Let’s call it the Confrontation Convention.
I’m now back home from my trip to Blogcon 11, which was Freedomworks’ convention of bloggers from all over the nation—held this year at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Denver.
It’s always a great pleasure to see blogging friends in person, such as Jimmie Bise (Sundries Shack), Katy Benningfield (Katy’s conservative corner), Lorie Byrd (formerly of Byrd Droppings, and now working for Rep Renee Ellmers), Steve Eggleston (No Runny eggs), Jeff Dunetz (Yid with Lid), and Nice Deb. The very sight of them brings a smile to my face that lasts all day—and, of course, there are new friends to make—like Marathon Pundit and the Misfit Politics guys, who are very funny but kinda profane.
We were also joined by some of the giants of the blogging world, including Ed Morrissey, Pam Geller, Jim Hoft, Dana Loesch, and Michelle Malkin.
Although they have reached a level of national fame that would appear to place them above some of the rest of us, these ladies and gentlemen have not stopped being nice, pleasant people.
A lot went on at Blogcon 11, but the main event was our encounters with Occupy Denver—the Occupods. It was a study in contrasts.
I’ve already written about our two encounters on Friday; we also had contact with the protesters on Saturday.
We were told to expect over a thousand Occupiers marching on our hotel as part of their regular Saturday protest—but instead their attempted show of strength turned into a farce. On an absolutely beautiful Saturday afternoon in a city of millions, they couldn’t even draw 500 people.
Furthermore, as the march “leader” attempted to use their human mike to start to shout against us, one of our number engaged part of the group regarding capitalism vs. socialism. The crowd then started chanting at our man, and the “leader” could not regain control. So they left.
They are simply laughable, and none of us understand why the rest of the world isn’t laughing at them even harder than they are.
I commented at the time that I didn’t see why anyone was afraid of these jokers, and sure enough that very day the Denver PD finally drove them out of the city park; I ended up in the middle of that). The Denver cops weren’t alone; on Tuesday morning the NYPD reclaimed Zucotti Park for the 99% of the public who had no longer been able to use it.
Hmmm . . . conservative bloggers show the Occupiers up as dolts, and then police nationwide start to move in on them. Coincidence? I think not.
The mainstream media’s failure to in their attempts to lionize the Occupod was as predictable as their failure to effectively demonize the Tea Party. Both failures were to be expected; too many voters have friends or neighbors involved in the Tea Party, and too many people have seen antisocial behavior—or been inconvenienced or endangered by the Occupods—for the spin to work.
I’ll leave the description to Ladd Ehlinger, who doesn’t believe in spin and has three words to remember:
“Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.”
Yesterday I saw this commercial on my local cable network, featuring former Obama Administration official Elizabeth Warren:
I told you last month this was coming; it is the first of what will be many, in states across the country.
Bill Jacobson asked an interesting question concerning the liberal love of the tactics used by the Occupiers:
I propose to liberals the following paradigm for protest etiquette: If a hypothetical “Occupy Planned Parenthood” movement were to use the tactic in question, would you want them arrested? If so, they should declare the OWS tactic in question to be out of bounds.
I covered a pro-life rally in Worcester recently, and police there were scrupulous about keeping the people who were praying the rosary out of an arc around the clinic, only allowing the use of the sidewalk in front of the building to move from one side of the arc to the other.
Maybe Sister Marie could send a letter to the cities that have allowed the Occupods to camp overnight, and enquire whether the new Occupy rules now apply to nuns and other pro-life activists.
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In Massachusetts, a second Republican—former candidate for Lt. Governor Richard Tisei—joins Bill Hudak in running to replace Congressman John Tierney of the new 6th district.
Tierney was plagued by his wife’s conviction on tax fraud, but that didn’t stop Massachusetts from re-electing him in 2010. We’re an odd state like that: Barney Frank had a pimp running a prostitution ring out of his apartment in 1989, and Gary Studds was sleeping with a 17-year-old page in 1983. Yet both of them were re-elected in Massachusetts as well.
Being a congressional Democrat in Massachusetts means never having to say you’re sorry.
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There is breaking news on the Solyndra front; apparently the Obama Administration, knowing the company was about to announce layoffs, requested the company delay on the downsizing until after the 2010 election.
Of course, when I say breaking news I mean that the networks took a “break” from reporting it. Although the Washington Post featured it prominently, ABC, CBS, and NBC ignored it in their evening and morning broadcasts.
* * * * *
Michelle Malkin’s site has video of the Morning Joe crowd—so animated when critiquing the GOP moments ago—suddenly falling silent at the name Solyndra.
And they wonder why the MSM is bleeding viewers.
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In an interview about a year ago, Sylvester McCoy, who played the seventh incarnation of Doctor Who during the final seasons of its iconic run, talked about how anti-Thacherite themes were woven into the scripts of the series, much to the cast’s delight. When the series was cancelled the idea that ideological scripts made bad entertainment never seemed to occur to them.
I thought of this when I ran into a 20-something Doctor Who fan yesterday. He told me he finally saw all of the episodes from the old series, and could see why it had been cancelled. He may not have been politically active, but he knows a lemon when he sees it.
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Speaking of old television, both the old Adventures of Robin Hood Series with Richard Greene and the old Daniel Boone series with Fess Parker are now playing regularly on RTV (in fact, Boone can be found on two different stations in my area).
I don’t think it’s an accident that series that feature clear heroes and villians are finding an audience once more.
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I’d like to end with a story: During the early days of the Civil War, a totally green regiment of Union soldiers found themselves attacked by Stonewall Jackson’s men. They were outnumbered two-to-one. Facing not only bad odds but the most famous soldiers of their day, they stood their ground, exchanging volleys face-to-face for two solid hours. As Shelby Foote put it:
“Experience had afforded them nothing by the way of comparison; for all they know, combat was supposed to be like this.”
They succeeded, because they had not been given an excuse to fail.
An excuse is the worst thing you can give to another person. For a child, it is a passport to inertia; for an adult, it is a dual-sided license—one side for failure in worthwhile pursuits, and the other to permit behavior that wouldn’t have, in the past, been conceivable, let alone excusable.
Rationalization is the most addictive drug of all; our litigious modern society seems to be mainlining that drug.
Until we can wean ourselves off of it, we will not only continue to regress; we will deserve to.
