Going into CPAC this year I was afraid it might be a little dead this year. After all, with such excitement last year over the presidential election, I was worried there might not be as much energy on behalf of the activists.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

This afternoon some feisty CPAC-ers held a "Tea Party" outside the White House to rally against bailouts, where Michelle Malkin fired up the troops. I took some video of her impromptu speech. And, Joe the Plumber even made a special appearance! More photos below.

Meanwhile, the Townhall guys were holding down the fort at the actual conference. And, yes, they are quite the crew of good-looking conservative men!

And, I got to hang out with a real-life taxpayer watchdog, lol

Conservative media man Tucker Carlson is sad the Fairness Doctrine isn't going to be passed in its full glory.

He described it like "Christmas, your birthday and Hanukkah wrapped in one," because of the way it would have mobilized conservative activists.

It was particularly emblematic because, according to Carlson, the conservative movement is "held together by shared dislikes."

"Bill Clinton was the glue that held the conservative movement together" through the 1990's he said.

Now, it's time to figure out Republicans want. Or don't want again. "A lot of politics, as is life, is stopping bad things from happening," Carlson. He said it was okay for Republicans to say "I don't know what I am for, but I don't want that."

"There's no shame in telling other people to back off," Carlson declared.

UPDATE: Carlson was roundly booed by the audience for holding up the New York Times as an example of good journalism.

"They spell names right," Carlson said. The audience didn't want to hear it. Carlson gave the NYT credit for digging up original stories and for having properly edited content. A woman yelled out the papers was "twisted" in response.

"It's a liberal paper, okay, I knew that when I was a kid, my point is let's get our own papers!" he told her later during Q & A when she followed up with her earlier comments.

Carlson is currently embarking on his own conservative news project, which he briefly discussed at the conference.

"I've never met Pelosi's husband but I want to give the guy a medal." - Roger Hedgecock at CPAC while talking about why the Fairness Doctrine is bad.

I'm guessing it's this kind of talk that makes liberals so rabid about shutting down conservative radio. Hedgecock is free to say it of course, but I don't think that's exactly helping the cause.

Hedgecock also stole the basic idea of the American Issues Project latest ad about how to conceptualize $1 trillion in his speech. He said he had thought about it and figured a good way to visualize it is by thinking how far back Jesus existed.

Anyone who saw AIP's latest ad, or heard Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say this on the Senate floor knows Hedgecock didn't come up with this himself.

Moving on..

Editors' note: ?Townhall.com has learned that a specific speech topic request -- the fairness doctrine -- was not communicated directly to Joe Scarborough prior to his presentation. He gave his speech as he had prepared.

Ok, this is strange.

MSNBC's resident Republican Joe Scarborough was booked for CPAC to talk about the Fairness Doctrine. That's what it has said on the agenda for several days. And, as I blogged below there was even important action on it today in the Senate.

So, after a wonderful introduction by MRC's Seton Motley where he explained what happened this morning on the Hill, Scarborough totally dropped the ball.

He basically came out and said "I didn't know I was here to talk about the Fairness Doctrine, so let me say I'm against it....Now, I'm going to talk about what I was going to talk about."

Then, Scarborough proceeded to start talking about how great it was when he came to Congress in 1994. A basic, red meat speech on "the power of positive thinking in politics" and how even his dear old dad wouldn't vote for him.

But why is Scarborough ducking Fairness Doctrine talk? Did MSNBC put the tether on him? Does his new radio show with Mika have anything to do with it? Do they hope the single-host, conservative shows go down so Joe and Mika's ratings go up? I'm just speculating here, but why not. I wanted to hear him talk about conservative media.

Regardless, it's really poor tact to duck the topic you were billed to talk about to just, well, talk about yourself.

I hope he was misinformed.

We already know Barack Obama sure doesn't like the likes of talk radio titans like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Yet, he's always been careful to say he opposes the Fairness Doctrine. He'd rather go about it in a different way.

And, get his old homestate senator, Dick Durbin, to do his bidding

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure to prevent the Fairness Doctrine from being reinstated today, yet also agreed to urge the Federal Communications Commission to increase "diversity" on the airwaves.

President Obama wrote a letter to the FCC when he was Illinois senator saying action must be taken to increase minority ownership in print and broadcast media. Conservative watchdogs have argued using government to do this is a  "backdoor" version of the Fairness Doctrine.

Both actions were attached to a larger bill to grant Washington D.C. voting rights. At this point it is unclear if either measure would be included in the final version of the bill.

Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) sponsored the amendment to kill the Fairness Doctrine. It passed 87-11.

Liberal Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) sponsored the competing amendment for more media diversity, which passed 57-41.

"Today was an important victory for free speech, but the fight is far from over," said DeMint in a statement. "Senator Durbin's amendment exposed Democrat intentions to impose radio censorship through the back door using vague regulations dealing with media ownership. Senator Durbin's language was so broad, it could apply beyond radio to television, newspapers and the internet. All eyes are now on the FCC. If they attempt to shut down free speech directly, we will fight to stop them."

CPAC is hosting a panel to discuss the Fairness Doctrine at 3:45pm with Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson. I do hope they weigh in on the Senate's latest action.

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee sounded a bit like he was still on the presidential campaign stump at CPAC Thursday afternoon.

He delivered a tough-talking speech, discussing the need for education reform, nuclear energy development and dismissing universal health care where "some computer here in Washington will decide what treatment you can have."

And, he gave a nod to his down-home roots.

"I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich," Huckabee said. "I'm a Republican because I grew up poor and didn't want to wait for the government to rescue me."

The normally optimistic Huckabee ended his speech with an unusually dire note though.

"Let's change this country because if we don't there may not be another generation left to get the job done," he said  before walking off stage.

President Obama's soon-to-be released budget will reportedly contain $634 billion to pay for universal health care.

The Washington Post is describing this as a "developing" story. These are all the details for now:

President intends to release a budget tomorrow that creates a 10-year, $634 billion "reserve fund" to partially pay for a vast expansion of the U.S. health system, an overhaul that many experts project will cost as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

Obama would pay for the expansion by trimming tax breaks for the wealthy and tightening payments to insurers, hospitals and physicians, according to a senior administration official.

Well, I don't feel as good about the Jindal response as I did earlier today.

There was a cheesy, salesman-like quality to the response that I don't think connected with the Rick Santelli-inspired anger so many Republicans are feeling right now. And, I'm pretty sure he's going to be SNL's next target. His speech tempo was just, so weird.

Enough complaning from me. He didn't pass the primetime test and it makes me sad. I don't want to dwell.

What do you all think? Leave comments below.

President Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden will be keeping Congress in check on earmarks and wasteful spending.

I argued throughout the campaign and even in an Townhall cover story that would be Sara Palin's role as vice president if McCain won the election. She even said something to that effect and was smeared by liberals for allegedly overstepping her role.

Funny how things work out.

President Obama couched his calls for more government spending and tax increases in the spirit of American can do in this primetime address Tuesday evening.

"People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway," Obama said, "And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day. Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here."

Obama applauded Congress for delivering his $787 billion stimulus bill and beginning work on a $75 billion plan to increase lending and subsidize homes for people who can no longer afford their mortgages..

President Obama said he understood the "enormous responsibility" that comes with implementing massive programs with "good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending." To combat waste, fraud and abuse Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden would lead the administration's oversight tasks. "Because nobody messes with Joe," Obama laughed.

Republicans embraced Obama's calls for accountability and transparency and urged him to follow through on them in current budget battles, specifically the $410 billion omnibus spending bill House Democrats unveiled Monday.

"Republicans agree with the President on these commitments, and we assume Democratic congressional leaders do too," a group of House Republicans wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) Tuesday.  "It is in this spirit that we urge you to scrap the so-called 'omnibus' spending bill being rushed to a vote this week and instead bring a “continuing resolution” to the floor that freezes federal spending at current levels and includes no earmarks, Democratic or Republican."

Hilda Solis has been confirmed by the Senate to become Labor Secretary 80-17.

In the run-up to her confirmation Republicans complained about her work for the pro-union 501(c) 4, American Rights at Work while she was a member of the House.

Solis served as Treasurer of ARW, which engages in lobbying activities, at the same time she was sponsoring bills on Capitol Hill, such as the “Employee Free Choice Act” to increase labor’s organizing power in the workplace.

She did not disclose her affiliation with ARW until she was tapped by Obama to become Labor Secretary.  

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal will emphasize his immigrant roots and commitment to smaller government in the GOP response to President Obama's primetime speech tonight.

“As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country - and they instilled in me an immigrant’s wonder at the greatness of America," Jindal will say according to released excerpts of his speech. "As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad.  Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty.  And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: ‘Bobby, Americans can do anything.’  I still believe that to this day."

Jindal is one of three renegade GOP governors who are declining to accept a portion of their state's stimulus money to expand unemployment benefits. He argues accepting the money would lead to a permanent change in his state law that would need to be later financed with a tax increase.

“To solve our current problems, Washington must lead," Jindal will say. "But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians.  The way to lead is by empowering you - the American people.  Because we believe that Americans can do anything. "

President Obama has promised he would hold America's mayors accountable for their stimulus spending, but he sure is giving his hometown mayor a free pass.

"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it.... if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it," Obama vowed at recent mayors meeting.

Yet, Chicago Mayor Daley still hasn't been told "no" to his plans to use up to $20 billion in stimulus funds to pay for his O'Hare Airport Modernization Project that's riddled with corruption and fraud.

I've written about this project before, but more has happened since my that column was posted. Former Governor Rod Blagojevich's top fundraiser has been charged in a related scam.

Blagojevich's top fundraiser, Chris Kelly, is facing 11 counts of mail fraud and six counts of money laundering for a bid-rigging scheme he conducted to route $8.5 million in inflated roofing contracts to his commerical roofing company to do work on the project.

Five other commpanies are also being investigated by authorities to determine if they were awarded contracts fairly to do work at the airport. The brother of an influential alderman is being targeted in a probe to determine if there was women and minority-owned business fraud related to the project.

While all of this is going on Daley is still pushing the project. So the real question is when is Obama going to tell him NO?

Daley's Chief Spokesman Roderick Drew has confirmed Daley is seeking stimulus money to pay for part of OMP.  “We have applied for stimulus funding and I can confirm that Chicago mayor, Ray Daley is currently in talks about securing funding for the OMP," Drew said.  "In theory every project that is undertaken at the airport in the next two years is eligible for funding. However, I do not know if any particular schemes have been earmarked for funding or details of the funding timetable.”

Mayor Daley previously indicated he would conceal details of his plans to spend stimulus money from the press.

"We did not put that out publicly because once you start putting it out publicly, you know, the newspapers, the media is going to be ripping it apart," Daley said earlier this month.

Don't tell me there's not any pork in that $410 billion omnibus spending bill the Democrats unveiled yesterday. I can see it right from my Townhall office window.

Republican Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia has requested more than $800,00 to pay for bus service between Rosslyn, Virginia and Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

Townhall's headquarters sit right on that route. So, I can tell you, there's already plenty of bus service there. The Georgetown routes run every 10 minutes through the week. If you can't catch that, there are metrobus options.

And, if you can't manage that you can WALK.

It's barely a mile and it's the option I usually opt for. I've never even ridden a bus back and forth because I find it faster to use my legs. I've walked across on many occasions. More than I can count.  It's well lit and there's a beautiful view of the city when you walk across the Key Bridge. And, it hardly takes any time at all, less than 15 minutes to walk from where the bus picks people up on the Virginia side to get to M street.

And, let's be frank. Georgetown is one of the wealthiest, swankiest areas on the nation. This isn't the part of America that's struggling. Surely tax dollars could be more well spent than providing MORE bus options to Georgetown students and tourists.

This is one way to make what's sure to be a dismal speech more entertaining.

Americans for Tax Reform have made printable BINGO cards for President Obama's speech tonight.

Here's a sample below:

They've also put together a tongue-in-cheek key, here's a sampling of their definition of terms:

“Save or create” jobs – Obama’s new metric whereby he can claim credit for the outcome no matter what happens (how exactly does one determine the number of "saved" jobs?)

“Crisis” - Excuse to hike taxes and grow the government per Rahm Emanuel’s theory: “Never let a crisis go to waste."

“Hope” – The optimistic expectation, against all evidence that this government will be the first in the history of time to succeed in spending its way out of economic problems.

“Bipartisan” – "Pelosi and Reid get to decide what we'll do, but I'll have you over for tea first."

“Failed policies of the past” – An overspending problem by George W. Bush to be expanded by Obama “Investment”

“Sacrifice” – Tax hikes.

“Make work pay” – Writing welfare checks through the tax code (and then calling it a tax cut).

“Protecting responsible homeowners” – Forcing you to pay your neighbor’s mortgage.

“Vulnerable Americans” – People that Obama wants to make dependent on the government.

“Alternative energy”– Energy that is either too expensive or hasn't succeeded in the free market on its own (if it worked, it would just be called “energy”)