Conservatives Salute Tom DeLay!

First of all, I have to thank Gary Marx from the Judicial Confirmation Network for giving me and my good friend Alex Lawhon (of the NRSC) some excellent seats last night. Thank you, Gary for the hookup!

Where to begin??? First of all, this was one of the best events I've been to. My mentor, Morton Blackwell, had even better seats (next to Bob Livingston and Mrs. DeLay):



This was a who's who of the conservative movement. Got to chat North Dakota politics with fiscal conservative leader Steve Moore...



Among the folks I saw were Bill Kristol, RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, Paul Weyrich, Tony Blankley, Richard Viguerie, Gov. Gilmore, Haley Barbour, Ed Gillespie, Jack Kemp, R. Emmett Tyrell, Rep. Tancredo, Rep. Roy Blunt, John Fund...


John Fund (left) and Jack Kemp (right).

And thanks to Gary Marx, I sat at the table with Rep. Doolittle and a great man -- Rep. Sam Johnson (pictured here):



When Majority Leader DeLay entered, he was greeted with "rock-star" like treatment: A standing ovation!


The speeches were mostly light-hearted and humorous. Morton Blackwell, Phyllis Schlafly, and Brent Bozell all brought down the house. David Keating wasn't bad, either. When it came time for conservative icon Paul Weyrich to speak, he shifted directions. I'm not sure there was a dry eye in the house after his moving speech about Tom DeLay's leadership: "The leadership of the conservative movement all of my life has prayed for a leader like Tom DeLay, and I'm here today to publicly thank God for answering my prayers."

Tony Perkins said it best last night: "The message of tonight is, if they pick a fight with Tom DeLay, they pick a fight with all of us."

In short, it was a great night to be a conservative!