The John Birch Society at CPAC
Written by Chris Bentley
Thursday, 18 February 2010 16:35
Well, the John Birch Society made it to CPAC. The only apparent gridlock in this city at the moment is the traffic. Wow! What a mess. It took nearly 90 minutes to drive 12 miles into Washington. The street curbs are piled high with snow (more evidence of man-made global warming), and any two-lane roads have effectively been turned into one-lane roads.
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel, set up our booth on Wednesday, and already began to attract attention. One Washington Times reporter asked to take a picture of our booth as it was still under construction. We smiled and said yes. Then staff member Sam Antonio chimed in and told her to be sure and come back tomorrow, as we would have the best looking booth here. And, he added, with a little humor, “it will be the most controversial to boot.” She smirked and responded that we already are controversial.
On Thursday as we arrived to start the day’s events, the Marriott was already teeming with thousand of visitors. We’ve had many curious attendees stop by already, even though the day is barely half over. Some visitors have been congressional candidates from across the country, others from media. Some notable personalities have included such diverse individuals as Jerome Corsi and Rachel Maddow. Ms. Maddow even gave us an informal six-minute interview/discussion.
The New American’s Senior Editor Bill Jasper spent 20 minutes on Phil Valentine’s radio show.
Regarding the event so far, when I asked Director of Marketing Larry Greenley about the experience, he said: “After just a half day working in the exhibit, it’s hard to believe that we’ve taken so long to have an exhibit at CPAC. We’re meeting a lot of attendees that already have a lot of connections with JBS, but more importantly a lot of young people are stopping in and learning what the JBS is and does. The new literature piece ‘Discover The John Birch Society,’ that we created for our CPAC exhibit is very well received. It provides an excellent way for our booth personnel to quickly introduce what the mission, principles, and major campaigns of the JBS are.”
Jim Capo, a JBS coordinator for Virginia and the Carolinas, commented: “A whole new generation of freedom fighters is figuring out that The John Birch Society is ‘the original and the best.’”
Andy Dlinn, a section leader in Pennsylvania, said, “it was refreshing to see the constant flow of folks thirsting for the Constitutional limited government education offered by the JBS. Since the moment I walked into the booth, it has been a non-stop talkfest with positive results and everyone wanting trial subscriptions to The New American magazine.”
Wes Thompson, a volunteer member from Pennsylvania remarked, “It’s always fun to introduce people to something they’ve heard about, but didn’t understand. The response has been very positive. I haven’t had a single negative response. I’ve talked with people who are very happy to see us here. And I’ve talked to a lot of younger people who didn’t know anything about us other than the name.”
We’re having lots of fun talking to a whole generation of people thirsty for solutions to the nation’s problems. Our message of limited government under the Constitution and free-market economics, always timeless, has never been more timely.