Another surprise preceded Mitt Romney’s speech to CPAC.  Newly elected Sen. Scott Brown showed up to give a surprise introduction for Gov. Romney.

Romney is always well-recieved at CPAC, though Scott Brown probably got a bigger ovation.

Littering his speech with jokes, Romney was unsurprisingly well received (he’s won the CPAC strawpoll for the last several years). First, he said Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn had her medal stripped because Barack Obama has been going downhill faster than she did.  Later he said, “President Obama’s self-proclaimed B+ will go down in history as the biggest exaggeration since Al Gore’s invention of the internet.”

Romney spent a lot of time addressing the President’s various attacks and blame deflection.  He noted the President’s inappropriate (and factually deficient) attack on SCOTUS during his recent State of the Union address.  He also defended President Bush, who Obama continues to blame daily for his every failure.  He then scolded Obama’s “reckless” and “anti-business” agenda.

Finally Romney got to his own ideas.  “Americans are looking to conservative for leadership,” he noted, before highlighting his “three pillars” of strengthening the economy, strengthening our security, and strengthening families.

After very briefly addressing these pillars with fairly standard ideas, he talked about America’s pioneering spirit and defended the US as a force for good in the world that we should not apologize for.  It was a good line to end on, and all well and good, but I thought he missed an opportunity to use his business background to push detailed ideas.

Update: Here’s Scott Brown’s introduction of Romney:

And here’s Mitt’s speech:

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The man wanted in the shooting of four police officers was commuted by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee:

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing this morning of four Lakewood police officers, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.

Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.

“This is the day I’ve been dreading for a long time,” Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ Pulaski County said tonight when informed that Clemmons was being sought for questioning in connection with the killings.

This is a blow to The Huckster’s potential 2012 candidacy.

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Sarah Palin announced today not only that she would not run for re-election, but also that she is resigning as governor well before the end of her first term.  Michelle Malkin has the details.

If she has designs for the presidency in 2012 then this is an odd move.  A governorship is historically the best place from which to launch a national campaign.  She might be looking to enhance her foreign policy credentials, in which case she could challenge Murkowski in 2010 for the Alaskan Senate, then aim for 2016 to run for president.  But given the number of governors versus senators ever elected as president, that would be an odd strategy indeed.

Also, her speech was terrible.  If she wants to be taken seriously on the national stage, then she will have to improve significantly.  She rambled on and bounced defensively from issue to issue. I got so bored I turned it off before she ever got around to the point, which was her resignation.

I think Sarah Palin has an important and useful role she can play in the republican party, but it shouldn’t be as their candidate for president in 2012.

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