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I would not have gone, so it’s a good thing you didn’t invite me

I would not have gone, so it’s a good thing you didn’t invite me

I never get invited to anything.  Not that I would go, anyway.  I have much more important things to do.

Via Ben Smith, Buzzfeed Politics, After A Twitter Win, Romney Meets The Online Right:

At the Republican National Committee yesterday, conservative online writers and bloggers who arrived to meet with Romney were also shown a chart that seemed to explain the Romney campaign’s new warmth toward them. The chart (resembling, a source said, the one produced by Twitter above) illustrated the role a hyperactive conservative Twitterverse played in turning Hilary Rosen’s jab at Ann Romney into a great campaign moment for the Republican….

The meeting, which included writers from RedState and Breitbart.com as well as a list of conservative publications reported by Huffington Post — National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Powerline, Townhall,, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media (though not, as an early report had suggested, the conspiracist site WorldNetDaily). RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.

Notably, the meeting also included some grassroots bloggers with no real institutional ties to the Washington Republican Establishment, including the Twitter virtuoso Ace of Spades and John Hawkins of Right Wing News.

I don’t take these things personally.  Really, I don’t.  They probably only invited bloggers, like Dan Riehl, who had been friendly to Romney during the primaries, as further reported by Buzzfeed:

“It was mostly enemy territory for [Romney], until recently,” a participant said. “He may not win us over, we may even fight some things if he’s elected. But reaching out is the best thing he could have done under the circumstances.”

And it’s not like I spent any of my precious time defending Ann Romney.

Anyway, I mean, I could not have just jumped on a plane from Ithaca.  The airline service is spotty and expensive, and from what I hear the airspace between here and everywhere else was declared a no fly zone yesterday.

Also, it’s not like they allowed people to call in:

So even though there were as many as 60 writers at the Capitol Hill Club gathering, along with others calling in by phone, they weren’t permitted to cover.

What???!!!

Calm down.  I could not have called in, because all of the phone lines in Ithaca were broken, and the cell phone towers had been vandalized.

I don’t seek recognition.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

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Comments

“Always the bride’s maid…never the bride”.

I am always reminded of Groucho’s remark about club memembership…

PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.

    Estragon in reply to Ragspierre. | May 4, 2012 at 2:50 am

    According to Groucho in one of his books, that joke had a origin in real life. When the act was on Vaudeville in the ’20s, they were the nation’s top entertainment draw. They were making $20,000 a week, an enormous sum in those days of nickel coffee and loaves of bread, and turned down many movie offers because they didn’t pay anywhere near that – they couldn’t afford to take the time off.

    Society suddenly began feting them, and Groucho was invited to join a private club that he had been refused entry to as a member’s guest a couple of years before, because he was Jewish. This elicited his now-classic response.

    So, obviously, the Professor is a victim of antisemitism.

I never get invited to anything.

That’s because you did not list yourself as 1/32 American Indian (oops, Native American). Or some other minority.

Oh wait, you are a minority. You’re a white male.

Nevermind.

    Hate speech!!

    Liberal Word Games Vol. 78,003-2

    “Native” implies a negative connotation, and is considered a slur when used by non-Native-Americans.

    The Obama Administration has replace this foul, despicable term with one that is universally accepted.

    First up, the number one Google search result:

    Barack Obama | First Americans for Obama
    https://tribes.barackobama.com/
    BarackObama.com is the official re-election campaign website of President Barack Obama. Visit the site for the latest updates from the Obama campaign, …

    (Notice I’m not linking…but have at it if you’re inclined)

    Next up: Obama:

    Barack’s Message for First Americans – YouTube

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWocEgu3bPk

    Last up: in PDF

    BARACK OBAMA: FIGHTING FOR FIRST AMERICANS
    obama.3cdn.net/97fc9b7e4879a0eba6_3ew7mv85i.pdf
    File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – Quick View
    Paid for by Obama for America. BARACK OBAMA: FIGHTING FOR FIRST AMERICANS. The hundreds of Indian tribes in America face a unique set of challenges

    Now, you understand the err of your ways. Get on board the First American bandwagon!

    GO FIRST AMERICANS!!

LukeHandCool | May 3, 2012 at 11:12 am

When I read about this last night I was wondering if you were there, Professor.

Most Underappreciated. Spot on.

Keep up the great underappreciation!

By the way, the Buzzfeed article spelled Reince’s name incorrectly: it’s Priebus, not Preibus. I should know.

LukeHandCool (who can’t underappreciate you enough!)

Bill, you are Number One with us, your loyal supporters.

Right Wing News? Huh?
Your site is ranked about 50,000 places ahead of that one.

Oh well. They’ll find out about you sooner or later.

Don’t feel bad. This blog is among the very best conservative/libertarian blogs. Two other blogs in that upper echelon are Protein Wisdom and The Other McCain. Well, if it was unlikely that Team Romney would invite Professor Jacobson to yesterday’s event, it is damn near inconceivable that they’d ever reach out to Goldstein or McCain.

LukeHandCool | May 3, 2012 at 11:41 am

Professor,

In many ways Romney is like Obama’s composite girlfriend and he’s just playing hard to vet.

    Browndog in reply to LukeHandCool. | May 3, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    classic line.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Insty grabbed it to link to this thread-

      LukeHandCool in reply to Browndog. | May 3, 2012 at 12:32 pm

      Thanks, Browndog. 🙂

      But I doubt that will happen. I feel like the even more underappreciated baby brother the Professor never had, and never really wanted.

      ThomasD in reply to Browndog. | May 3, 2012 at 9:37 pm

      I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on an insty link, especially to Luke’s mordant phrase. Insty is very much a Romney booster.

“that’s the ticket.”

Not sure how you found that clip

I looked high and low last year, for anything related to that character, and everything was pulled for copyright.

Nice work.

DINORightMarie | May 3, 2012 at 11:52 am

They know about your support and defense of Romney, at least from me. I’ve posted on the Romney Facebook wall, linking to your blog posts on the 2007 video of Romney discussing making a call for taking out OBL. But that was probably waaaaayyyy too late for them to get you an invite, even a conference call. 😉 Or something.

But, knowing the Romney team, they just made another over-site. Or, perhaps, just a faux pas, like the Etch-A-Sketch moment.

Kerrvillian | May 3, 2012 at 11:55 am

It is a sign of how poorly managed the Romney campaign is.

You have two camps of bloggers who aren’t on the left. Those who were at least friendly to your candidacy from the start. These are the “choir”.

Then you have the others. They are the ones who were skeptical of you.

An OK preacher can preach to his choir week after week and never look to grow his flock.

A really good preacher reaches out to those on the back row. The really good preacher gets those on the back row who were eager to get out and get away move up and kneel, not to the preacher but to the promise he holds out to them.

I can’t say that such a message gets taught in synagogues or in Mormon temples. I’m ignorant of such places.

I will so, though, that this is the example that needs to be exercised if Romney or ANYONE is going to win against the overly entrenched Left with their myriad of allies in the MSM.

Don’t insist on anyone kneeling to you. Have them accept the promise you hold out to them.

Reagan is looked up to because that is exactly how he did it. He had charisma and didn’t insist on a cult of personality. He wanted people to accept his promise, like him or not.

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | May 3, 2012 at 12:18 pm

They probably didn’t invite you because, while your existence is grotesque and incomprehensible to them, they want you on the wall. They need you on the wall.

Minimal solace but WE love and appreciate you, Professor! And spot on PGlenn @MlleBastiat

“… National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Powerline, Townhall,, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media (though not, as an early report had suggested, the conspiracist site WorldNetDaily). RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.”

The only conservative outlet in this list is WorldNetDaily. Fitting then, that if Ben thinks Republican = Conservative, then he thinks that Conservative = Conspiracy.

Dan Riehl can be conservative. American Thinker is also mostly conservative.

The rest of these are Republican. Not conservative.

So don’t feel insulted. Perhaps you should even feel honored.

    Browndog in reply to hrh40. | May 3, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    WorldNetDaily was shunned over it’s “birther” stance.

    Don’t kid yourself-

    Because if you pose facts that lead to questions, the libs will hate you, and call you names.

    Most republicans still think they can “work with the opposition” for the greater good..and maybe, just maybe..get their approval…and a vote.

radiofreeca | May 3, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Yes, you might not have been invited, but that’s just cause they knew you’d be like James Bond at an OWS gathering – you’d just make them all look bad with your style, grace, wit, wisdom, intelligence and good breeding.

🙂

Margaret Thatcher had some saying about the only people who are popular are those who are in the crowd; if you’re ahead of the crowd, you’re going to be (by definition) not part of the crowd, but leading it.

Thanks.

It’s worth repeating your previous summary:

“We are on a path to nominate someone who campaigned against Reagan, campaigned against the Contract with America, campaigned against those who are pro-Life, campaigned against 2d Amendment rights, campaigned against conservatism, and designed and enacted the precursor to Obamacare from which he will not back away, yet may successfully convince Republican voters that he is the most reliable conservative.”

1. Yes, you belong on the invitation list. It’s up to you to find out why you weren’t invited. It’s up to you, if the tradeoffs are worth it, to make the needed adjustments and, if necessary, to watch and wait while your position ripens.

2. Building a reputation for whining will not help you get where you belong. I speak from experience.

The airline service is spotty and expensive

I still remember the one time I flew into Ithaca back in about 1982/1983 after winter break. The middle of winter in Ithaca, we had to pick up our luggage from a flatbed in, as I recall, the parking lot. I bought a car the next summer (for not much more than the price of an airline ticket).

Folks, the Romney people did not invite Jacobson because (Occam’s Razor) most likely the Romney people do not know about Jacobson.

These Romney people are more clueless than John McCain’s people. They _*ARE*_ the Republican elite establishment. They are clueless about social media and the internet and they have no intention of letting bona fide, authentic Conservatives get their feet in the door.

These invite the bloggers events are going to be sops. The Romney people are going to do the minimum and hope for the best.

Bend over.

Don’t worry Professor, you rank at the top of our list here and that’s all the matters.

The Romney camp closely guards Bishop Willard.

American conservatism, as it recognizes individual dignity, is inherently imperfect, but it is the superior alternative. Despite the games people play, it is still worth fighting for. In the meantime, we promote positive principles, and hope it is contagious.

[…] Establishment, including the Twitter virtuoso Ace of Spades and John Hawkins of Right Wing News.I’m not the only one whose invitation got lost in the mail. It’s okay, I couldn’t have gone anyway. […]

[…] I would not have gone, so it’s a good thing you didn’t invite me – I never get invited to anything.  Not that I would go, anyway.  I have much more important things to do. […]

Of course i wasn’t invited, but I’m like a fifth their blogger or something, Legal Insurrection is TOP TIER, how dare they!
I did make up a little hashtag for every Conservative Blogger who wasn’t invited though:
#NotGoodEnoughForRomCon
Of course besides being a nobody who’s basically been out on Blogger sick leave like forever now (stupid Lyme Disease), my exclusion might possibly have had something to do with this:
http://marezilla.com/2011/12/dhimittude/
But I swear, I’m all about party unity now that the anyone I would have WANTED to support is out, I promise! Party Unity, Yay! I am totally in the tank for Mittens now, even though he is woefully ill-informed about the threat presented by islamization and jihad and is buddy buddy with big dhimmie Muslim Brotherhood tool Chris Christie, because even allowing for that, he’s still better than Obama! At least Mitt doesn’t hate Israel and send our money to genocidal jihadis!
Seriously though, I am sorry you weren’t invited to the party, Professor, even if you would not have attended, because you are AWESOME and it is truly their loss.
Try not to let this trigger a case of blogging-related malaise, such as you have so wonderfully described in previous posts. 😉

[…] that she didn’t get invited to The Meeting That Never Happened. William Jacobson says: “I would not have gone, so it’s a good thing you didn’t invite me.” Except of course, there was no meeting!The wild-eyed rumors that such a meeting happened […]

[…] hey, at least I’m in very good company: The Lonely Conservative, William Jacobson, and Zilla, to name a […]

[…] any party without Bob, Ed or I would pretty much suck, and if the Lonely Conservative and Zilla or William Jacobson were not there? Come on! Besides why would a bunch of people who fight for Conservatism every damn […]

[…] fun with the whole thing. Please note he was invited. I wasn’t; a status in which I was not alone. And me with a Romney support icon on my blog since the day Rick Santorum withdrew from the race. […]

If I had been asked to advise Romney on this, I would have told him to leave out all the “bloggers” on salary – there will be time to meet with the paid press from NRO, American Thinker, Weekly Standard, etc. later – and make room for more pure bloggers at this confab.

I wasn’t asked, even though my rates are quite reasonable. So there were always going to be several who were left out, especially if they put it together on short notice, which seems the case. It’s just not possible to select a limited number and not miss several who get more hits or are more influential or have more experience than some who were invited.

They had to call McCain, of course. He lives in Maryland, and is the loudest whiner when left out of anything, and has been lecturing the GOP on reaching out to bloggers for years.

Surely the Romney camp would rather have a Cornell professor who might actually pick up a bar tab, but that’s the way the ball bounces.