The Other McCain

Between last night’s late deadline and getting up at 7:30 a.m. today, I’m kinda shagged and will need to rest before this evening, for reasons best explained by this New York Times article:

The Conservative Political Action Conference opened Thursday morning with an address by Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who accused President Obama of being a socialist and urged the conservative faithful to focus on “making Barack Obama a one-term president.” . . .
[Retiring ACU chairman David] Keene urged attendees to “see, hear and, I hope, question many of the people who wake up every morning thinking they ought to be president of the United States.”
Ms Bachmann is one of those. And to get started, she invited all 11,000 activists to a reception — with an open bar — Thursday afternoon.
“You’re all invited!” she said.

Yeah, so there’s my big assignment. In other news today:

• Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl won’t seek re-election in 2012. Let’s all pray that Meghan McCain doesn’t run for the vacated seat.
• Fox News posted a story saying that Keene’s retirement would end the “internecine conflict behind the scenes” at CPAC. If my eyes were rolling any harder, they’d roll right out of my head. What a ginned-up phony nothingburger of a non-story.
• Rick Santorum went on Greta Van Sustern’s show last night to eat crow after having insulted Sarah Palin.
• Da Tech Guy is here. He brought cannoli.
• There were signals in Egypt that President Hosni Mubarak would soon be stepping down — perhaps as early as today. Sources were trying to confirm rumors that Mubarak may be succeeded by Meghan McCain.

All righty, then: Nap-time!

That was the scene this morning in the Blogger’s Lounge at CPAC, and some of you may recognize Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit and Jeff Dunetz of Yid With Lid among the bloggers coping with the reportedly substandard WiFi connection. I’m blogging from Ladd Ehlinger‘s hotel room, where the WiFi’s just fine, thank you.

This morning on my way to get breakfast, I walked past CPAC director Lisa DePasquale who informed me that Donald Trump would be speaking today at 3 p.m. When I got back to the room, I Tweeted that news. It’s also a big story at the New York Times. But I’m sure you’d rather get scoops from my Twitter feed, right?  

Michelle Bachmann introduces Andrew Breitbart at a press conference hosted by Citizens United where they debuted a new video about the Pigford case.

Doug Mataconis of Outside the Beltway shuffles through the vast library of photos he has stored on his laptop, none of which depict Arianna Huffington nude.

The ballroom scene for this morning’s opening session, with Michelle Bachmann speaking. You may notice some empty seats. That’s because half the CPAC attendees were milling around the hotel lobby, asking each other, “Have you seen Stacy McCain? I’m supposed to buy him a beer . . . .”

Greetings from the fabulous Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, scene of the awesomest CPAC evah! The photo above was taken last night in the lobby bar, where I filed my column for today’s American Spectator:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 10,000 activists will convene here today at the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel for the biggest gathering of conservatives in history.
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will not only be the biggest in the 38-year history of the event, it is quite nearly certain to be the most festive and energized. Following on the heels of last fall’s mid-term election triumph, conservatives are in a mood to celebrate and this three-day conference is where they will assemble for that celebration.
You wouldn’t know this, of course, from most of the press coverage. According to the media, the right is deeply divided by internecine feuds, with social conservatives battling libertarians and neocons in a grand three-way donnybrook that threatens to destroy the Republican Party.
Sic semper hoc.
For as long as I’ve been covering CPAC, reporters have been hyping the idea that this event is extraordinarily controversial, using their coverage of the conference to suggest that the conservative movement is teetering on the brink of its final ideological implosion. . . .

Please read the whole thing. Trying to write while surrounded by partying CPAC-ers — the early arrivals, including many bloggers — was an extraordinary challenge. I kept telling people, “I’d love to talk, but I’m on deadline!” Here are a few photos to give you a flavor of last night’s carnival atmosphere:

Atlanta talk-radio host and GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain talks to conservative activist Ruth Malhotra. After Cain arrived last night, he was quickly surrounded by CPAC attendees eager to shake his hand and get their photos taken with the guy I introduced to my friends as The Next President of the United States.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News and Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. “Smile and say, ‘Charles Johnson’!”

Who are these two women with Fingers Malloy? The answer might be somewhere in my notes, but those were scrawled on a cocktail napkin I can’t find right now.

Da Tech Guy regales a CPAC-er with tales of cannoli.

Again: Who is this woman with Fingers Malloy?