A poor choice of words

Larwyn emailed about this,

Un Goofo Grande
Mitt Romney committed a paso falso the other day when he spoke to a group of Cuban-Americans in Miami:

When he mistakenly associated Fidel Castro's trademark speech-ending slogan--Patria o muerte, venceremos!--with a free Cuba, listeners didn't laugh. They winced.

Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase--in English, ''Fatherland or death, we shall overcome''--for decades. . . .

Romney's fumble demonstrates the potential snags for state and national politicians trying to navigate the Cuban-American community of South Florida.

Ever since Ronald Reagan enthralled exiles by crying, ''Cuba si, Castro no,'' in a landmark 1983 visit to Little Havana, politicians have clamored, with mixed success, for the Spanish-speaking vote.

It's not so different from the candidates who court Broward County's heavily Jewish retirement condominiums, offering residents a free nosh and delivering their best schtick.

And if you do go to Broward, Gov. Romney, try to avoid the slogan "Arbeit macht frei."

I mentioned to Larwyn that Taranto makes a very apt comparison, as the rallying cry of the Cuban revolution, the older generation of Cubans will tell you that Che would preside over executions in Cuba and yell out the "Patria o muerte, venceremos" as he was giving the order to fire the rifles.

Please, please, if you're a political candidate, avoid the foreign language schtick altogether.

A few post-CPAC observations

I really liked Giuliani's speech but my favorite speaker was John Bolton. I even managed to say hello to him on my way out. Great guy.
(No, I didn't ask, "Got milk?")
Update, Sunday 4 March Pamela has the speech.

In case I didn't make myself clear enough yesterday, I loathe Ann Coulter. This kind of stuff is why. Since the exhibit hall where the bloggers were located was filled with people and noise I first thought I had misheard, but James Joyner clarified that I had heard it correctly.

Joyner tried to get Romney to say something other than the usual boilerplate, and all he got was a rounding error.

Anyone who thinks self-tanners make you look tan should face reality and learn that orange is not tan.

Until I went to CPAC I didn't know that the NRA has a radio show on Sirius.

Romney has over-coiffed hair. A little less perfect would look a lot better. Overgroomed men are a turn-off.

Brownback and Romney's adherents were too much. Fighting a gauntlet on the way to the ladies' room does not, I repeat, does not endear people to your candidate, guys. Chanting "Brownback, BROWNBACK" in closed quarters is just plain obnoxious. Shouting matches are beyond the pale.

Friday in the early evening we went for happy hour at Mediterra courtesy of Patrick Hynes of Ankle Biting Pundits.

The turnout was great (sixty bloggers or so), and Rob was enjoying himself:

I'm not sure what happened here but I believe Joyner and Atilla were talking about how Hillary makes rude noises:

Later that evening Rob Bluey and others went on to a party at Richard Miniter's house. Richard's a great guy but by 7:30PM all I wanted to do was take a hot shower, order a burger from room service, and watch The Departed on TV in a little peace and quiet.

Which is exactly what I did.

Speaking of The Departed, what ever happened to the 1 1/2hour movie? The Departed was 151 very gruesome minutes.

This was the first time I've attended a convention as a blogger. Next time I'll have a much better idea of how to approach the demands on time and the logistics.

The wire connections at the blogger's table were iffy at best. The tech guy ended up connecting my laptop to the wire with duct tape.

I dragged home 60 lbs of luggage this morning. If I knew on Thursday what I know now, I would have not brought any daytime dress shoes, which I put aside in favor of these, which I only packed at the last moment.

I wasn't the only one ditching the dress shoes.

The amoung of stuff one gets at CPAC is enormous. On the way to the ladies' room a Romney volunteer asked me if I wanted a foam mitt, which I politely declined, TWICE, since he woudln't take no for an answer ("it goes with your dress", he said, yet I didn't throttle him).

I threw away easily a hundred pages of paper, a tote bag and a dozen magazines, and still managed to keep:
4 books
6 magazines
1 chapstick
a plush puppy from PETA Kills Animals
3 CDs
3 copies of Humberto Fontova's article on Che Guevara, which I'm sending to people
1 tote bag (the only way to carry the stuff home)
2 Townhall.com baseball caps for the guys at home
2 mouse pads (not sure how I managed to keep both)
several pens
100 or so business cards
a Victory Caucus pin N.Z.Bear insisted I wear
and a Sam Adams bobble head toy, since the Sam Adams Alliance didn't serve beer.

Yes, you can take it with you.