I had the privilege of attending the Defending the American Dream Summit this past weekend at the historic Mayflower Hotel courtesy of Americans for Prosperity. The line-up of speakers included GoPAC Chairman Michael Steele and 20/20′s John Stossel. Stossel took his time to discuss why socialized health care was bad and gave some insight to his libertarian, not conservative, views.
The line-up also included all the Republican Presidential Candidates…except for Duncan Hunter. Rudy Giuliani is a funny guy. He had some good jokes and seemed to have a good plan fiscally, but his stances on almost every other issue concerns me, especially his position on gun rights.
I was most impressed by Mike Huckabee, who seemed to have the shortest speech. Despite the length of time, he was concise, witty, and smart. He was one of the most talked about candidates at the summit, with most agreeing that his speech was impressive and that he would make a great Vice President to bring more conservatism to the moderate “front runners.”
Fred Thompson was one of the most disappointing of the candidates. I find myself agreeing with what he has to say, but he lacks charisma.
I will also note that if Brownback even had any supporters in Texas he certainly lost them by opening his speech dissing UT-Austin’s football performance. Not a good move when you’ve got 50+ cowboy hat wearin’ Texans who love their football. Aside from that his speech was lackluster and rehearsed. This would mark the third time I’ve heard the same joke about social security from him.
John McCain was by far the worst speaker of the group that I saw. His speech at the Hart Senate Building was read, bland, boring, and lacking in the usual relaxed McCain humor. I also tried to catch up with him afterwards for a quick photo and found him to be unenthusiastic, rude, and unfriendly.
Ron Paul was impressive in his speech and he had a large number of supporters at the summit. He was very well received, especially for his strong fiscal conservatism. I am once again very impressed by him.
Mitt Romney was last on the list for the summit and his speech seemed to mirror Giuliani’s. I’m beginning to think the two are starting to sound more and more alike. Their jokes were similar, their positions were similar, and their supporters are similar. He, again, sounded polished, but robotic.
Overall, one of the most impressive speeches was from Dinesh D’Souza for the Reagan Tribute Dinner. As always, D’Souza was smart, funny, and charming. He was also very welcoming. I got a chance to meet up with him prior to his speech and he was happy to mingle with guests and take pictures.
In the end, I hope we elect a conservative who will Defend the American Dream and as the AFP-ers will tell you, “no more earmarks, no more pork!”
