Morning Coffee

It is a source of wonder to me that the day can be brightened by a cup of roasted bean wash water, known more commonly as Coffee. I am further amazed that people would pay the exorbitant prices charged by Starbucks. Is this another example of America;s apathy and laziness? Or did Starbucks find that there was a niche market for a company to sell coffee products at high prices? I think that is probably a combination of the two. But if some one does not want to go to Starbucks and pay that much for a cup of joe, what other actions does he have? There are amazingly few options. There is the ubiquitous convenience store coffee which can be any thing from freshly made to the far extreme. I have had some good experiences with coffee from truck stops, probably due to the fact that they almost always have refill the machine on a hourly basis. If you wish for breakfast at the same time then your best bet is to go to a drive through like Hardee's or Mcdonald's. The main problem with the drive through coffee is that the workers making the coffee are interested only in making a large amount of hot liquid. They usually end up with too hot bitter coffee that barely deserves the title of coffee. So what is the verdict? Maybe Starbucks has a good business plan. Now if they would just lower their prices......

Watch it now

C-Span recorded the General Session this morning and is replaying that recording right now.

Three Important Words

This a.m. Dallas Woodhouse, North Carolina Director for AFP spoke to the Summit, "You are the embodyment of three of the most important words ever put together in the English language, and no, North Carolina, it is not 'Start your engines.'" It is "We the People."

A Good One

Larry Kudlow says his mantra is "If you tax more, you get less. If you tax less, you get more."

Kudlow, after having dinner with them president-elect Obama in January of this year says, "He's charming, good sense of humor, an attractive young man (I'm 62, so I can say he's a young man.), but he did not know a bloody thing about the way our economy works."

One of Us

The spokeswoman for Patients United Now is a stay-at-home mother homeschooling five children.

A Challenge

John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal:

"I have good news.I am one of the few speakers standing between you and lunch."

"This bill won't take effect for four years. Why must it be voted on in the next seven weeks."

"Your parents, or maybe yourselves, beat back liberalism and Jimmy Carter in 1977. You and your predecessors beat back liberalism and Bill Clinton in 1993... I say we have won the first two rounds, let's win the third!.

Six Things to Do

Hugh Hewitt:

"I would like to thank Tim Phillips for putting me on after Newt Gingrich, Jim DeMint, Herman Cain and Dallas Woodhouse. I am here on behalf of a great defender of freedom, Rush Limbaugh...

Hewitt went on to give us a list of six things we need to do:

1-Support the conservatives in the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey;

2-Minimize the damage of people helping health care;

3-Educate people on our broken legal system;

4-Relentlessly expose the left wing (Kudos to Andrew Breitbart and the crew against ACORN at BigGovernment.com);

5-Credential young people, support youth politics, make them a project to get them ready for the future; and

6-Stay with Israel, our only ally in the Middle East.

Great Speakers

The Caffeinated Conservatives have been attending a General Session at the Defending the American Dream Summit with a star-studded list of speakers. Those addressing us include:

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
Senator Jim DeMint, of South Carolina
Larry Kudlow, of CNBC and CEO of Kudlow and Company
Hugh Hewitt, radio host and best-selling author
Steven Moore, Wall Street Journal
John Fund, Wall Street Journal
Herman Cain, radio host and Fox News contributor
Ed Morrissey, HotAir.com
Tracy Walsh, breast cancer survivor, Patients United Now
David H. Koch, Chairman, Americans for Prosperity
Tim Phillips, President, Americans for Prosperity
Phil Kerpen, Director of Policy, AFP
Shauna Holmes, Canadian citizen and brain tumor survivor

A Funny

Herman Cain, radio host and Fox news contributor said, "I've been involved with AFP from the beginning and I've since found out I'm a nasty, war-mongering, unfair zealot and a racist! I've had enough with telling people I have a perfect tan." Herman Cain is an African-American.

Great Quotes Heard Today at Defending The Dream

Jackie Cushman wrote:

People voted for a change they can believe in. They got someone who wanted to change what they believe in. [emphasis added]

Talking about the defeat of socialism in Europe, Newt Gingrich said:

In the past several days, the German socialist party has been handed the worst election results since World War II, with a vote of only 23%. In Italy, the socialist government has been defeated in the past few years. In France, Sarkowsky is a conservative president who defeated a socialist government [audience applause]. Hasn't the world changed when we cheer a French government?

A few minutes ago Newt Gingrich said:

Ronald Reagan was not just a great communicator, he was a great educator.

Gingrich had a bit of humor in his speech, too:

I met a man who at the age of thirteen during the Carter administration gas rationing was told by his father every morning to switch the license plates so which ever car needed gas would have the right plates. Here's a little quick conservatism test: If you're a conservative and you hear about a government program that is so flawed that thirteen-year-olds are taught to get around it, you work to repeal it. If you're a liberal, you want to hire license plate police.

Reagan Memorial Dinner

Over supper we were treated to a line up of speakers ranging from Laura Ingraham to the president of Americans for Prosperity to Congressmen Mike Pence from Indiana.

Laura Ingraham was very well received and garnered several standing ovations. In talking about the news of the day, Ingraham said, "My three favorite letters today are R. I. O." alluding to the smackdown the Olympic Committee gave the president after his trip to Copenhagen to beg for the Olympics to come to Chicago. She said Oprah was furious and wanted her cards to be returned.

But while Laura Ingraham's speak was attentively listened to and very sound conservatively, no speech was better received than Mike Pence's. Earlier this evening, Ingraham said that Reagan was the Great Communicator and that Obama was not. I would affirm that Mike Pence is a worthy successor to the title, though.

During Congressman Pence's speech, he exhorted the conservatives here today to keep fighting and encouraged us that he felt sure of a conservative victory in 2010 that would be a milestone in the history of conservatism.

Time and time again, the crowd rose to its feet, cheering what the Congressman said. Several times he had to wait for the applause to die down to continue his speech. The Congressman talked about how this group was the start of a new movement - a turning point in conservatism. He said, "I think the Republican Party has lost its way, but I think now we are finding our way back."

I thank God for men like Mike Pence who are not afraid to stand for what is right.

At the Reagan Memorial Dinner

Listening to Laura Ingraham

Really wish I'd brought some copies of Raising Real Men - the folks here would really like it.

Government in Person

After attending a rally along with 450 North Carolina conservatives, the caffeinated conservatives climbed six floors in the Senate Office Building to personally place on Kay Hagan's desk a two inch stack of about 25,000 signatures against the health care bill. As I dictate this, I am sitting at the elevator bank looking down the hall at a group of about 150 people waiting in line to tell Senator Hagan they don't want socialized health care.

After seeing a massive turn out of conservatives from those below voting age all the way to retirees who would be most affected by the heath care bill, the caffeinated conservatives are convinced that America does not want socialized medicine.

The over 450 North Carolinians are the most active group at the summit against the bill. For info on the summit google Americans for Prosperity. Signing off, the Caffeinated Conservatives

Defending the Dream

We are in route toward Washington, DC on our way to the Defending the American Dream Summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity. Starting at 2pm we will be participating in a national townhall meeting and rally. Further updates as events warrant.