I’m blogging from a luncheon near John Wayne Airport where the featured speaker is reknowned conservative columnist and TV persona Bob Novak.
The event is a day long symposium cosponsored by the Federalist Leadership Center (type the name plus dot com for their website) and the Orange County Lincoln Club (you can reach their website via their ad on this site). Conservative movement icon Don Devine, former Director of the Office of Personnel Management in the Reagan Administration, is the head of the Center’s program.
Our own former FR Managing Editor Nicholas Romero played a lead role in recruiting young students for a day of learning about conservatism, and about fifty or so Lincoln Club members are on hand at this luncheon, making for a pretty large crowd. Jim Silva, Van Tran and Chuck DeVore, Assemblymen all, are here flying the Republican legislative banner.
Novak’s remarks centered around a stinging critique of the Democrats on Capitol Hill, pointing out that on just one day last week, Democrats tried to advance three different measures that violate the U.S. Constitution.
Novak also looked at the Presidential primaries. He noted, interestingly, that Hillary is actually the most conservative (relatively) among the Democrats. On the GOP side, Novak skewered all three Republican frontrunners – Giuliani, McCain, and Romney – for failing to meet up to the conservative benchmarks he would expect.
Novak explored a potential Fred Thompson candidacy from the right, noting that there is a void from the conservative side of the GOP in the field. He believes that Thompson WILL get into the race!
Bob Novak spent some time talking about President Teddy Roosevelt, and it seems that Roosevelt was not any kind of conservative (did you know that he is responsible for the existance of our Federal Estate Tax?).
Novak did take a moment, in response to a question, to express his disappointment that, after the Republicans in Congress suffered major defeats last November, that they reelected virtually their same leadership team. He commented that in the private sector, leaving the folks in place who overwsaw the loss would never happen..
Novak jokingly refers to himself as the ‘Prince of Darkness’ – perhaps because he tends to deliver some very candid observations…