don't think Keith was on the line when we were talking about it. the whole gathering, a politically realistic group which is in a pretty good mood because they believe they see openings to win back the country or in a pretty good mood because

they believe that moderates, above all Mitt Romney, have now failed catastrophically and the party has to come back to the purists. What do you think? Well, I'm going to answer that for Keith because he's actually left the booth and in fact, we're being shuffled. Our crack operation. Okay. It's my last question. So answer, ignore it if you want to, Troy. No, I think there's actually a lot more political pragmatism here than you would have seen in years past, because I think having lost another presidential election gives, I mean, granted, like I said, this is still the hardcore conservative

movement, but they are interested in questions about how you take philosophical first principles and make them politically palatable and make them achievable on the policy side, as opposed to just having a philosophical colloquium for three days. And I think there is more of a focus on that than you would have seen in the past. It's just more now a necessity. But I lied. This is my last question. Lift your head from the microphone. I've lost an uncommon knowledge that I didn't believe.

Exactly. Lift your head from the microphone. Gaze around the room. And my heart is in my throat as I ask this question. Tell us if you see any African Americans, any Asians, any Hispanics?

Any women? I'm scanning. I should tell you something. Zero. Really? Yes, as the Blue Yeti said, only Alan West who is not within eyesight. White as an editorial meeting of the New Republic. Okay.

Well, you know, and conservatives hate to say that that matters because we're content of character, it's about the issues, it's about the ideas, but it does matter, doesn't it? I'm getting votes. Yep. Oh, I just got one. It's about the issues, it's about the ideas, but it does matter, doesn't it? I'm getting votes. Oh, I just got one. Well, what does this say exactly? I mean, when you look at the demographics of this, which I'm guessing are skewing white, male, and old, and I'm one, so I'm not exactly saying that they're Satan incarnate or Satan manifested in various form, but it matters when you have to talk about demographics that

the party has to reach, and it seems very strange to me to believe, actually, that the only way that you can appeal to these groups who vote monolithically Democrat is to come out with more stringently conservative ideas. Now, I know that's popular, and I know that's what everybody thinks, but let's step out, let's get our heads outside of that particular bubble and take a look as to whether or not that's going to work. I mean, that's why people are jazzed about Jindal and jazzed about Rubio, right? Because they do break the mold.

I think that's a really good point for James. I mean, or just as an indication that the crucible, the engine the people during the winter time, the political winter, which is what this is for our side I mean

I think I think it would be a sign of greater health if they were represented among the faithful. I don't think it's so much what we're attracting, but it would be great to know that there were a kernel of different ethnic groups and different minority groups and different races among the fire-eyed faithful. And that's the thing about CPAC is it's easy for the national media to make fun of it. It's easy for us to kind of roll our eyes every now and then whenever I walk through. Even in national review conventions, you know, the hallways are jammed with every kind of –

I mean, stuff that you didn't even know was an issue. And someone's got a card table there. But these are the people that keep it alive when we need people to keep it alive. It's always the true faithful who do that, and it'd be nice to know that amongst the true faithful are part of the growing, fast-growing ethnic groups in America that are swamping the old America, which is happening whether we like it or not. Let me just say two things in closing from the D.C.,

and one on the issue of minorities. I have always thought that one of the unforced errors we make where that's concerned is ignoring or at least paying insufficient attention to areas where pretty conservative principles actually have a lot of relevance. Particularly if you're talking about sort of the underclass, issues with inner city blacks and Hispanics. Issues like crime in communities. I mean, there are communities like this throughout Southern and Northern California, where the level of crime is so intense that it's essentially an anarchic civilization within certain parts of certain major cities. And also, of course, the issue with education, with school choice. I mean, it's interesting that a lot of the conservatives who are pushing that

are people who live in districts where it wouldn't really matter. I mean, where the public schools are as good as a lot of private schools in other parts of the country. So that's one thing. The other thing that I would note, just, James, when you asked about the demographics here, one thing that I will say does not fit with the standard, yes, it's overwhelmingly white. It's not overwhelmingly male. It's probably, if anything, there's probably a few more women here than there are men. And there is a big contingent of young people here, which is just delightful to watch as a sociological experiment because you've got a bunch of beautiful women in their 20s and a bunch of guys about the same age who are the Alex P. Keaton, gold-button blazer Republicans with mild form of Asperger's trying to have conversations with these women. And it's just delightful.

That's right. All right, so not only can we win elections, we can't even reproduce. That's great. Where else are they going to go? Guys, we look forward to hearing what you have to say on Ricochet. I can't even reproduce. That's great. Where else are they going to go? Guys, we look forward to hearing what you have to say on Ricochet. We're going to step away from the topic of CPAC right now and get to something else that has to do with conservatives versus a changing world.

And it doesn't involve an election, which is probably why a lot of people were fascinated in it. It involves a bunch of old guys getting together and deciding who they want to be their leader. So enjoy CPAC, and we will talk to you later. We'll see you at Ricochet, where you can chime in as people say yay or nay to what you have observed thus far. Thanks, guys. Troy, who's taking care of the French bulldog while you're away? My family in Tennessee. I just want the audience to know. This will be my parting shot. No, you're not going anywhere. Go ahead.

Peter Robinson, a man who owns a French poodle, finds my French bulldog insufficiently masculine. That is very good point. Your dog that would be entirely appropriate in court at Versailles. And somehow I guess you do. A French bulldog, though. Isn't that sort of... What I object to French bulldog is it's a contradiction in terms. It is. It's garlic and it's perfidious albion all mixed up into one canine package.

It's like... As it was for many years. Those two places were mixed up, too. That's right. Okay. Mandatory subject. What do we make of Francis? Pope Francis.

Okay. So we should talk about... Yeah. I think we... That's such... That's right. Okay, mandatory subject. What do we make of Francis, Pope Francis? Okay, so we should talk about Pope, yeah. I think we, that's such big news. We can't not talk about the Pope, I believe. I'm fascinated by the whole thing. I found yesterday's unveiling to be a masterpiece. That's how you do it. I mean, these guys are really good at that.

They've had two millennia of practice, of course, but there's this, first of all, the wonderful theatricality of it, as I wrote about on The Bleed the other day, actually today. St. Peter's is the greatest set in the world. It's not a CGI thing. This is the enormity, the gravity of it. If you've ever been there,

you know how overwhelming St. Peter's itself can be and yet how intimate at the same time. And then the way they parcel it out, the smoke, that's great, an hour shall pass while he's fitted for his robe. There's actually a tailor right off, you know, where the guy measures him and does him and gives him his nice little vestments. And then the room itself where everybody

waits for the light to go on. And when the light goes on, it means that they've come in. And then somebody parts the curtain and as the curtain parts itself slightly, you realize the enormity of the size of that window. Either this is somebody from the terror of Tiny Town or Freaks. That's a really big room. And then it opens, and then a really old guy comes out and speaks in a dead language whose DNA is still twining its way through our own spoken utterances every day. And then finally out comes the guy who is never a model of the sort of big, bustling, burly charisma you would expect in a leader,

but somebody who comes out into this enormous, incredibly vast space to the throngs and the cheers of all of these people. And it's one small man radiating a sense of enormous humility. And then he leads everybody in the restoration of the role of the Pope, and he prays, and that's it. And there's great cheers, Il Papa, Il Papa, and half the people can't hear him, and the other half don't know what he's saying. But the tradition,

2,000 years ago, somebody tweeted yesterday, Nero is dead, Napoleon is dead, Peter still lives. The incredible unbroken line, almost from ancient, Peter still lives. The incredible unbroken line. Almost from ancient Rome itself to now. I mean, as I also tweeted, if Julius Caesar if you turn down... Almost from ancient Rome. From ancient Rome. Right, I mean, if you turn down

the sound and show Julius Caesar what was going on, he'd get a big grin on his face. He would understand what was going on, and he'd appreciate the fact that all of these trappings of Rome still survived, still lived, and were still among us, and still relevant. So, that all of these trappings of Rome still survived, still lived, and were still among us, and still relevant. So all of that has nothing to do with what kind of man he's going to be and what kind

of pope he's going to be. I was just fascinated to find people instantly turning on him, A, because he's Catholic, and B, because it is apparently necessary for some people on the left to demonize every single pope as the head of a criminal organization. Rob, Peter? I'd like to hear what Rob the Episcopalian has to say about James' critique of the theatrics of the thing. Well, I like the hat.

I think the hat was good. It's very tall. We don't get a chance to look at the red shoes, I guess. I do like, it's very Italian, the idea that, okay, well okay, well, we picked a pope, but it's going to be an hour because he's got to look good. It's a very Italian way of looking at the installation of the new guy. There's a lot of, the sleeves don't hang right, and you've got to bring the shoulder

in, and we want the right silhouette. Yeah, I think it's, I mean, two thoughts, one random and one not so random. One is, I wonder what will happen in the not too distant future when there's a generation of cardinals who didn't – weren't raised with Latin in the church. I mean it is conceivable.

But well, I mean you still got to speak Latin. So maybe one of the – No, in the pre-conclave gatherings, I've been wondering that myself, and the answer is it's already happened. Only about a third of the cardinals were able to address the crowd in Latin. And so the cardinals themselves had translators as each cardinal was rising to speak. And as I recall, certainly at the last conclave, that at least would have been less prevalent. And at the conclave in 1978, it wouldn't even have crossed anybody's mind. All those men were so well-versed in Latin,

they could actually converse with each other in Latin. That's broken down. But eventually no one will speak Latin. And Francis is successful. Maybe a few will still. Maybe he'll be. Anyway, sorry. Go ahead. Well, that is my next question. My next question is what – I mean – and of course I say this from a position of deep respect obviously.

It's a 2,000-year-old religion. It's the kernel of faith that spawned the great Western progress. Here it comes. Here's the prelude to the hammer. Yeah. But it is, I mean, from an outsider, it is to me a church in trouble and a church that needs to figure out how to get out of trouble. It is not a PR problem, although PR problems are certainly

a symptom of the disease. But there's some problems with the Catholic Church right now. It is surprising. I mean, I didn't really focus on the fact that there was one cardinal not there because he was involved in a gay sex scandal after years of condemning those very people. That is not good. That's what happens to – that's not a good thing and it's not a PR problem. It's not the media.

It's a problem with the administration and the choosing and the discipline or the issues of the church. And so that to me feels like the first thing that the Pope should be dealing with. Am I wrong, Peter? No, I don't think you are wrong at all. Troy, are you Catholic? Am I the only

Catholic on this podcast right now? Yes, you're the only Catholic. The only Catholic. Well, I'll tell you the way I score the new pope, as if the Holy Spirit has been waiting for my scorecard on this one. Waiting for Robinson to vote in. Yes, exactly. I sat by my phone throughout the conclave, and it never once rang. Can you imagine?

But in order of decreasing importance, in other words, first, by far first, most important item first, three items. One, doctrinally, it seems very clear this man is completely orthodox and will defend the fundamental beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church. That matters more than anything. And he's four square on that, as best I can tell reading up on him yesterday, as we all were frantically. Who is this man? Item two of three, it seems clear from what we've read and even from those few moments when he, as James so beautifully put it, appeared on the balcony, one little old man dressed in white before that throng of tens of thousands of people. He seems serene, personally holy, immensely humble, just a good, learned, humble, and holy man. Third, and this is where I myself,

particularly as an American Catholic, I'll get to that in just a moment, but I have some worries in that reading up on him yesterday. He's as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He's spoken of the Falklands as part of the Argentine homeland. A little problem there. His views on economics are possibly redistributionist, apparently pretty redistributionist. He's spoken against the great threat of global warming. So we have the problem that when it comes to international relations or economics or the environment, he may say things that are just mistaken or ill-founded. Now, as an American in particular, my concern is I can just picture the first visit of Francis to the United States and he's an Argentine. He's obviously Spanish is his first language. He's likely to prove wildly popular. I mean, he's an appealing

man. He's likely to prove wildly popular to everyone, but particularly to Hispanics. And if he says things about economics that seem to suggest support for Obama, the welfare state, the whole, you know, the whole redistributionist agenda, that could set back conservative efforts to reach out to Hispanics pretty seriously. Well, that may never happen. It's just me overthinking things and worrying. But that's sort of, I score him two out of three. And as popes go, that ain't bad. Well, Peter, on that front, I mean, the thing that I kept hearing yesterday is how this was such a watershed to have a pope from Latin America. And I think the statistic I keep hearing is 40 percent of the church is there. Right. That's what I read, too.

And so my question would be if it seems like all of the growth, most of it anyway, in the church is coming from the global south, that would, this is maybe just a stereotype, but that would seem to me to indicate if the leadership in the church keeps coming from that part of the world in the future, that I would think, wouldn't these issues with economic redistribution and social justice become probably more and more of an issue? I would think that would have more cachet in that part of the world. Yes, yes, I think that's likely. I mean, I think back, there's no reason, as we've already established, I'm the only Catholic on this podcast,

but Father Newhouse, the late Father Newhouse, Michael Novak, Michael Novak now must be almost 80 years old now, those and others have worked for four decades now to explain to people in the Vatican, to write about the theology, to work to permit Catholics to understand and even to some extent to embrace the workings of the free market. Father Sirocco, who's the chairman of the Acton Institute, he's still a young man. But there's a huge amount of very hard work that has been done. And my fear is that it will just be suddenly forgotten. I hope it's a misfounded fear. I feel a little bit sheepish even about raising such subjects when we've got this. The man is obviously so personally simple and humble and holy.

But that's my fear. It's interesting. What's interesting about that fear is that it's almost like it's exactly the pope version, the papal version of the rhino fear. Now that he's in, he's a pino or whatever it is. It's like it is always a fear that you get in and you think, OK, well, how do I – I mean were I the pope and thinking about looking at the numbers and looking at the growth and where the growth is and where we're losing people and why we're losing people? You could convince yourself, well, maybe a little red meat to the – a little redistributionist red meat might help bring some people back in. You know, I... And... Of course, what's irresistible here is to picture Rob in the Vatican called in to give advice. So what do you think I should do in this next speech,

Rob? Give me a little advice. I think Son of God is an... How about a really just super great guy? That's inclusive. That's not... No one's against that. Rob is saying this as he's leaning on a column

in the Vatican swallowing a glass of scotch. Yeah, that's right. I can, listen. Let's recast the whole thing as a wacky sitcom and call it The Boss's Kid.

Well, some of the red meat might be, you know, you were mentioning before bringing back Latin, more Latin. And I like that because I hate when you go into like a Home Depot in Vatican City and the signs are in Latin and Italian. And you just think, you know, no, this bilingualism is going to rip you people apart. Just go for the straight art.

If I was the pope, I just, if I were king of the forest, can you imagine you would want a couple of days just to look at what they've got before you got down to work i mean you want to set aside a day for the art and then you would want to go down in the archives and into the climate controlled rooms that require pass cards and retinal scans and the rest of it and say all the really good stuff give me the really good stuff the secrets the bones you know the right the you the, the femur of Bigfoot, uh, you know, the alien that they got in 1532. I mean, everything, just all the history that you'd be able to absorb yourself. I imagine there is that moment. There is that moment, like in every Bond movie where he meets Q. All right, this is what you got. Yeah. This is the stuff. It's the cool thing. It's cute. It's the papal cute.

But what do you do if you get a new pope who comes into the papal apartments and strides around and says, it's too busy. I want all this just painted white. But your evidence is it's Raphael. I don't care. It's busy. It's old. I'm sick.

I don't want to look at this for 10 years. Probably not. They probably respect the tradition. They say he's a humble man who lived in a small apartment and took the bus. He may... I mean, you have to be pope. You've got to be big in that role.

In some sense, you can't let it be known that you're living in a closet with a hot plate. At a certain point, that starts to sound pathological. The hat makes you big. The hat gives you some lift there. But he didn't wear the hat when he came out. You mean the bishops' mitre, the tall pointy thing? Yeah.

You'd only wear that during saying a liturgy. All right, we won't go into details here. I will say that if anybody wants to get a good visual on what went on and how it works, there's a movie that I just watched called The Shoes of the Fisherman, which is about 14 hours long. It's got Anthony Zerbe as the pope. I think I mentioned this last week. And it shows you exactly what happens after they're elected.

And they do go in the back room, and as Rob says, they're very Italian. They've got a tailor who's got a whole bunch of papal suits there, and he holds them up and figures out which one is you and which one works and then does the immediate alterations it's it's it's it's a it the one thing that i did note is that they've got cameras now in the vatican everywhere so they had a reverse shot over the shoulder of the pope i mean they're they're getting good at that at least they're getting good at that and i think there was a tweet within the first couple of hours and i I believe it was in Latin, which I just absolutely love. Well, we're going to come up with a filter that will convert all of the things

that we say here at Ricochet in the podcast to Latin and as a sort of way of instructing you in the great tongue of the romance languages. And if you want to learn something else and learn it for free, of course, you know what to do. There's Hillsdale. There's ricochet.com slash Hillsdale. What do you get there? Free course. A free Hillsdale course on American heritage. Go there and sign it up and keep doing it. And eventually, you know, we're going to talk in the comments about what you've learned there because just me prattling on about

how you ought to take it isn't that interesting. The interesting part is you going there and taking it and learning and coming back refreshed and able to mix it up in the chat rooms and the comment boards armed with knowledge Rob we know you have to go unless you've already gone I'm here and Troy we thank you very much for keeping us abreast of what's going on there at CPAC two and a half days of drinking from now on

I'm going to get smashed as soon as we're done Gentlemen, I have only two words for you Pax Vobiscum I love those cookies I do And thanks to the Yeti for putting it all together and wrangling this all and Peter, and next week

we're all in our usual places but with no background noise and we will see you then. See you fellas. Take care. Ricochet! Join the conversation. Prepare yourself, you know it's a must Gonna have a friend in Jesus So you know that when you die We'll see you next time. When you die, when you die and you lay to rest, you're going to go to the place just the best.