Live From CPAC, Part 2

What a great start to the second day of CPAC 2006, the day started with an excellent call to action from conservative Governor Rick Perry of Texas. In a voice resembling that of our great president, he discussed the role of conservatives in today's political world and their need to stick to the principles that they were elected on: limited government, fiscal responsibility, and security on the borders and in the marketplace.

Gov. Perry also covered education reform, two themes in general: school choice, and performance pay. On performance pay, he stated that "we need to get more education for our money ..." and not the other way around. He also noted that the unions are dead-set against this reform, but when it comes to those teachers who would receive the bonuses, they say the money will be taken graciously. My view is, if you aren't willing to take money from mediocrity in exchange for excellence, then the quality of education will sink to abhorrent levels.

Finally, Gov. Perry talked quite a bit about border security, telling the story of how armed "drug smugglers" in Mexican Army uniforms with armed Humvees removed drugs from an abandoned truck that had crossed the border and set it on fire. The Mexican government said that either they were just drug smugglers, or, more preposterously, they could have been American smugglers taking drugs TO Mexico. Yeah, and Osama bin Laden likes Western culture ...

Yesterday afternoon, Lt. Col. Oliver North (ret.) gave the best speech I have heard during the entire conference as of yet. Recounting the efforts overseas of our armed forces and the topic of NSA surveillance, North gave a stirring account of a time in the 1980s when the leader of a foreign country ordered an attack to be carried out on an American military officer and his family. This information was intercepted and relayed to the authorities, and the officer, along with his family, was moved to a safe location. Subsequently, the attacker was caught and charged. The officer was Col. North, and he argued that had it not been for nearly the same tactic we are using today, he and his family might have been killed.

I have seen a few other bloggers at the conference thus far, including Brandon from GOP3, and Grant from PatriotBlog. Brandon has coverage of the Sarbane-Oxley panel yesterday afternoon as well as a recount of the Presidential Banquet with VP Dick Cheney and VA Sen. George Allen. Stay tuned for further updates, as Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is scheduled to speak in just over an hour ...