They are slouched in chairs under the chandeliers of the several overflow rooms, or sitting cross-legged with their heads in their hands around TVs in the hallways, or crammed into the margins of the gargantuan Marriott ballroom watching Sarah Palin speak. Most of the CPAC goers who stayed for the final day of the conference wheeled their suitcases across the lobby to checkout earlier in the day, after she finishes, they will go back to their red state pockets of the country for rest and relaxation. It's been a long, exhausting conference—a three day parade of movement heroes and presidential candidates, author panels and movie screenings, happy hours and mixers with likeminded movement foot-soldiers.
But even in their exhaustion—visible on weary faces and in slumped postures—Sarah Palin works them into a lather. It is, for Palin anyway, a great speech: her barbs against the corrupt elites who rule Washington wrapped in homespun witticisms, tied with bows and delivered like little gifts to this most adoring crowd.
She is mocking the politicians who come to Washington "denouncing the cesspool" of corruption who decide after a few years that D.C. is "more like a hot tub." She is imploring the crowd to "drain the Jacuzzi and throw out the bums with the bathwater," railing against "crony capitalism," warning that "the federal government has never cast a bigger shadow." They hang on her ever word, scream until they're hoarse, and drown out Occupiers with a quick, deafening efficiency. Watching them watch her, it's apparent that this is what the three front-runners for the GOP race are lacking: an ability to get in front of the movement (literally), and connect with these voters on an emotional level as opposed to purely intellectual or ideological one. She embodies their enthusiasm; she believes in them, and they in her.
There is a piercing cry of "YEEHAW!" as she finishes her speech, and that's it. CPAC 2012 is over. There's a feeling of wistfulness as hundreds are exiting the hotel, but even the Palin haters (yes, a few can be found here) are impressed with what they saw. "It was really the perfect close to CPAC," says Marjorie Jeffrey, who doesn't count herself among Palin's diehard fans. "She can really give a speech."
Among those who love her are Bob Mogel from Taneytown, Maryland and his friend Kelly Palmer. "I love her to death. I'd do anything for her," Mogel says. "She's a real patriot. Nobody's fool." But here's the thing: hardly anyone I spoke to, even the most hardcore Palin supporters, thought she should have run.
"The media would be absolutely vicious. Maybe after two terms of Republicans before her she could come in and take over," Mogel says. I hear this point repeated over and over. "She rocks," says Howard Hacker, a New Yorker, but: "I don't know, she's been attacked so much by the media." Another CPAC, Bruce Montogmery, adds: "She's still a highly polarizing figure for the country."
One attendee told the Washington Post after that Palin's speech "was the speech that could unify the Republican Party," and that "If we picked our candidate with the applause-o-meter, we'd have our nominee ... I think the Republicans are not going to win because she's not running."
Mogel, though, wasn't ready to give up yet. "I don't care," he says wearily. "I'd vote for a can of soup over the guy we have now."
But even in their exhaustion—visible on weary faces and in slumped postures—Sarah Palin works them into a lather. It is, for Palin anyway, a great speech: her barbs against the corrupt elites who rule Washington wrapped in homespun witticisms, tied with bows and delivered like little gifts to this most adoring crowd.
She is mocking the politicians who come to Washington "denouncing the cesspool" of corruption who decide after a few years that D.C. is "more like a hot tub." She is imploring the crowd to "drain the Jacuzzi and throw out the bums with the bathwater," railing against "crony capitalism," warning that "the federal government has never cast a bigger shadow." They hang on her ever word, scream until they're hoarse, and drown out Occupiers with a quick, deafening efficiency. Watching them watch her, it's apparent that this is what the three front-runners for the GOP race are lacking: an ability to get in front of the movement (literally), and connect with these voters on an emotional level as opposed to purely intellectual or ideological one. She embodies their enthusiasm; she believes in them, and they in her.
There is a piercing cry of "YEEHAW!" as she finishes her speech, and that's it. CPAC 2012 is over. There's a feeling of wistfulness as hundreds are exiting the hotel, but even the Palin haters (yes, a few can be found here) are impressed with what they saw. "It was really the perfect close to CPAC," says Marjorie Jeffrey, who doesn't count herself among Palin's diehard fans. "She can really give a speech."
Among those who love her are Bob Mogel from Taneytown, Maryland and his friend Kelly Palmer. "I love her to death. I'd do anything for her," Mogel says. "She's a real patriot. Nobody's fool." But here's the thing: hardly anyone I spoke to, even the most hardcore Palin supporters, thought she should have run.
"The media would be absolutely vicious. Maybe after two terms of Republicans before her she could come in and take over," Mogel says. I hear this point repeated over and over. "She rocks," says Howard Hacker, a New Yorker, but: "I don't know, she's been attacked so much by the media." Another CPAC, Bruce Montogmery, adds: "She's still a highly polarizing figure for the country."
One attendee told the Washington Post after that Palin's speech "was the speech that could unify the Republican Party," and that "If we picked our candidate with the applause-o-meter, we'd have our nominee ... I think the Republicans are not going to win because she's not running."
Mogel, though, wasn't ready to give up yet. "I don't care," he says wearily. "I'd vote for a can of soup over the guy we have now."
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