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In my estimation, Tom Tancredo threw the most red meat, and got the best response this morning. 

Here's an excerpt ...

Conservatism doesn't need an adjective.  It needs a leader -- it needs a leader.  (Cheers, applause.)  

It needs a leader that is opposed to abortions, not because Iowa caucus-goers are opposed to abortions but because the Lord said, I knew you before you were in the womb.  (Cheers, applause.)    

        ... We need a leader that belongs in a -- believes in a strong national defense, because our enemies are psychopaths and our allies are the French.  (Laughter.) 

        ... We should not be surprised, however, that this turn to the right during a presidential primary.  It's just that conversions are supposed to be made on the road to Damascus, not on the road to Des Moines.  (Applause.)  There are ways -- there are ways to determine true conservatives, however.  If some candidate says he's against illegal immigration and opposed to amnesty, let's test them.  Ask them if they're willing to deport the millions who are here illegally.  Ask them if they'll agree that massive immigration combined with a cult of multiculturalism in this country is creating a linguistic and a cultural tower of Babel.  (Applause.)    

         Ask them if they agree -- or maybe you could just ask them if they agree with Tom Tancredo when he said Miami's becoming a third- world country.  That ought to test it.  (Laughs.)  Ask if they will join me in condemning the Bank of America -- or as I like to say, Banco de Latin America -- for aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. Ask if they will agree with me that we should bring criminal charges against mayors and/or city council people who declare their cities to be sanctuary cities for illegal aliens.  (Cheers, applause.)    

         And ask them -- ask them if they will pardon -- ask them if they will pardon the two border agents, Ramos and Compean, on the first day they take the Oval Office.  (Cheers, applause.)  I guarantee you -- I guarantee you that not a single one of these so-called top-tier presidential candidates will do it, or will they acknowledge that what    millions of us see happening in our own communities every day is the truth.  

        We see our communities turning into what Theodore Roosevelt called polyglot boarding houses --  

         AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Yes.  

         REP. TANCREDO:  -- made up of immigrants who refuse to assimilate and refuse to speak English.  These candidates will start using answers with phrases like "comprehensive solution" when they're talking about immigration and mean "amnesty," just like when they say, "I'm personally pro-life" when they mean, "Hey, it's a woman's body, after all.  She should be able to do what she wants with the one that's inside her."  

         If these if these phrases sound like they are written by political handlers, it's because they are.  They are designed to shield politicians from their principles, not to reveal the truth but to obscure it, not to leave conservatives wondering about what political -- what politicians really believe and intend to do.  It's from such phrases, from the hacks who write them to the politicians who utter them, that our political process, our party and our movement must be rescued.  

I've been getting the feeling that some people expect Rudy Giuliani to get a little roughed-up tomorrow.  Here's what First Read is reporting, for example:

Giuliani is facing a group that is actively opposed to him as the Republican nominee, and there will be little he can say to change their minds. He will not be trying to win votes -- but to quell talk of a third-party candidacy.

And Atlantic's Marc Ambinder randomly talked to attendees about Rudy, and his response seemed to confirm this:

Not Carol Franz, wearing a green "Survivor of Adult Stem Cell Research" shirt.

I'm basically going on life issues because I've gotten off the death bed twice in my life," she said.

When Giuliani speaks here tomorrow morning, I asked Steve Pickett of West Palm Beach, Florida, what he would like to hear?

"I resign. I'm out of the race," he said.

Beth Picket said he wouldn't vote for Giuliani under any circumstances.

"Not even if Hillary..."

"Nope."

While there is no doubt there are activists organizing against Rudy at the meeting, my bet is that he will be warmly received by the crowd. 

It would be very exciting for us to report that social conservatives booed or walked-out on Rudy, but my experience has been that they are polite to anyone who is willing to come talk to them.

If social conservatives ever want to display their displeasure with Rudy Giuliani, all eyes will be on them tomorrow.  Some sort of walk-out demonstration would be devastating to Rudy because of the media coverage (this is probably the reason candidates tend to avoid hostile audiences).

But is this a hostile audience?  I hardly think so.  We know that several conservative leaders have vowed not to support him if he wins the nomination, but the 2,000 attendees may not be taking their cues from the leaders. 

Personally, I think the current social conservative mood is both pragmatic and polite, and thus, talk of roughing-up Rudy is probably more bark than bite.  Stay tuned ...

News flash: Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just praised Rush Limbaugh on the Senate floor.
...
"What could be a more worthwhile cause?" Reid asked today on the floor. "I think it's really good that this money on Ebay is going to be raised for this purpose. When I spoke to Mark May, he and I thought this probably wouldn't make much money, a letter written by Democratic senators complaining about something."

"Never did we think that this letter would bring money of this nature," Reid said. "Everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life and maybe that is kind of an understatement. But without qualification, Mark May, the owner of the network that has Rush Limbaugh, and Rush Limbaugh should know that this letter that they're auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause."

In his speech, he's not afraid to call radical Islam "evil" and makes a very impassioned case that it is. Over all though, he seems subdued. Subdued, I guess, isn't the right word, but comes the closest. He is not raising his voice, yelling, pounding fists, or anything else. It's as if John McCain has decided that the force of his convictions will come through.

And you know what? It works. Here towards the end he's picking up voice and bringing the audience to applause when he gets on judges. He points out he supported Alito and Roberts. He also says "don't federalize issues not in the constitution."

Now, here you go -- I've typing this live. After a good bit of his subdued speech, he's not got the audience's attention and now he's fired up about the issues -- abortion, federal judicial grabs of power, etc. But, he hasn't gotten to immigration.

Great line he throws in: "I am pro-life because I know what it's like to live without human rights."

He highlighted his opposition to the administration's interrogation policies: “The easy way is not the American way we must remain true to our ideals not in spite of the threats we face but because of them.” And made a point of reminding the crowd of his involvement in the "Gang of 14", declaring "I am proud to have played a role -- -a major role --- in the confirmation of Alito, Roberts, and others." and concluding “I would appoint strict constructionist judges that won’t legislate from the bench.” (waitaminute --- I thought Giuliani was tomorrow...?)

It was a good speech, but not great delivery. To me it was fairly obvious that it wasn't one he had written himself or even had time to review closely prior to delivery --- he recited it staring down at the text for the majority of his time, and his timing was off --- he didn't seem to have a grip on his own applause lines.