17
2005
Okay. Here we are. Belly of the beast. Surrounded. As I type, Sen. Rick Santorum -- made really famous to you non-conservative by sex advice columnist Dan Savage -- is talking about the sancity of the family. I've been here in Washington, D.C., at the Conservative Political Action Committee convention and um, they don't like Liberals here. I'm not sure they even like moderates.
But they're very nice and well-mannered. They're also very young. If you're thinking conservatives are a bunch of old coots longing for the days of black-and-white TV, women staying home and minorities in their places, think again.
This is a young crowd. Young as in youthful. "I just took whatever they gave me for graduation," says the nice young man sitting across from me. He's talking about his laptop. It's a contrast to the post-election Democracy Rising party I attended in Berkeley a few months ago. That room was filled with grey hair in part, of course, because hair colorists are an unknown species in that little town. This room – this convention by contrast – is filled with fresh young earnest faces. And lots of blondes.
This isn't just a digression on cosmetics. Young faces look ahead. Not back.