The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

CPAC 2019: Wednesday Scenes — Don’t Hate Me, I’m Only the Media

Posted on | February 27, 2019 | Comments Off on CPAC 2019: Wednesday Scenes — Don’t Hate Me, I’m Only the Media

The National Affairs Desk for the next four days.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland
Just after 2:30 p.m. today my son dropped me off in front of the hotel and I checked into my room, unloaded my luggage and immediately went over to pick up my media credentials for CPAC. Even though the sign said check-in wouldn’t begin until 4 p.m., they were already issuing credentials and the line was forming up. Fortunately, I’d brought the email confirmation with a bar-code, so all I had to do was scan that in, show my ID and — zoom! — I was off, an official member of the media.

 

Which isn’t really an honor. Americans hate the media, and I don’t really blame them. American journalism is a disgrace, and its practitioners deserve all the opprobrium heaped upon our collective head.

With the legendary Phil Kent.

Immediately upon leaving the media check-in, I ran into my old friend Phil Kent, who used to be Strom Thurmond’s press secretary back in the day, became a regular at the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle and on the popular statewide politics show The Georgia Gang. He runs Inside Advantage and, like all great Americans, is hate-listed by the SPLC.

 

The line for CPAC registration was out the door.

Is CPAC attendance up or down this year? I have no idea, and don’t actually care. Whatever the trend may be, there are thousands of people in attendance, and it’s the biggest gathering of conservatives in the country. And there are lots of cool people here besides me and Phil.

Say hello to Rick Harrison of ‘Pawn Stars.’

After I’d completed my media sign-in, I headed outside to have a smoke, turned the corner and there in the smoking area was History Channel star Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars fame. He’s a big Trump supporter and will speak Thursday here at CPAC. Rick was talking to a couple of “Angel Parents” whose kids were killed by illegal aliens. One of them was Steve Ronnebeck, whose son Grant was a convenience store clerk murdered over a pack of cigarettes in 2015 by Apolinar Altamirano, a criminal who was facing deportation but had been released from federal custody.

The handsome and charming Jacob Wohl.

Old guy interviewing Jacob Wohl.

I met up with friends, including podcast partner John Hoge, for dinner and found myself talking to Jacob Wohl, a 21-year-old Trump supporter who just got banned from Twitter yesterday. I had no idea how notorious Jacob was until I came back to the National Affairs Desk and started Googling him. He was banned from Twitter after giving an interview to USA Today in which he described his plans to troll the 2020 election.

Student activists gather around Turning Point USA leaders.

After dinner, I headed downstairs where there was a reception, but quite by accident stumbled upon an interesting scene, where about 150 college students were gathered around for a pep talk from leaders of Turning Point USA. So if you want to get punched in the face . . .

Well, I’m credentialed as a correspondent for The American Spectator, and that midnight deadline isn’t going to meet itself, so I’ll have to get cracking on that part of the job now. Ciao.



 

Category: CPAC, Shoe Leather Fund

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