The Bridging The Gap Women’s Summit For 2013 (11 Pictures)

26 Aug, 2013 by John Hawkins

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The first “Bridging The Gap” Women’s Summit was on Saturday. It was an intriguing concept: an invite-only conservative women’s conference where different ideas are tested in preparation for a larger annual event that will be rolling out to the general public next. To the best of my knowledge, I was the only male invitee, which is quite flattering.

Even though the crowd was only about 150 people, there was an impressive roster of speakers and panelists including Ann Coulter, Dana Loesch, Star Parker, Jenny Beth Martin, Sharon Day, Renee Ellmers, Marsha Blackburn & Kay Granger among other others.

The format was a little unusual. There was an opening speaker for each panel (Coulter, Parker, Loesch & Day) and afterwards, each speaker stuck around and participated in a panel while an artist “drew” the speech and the conversation.

The core concept of the summit was to “bridge the gap” between Republicans and women. There were certain over-arching themes that kept coming up.

* Bring prominent Republican women out front to talk about women’s issues like abortion, birth control, or “the war on women.”
* Don’t expect women to come to you; reach out to women.
* Be more personable, emotional and responsive in reaching out to women.
* Simplify the message and use more examples that are relevant to people’s lives.

This seems like Politics 101, but sadly it’s really good advice for the Republican Party’s leadership, which tells you a lot about why the GOP has been under-performing of late.

Rather than give you a detailed breakdown of everything that was said, from here on out, the rest of the post will be a mixture of quotable tweets and pictures. As an extra added bonus, the picture versions of the speeches will open up into much larger versions if you click on them.

Enjoy.

Coulter steps to the podium

"Our immigration policy is 'lives within walking distance.'" — Ann Coulter

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Ann Coulter speaks while the artist draws behind her.

It seems not to have occurred to Marco Rubio & Lindsey Graham that if they can't vote, they can't vote against you. – Ann Coulter #btgsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

A close-up from the drawn part of Coulter’s speech

It's an immutable law of nature that anything run by the private sector gets cheaper & better over time. — Ann Coulter #btgsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Star Parker and John Hawkins

"My grandfather said there were two things you need to stay free: Property and a gun." — Star Parker #btgsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Liberals say that we've declared a 'War on Women" because they've reduced women to sexual objects. – Star Parker #BTGsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

When do we face the fact that marriage has collapsed and that's what's wrong with our society? — Star Parker #BTGsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Renee Ellmers & Marsha Blackburn

"As women, we don't respond to stilettos or pink elephants on websites." — Sharon Day #BTGSummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Too often we do all the work to set up an office & then they bring in a 25 yr old man who plays video games & gets the credit – Sharon Day

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

Dana Loesch & John Hawkins

When you talk about big government, you can just say it's a creepy pawpaw that wants to spend all your money & boss you around – Dana Loesch

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

"My mother never asked for a hand out. I am so proud of her for that." — Dana Loesch #BTGSummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

"I'm glad we have concealed carry in my state. I get death threats. People threaten my kids." — Dana Loesch #BTGsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

"The image of the empowered woman has been hijacked. We're not empowered by freebies or a sugar daddy government." – Dana Loesch #BTGsummit

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) August 24, 2013

This was a fantastic event. Kudos to Karen Floyd, LaDonna Riggs and the rest of the ladies at Palladian View for putting it on.