June 19, 2005

VRWC Meeting Report

I had fun Saturday night at the Tennessee Republican Party's 2005 Statesmen's Dinner. Sen. John Thune - the guy who knocked off Tom Daschle last fall - spoke and wowed the crowed. Look for him on future presidential prospect lists. More thoughts: I've never heard U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp speak before, but he's phenomenal. So is U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn. Either one of them would give Gov. Phil Bredesen a stiff challenge next year.

Sen. Lamar Alexander gave a very good speech focusing on two things: national energy policy and education. On the former, he gave a pointed and a times funny response to those reports last week intimating he had voted against a windmill energy proposal because he owned property next to where the windmills would be built.

Alexander explained that the windmill proposal he voted against would have forced an $18 billion rate increase on electric bills nationwide - about $500 million in Tennessee - and also stripped local communities of the right to block the construction of windmills, which would be "twice as tall as Neyland Stadium with roters stretching from the 10 yard line to the 10 yard line," in their community, and required $3 billion a year in ongoing federal spending.

Alexander said he believed people ought to have to the right to stop the construction of windmills in their community, and said America needs (and will soon have, thanks to the work of the Republican congress) a national energy policy, but "we don't need a moonbeam pie-in-the-sky National Windmill Policy."

Amen to that.

Sen. Bill Frist also spoke. His call for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, to apologize for his slanderous remarks comparing American soldiers to Nazi torturers was electrifying. I wish I had the transcript. Until one is posted, here's a transcript of Sen. Frist's remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding Durbin's statement.

Some of the people I ran into: Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt, state Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, state Rep. Glenn Casada, R-Franklin, GOP fundraiser Bryan Kaegi, and state House GOP press secretary Kristin Hayner who, as it turns out, is married to Chip Hayner, whose company, Submerge Media, is an advertiser on my blog. Kristin is filling in as the House GOP press secretary for Lance Frizzell while he's off serving America in the Iraqi theatre of the War on Terror, and will be looking for work after he returns.

At the after-dinner reception hosted by Senate candidate and former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, I ran into bloggers Rob Huddleston of VOLuntarily Conservative and Jay Bush of Blogging for Bryant.