Posted on 03/02/2007 4:45:19 PM PST by kellynla
Conservatives are supposed to be defeated, suffering a Jimmy Carter-like malaise after the 2006 congressional elections. We are on the outs, the media admonish. Anyone who believes that baloney should have been at last night’s Presidential Banquet of the 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
Dick Cheney is supposed to be fading, right? Lesser an influence in the White House and elsewhere? Wrong. The Veep -- fresh from a trip half way around the world and back -- looked and sounded better than I’ve seen him in a year or more. And his speech, given in those rich measured Cheney tones, pretty well ripped the skin off the liberals.
Mr. Cheney’s speech lasted only about 20 minutes, but hit some issues in depth. America’s economy, he said, has grown over the past few years in an amount equal to the value of Canada’s entire economy. One reason, he said, was that the Bush administration has ensured America remains the world’s best place to do business. For all the Dems talk about removing the Bush tax cuts, Mr. Cheney reminded them that, “No nation ever taxed its way to prosperity.” When he promised the crowd that Mr. Bush would govern according to the principles he was elected on, that seemed to be close to Bush 41’s “no new taxes” pledge.
On the war, Mr. Cheney again took a full swing. Clearly scorning the “non-binding” resolutions congress has toyed with for weeks, he said that the binding measures -- the appropriations bills soon to be considered -- will be the real test. Mr. Cheney planted his feet and went right at the libs. He said that he sincerely hoped the discussion would be about winning the war and not mere posturing on Capitol Hill. And, he said, the administration expected Congress to meet the needs of the war, “…on time and in full.” And this, mind you, was before the evening got really rolling. While we were still digesting Mr. Cheney’s red meat for Red Staters, we were given another big serving.
The Vice President was great, but he was really the warmup act for former UN Ambassador John Bolton. Bolton never disappoints, and last night was no exception. Here are a few tidbits from last night’s Bolton Sampler. Starting with Iran, Bolton said that the United States is the only nation in the world capable of dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “That’s not unilateralism,” said Bolton, “that’s leadership.”
Bolton seemed greatly relieved to be out of the UN, though he mentioned his disappointment at not being confirmed to the ambassador’s post there. But free of diplomatic constraint, he ripped at the institution and its former Secretary General, Kofi Annan, who Bolton said – to the cheers of the crowd -- “…should have been fired for incompetence long ago.”
On UN reform, Bolton said we have achieved very little. To actually reform the UN, he said, the funding of it must be changed from the “assessed dues” system. Now the U.S. pays about 22% of the UN’s budget. Stack that fact to one side. Consider then, Bolton said, that of the 192 members of the UN, 97 are a majority. And of the lowest-paying 97 UN members, all 97 of them pay a TOTAL of 0.3% of the UN’s budget in assessed dues. Place that aside the US contribution and you find that we pay about seventy times as much to the UN as a majority of its members.
Bolton said that we should only pay what we wish, not what the UN says we owe: “pay for what we want and demand we get what we pay for.”
The evening finished with the award of the “Courage Under Fire” award to Roy Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality. Innis, in his acceptance speech, posed many challenges we all face. Most importantly, he said that conservatives had to stand up to the media. Challenge them, he said. And don’t be intimidated out of speaking the truths conservatives know.
Cheney, Bolton, Innis -- and in the middle former National Review publisher William Rusher -- all in one night. And that's only the first night.
CPAC Bump!
Good point
Good point from Innis as well.
Actually I think we should just ignore them.
bttt
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