This is a picture of bloggers blogging. The lady is Robin Burk. Sitting beside her is Bob Cox of National Debate. In the far corner is Sean Hackbarth (a conservative who wears an earring) of The American Mind, and I don’t remember who the other guy is.
Last night’s banquet was part comedy and part patriotism. First of all, the bloggers were assigned to tables 79 and 80, but the event’s organizers set up only 75 tables. That meant we had to stand around for about 45 minutes, hungry and watching the fancy people walk by. On top of the disorganization during the day, we were relegated to the hallway, waiting for belated accomodations like media stepchildren that night.
Dick Cheney gave the keynote address last night, and his speech stirred rousing applause. Matt has the audio. Also, go to RedState.org to see bloggers Erick Erickson and Robin Byrd (Winds of Change ) on MSNBC talking about blogs.
More about ME. I’m dog-tired. Despite all of yesterday’s activities, I was wide-awake and pumped. But now…caffeine can’t cure me. Because of the late nights and early mornings here at CPAC, I opted to stay in a hotel near the conference site, the Ronald Reagan building. Little did I realize I picked the one hotel filled with interns and high school kids. And they decided to have a party last night. I heard every movement, every laugh. I called the desk and said, “Put me in another room or put them in another room,” paraphrased, of course. The guy said he’d take care of it, and I thought, yeah right. But five minutes later, the party moved to another room way down the hall, and I eventually fell asleep.
In what seemed like another five minutes, the alarm was blaring in my ears. I dragged myself to the conference, first blogger here. Today Ann Coulter is speaking, and I doubt I’ll get to talk to her. I will try. I’ll speak with Herman Cain today, too. Very personable guy. He introduced himself to the bloggers yesterday, and I was so distracted trying to troubleshoot my non-functioning computer that I forgot to ask questions!
Enough rambling. I have to try to be a journalist today and ambush people for interviews and photos. Check back for pics and updates!
CPAC bloggers’ latest posts: Chris Nolan, Robin Burk, Erick Erickson, Matt Margolis, Sean Hackbarth…
Update (11:21 a.m.): Kevin McCullough and I are having a friendly debate. I don’t own a laptop, so in his estimation, that makes me a “fraudulent blogger.” My rationale: Laptops are expensive and I don’t travel that often. I have a desktop at home and access to one at work. Why should I shell out two grand for a laptop just to be cool?
Update II (12:12 p.m.): Michelle Malkin and family will make an appearance at CPAC.
Update III (2/19): The first update may have caused some confusion on two fronts, so I’ll clear things up. The “debate” between me and Kevin is friendly, as in “not serious,” just jokes between bloggers. Secondly, the laptop I’m using is borrowed. I’ve been writing “my laptop,” so many of you may have been a bit confused when I said I didn’t have one. I don’t own a laptop and won’t ask readers to buy me one. I have a number of low and medium priced books on my wish list. That’s about as far as I can go in the “buy me this” department. 
