Protests And Straw Polls And Cao Oh My

Ed Morrissey has the lowdown on the annoying protesters outside the SRLC headquarters. What's their beef? Everything! Republicans are mean, oppressive, narrowminded ideological machines, who want to take away women's rights and deny everyone health care. Got that? Awesome. Let's move on.

The straw poll here at SRLC has been reported on extensively, mostly focused on the ability of the Ron Paulies to stack the vote. They've already launched ongoing efforts to fill ballot boxes the same way they did at the Conservative Political Action Conference. One disgruntled Romney volunteer told me you can't really do a lot in the face of the Paulies' antics.

I'm in agreement with a couple other politicos that the straw poll drama doesn't matter one bit. Paul's ability to organize young people is impressive, but it invalidates the very purpose of a straw poll — to publicize an accurate representation of national feelings in the GOP. So the poll means nothing, and Paulies are being Paulies. Big deal.

Last, but not least, Rep. Joseph Cao (R) of Louisiana gave the opening invocation for the events today. For those who don't remember, Cao was the only GOP Member of Congress who voted for the health care bill. He was slated for a speaking spot, but organizers apparently figured out that would've been a bad move...