[The following is a guest post by Ann Green.]

I recently returned from CPAC. It's great to be home, where I can't tell anyone about the three exhilarating days I spent in D.C. It was nice to be with people who wear their patriotism on their sleeves, are proud of our military, and, except for the Ron Paulers, support Israel.

Please don't tell my most of my friends. And definitely don't tell my extended family. I need to be able to go about my business in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. Especially here in Newton, which went for Coakley and wanted to invite a terrorist to settle down and enjoy some kosher Chinese at Tam China.

This conference was perfectly timed for me. It seems as though everywhere I turn someone is mumbling about Dick Cheney as the incarnation of evil and Sarah Palin as a moron. Of course it's assumed that everyone within earshot agrees. Every medium groans with the same tired trope, in novels, movies, TV someone comes out with a clever variation on the line, "I just don't want my child to grow up to be a Republican!" In Washington I was with people who did not assume that Republicans are monsters or that those of us who choose to be Independents are monster wannabees, so I got to relax. It was very cool to be in the audience when Dick Cheney made a surprise appearance after his daughter Liz's speech. Some, I suppose, would think me to have been in the belly of the beast.

One speaker proclaimed, "Americans don't bow!" and people went wild. Referring to our Homeland Insecurity Department, former Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and extremism Stephen Coughlin said, "You can't defeat an enemy you can't define." Why is he "former?" He was fired, of course. Americans have no idea of the extent to which radical Islamists have infiltrated the armed forces as well as the FBI, police departments, the prison system, etc. It was spoken about openly at CPAC. "Man-caused disasters" anyone?

One morning a man walked by with a tee-shirt that read "Thank you troops." Try wearing that in the Chestnut Hill Mall.

Of course there were some nutbags, people who were so libertarian they would repeal the law of gravity. But then there was Allen West, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel running for Congress in Florida's 22nd district. "If the truth is hate speech you might as well lock me up, because I'm not shutting up," announced the colonel. "When I can go to Saudi Arabia with my bible and cross in my hand, then I'll be good to go." He was also not embarrassed to say, "This is a great nation." Other speakers on the subject of, dare I say it? -- the War on Terror -- pointed out that "When tolerance becomes a one-way street, it's cultural suicide." and "Profiling is simply trend analysis, and it works."

I got goosebumps listening to a former slave from the Sudan tell the audience "I'm proud to be speaking as a free man to free people in a free nation." He was kidnapped by Arabs when he was a child. He went on to describe how Arabs slaughtered Christians in the 1956 war, long before the "Not on My Watch" signs for Darfur went up on suburban lawns. I hear more about slavery in the U.S. two hundred years ago than about slavery under Arabs in the 21st century. Check your kids' history textbooks.

Wafa Sultan is a former Muslim who speaks all over the world about the dangers of radical Islam and has been rewarded with fatwas on her head. She was warmly received at CPAC. Does anyone think she could speak at Harvard or maybe the University of California at Irvine?

The best part of the conference was seeing so many people who are running for office for the first time. People have had it, and they are stepping up to the plate. I met Doug Hoffman, who came from nowhere to almost winning in the 23rd district in New York. He is a very unassuming guy. It must have taken a lot to get him out on the campaign trail - the destruction of the best health care system in the world comes to mind.

Of course there was criticism of Democrats, but rarely did I hear the hatred and ridicule which Republicans and other conservatives endure from the other side. In the words of Amity Shlaes, author The Forgotten Man, a history of the Depression which debunks myths about government programs, "When someone attacks ad hominem, it's because he lack a coherent idea." Speaking of the media...

They made lots of noise about Ron Paul winning the straw poll. It was not exactly a scientific sampling, but that's all the media need to go off and misinform. I watched a left-wing blogger chase Andrew Breitbart around the hotel, asking him to respond to charges that James O'Keefe's pimp outfit was racist. And when did he stop beating his wife? Let's not address the ACORN issue, shall we, let's just change the subject! I heard Breitbart speak several times at the conference. What passion! What a price he must be paying in his personal life! We should support this guy.

It was both fun and sad to be in the middle of an event while watching the media distort it at the same time. Kind of like those science fiction shows when they have an episode about an alternate reality. So, here I am back in Massachusetts, the model for health care "reform." Beam me back, Scotty!