I have been surveying tried-and-true conservatives on their reactions to the McCain speech at CPAC in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and to be honest, most want to talk about the Romney speech earlier in the day, in which Romney announced he was "suspending" his campaign, and not the McCain speech.

   Gary Kreep of Ramona, CA, the President of the US Justice Foundation and a CPAC "old-hand" summed up the comments I am receiving.  He told me this afternoon, "Romney sounded like he was running for President in 2012."  Even though Romney made it plain that the time for a Republican president was now.

   I took a second to take that in, and then said, "well, do you think Romney is supportive of McCain in 2008?"  And Gary answered, "yes, but my feeling is the speech was about him, not McCain, and that he is running in 2012."

   Interesting.

   I have had opportunity to commune with a whole lot of people.  My friend Lew Uhler, who I have worked with many times, the extremely intelligent lawyer Joe Morris of Chicago, who was Don Devine’s General Counsel at the U.S. Personnel Management Agency during the Reagan Administration,  attorney Mike Boas of "Berry v. Boas" fame, an important Federal lawsuit that established it was OK to demonstrate against the Soviet Communist embassy in DC, Richard Norman, an important direct-mail fundraiser for conservative causes, Erik Johnson, the Ivy-league educated, Chinese speaking Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, Floyd Brown, the originator of the "Willie Horton" ad that made George H.W. Bush president, and a host of others.  The tone here is generally positive about our cause, not too reserved about a McCain candidacy, and itching to kick either Obama’s or Hillary’s butt, regardless of who the candidate is.  My sense is, this Movement wants a win in 2008, despite the machinations.  For the sake of the country, let’s hope I am right.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.