Back Channels: Media’s Swoon over Obama.

Campaign ‘08 has hit the big screen.

In a sense, it’s a love story. The heartthrob is the Kennedyesque young senator from Illinois, with the supporting cast composed of the many media suitors who came a-courtin’.

There’s Chris and his thrilled leg. Oh-so-serious Anderson and his plaint about distractions vs. real issues. The TV reporter who declares a Rev. Jeremiah Wright-free zone so the candidate will feel more comfortable. The swooning ladies of The View. And the superest, specialist guest star of them all: Oprah!

The documentary – Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted – is part tragedy and part romantic comedy, as the above-named suitors and others trip all over themselves making excuses for their guy.

Filmmaker and Philly-area native John Ziegler isn’t the only one who noticed the media’s infatuation with Barack Obama. A Rasmussen poll released on Election Day showed that 51 percent of voters thought reporters tried to help Obama win. But Ziegler was on to the issue long before Nov. 4. The filmmaker’s “crystallizing moment” was the coverage of Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his racially inflammatory sermons.

“That showed how ridiculously in the tank the media were going to be for Barack Obama,” Ziegler says. “It was just a flat-out joke.”

You mean this media, John?

Kudos to Kevin Ferris for having the mettle to write about Media Malpractice. It takes a certain strength of character to step back and examine the actions of the media during the past election cycle. Even more so when it is your chosen profession. Perhaps Kevin should hand out copies of ‘Better‘ along with this article to his fellow journalists at the Inquirer. They need all the help they can get!

I found a great video of John Zeigler talking about the media’s reaction to his film. He jokes about having enough material from the reception his film received to make a Media Malpractice 2 – only I don’t believe he was joking.

The photo below was taken in the Ladies loo at the National Press Club. Yes, my camera goes everywhere. With the media abandoning their professional principles, who is minding the cradle of liberty?

Pssst…I AM.

CPAC offers a phenomenal opportunity to connect with fellow conservative bloggers, discuss grass root activism with Saul Anuzi, chat with Joe the Plumber and be inspired by the life work of Phyllis Schlafly.  Thanks to the remarkable Atlas Shrugs, Geert Wilders was able to speak his truth at CPAC, and not be turned away at customs.

A sampling of the pervasive attack on freedom via climate non-aggression pacts:

I had the opportunity to meet a Flopping Aces reader who is quite the charming fellow, we attended a Tea Party and met two groups searching for freedom:

Tea Party at Lafayette Park, Washington DC:

At the same time, Ashraf refugees were asking for assistance from the current administration – good luck on that:

One perk of having press credentials!

At the National Press Club for a viewing of Media Malpractice, I garnered a personal apology from the liberal reporter/BTR host Tommy Christopher, after convincing him to stop hiding behind Ed Morissey.

The Silver Shoes became blog fodder for CPAC via Fausta’s Shoe Blogging

Robert Stacey McCain caught a ‘discussion’ between the CPAC troll Max Blumenthal and Media Malpractice producer John Zeigler. Erik Svane of Non Pasaran gets into the discussion as well:

John Zeigler came to Bloggers Row to give his impression of his meeting with Max. You can see Tommy Christopher off to the side filming as well:

Sarah Palin ruled CPAC. Although this remarkable Governor could not attend the conference, her presence at this event was tangible. Two exhibits were dedicated to her: Team Sarah and Sarah 2012, and she was featured in the John Ziegler film Media Malpractice.

You can view the rest of my photos from CPAC on FLICKR

The Rise of Conservatism

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report that Conservatism is alive and kicking! The Republican Party, however, is on life support. Attending CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) after a disastrous presidential election cycle, I was curious to gauge the mood of the grassroots conservative activists in the Age of Obama. What I discovered was a strong sense of renewed energy and purpose from the activists At random intervals during the conference, I asked attendees to gauge the mood of the activists and consistently received positive feedback. Conservatives understand the treacherous challenges facing our nation domestically and globally. They are ready to roll up their sleeves and work together towards the goal of turning the nation back from the brink of disaster. I would like to believe the RNC is trying to grasp the concept, yet the Party leadership stubbornly clings to habits that have not served them well over the past two election cycles. The inability to adapt is the quickest way to extinction.

A wise party leader would reach out to embrace the energy of the grassroots activists and work with them to present a unified message to the public. A party that simply votes “no” on an out of control spending scheme is not enough. Party leaders have to continually make the case of why this spending bill is akin to voodoo economics and offer an alternative solution to the public. The RNC working in concert with a solid grass root network could amplify and spread the message to every corner in the US.

To be fair, this is no easy task. Numerous lectures at CPAC carefully detailed the magnitude of the creeping social engineering programs being rolled out under the guise of the Democrat endorsed ‘economic recovery’. For the nation’s sake, I hope these programs fail, and that private industry is allowed to stand on its own two feet again. Despite what Rham Emanuel states, Rush Limbaugh is a great showman of the conservative movement but he is not the authority. The party is missing the Buckley/Reagan combination that brought conservatives of all flavors to the table.

CPAC brought together 8,000 grass root conservative organizers from across the nation who are optimistic, engaged in promoting solutions and not placing blame for the disastrous election cycle. CPAC invited speakers who presented solutions that do not require Jane and Joe America to surrender more of their freedom or tax dollars in order to save them from an ill defined threat. Through organizations such as the DontGo Movement, Rebuild the Party, Operation Tea Party and PACC (Pennsylvania Conservative Council), conservatives have demonstrated the ability to organize effective grassroots campaigns. We have the message and the networking capability to promote real change in Washington and the nation. The RNC can embrace conservative activists or get rolled in the upcoming 2010 and 2012 election cycles.

Did I tell you I met Joe The Plumber?

You can find my interview with Joe The Plumber HERE – Tea Time with JTP

The liberals are upset Santorum wants his Socialist policies to fail, They are upset that Delay wants Obama’s Socialist policies to fail, and they were already upset with Rush so I doubt they will break a sweat with his speech tonight to CPAC where he again reiterated that he too wants Obama’s Socialist policies to fail: (via Gateway Pundit)

Rush: This notion that I want the President to fail, folks, this shows you a sign of the problem we’ve got. That’s nothing more than common sense and to not be able to say it, why in the world do I want what we just described, rampant government growth indebtedness, wealth that’s not even being created yet that is being spent, what is in this? What possibly is in this that anybody of us want to succeed? Did the Democrats want the war on Iraq to fail!

CROWD: Yes!

RUSH: They certainly did. They not only wanted the war in Iraq to fail, they proclaimed it a failure. There’s Dingy Harry Reid waiving a white flag: [Harry Reid impression] This war is lost. This war is — [Cheers and Applause] They called General Petraeus a liar before he even testified. Mrs. Clinton — [Crowd Booing] — said she had to, willingly suspend disbelief in order to listen to Petraeus. We’re in the process of winning the war. The last thing they wanted was to win. They hoped George Bush failed. So what is so strange about being honest to say that I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed? [Applause]

Here is Rush’s speech in full, 10 parts in total:

Skye will be reporting at Midnight Blue and Flopping Aces as well as twittering.

But if you want a seat at the conference without leaving your computer, tune in live:

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

I bumped into Dr. Melissa Clouthier while checking in to CPAC and as we were chatting, Ed Morrissey strolled by..again. A great conversation ensued in the Omni Shorham’s lobby amongst the three of us over the state of the RNC and the tone of CPAC 2009.

Ed stated he would like to see more coalition building in the RNC and is curious to see if there is much finger pointing at this year’s CPAC. He also observered that Obama, like Reagan, had the edge in this past election cycle by paring his economic message down to the simple phrase “A tax cut for 95% of Americans”. Republicans and conservatives need to acquire better communication skills in order to win elections. Speaking of the bailout boondoggle, Pelosi and Co. dropped the ball by excluding Republicans from the construction of this monstrosity, and it might come back to bite them in 2010.

Melissa stressed that conservatives had to hold to fiscal responsibility. The big tent idea aside,there have to be core values, one of them being fiscal responsibility. That Republicans lost the election to a junior senator from Illinois owning the placard of fiscal responsibility. Hello! RNC..are you listening?? She noted that the recently adopted spending bill has lit a fire under the GOP/conservative activists – I heartily agree!

I’ll tell you what, It was great just to listen to their exchange. My thoughts on the big tent theory? Do the Dems really have one? It seems as though you are required to conform to the Dem orthodoxy or you are booted from the party – ala – Senator Lieberman. Anton Checkhov observed “Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.” That is the Dem’s “Big Tent”theory in a nutshell. It is not that they are the party of tolerance, quite the opposite, actually. They simply used the abject hatred of George Bush to bring all types together. This was also the litmus test for inclusion in this ‘tent’. Does the RNC need to emulate this behavior?

As for CPAC? I’m with Melissa, a fire has been lit and this is the place for conservative activists to network and build coalitions. A big part of that will be building organizations that seed fiscal conservatives into the framework of the State GOP. Want to know how to go about that? Check out PACC. Other urgent needs are to re-tool our party message and take back ownership of fiscal responsibility. No small tasks, indeed.

Oh, with all my high tech photo gear I brought with me, you’d think that I’d have photos for you. Well, it does not matter how high tech your gear is, it doesn’t work when you leave it at the hotel.

UPDATE: Senator Inhofe interview:

Senator Inhofe will be available for blogger interviews between 9:30-11:00am tomorrow morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Senator Inhofe has been one of the leading Congressional voices on today’s hot-button issues, such as opposing massive government spending and tax raises in the Stimulus Bill/Bailouts, opposing the unnecessary closing of GITMO, spreading the truth about Global Warming alarmism, and fighting back against Democratic attempts to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

Just arrived in DC for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The schedule is jam-packed with good events. Looking forward to talking with Sen. DeMint, networking with other grassroots organizations and having the coolest bloggers on the planet spend quality time with me.

I’m also ready to capture the conference better than before – check the sweetness:

I’ll be Twittering the conference as well as posting on FA, MidnightBlue and on PA WaterCooler. Photo collections will be posted to FLICKR, and videos to YOUTUBE.