Because I have friends in high places, I have a full-access press pass at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and I am very impressed.

I am impressed because there’s a level of seriousness, passion, and intelligence that breaks every gross stereotype you might have about conservatives, Republicans, Neocons, and even Tea Partiers.

If you underestimate the Right, you’re a fool. The Right is collectively pulling a Matlock.

You remember the TV show Matlock, right? How Harvard-educated, Georgia-bred lawyer, Ben Matlock, intentionally indulged every good old boy archetype so as to woo the other side into a false sense of security before he ate their lunch.

His success was directly linked to how completely he was dismissed and underestimated. The Republican Party and its associated conservative groups are, collectively, doing the small town lawyer act.

And, as you may well know, if you ever run into someone who starts his argument with “I’m a simple man and I don’t know much,” be prepared to lose your shirt.

One powerful thing these men and women around me all day at CPAC have in common is that they really like each other.

Another thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any semblance of ageism — the young abound here, it is true, but their heroes are their also their elders.

And, finally, these are passion-driven men and women who are eagerly putting aside any petty disagreements they might have as to how their new America should look in 2013 because there are more important things than important things, to quote my own mother.

And, when it comes to the in-fighting between the social conservative, the fiscal conservatives, and the tea party, at CPAC 2012, the lion doth lie with the lamb.

Right now, as we speak, I am sitting in the hotel lounge for happy hour, and all I hear is passionate conversation, quite a bit of laughter, and even more smiling and hand-shaking.

And no, I am not suggesting that there’s any sort of conspiracy going on! No!  But there is a lot of organizing, to be sure. To be certain. And if I were to make a gross stereotype myself, I would say that they Republican leadership doesn’t need to do the sort of cat-herding that often sandbags the Democrats.

These folks are aligned — or if not quite there, they’re quickly aligning, with the single-minded goal of reclaiming the White House this November.

Oh, another thing I have realized after spending one day here with my media credentials is that there is a lot more media-savvy in this crowd that many of us city slickers might believe.

There is a powerful self-awareness in the modern conservative. Everyone here’s suited up, even the young college crowd, who are wearing ties and heels and fitted suits and skirts.

The theatricality of the presentations may well be sentimental in the form high-patriotism, but long gone is any semblance of naïveté or artlessness.

I can guarantee you that every scrap of folksiness woven into the fabric of the campaign trail leading up to November is completely intentional. Mamma didn’t raise no fool.

Related articles

• Romney Wins CPAC Straw Poll (Again) (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Sarah Palin Says She Won’t Make Her Endorsement at CPAC (timesunion.com)
• CPAC: “Nattering Nabobs Of Negativism” (mykeystrokes.com)
• CPAC: The Delicate Dance Of Disassociating Oneself From “White Nationalist” Groups (mykeystrokes.com)
• The Ultra Conservative Republican Stars of CPAC Meet in Washington D.C. or: Mommy, I’m A-Scared of the Clowns (barkinginthedark.wordpress.com)
• Gov. Rick Scott brings familiar message to CPAC (tampabay.com)
• As CPAC Ends, Contest In Conservatism Goes On (npr.org)
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• CPAC Straw Poll speaks in muted tones! (politicsandfinance.blogspot.com)

I just received the below-excerpted appeal from my favorite Washington, DC, kitchen for the city’s homeless and hungry.

Miriam’s Kitchen in downtown Washington in a neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom and has one of the most innovative, gorgeous, and respectful models for serving undeserved communities I have ever experienced personally:

‘What do your guests need the most?‘ is a question we get asked a lot.

Aside from housing, it’s their daily needs that are the most pressing.

The needs change often, but what hasn’t changed is your desire to help fill those needs.

So in an effort to make it as easy as possible to help our guests, we’ve created an Amazon.com wish list–complete with links to buy the things our guests ask us for the most.

Now you can help our guests with just a click of a button.
(In fact, it’s this button! Click here.)

Today our guests need sunscreen, underwear, shorts & t-shirts–all available now on our Amazon.com wish list for quick purchase and delivery right to our door.

It’s never been easier to help.

If you’re still a little skeptical, please do your due-diligence and check out all of the blog posts I have written about my experience working with Miriam’s Kitchen as a volunteer floor captain on some days and as a sous chef under Chef John on others:

3 ways to help DC’s homeless survive the cold, Homelessness in Washington and Miriam’s Kitchen, Help Support Miriam’s Kitchen During Deals on Wheels Week, First Annual Thanksgiving Dinner at Miriam’s Kitchen, Miriam’s Monthly: Heat Wave Edition, Going Steady with Miriam’s Kitchen, Volunteering to Feed the Hungry at Miriam’s Kitchen, How I Spent my Thanksgiving at Miriam’s Kitchen, A Full Dinner Plate at Miriam’s Kitchen, Volunteering to Feed the Hungry at Miriam’s Kitchen, Yummy Breakfast at Miriam’s Kitchen, Going Steady with Miriam’s Kitchen, Help Restore Essential Services to DC’s Homeless, and Remembering the Homeless this Spring with Miriam’s Kitchen

P073009PS-0451, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

President Barack Obama, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley toast at the start of their meeting in the Rose Garden of the White House, July 30, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

There are so many amazing things about the Obama campaign — including incomparable media savvy. Douglas Rushkoff wrote an insightful post about “brand Obama” that I consider to be one of the reasons why I supported Hillary Clinton — turning America around from the mess left by the Bush White House is going to be a lot of really hard work:

The danger in Brand Obama is that our focus on a heroic or mythic presidency could easily distract us from the hard work and reality of creating change ourselves. “Hard working” democrats loved listening to Hilary Clinton talk about how hard she was going to work for them because it made it seem like the president is in position to stay up all night and, through the extra effort, get food on our tables or money in our bank accounts. It just doesn’t work that way, and Obama’s refusal to, say, cut gas taxes over the summer to cater to this mentality speaks volumes.

Via Douglas Rushkoff

It looks like the race is still on. Senator Hillary Clinton has won Ohio and Texas primaries and is still in the race for President. Like I have always said, I respect the Clintons and would do anything to have one or more Clintons in the White House. Personally, I consider Bill Clinton to have been the best President in my lifetime. Reports via Salon, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, CNN, Fox News, and the LA Times.

The race in the Texas primary is still very tight, but MSNBC has just called it for Clinton. Right now, with 75 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton leads by slightly more than 60,000 votes.

Not all is lost for Obama, however: Because of the complex formula Texas uses to divide delegates, it’s possible for him to lose the popular count and still emerge from the state with a lead in delegates. The networks have not yet offered delegate projections.

Results from the Texas caucus, an entirely separate affair from the Texas primary, are also now streaming in. Obama is ahead in that race by more than 10 percentage points.

Update: Now CNN, too, has called the primary for Clinton.

I am not the only one who believes that Hillary Clinton will be President come 2008. Sportsbook.com gives Senator Hillary Clinton 6-1 odds, with Rudy Giuliani trailing with 10-1.

When I realized the import of what was going on, I called Michelle Nolan, my recent Ex, and told her that I was jumping into the Jeep and dashing back over to Dupont so that I could collect her from her 10th floor condo, right up the street from the State Department and relatively close to the Executive Branch. And she lives in a Studio apartment, one wall of which is glass. And she lives with our dog Suzi.

So although she didn’t want to come at first, I sped over there anyway. To collect her. To collect them. Big Little Erz and Little Little Erz.

There was a lot of traffic forming. There were the first signs of the military. I hustled up 13th, and then made it up to Florida and cut around above the city center and after some nasty jams, I made it in to Dupont and there was Miss Michelle and Miss Suzi, all packed up and ready to bail.

I got her in the car. As I said before, she was feeling sick anyway. She was looking kind of out of it; I knew I was kind of out of it. It didn’t matter. When I need to perform, I always do, thank God.

As I recall, there were already Hummers at some of the corners downtown, so I avoided downtown again. I tried my best to do the circuit, but as I recall, I believe I tool Mass Ave mostly.

When we got into the Grotto — Suzi, Kate, Michelle, Isa, and I — I felt better. And by that time, Anita was back home and her crew were starting to drink some beers. Isa had made plans to bail town to the ‘burbs to avoid the inevitable, I was blogging and sending emails on the kitchen table, Michelle and Kate were glued to the TV, and Suzi was just chillin’. She’s good like that.

Of course, the towers fell. The fell and many people didn’t get out. And there is something wrong when the rescuers need rescue.

By noon, Kate and I headed over to Al’s to grab some ‘za.

And, then there was the plane, hijacked, and apparently on its way to the White House. And then there was the report of it going down in a field in Central Pennsylvania.

And the day passed.

Image via Wikipedia

When I realized the import of what was going on, I called Michelle Nolan, my recent Ex, and told her that I was jumping into the Jeep and dashing back over to Dupont so that I could collect her from her 10th floor condo, right up the street from the State Department and relatively close to the Executive Branch. And she lives in a Studio apartment, one wall of which is glass. And she lives with our dog Suzi.

So although she didn’t want to come at first, I sped over there anyway. To collect her. To collect them. Big Little Erz and Little Little Erz.

There was a lot of traffic forming. There were the first signs of the military. I hustled up 13th, and then made it up to Florida and cut around above the city center and after some nasty jams, I made it in to Dupont and there was Miss Michelle and Miss Suzi, all packed up and ready to bail.

I got her in the car. As I said before, she was feeling sick anyway. She was looking kind of out of it; I knew I was kind of out of it. It didn’t matter. When I need to perform, I always do, thank God.

As I recall, there were already Hummers at some of the corners downtown, so I avoided downtown again. I tried my best to do the circuit, but as I recall, I believe I tool Mass Ave mostly.

When we got into the Grotto — Suzi, Kate, Michelle, Isa, and I — I felt better. And by that time, Anita was back home and her crew were starting to drink some beers. Isa had made plans to bail town to the ‘burbs to avoid the inevitable, I was blogging and sending emails on the kitchen table, Michelle and Kate were glued to the TV, and Suzi was just chillin’. She’s good like that.

Of course, the towers fell. The fell and many people didn’t get out. And there is something wrong when the rescuers need rescue.

By noon, Kate and I headed over to Al’s to grab some ‘za.

And, then there was the plane, hijacked, and apparently on its way to the White House. And then there was the report of it going down in a field in Central Pennsylvania.

And the day passed.

When I realized the import of what was going on, I called Michelle Nolan, my recent Ex, and told her that I was jumping into the Jeep and dashing back over to Dupont so that I could collect her from her 10th floor condo, right up the street from the State Department and relatively close to the Executive Branch. And she lives in a Studio apartment, one wall of which is glass. And she lives with our dog Suzi.

So although she didn’t want to come at first, I sped over there anyway. To collect her. To collect them. Big Little Erz and Little Little Erz.

There was a lot of traffic forming. There were the first signs of the military. I hustled up 13th, and then made it up to Florida and cut around above the city center and after some nasty jams, I made it in to Dupont and there was Miss Michelle and Miss Suzi, all packed up and ready to bail.

I got her in the car. As I said before, she was feeling sick anyway. She was looking kind of out of it; I knew I was kind of out of it. It didn’t matter. When I need to perform, I always do, thank God.

As I recall, there were already Hummers at some of the corners downtown, so I avoided downtown again. I tried my best to do the circuit, but as I recall, I believe I tool Mass Ave mostly.

When we got into the Grotto — Suzi, Kate, Michelle, Isa, and I — I felt better. And by that time, Anita was back home and her crew were starting to drink some beers. Isa had made plans to bail town to the ‘burbs to avoid the inevitable, I was blogging and sending emails on the kitchen table, Michelle and Kate were glued to the TV, and Suzi was just chillin’. She’s good like that.

Of course, the towers fell. The fell and many people didn’t get out. And there is something wrong when the rescuers need rescue.

By noon, Kate and I headed over to Al’s to grab some ‘za.

And, then there was the plane, hijacked, and apparently on its way to the White House. And then there was the report of it going down in a field in Central Pennsylvania.

And the day passed.