Mike Stark is at CPAC too and he picked up on a pretty big absence. Though CPAC boasts over 6,000 guests and at least half of them are College Republicans and though CPAC hosted a job fair for three hours Friday for conservative political vendors, campaigns, think tanks and organizations, the U.S. military was not invited to have recruiters stationed anywhere within the Conservative Political Action Conference. Stark has a theory about this:
Let’s try this: CPAC didn’t want to be embarrassed when pictures were released that showed recruiters standing around looking lonely. Similarly, recruiters know it’s a better investment of their time to troll “the other malls” rather than to recruit these nice white college boys.
While I did see a number of military veterans and Citadel cadets in attendance – and the panel “The Left’s Repeated Campaign Against the American Soldier” included many questions from veterans in the audience – it was surprising that there wasn’t any drive within the community to recruit amongst itself. I guess there just isn’t a desire for these war hawks to put their money where their mouths are – or more specifically, their asses where their mouths are.
Drumming up support for a war is not nearly as admirable as serving in the war that you believe in, folks. While there will always be a place for professional pundits and war hawks like MIchelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg to agitate for more wars, there simply aren’t enough paying gigs and syndicated column spots for that role to be available to all the College Republicans here who are not already serving in the military.
So come on guys, while you’re laughing at speaker after speaker bash the left for wanting to end the war in Iraq (while avoiding ever uttering the word “Iraq”), take a moment and swing by the nearest recruiting station and pitch in. Odds are you won’t be the next Dinesh D’Souza or Ann Coulter and your services are needed in the war you so piously support.
Also, don’t miss Nancy Scola’s indictment of the conservative movement for their continued adoration of Ann Coulter.
Technorati Tags: Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, CPAC 2007
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