A Red State Guy Goes To DC…
...and this is what you get:
That’s me with some loon outside the Cannon Building (offices for the House of Representatives).
We had an excellent day here at the Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream Summit. We spent most of the day up on capital hill meeting with our respective members of Congress, attending press conferences and getting in a little sight-seeing.
I went to Earl Pomeroy’s office to talk to him about supporting earmark reform in Congress (it’s what AFP is pushing, and while I actually think entitlement reform is the much more pressing problem so you sort of have to dance with those that brought you). Earl was busy in his office, but his Chief of Staff Bob Siggins let me and those with me bend his ear for a bit before he brushed us off.
I thought we’d make some headway on the issue since Earl is a “Blue Dog Democrat,” a group allegedly in favor of fiscal restraint, but Siggins sort of tried to blow the whole thing off with a line like “Well the Republicans weren’t worried about this while they were in power.”
Which is a good point. The Republicans weren’t very good on earmarks while they were in power, but why is that a defense against Earl supporting reform now that his party is in power? I posited that to Mr. Siggins, and he promptly changed the subject.
After we got done with the “meet with your congress people” part of the day, we went to a press conference in the Hart Senate Building where John McCain, John Thune and Jim DeMint.
Thune didn’t say much, mostly just introduced McCain.
McCain himself seemed…very tired. Lethargic even. Like he’s at the bitter end of a very tough campaign (which, in fact, he is). He mouthed some things about fiscal conservatism, invoked Reagan and even got off a good one-liner about how he’d be about to win the Presidency if he looked like John Thune. But ultimately the crowd’s cheering and applause to McCain’s speech seemed…strained. Like they wanted to believe what he was saying, but weren’t quite sure if he actually meant it all.
Which is sort of the problem with McCain anyway, isn’t it?
DeMint gave a very good speech. He’s a very slick politician and said all the right things about fiscal conservatism and earmark reform. And the audience wanted to believe him, seemed almost desperate to believe him, but ultimately I think there was a lot of doubt among the grassroots conservatives in that room. Not necessarily about DeMint himself, but rather about whether or not the GOP in general can back up his rhetoric.
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