It was okay. Saturdays are quieter at CPAC than are Thursday and Friday, but getting a panel at all was great.

Kindt performed really poorly with the crowd, as he was trying to sell statism to a libertarian-minded crowd. People were actually snickering while he spoke. He mentioned Dobson's name at least ten times, as if that would help him with this crowd.

Kindt kept claiming that gaming harms the economy by taking money out of it. When asked about where the money goes and why it doesn't reenter the economy when dealers and others spend it, he really had no answer.

Well, that's it for CPAC 2011. I think it was a great success for us.

In the past, our opponents succeeded at making a case that the position of conservatism regarding gaming is one of opposition. I believe our efforts are changing that. While some conservative lawmakers will continue to oppose us, the ones that don't really care one way or another may no longer feel obligated to oppose us.

Ron Paul won the straw poll again: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...raw-poll-cpac/

Thanks TheEngineer for everything you and the PPA did here. It was great to see all of your pictures and follow along with the updates. If there's any video footage of the debates and / or talks relevant to poker, I'm sure many members would enjoy watching it. Was very happy to hear about the snickering during Kindt's talk which certainly suggests that anti-online gaming will not be the default position for all conservatives. A+

Thanks TE for keeping us up-to-date on the goings on at CPAC. it sounds like the PPA is starting to make some progress (even if it's limited) within the GOP. Keep up the good work.

A good litmus test for how successful our efforts are progressing will be whether we can get banning internet poker out of the GOP platform for the 2012 election. We made progress in that regard last election, but ultimately failed. Sounds like we're headed in the right direction, so interested to see what happens here.

An unfounded fear at the least really. All internet sales are subject to sales tax IF a state has one, both direct and indirect.

For example, i just finished my state taxes and a specific question, DID I / my wife buy anything on the internet / out of state not taxed, if so how much and 6% tax due on that.

IF the merchant was instate they collected the online / mail order.

Wine sales are taxed already, cigarettes were / are taxed as well online (though shipping is now limited to wholeseller to retailer, no more to consumers directly).

obg

You sure ? Neutralizing potential opposition to PPA goals is fine, but you might want to avoid too many photo ops, given Breibart's propensity for crudely, gratuitously, stupidly making enemies just to make headlines:

"The cartoon is on Biggovernment.com. The man behind the site is blogger and conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart.

In the cartoon, the first lady is shown saying: "I've stepped up my efforts to control America?s eating habits by telling restaurants to lower portion sizes and fat content." The drawing shows a plump Mrs. Obama working her way through a plate full of hamburgers and fries.

In contrast, President Obama thinly drawn at her side- is shown eating what appears to be light vegetables from a near-empty plate.

"Michelle, I want to get re-elected. What you're doing is only going to annoy a lot of people," the cartoon depicts the president as saying.

"Shut up and pass the bacon!" the first lady shoots back in the drawing."

.... from www.cnn.com

Never been to California ?

Thanks! I appreciate your kind words.

PPA recorded it. I hope they can get it posted soon.

That's not my kind of cartoon -- and I do get your point -- but it surely beats having them drawn against us.

Many thanks to TheEngineer and the PPA's efforts on behalf of American poker players.

Things have gotten so much worse for US players in the past few years and the whole situation has become really depressing but at least the PPA has made an effort to educate our opponents and support legislation on our behalf. Thanks for trying guys. I'm hoping for the best for our future.

I'm sure its been said a hundred times over, but I just want to say thank you Engineer, and PPA for spearheading this. CPAC/the political "right" is ground zero in the fight to shed light on the true benefits of legalization/acceptance of online poker.

I come to this legislation forum every single day to get updates on the fight!

Thanks again.

Congrats on another PPA tournament win. Is that 2 for 2 so far? You should play more tournaments, imo.

Thanks!

Yes, it's been a nice tourney run so far. I may have to play these more often.

fox news editing boos into cpac video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwo0Iyrh1Zk&NR=1

Yeah I saw that vid, it was posted in the Ron Paul thread in the politard forum.

Pretty pathetic by faux. Pretty standard though.

Thanks Jenson and Adam. I spend a lot of time on this, so your kind words do mean a lot. I appreciate it.

TheEnginneer, PPA, active 2+2 PPA members and supporters:

I, too, would like to thank you for your hard work for the poker community, as well as, your hard work in the name of our generally understood freedoms and liberties. I hated the idea that the best we could hope for during the Reid Bill drama was a blackout period followed with state-by-state uncertainty as to opt-in/opt-out, but I understood the bitter pill we might have to swallow. I have a general disdain and disrespect for the ideologies of most of the attendees at CPAC, but I understand the need to shake hands with its members so as to remove the bulls-eye from the easy target that is the American live or online poker player. And the words I have to describe the likes of
Mr. Breitbart are not suitable for print here, but I understand why it's better that he stand shoulder to shoulder with you and Mr. Pappas rather than draw a wretched cartoon depicting his view of poker players.

Thanks again for your efforts that help to ensure our freedoms are no longer trampled upon.


"Never hate your enemies; it clouds your judgment." Michael Corleone, The Godfather, 1972