The CPAC has come to town. It arrived on Thursday. For those who aren’t card carrying conservatives, CPAC stands for the Conservative Political Action Conference and it has come to town full throttle. The list of key note speakers is enough to make moderates and liberals break out in a sweat:
Hon. Dick Armey
Hon. John Ashcroft
Rep. Michele Bachmann
Glenn Beck
Amb. John Bolton
Andrew Breitbart
Herman Cain
Tucker Carlson
Liz Cheney
Ann Coulter
Sen. Jim DeMint
Hon. Newt Gingrich
David Keene
Wayne LaPierre
Rep. Ron Paul
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Rep. Mike Pence
Rep. Tom Price
Hon. Mitt Romney
Hon. Marco Rubio
Hon. Rick Santorum
Hon. J.C. Watts
George F. Will
And more……whose left? Who is missing? Where is Sarah? Was she uninvited, too tired after the tea party, or too creeped out after Glenn Beck read from his journal, on live TV, about her? (yes, I felt sorry for Sarah having to be polite)
I am still trying to sort out the rogues gallery here. What I see, with the exception of a few notable people like Beck, are a bunch of Republicans all coming to the CPAC convention talking about the Tea Party. So are Republicans going to stop being Republicans? Is Republican going to become synonymous with Tea Party? Is this a case of double identity? Are there Republicans out there who who aren’t Tea Party? What will they call themselves? This is all very confusing to those of us who lack a specific ideology.
So what are they doing here? Best I can tell from reading, anyone who is anyone is there. (except Sarah) There are lots of speeches, lots of Obama bashing, lots of corny jokes and lots of speculation on who is running for what. There is a push towards younger people according to Swampland.com:
The conference this year also includes a parallel XPAC conference – eXtremely Politically Active Conservatives, which has a video gaming room nearly (hello wii), youth sessions (hello, Sarah Huckabee) and even a rap party tonight – yes, rap, as in the Beastie Boys and judging from the crowd equally as white though I’m guessing not nearly as talented musically. They’ll also have Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pinatas and, according to the Washington Examiner, celebrity guest James O’Keefe — of Acorn pimpdom fame who got in a bit of legal trouble with Senator Mary Landrieu’s phone lines recently — who got permission from authorities to leave the State of New Jersey to travel here for CPAC.
Glenn Beck tells us on the CPAC webstite that he is honored and humbled to be asked to speak at CPAC. He reminds us that the gave the Republicans hell. Glenn, these ARE Republicans–All trying to convince an unknown crowd that they weren’t part of the financial melt down, huge debt, voting for 2 wars and borrowing money out the ying yang, Its easy to point fingers at the other guy while somehow trying to convince the rest of the world that you really aren’t that other guy.
Wow, we’re really drowning in a sea of partisanship and misconception here, huh? At least it’s entertaining.
The best thing is the resurgence of talk about using Budget reconciliation to complete the massive health care power grab. Good news is that would cook the liberals collective geese for good, bad news is there may not be much of a nation to fix or clean up. At least things aren’t boring!
Point out the misconceptions. Do you see those question marks? @ Slow I am giving MY impressions. It doesn’t mean they are all correct. Feel free to point out where my remarks above are in error. They look like Republicans to me. They are using the term ‘tea party’ a lot.
Ann Coulter was just on. You can watch live. She is quick. I will hand her that. She also took a shot at Anderson Cooper that didn’t need to be made.
Some guy is up talking about immimgration now. He writes for the Wall Street Journal.
Linda Chavez is speaking to the audience now. She follows several men who spoke out against Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
What the heck is so honorable about Newt?
I guess the fact that he was speaker of the house back in the 90’s?
He has a bit of John Edward’s problem as far as leaving very sick wives goes.
There’s a few non-Conservative worthless RINOs in that list. They can pound sand.
Actually ,I was listening. They were speaking FOR immigration reform, just not the mass amnesty, please-send-all-your-child-rapists-and-murderers-into-our-nation-right-now wet dream……..I know it must have been hard to hear.
You are kind to give Newt that much credit. Johnny “Beefcake” Edwards is the Yoda of sleazebags. Newt’s just a youngling in comparison.
I heard people speak out against CIR as we know it. Unless there is a plan to deal with those who are here illegally, it isn’t much of a reform.
I think calling someone a RINO is horrible. You are more than willing to take their vote to get someone in office. I would respect those RINO sentiments more if you just told them to go away and take their vote with them. It isn’t going to happen. So John McCain was talked about like he was a dog….and now you have Obama. People might want to rethink casting aspersions on people who aren’t their poltical ideals.
Actually, many do tell those Republicans to go away and take their vote with them. That’s why McCain is getting primaried. And that is also why the GOP lost. The conservatives told them to put up or shut up. Conservatives are tired of being taken for granted. Many will not vote for liberal Republicans anymore, just to put more Republicans in office.
Beck’s speech harped on that quite alot. He hit both parties, but actually hammered the GOP more.
What about those people who who like moderate Republicans? It’s the math. No one will ever convince me that McCain wouldn’t have won this election has Palin not been on the ticket. Its all about the math. People either fit into the left, the middle or the right. When the middle has to move, the left or right wins. Extreme Right can’t win nor can the extreme left.
I don’t know why you all keep thinking that the middle is unimportant.
@Cargosquid (what IS a cargo squid?)
Beck hammered everyone. He is an entertainer. His concepts fall sort and lack depth.
Beck is hard to dislike and equally hard to respect, in my opinion.
No one could convince Nebuchadnezzar that he wasn’t a cow.
Or Nancy Pelosi, for crying out loud!!
Next thing you know, you’ll be denying me MY honorifics.
The Right Worshipful Slowpoke Rodriguez.
Smack smack Slowpoke.
So why did McCain lose? Slow, you can speak for conservatives. I cannot. I can speak for moderates etc. I can’t speak for liberals. I don’t know any any more. I can tell you why moderates who were considering McCain went scurrying to the left when Palin was added to the ticket.
Think what you want but her addition to that ticket lost him votes. Do not think all the moderates embraced Obama from the get-go.
Beck lacks depth? What? Compared to any and all of the pundits out there in broadcast land, Beck is the ONLY one adding depth. He’s teaching history and making it interesting. He’s putting background on WHY things happen instead of just reporting on what happened. Is anyone else out there explaining where progressive thought came from? Or comparing the 1920 depression, which 99% of America does not know about, to the Great Depression?
You may feel he lacks depth because you dislike polarization. But he’s talking to all Americans. He’s saying that it does not matter about your party. Its about the ruinous policies that are bankrupting America and that BOTH parties are doing it. He wants Americans of all beliefs to understand what politicians in America are doing. That’s why he hammers the GOP. They are the traditional party for reining in this type of spending, even if they have not followed their own stated principles.
Palin scared off the moderates. Why? What was so attractive about McCain, and yet a VP ticket scared off the moderates? What policies do moderates like about McCain that Obama is not trying to do? Parties should have differing ideas on governance. McCain, in many substantial ways, agreed with Obama. That is why he lost. Along with the racial politics with Obama’s campaign. Face it. Many wanted to be part of the historical moment of voting in a black man as President. And the odds of a GOP member winning ANY election was slim. Especially McCain. Whenever the GOP presents itself a Democrat lite, it loses. If Bush had run against any serious Democrat other than Kerry, he would have lost.
Moderates are in both parties. But the party as a whole should not bend over backwards to accommodate them. It is the responsibility of a party to present clear principles and stand by them. If the moderates that don’t believe in the whole of the platform decide to sit it out, that’s their prerogative. The conservatives in the GOP and the Progressives in the Democrat party are in the same boat. The parties take us for granted. We are told that we should vote for those moderates that agree with us 70% of the time. Well, now we are saying that the moderates need to vote for those candidates that THEY agree with 70% of the time.
Its time for them to compromise. In the GOP case, the conservatives are calling for a government that follows the Constitution more closely, spends less, and restricts less. The Democrat party is attempting “fundamental transformation” of the country.
The choice is clear. Do you want a more Constitutional government or not?
@Moon-howler
Most people holding the title “Honorable” are those least deserving of that descriptive.
Excellent explanation Cargo. Might I also add, not all conservatives are Republican. CPAC is not just an arm of the Republican Party, but a voice for conservative thought. Glenn Beck has connected the dots. Unfortunately, history is taught in a disjointed fashion, as a series of memorized events rather than a cause and effect process. Beck is giving us all a wake up call. @Cargosquid
Again, Nancy Pelosi.
Beck goes only so deep and then often connects dots that aren’t connected. I don’t think his cause effect is always accurate. I would have to listen to him again to dig out an example and I simply cannot do it today.
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Progressives are not necessarily the progressives of the turn of the century party any more than the Democrats of today are the Democrats of the pre-Civil War south.
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At the risk of sounding like an intellectual snob, Beck is an example of someone self taught.
His obsession with communism is outdated. Too many people are all too ready to go to the enemy they know and think they understand. There are far worse ones out there.
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Why did Palin scare off moderates? She is a collection of soundbites that attack many things moderates like for starters. She mimicked and snickered and you-betcha’ed over things important to moderates. She embraced a social agenda that most moderates feel is too conservative. Most importantly she seemed to lack exposure to political ideas outside her home state.
Slowpoke, Pelosi is no more derserving or undeserving than any of the other congressional rogues. Rather than bulleting all the Democrats, lets make a list of who IS deserving.
I will start. I think our own senators are pretty good guys. I can’t speak to our congressmen/women. Here’s to Warner and Webb/
Cargo, a few more points. Tell me in what way you think the Democratic party is trying to fundamentally change the country. Why is that necessarily a bad thing? All I hear out of all Americans is how they want things to change. This is bad, that is bad.
I think the Republicans are fundamentally trying to change the country also…and not all of them are trying to change it in the same way. Is that bad? I don’t know. It depends on what kind of change we are talking about.
The Republicans in office the past 8 years. Did we change? The schools certainly changed radically. We are in 2 wars. That is change. House buying practices changed drastically. the Republicans had control of the house for 12 years. They had control of the Senate for 10 years. For 4 of those years they held both the executive and the legislative branches. for 2 more of those years they held the presidency and the house.
What happened? Were people happy? Did they accomplish much of anything? Surely you can understand why someone on the outside looking in feels that this is all just a bunch of caterwauling. If the Republicans had been getting something done and improving the country, I would understand all this angst. But I can’t see where they were on a roll. If I have missed something, please tell me.
The Democrats are not the one wanting to change the country. Nor do the Republicans. They like the status quo. It is the progressive movement within the Democrats that want to transform the government. The guiding principles of the progressives have not changed. Obama and his progressives want to put into place structures that enable the government to have more direct control over our lives. Control by agencies, not Congress. Many of these changes are attractive to Congress as they can hide behind regulatory commissions instead of accepting the responsibility of the consequences of their lawmaking. The Republicans in the last few years did nothing to change the transform the country in fundamental ways. They continued “business as usual.” That’s why conservatives are not voting for them.
The concerns about house buying and schooling (am unsure about what changes you are mentioning) are symptoms. And we are in ONE war with two theaters of operations. The war is against international terrorism, primarily caused by islamic jihad.
Actually, I think people were happy, except for those with BDS. The economy was excellent, the housing market was growing, etc. And then the bubble burst. The excesses were caused by a combination of government mismanagement and corporate/citizenry greed.
But the Republicans did nothing to return the country to a more constitutional and smaller government. They acted the same as the previous Democrats. The citizenry became fed up with the corruption and pork. The Democrats got into office promising that they would be honest and open. They lied. Obama promised to govern as a centrist and a moderate. He lied. He is a master of saying two things in the same sentence. Unless you are attuned to politics and the meanings of political speak, he sounds completely reasonable. The current crop of progressives wish to control private enterprise so that the country follows a more progressive agenda. Health Care reform by Congress is not about helping people. Its about bureaucratic control of the health system. Tax and spend is about controlling the energy market, not supposed global warming. The housing bubble was caused by easy money going to the lenders. Barney Frank said that was done to enable more poor people to buy houses. TARP was to “save the banks”. Now its a slush fund. The Stimulus is nothing more than a “elect Democrats” slush fund.
Obama’s use of czars is unconstitutional, as was the use of czars by other presidents. But his “czars” are being given actual political power, circumventing Congress, and answerable only to the Executive. Congress doesn’t fight it because now they came blame him.
A return to Constitutional rule is the only thing that will save this country.
Cargosquid,
Obama and his progressives want to put into place structures that enable the government to have more direct control over our lives. Control by agencies, not Congress.
As an Independent, I think the Republican Party have been the party that has tried to exert the most control over the most private areas of our lives. As a social liberal, I want them out of my bedroom and away from my deathbed; and as a woman, I want them having no say in my reproductive rights. Let them mind their own damn business. You can moan about control by agencies or a President whom you didn’t support, but nothing is more personal than our own bodies and that is where Republicans are the biggest tyrants.
@Moon-howler
Colgan = Honorable, so far as I can tell.
censored, you have hit the nail on the head. How can people who claim to want smaller govt and govt out of people’s lives possible devote as much attention to bedrooms, deathbeds, etc as the Republicans have done in the past 20 years or so? Until they stop that crap, I can’t support them. I made a mistake verring away from that recently. It will not happen again.
Pinko, I agree. Senator Colgan is honorable as far as I can tell.
Cargo, It seems that the term ‘progressive’ was recently ushered back in to vilify those in office. I don’t buy it. There are those who are far more liberal than I am but I dont think they are communists. Up until recently, progressive wasn’t a bad word. Now it is. hmmmmmm
I don’t think Obama has lied. Obama has not been able to do things he wanted to do. I don’t think George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. I think he was led to believe they were there. Perhaps both people over-estimated what they could and could not do.
It’s the hatred I feel that I find so unsettling and disturbing. The hatred is coming from people who claim to have “God on their Side,” and those who feel they are the real Americans and anyone who doesn’t agree is a pinko commie (or progressive).
Glenn Becks speech made me ill. If he is the darling of the far right then something is horribly wrong. I see almost no difference in Beck’s description of America ‘toilet hugging’ and barfing than I do Rev. Wright saying ‘God damn American.’ Both are reprehensible.
You folks make me laugh. You want the government away from your deathbed, but support ObamaCare. No amount of mushrooms could made that add up.
Hatred is more or less equilibrium for a liberal, it’s what drives their politics. Generally, with liberals, whatever they accuse others of the most is exactly what they suffer from. Trust me, the diagnosis NEVER fails. The whole “people who claim to have God on their sides” is simply a concept made up by liberals to help them rationalize the politics of destruction. Pretty easy stuff, actually.
You didn’t see the SOTU address? You didn’t see any of his campaign speeches? They are near perfect examples of the perfection of lying. Politicians lie all the time, but Obama raises it to an art form.
Slowpoke, you make me laugh because I dont think either Censored or I have said we support the current health care reform.
I have specifically said I have no idea what it entails because everyone is too busy screaming about it. I don’t have an opinion other than the health care system needs to change. We have all known that for 25-30 years.
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Whatever you say. I would say you are the ying to their yang. I haven’t heard them on the subject however. I heard Rev. Wright. I didn’t like it. I heard Glenn Beck and his crowd clapping for a chalk board and disparaging our country. All I can do is listen to what comes out of people’s mouths.
Why I even give equal time, more than equal time to Fox News. And I hear what is going on. Maybe I need to start listening MSNBC for some equal liberal time.
Meanwhile, Slow, in your dreams. Tell me what a liberal is. I don’t think I know any more. I know what I used to think one was…
Sure you do, dear!
Moon-howler,
Up until recently, progressive wasn’t a bad word. Now it is. hmmmmmm
What’s next to vilify? Moderates? Oops. That’s already been done. To the right-wing I think 3/4 of the US has become public enemy number one – if that can be done. 😉
Censored, I think you are right.
Slow, I am sure you think I am one. If that is the case, I used to know people who would have given you apoplexy.
It just seems that the line keeps moving.
If a person who is conservative is definted by Glenn Beck as one who assumes personal responsiblitiy, what are all those moderates and liberals who assume personal responsibility called?
Isn’t it exhausting to always have to have an enemy?
You may be getting too wrapped around the axle on labels here. A person can say they believe in personal responsibility, and support every last entitlement program that oozes out of a leftist’s behind. Actions are important, not labels. It’s like maximum leader Chairman Obama says: “Just words, Just speeches”.
Labels. hmmm. Funny how the rest of us don’t get to use labels or are dismissed.
No common ground. This must have been how my Virginia ancestors felt some 150 years ago.
Wait, lets go back here – Moon, “who’s obsession with communism is outdated?” “Too many people are all too ready to go to the enemy they know and think they understand.” “There are far worse ones out there.” Name one. What are you saying?