Going Gault

CPAC's straw poll has always produced the vanguard of political thought. Remember Presidents Gary Bauer, Phil Gramm and Mitt Romney? Even Charles Krauthammer admits CPAC has alot of "marginal characters." Like today's guest star--Pat Boone.

Anyway, it is only right that as the film Atlas Shrugged is about to be released, the winner of the CPAC presidential straw vote is the future President of the United States....drumroll... Ron Paul. Ron Paul's contingent rigged the straw vote this year by buying tickets for 1,000 students as they did last, which means he beat out Mitt Romney, who usually pays voters also in these straw votes. Mitt had won in 2008 and 2009.

Using the combined first and second choice vote picks, the vote tallies are as follows:
Ron Paul 37%
Mitt Romney 31%
Gary Johnson 21%
Chris Christie 16%
New Gingrich 11%
Michelle Bachmann 10%
Tim Pawlenty 9%
Others in the 9% range
Sarah Palin 7%

The basic meaning of all this is that CPAC is almost totally libertarian. Ron Paul and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson combine for 58% of the total vote indicates where the hearts and minds are. The vote for Mitt Romney is not about conservatism, it's about who wants to win.

Mitt Romney's vote does put him as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nominee. Landing second means that to secular conservatives he is acceptable. The woeful results of almost all the standards shows you how weak the field is right now. A candidate could emerge from literally nowhere to win the nomination.

The poll comes as Sarah Palin has hired a chief of staff for her SarahPac, a sign observers believe that she is serious about a presidential run.

(On films--Atlas Shrugged may excite conservatives and libertarians as a film but it does act as an advertisement for high speed trains, which the GOP wants to cut from all budgets. Libertarians are advised to watch the Passion of Ayn Rand starring Helen Mirren and Peter Fonda. It's about Rand's affair with her young acolyte and has wonderful sex scenes with Helen Mirren. Peter Fonda actually gives a superb performance as Rand's husband.)

Ann Coulter graced the confab with her presence and talked about how liberals invented gay marriage to destroy the family as they destroyed the black family. Coulter told the cheering crowd that liberals are committed to destroying the family and religion so that everyone is beholding to the state.

Steve King, Christianist from Iowa, told the crowd that he knew of Jihadist being smuggled across the Mexican border, something Homeland Security denies.

Pat Boone is almost a perfecrt symbol for CPAC. After his pop career fizzled, he made a living singing Christian songs and entertained at Christian and conservative functions. He was eclipsed in his career by Elvis. And that's what the modern conservative movement seems to be longing back towards--the days before Rock and Roll and the Counterculture. That's the America they want back and Pat is a symbol of that. He also was one of the leaders, along with Jon Voight, of the Beverly Hills Tea Party. Former Ramparts editor David Horowitz joined them there.

A fun time was had by all and the hotel was infested with bedbugs.