I slept in again and made it to the Conservative Book event about half an hour late, meeting up with Eric and Mary and Rona and Mark. Yes I am still operating on Tylenol and Benedryl; I feel a bit guilty after reading this snarky comment on the PW board:

. . . for coming here all the way from Arizona to stand up for what you believe in gets you a ton of respect in my book. A lot of resident leftists and rightists on this board did not show up at the protests even if they lived in the NYC area, but I can see that you are sincere about your views.

Well, I remember how exhausting the March protest was, when I didn't have a head cold and sore throat. Judgment call.

The event was an interesting experience for me as a social liberal. The panelists were all middle-aged or older white men (except for Linda Chavez), Conservative with a capital "C." These folks really really really don't want gays to legally get married or women to be able to abort a pregnancy. It was good for me to be reminded that most of Bush's constituency is people with whom I have many serious political disagreements.

During the Q&A I described my political space (liberal hawk, Guiliani Republican, Koch Democrat, etc.) and asked the panel what their attitude was toward my constituency. They kind of talked around the question, one panelist advising that I work on specific issues where there is agreement. Well, yeah, that's why I'm voting Republican this year: we agree about being aggressive with terrorists and their supporters. But I could tell they really really really didn't want us helping to redefine the Republican Party. (Intellectually I knew all this, but I am one of those parochial people who has lived among liberals my entire life, so a visceral encounter with social conservatives is still educational.)

At the sink in the ladies' room, a fellow middle-aged woman going into a stall said "I love how they didn't answer your question."
"Oh you noticed that." I said.
After she came out, she said she was a teacher and ranted a bit about conservatives' views on educational experiments.
"But you're voting Republican, right?" I asked.
"Oh yes, of course, but . . ." and then she was off again.
(Women do lots of networking in the john, just like guys do.)

Speaking of coolness factor, another attendee addressing the panel of aging Conservative suits was a guy I had met at Karol's party (itself an example of rightwing chic), who looked exactly like most of the protestors on the street the day before: baggy shorts, buzz cut, Hawaiian shirt. (I think one reason PW freaks out the Left so much is that we look just like them.)

Speaking of Karol, she blogged the National Review party. All I would add is enjoying a somewhat sloshed Roger Simon expounding about how he reaches out to his more conservative readers. (Roger and I are both short and I homed in on him via the Borsalino.) Apparently several of Roger's readers were there too:

I just got back from the NR party - Roger was in fine form, though it was a cash bar, I'm afraid. Lots of bloggers there as well as the NR writers and a ton of closeted NY Republicans and Conservatives. Male to female ratio about 10 to 1 (really kills the look cool factor). Anyway, got to meet Roger in person, as well as Jonah Goldberg, Rich Lowry (told him to give Jonah a raise), Andrew Stuttaford and John Derbyshire). Not really "cool" but definitely interesting, though they really needed a larger facility. Good times.

Also I finally met Tacitus only to learn that he is my old intellectual sparring partner Josh Trevino in a clever plastic disguise. (And he didn't let on the whole time we have been corresponding! the bastard.)

UPDATE; Roger Simon didn't attend the Conservative book panel I did, but he is experiencing similar ideological heartburn.

Mary posts her view of the panel.

UPDATE: More ideological heartburn.
Eric blogs in more detail on the panels we both attended.

Next installment here.