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The latest Glenn & Helen Show includes an interview with yours truly. I probably burned some bridges by not being pure enough on the immigration issue. Too bad. Other CPAC webloggers as well as some guy named Bill Frist is also on the show.

The "Raghead" Saga Continues

Talking about Ann "Raghead" Coulter is almost boring, but reaction is still coming in:

• Tom Bevan points out that Coulter's remarks pale to AlGore's overseas America-bashing. Ann only stained those that applauded at CPAC as well as those that continue to send me comments and e-mail defending her or write posts like this. AlGore insulted the very nation he wanted to lead. Talk about a sore loser. [via Michelle Malkin]

• Ace thinks "she needs an intervention." He can go right ahead. I'm not touching her. I don't know where those scrawny legs have been wrapped around.

• Glenn Reynolds scratched his head when he received e-mails demanding he mention Coulter when, in fact, he did.

• Ms. Coulter made a bad impression on one UK conservative. He called her the "unacceptable face of American conservatism."

• Kevin @ EckerNet.Com declares Coulter "The Right's Howard Dean." At least we're not dumb enough to put her in charge of the Republicans.

• Donald Sensing: "Ann Coulter is the only person I know of who can make Pat Buchanan sound moderate. I have no hope that she’ll just shut up, but I wish she would." To dream, to dream.

• The American Spectator's David Hogberg went so far as to write, "This year she ruined an otherwise great event." [via Right Wing News]

• Mark Kilmer writes, "If you seek a serious conservatism, stay far away from Coulter and other clowns who’ve adorned themselves with the label...." Yes, but I'll call her out when she tars the conservative movement I'm proud to be a part of.

• TMLutas praises TAM for "restraining your own nutters." I'll take it, but I call 'em like I see 'em. It wasn't me protecting the conservative movement as much as me railing on someone uses ethnic slurs just to get a rise out of people. Ann Coulter is treated like a rock star among many conservatives. She doesn't deserve such fame.

• Josh Cohen: "And really, you’re not that attractive, no matter what the mainstream conservatives say."

With the Wonkettes at a Watering Hole

Another CPAC means another TAM mention on Wonkette. There was no reference to me and a**f**king. (Although it is mentioned in the post.) One-half of Wonkette, Alex Pareene probably thinks I'm a bible thumper. At the mixer drinking binge I found out Pareene is from the Twin Cities. I gave him my little schpeel about going to school in Duluth then working in the Cities for the Minnesota Family Council. He seemed to take it well although I was buzzed from some strong gin gimlets.

At least this time Wonkette didn't call me a "nerd."

"CPAC-ing Heat: Wonkette Gets Drunk With Right-Wingers"

More Ann Coulter Reaction

Here are two more reactions to Ann Coulter's "raghead" remark:

• The half-Arab (or his that half-raghead?) Aladdin writes,
  

  Ethnic slurs are bad because they foment stereotyping and prejudice against an entire group of people based purely on their DNA. From what I know, there's never been a race or ethnicity whose DNA was evil. On the other hand, there have been lots of wholly evil individuals from all races, ethnicities, religions, and walks of life, evil because of the choices they made, the actions they took; Islamist terrorists are such individuals, and they deserve to be condemned along with all other evil persons.
  ...
  I'm one of those such people: a half-Arab, non-Muslim, third-generation American. A few strands of DNA are all I have in common with Islamist terrorists. I find their actions despicable and abhorrent.

  Don't lump me in with them.

  
  He also posts that CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid is also Arab-American. It's Ann's nightmare. Those damn ragheads are everywhere!

• Attila Girl completely accepts the slippery slope the "you're just a pussy for criticizing Ann" crowd thinks we're heading down.
  

TAM on The Corner

TAM gets Jonah Goldberg's attention, and he comments on Ann Coulter's big mouth.

"Ann's Schtick"

Shaking the Cob Webs Out of My Head

Three pitchers of margaritas and good talk makes for a really slow time getting out of bed. One thing to remember about CPAC: there may be plenty of conservatives but not all of them are conservative.

I'm heading back to Wisconsin this afternoon.

Reaction to Ann

Staff breaking down the exhibition hall kicked me out. Then they proceded to take a break. Gotta love those unions.

Anyway, here are some replies to the blizzard of comments people left on my post "ragging" on Ann Coulter:

• To afshin who called me a "humorless pussy:" I'd laugh if Coulter said something funny. I didn't know "real men" liked to laugh at offensive racial slurs. I do giggle when she pushes back her hair over and over and over and over and over.

• Brian writes, "I also believe that Ann doesn't give a hoot about offending the sensibilities of Muslim terrorists and their supporters." I don't care about the feelings of Islamists either. What I do care about is treating civilized people with respect. Tossing around ethnic slurs doesn't do that.

• Lee wonders why I didn't castigate those who tell bigotted Catholic jokes. If I heard Ann Coulter or any movement conservative toss around ethnic slurs against Catholics I'd rip on them.

• Larry Knudson thinks I should simply write Ms. Coulter a note politely asking her to refrain from calling Muslims "ragheads." Well, if she'd read my note and seriously take my thoughts to heart I'd consider it, but I know full well toning down her schtick won't help Brand Ann.
  

To sum it up: I don't resort to the same rhetoric of my uncivilized opponents... and Islamist terrorists.

One funny, funny (yes, I do have a sense of humor) response came from Robert McClelland:

Ah, dear Ann Coulter. She reminds me of an aging porn star who, as her beauty fades, must resort to increasingly depraved sexual acts in order to turn a buck.

Winding Down

I finally show up for the final day of CPAC and everyone is leaving:

But the webloggers are still toiling away:

As is Cam Edwards and NRANews.com:

The Perfect Storm

It's amazing who will link to you when you point out Ann Coulter's ridiculous remarks. Lucianne.com, Instapundit, PoliPundit.com, Hit & Run, even Total Fark are some who linked to this post. My stats are going through the roof, and it's a Saturday.

I hope the web storm goes better than the snow storm almost on top of me in D.C. No driving for me so that's a relief.

Ann, Thanks for Nothing

With Ann Coulter you should only expect a bad stand-up comedian with a conservative schtick. That's what CPAC attendees got today. My expectations were low, yet she proceded to go below them. She referred to Muslims as "ragheads." She went farther than calling for Justice John Paul Stevens to be poisoned. Muhammad is depicted as a historic law-giver on one of the court's frieses. Coulter wanted Muslims informed so they would burn down the Supreme Court. But just before that happened someone would call Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy. She's right when she said, "Our ideas ought to win." Too bad for Ann she doesn't offer any. Bad jokes sell books (unfortunately); they don't persuade voters.

UPDATE: The reaction to Coulter from CPAC webloggers has been negative. Tom Bridge is "going to go be ill." Her words don't help the conservative movement at all. Ryan Sager posted the entire "raghead" quote.

UPDATE II: Jeff Harrell wrote a letter to Ann. Add my name to the bottom.

UPDATE III: "The famous LaShawn Barber" thinks "it’s much ado about nothing."

Students for Allen

The Students for Allen campaign is in full effect. The representative told me Sen. George Allen (R-VA) wouldn't need his arm twisted much to be drafted.

Condi Rice has her fans too.

tag: cpac

Those at Bloggers' Corner

Here's a partial list. There are a lot more webloggers here than last year.

• A North American Patriot
• Hampton Stephens
• Metroblogging DC
• Ryan Sager
• Save the GOP
• Mary Katherine Ham (on Hugh Hewitt's weblog)
• Boi from Troy
• The Shape of Days
• Girl on the Right
• Little Miss Attila
• Anchor Rising
• The Right Angle
• The Autonomist

tag: cpac

Immigration Obsession

Immigration is a thread I thought would run through CPAC. It was noticable at last year's conference and with the Minuteman Project its shadow on conservatism has grown bigger.

There are conservatives like the Minuteman Project's Chris Simcox and Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) who passionately call for sealing the border to illegal immigrants. Hayworth wants "enforcement first." Simcox is "tired of waiting for Mexico to solve its [economic] problem." His goal is to "force an orderly queue into our country."

Then we have the long-time conservative warrior Phyllis Schlafly worrying that a guest worker program will "build[s] a subserviant underclass who won't assimilate." Think the Muslim suburbs surounding French cities. She rejects the notion that immigrant labor is really needed. "There is no job American's won't do." Highly skilled workers like engineers aren't needed because "there is no labor shortage." Employers just want cheap labor.

What company wouldn't want to keep their labors costs as low as they can? What Schlafly fails to mention is low labor costs get passed along to consumers. We'll pay a lot more for produce with a reduced labor pool. Wal-Mart can't offer consumers low prices if they have to pay workers more in wages.

The strident "seal the borders" advocates fail to say how many immigrants they want. Does sealing the borders mean an America closed off to immigrants? Listening to Schlafly she only wants immigrants who want to be "100% American." What does that mean? Would someone be rejected if they don't learn english fast enough or well enough? Would someone fail the Schlafly standard if they continue to dress in the same manner they did in their previous country?

Let me be clear, illegal immigrants flout the law. That cannot be accepted. Guest worker programs may not benefit the nation economically or socially. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies made some good points. The tone of those like Schlafly borders on nativist, yet they don't stand out and say it. That's a complete rejection of America's history and harmful to her future.

UPDATE: Ryan Sager covered Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) speech. Sager challenges the political as well as the economic effects of Tancredo's "seal the borders" ideas.

Ollie's Fan Base

I don't the point of Oliver North's fame. You can argue that he was a patriot in the Iran-Contra scandal, but other than hosting War Stories what has he done for conservatives?

Arrived at CPAC

I'm now at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Checking into CPAC, finding "Bloggers' Corner," and plugging in (ethernet not wireless) were all smooth sailing.

The blogosphere has grown since there's about eight other webloggers here and I recognize no one.

G. Gordon Liddy just walked by. The webloggers are right next to the talk radio yappers.

Mr. Sean Goes Back to Washington

Your's truly is safe and sound in the nation's capital. Lucky for me my room was ready upon my arrival at the hotel. There's no view (just the other side of the hotel), but the internet access is humming (and free!).

Yeah, I know, nice view.

Wires! And I thought we were in the 21st Century.

The room's nice enough.

And if I'm really, really hungry (and too cheap for room service) I can eat the soap.

Malloy Rejects CPAC Invitation

Air America's Mike Malloy pumped out this e-mail response to an invitation to broadcast his show from this year's Conservative Political Action Committee:

Um . . . you're kidding, right? Why would I have any desire whatsoever to attend or participate in a convocation of neo-Nazis????? I had two uncles fight against you [expletive] in WW2. And, now, surprise! surprise! here you all are on US soil. Kindly get the [expletive] off my email. Thanks.

Thomas Lifson responds:

Yet again confirmation that the left has no confidence in its ability to reason, debate, and win by the strength of its ideas. Instead use the other n-word (isn’t “Nazi” at least as offensive as the other n-word?) and refuse to talk.

Tim Graham writes:

This is not only ludicrous in terms of conservatives and anti-Semitism, but ludicrous in terms of conservatives and totalitarianism.

"Mike Malloy to CPAC: Get Lost!"

CPAC Webloggers

Here are the webloggers I know so far who will be at CPAC 2006:

• The Autonomist (Rookie)

• James Joyner (Veteran)

• Karol from Alarming News (Veteran)

There has to be more coming. Who's not talking?