The Camera & The Microphone Are Mightier Than The Lying Typist

As opposed to the item just under the item immediately below, here is responsible &, you know, civil discourse (Hey, that's the theme, as a matter of fact: Civil people in nice clothes.) from the mainstream media.

And sometimes it takes a mainstream conservative conference in Washington, DC to remind one that, while the infrastucture of conservative interest groups has engaged in heavy flirtation--some would say an outright love affair--with the passion of the protesters, dignified gatherings in hotel ballrooms are still its bread and butter.

Here, 48 states are represented by mostly upper-middle-aged conservatives who have flown in for the occasion, most wearing button-down shirts and khakis, a blazer here and there. Some of the women dress brightly.

The total attendance, media included, is 1,827. Many seem to have come from out of town.

Um-hmm. Brightly dressed women from out of town, accompanied by the wave of the future, upper-middle-aged (Same as lower-just-plain-old?) conservatives in button-downs & khakis. Is there anything resembling a point here, other than the obvious prostitution similarity we tried to squeeze out of it?

Moving along, we see that typist Chris Good likes

Eric Cantor, the dynamic Republican House Whip who's become a leading voice against President Obama's economic policies.

A lot.

After his speech, I ask Cantor whether the fringes of the right need to temper their anger. I'm wondering if someone like Cantor--a conservative operator at the top of his game--thinks the concern over the right's anger, and the media attention it's getting, is hurting the conservative movement as a whole.

"We can be about civil discourse in this country--that's what this country's based upon," Cantor says. "I'm struck by the Speaker's comments yesterday that somehow we've now entered a new era where there's violence in the offing. I just disagree with that. I think that we are in an age right now, and at a turning point in history where America has some tough choices to make, so people have awakened and want to be involved in that."

Yes, you could be "about" civil discourse, couldn't you? Here's some.

The mainstream conservatives, calmly attending a conference about the issues that are important to them, must know this as well. Right now, there's a disconnect between the anger in the streets and the mild-mannered engagement in the Omni Shoreham's Regency Ballroom. But at the upper levels of conservatism--at the level of the DC-based interest groups and the people who run them--there's a real desire to connect the two: to get their groups involved in that momentum, and to be a part of the protest movement.

The important issues (Which Mr. Good conveniently forgot to sum up for us.) of the mainstreamers don't seem too disconnected from those of the Tea Partiers.

Sometimes it takes a conservative conference to remember it, but conservative engagement isn't always so rowdy. Sometimes it wears khakis and plaid, reviewing handouts in a hotel ballroom. It's a pure stylistic fact that August has led many to forget.

The point, therefore, is that, well, let's see ... his point, we'll guess, is that not all conservatives are raging loons. He didn't bother to point to differences between the policies (Or, indeed, any policy beyond overturning the results of the recent election.) & delusional concerns of the khaki-clad in the hotel ballrooms & the ideas & fears motivating the jeans & T-shirt reactionaries. Also ignored: Any  difference between the mild-mannered conspiring together in the Omni Shoreham's Regency Ballroom & a bunch of lower-middle-aged yahoos out to express their pent-up rage for the cameras & microphones.

Commenters who had clever ideas we didn't.

More next wk., from the heartland of Flyoveria: