CPAC 2013: Hearing from some of the possible next GOP standard bearers
We’re approaching the midpoint of CPAC 2013, and we’ve heard from about half of the people expected to be contenders in 2016 (at least, those who are on the agenda — and no, Donald Trump isn’t one of the people I have in mind). We can begin to see the ground these potential candidates are beginning to stake out.
The first of these possible candidates was Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio covered the waterfront of long-held conservative beliefs, on both fiscal and social issues. “Our challenge,” he said, “is to create an agenda applying our principles.” The broad outlines of such an agenda from him mostly included conventionally conservative stuff. If there is one theme he wants to own, I’d say it is American exceptionalism.
He cited a different book: “The China Dream,” recently written by a Chinese army colonel. The gist, Rubio said, is that “China’s goals should be to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent military and economic power,” and that the 21st century should pit China and America in “a race to see who should become the champion country to lead world progress.”
It was in that context that Rubio responded to criticism that the GOP was not promoting any new ideas (as opposed to those new-thinking Democrats who are still pursuing long-time goals such as universal publicly funded health care and gun control) by citing the hope America offers to the rest of the world, such as his parents who immigrated from Cuba.
“We don’t need a new idea,” he said. “There is an idea. It’s called America, and it still works. You want proof that it still works, look around the world today. Who are they copying? Not the former Soviet Union. Not Russia. They’re not even copying China. They’re copying us. They may claim to hate us, but they sure would like to be us.”
***
Immediately following Rubio was Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentuckian and son of former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. He took the stage to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and wearing a sports coat, tie and blue jeans. He was dressed like some college professors I had, and he launched into a constitutional semi-lecture that began with a discussion of his now-famous, 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor about the Obama administration’s drone policies.
“We need to jealously guard all our liberties,” he said, before turning his message to one of those voter groups Republicans know they have to be more successful with.
“The Facebook generation can detect falseness and hypocrisy a mile away. I know, I have kids,” he said. “They are the core, though, of the leave-me-alone coalition. They doubt Social Security will be there for them. They worry about jobs and rent and student loans. They want leaders who won’t feed them a lot of crap or sell them short.
“Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use, and you’ll hear a resounding ‘no.’ Ask the Facebook generation if they want to bail out too-big-to-fail banks with their tax dollars, and you’ll hear a ‘hell no.’ There is nothing constitutional about bailing out Wall Street. Likewise, there is nothing ‘progressive’ about loans to billionaires to build solar panels.”
As you might have expected, Paul is going to try to pull the GOP in a more libertarian direction. “The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered,” he summed it up. His speech didn’t receive as much consistent applause as Rubio’s did, but he had the audience in his hand by the end. Could the same thing happen in the 2016 primary?
***
Friday brought Rep. Paul Ryan to the conference, and the 2012 vice presidential candidate received a very warm welcome. As you might expect, the House Budget Committee chairman focused a lot on budget matters, but he wanted to talk not just about the numbers but the reasons balancing the budget is important.
“A debt crisis would be more than an economic event,” Ryan argued. “It would be a moral failure. By cheapening our currency, government would cheat us of our just rewards.”Even now we are hurting American working families. By living beyond our means, the government is sending us a message. It is saying, if you plan ahead, if you make sacrifices for your kids, if you saved, you’re a sucker. It is brazenly stealing from our children and from young adults, and it has to stop.”
He argued for restoring government to a more appropriate size, one that allows it to do certain things well while leaving other things to the people.
“We need to make room for community, for that vast middle ground between the government and the people,” he said. “They don’t find common ground through grim isolation or government fiat,” but through the connections they make themselves.
***
Later Friday and Saturday, we’ll hear from Rick Santorum (hey, he finished second last year, which was yet another year the GOP nomination went to the “next guy in line”), Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. I’ll post thoughts about their speeches afterward.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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357 comments Add your comment
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:02 pm
Here’s another of her comments today: Referring to her husband…
“He’s got the rifle, I’ve got the rack.”
Another example of ‘God fearin’, moral certain’ behavior.
What a pig. And this is who you people think we should all listen to.
Pitiful.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:05 pm
“Ryan could school him on the federal budget”
You mean the Ryan federal budget plan that slashes taxes on the very wealthy, and pays for it by ending Medicare, Medicaid, and most other federal programs?
Yeah, buddy, run with that… that’ll work for you….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:12 pm
Cherokee: Another example of ‘God fearin’, moral certain’ behavior.
————————–
Another example of hypocritical moronic commentary from the perpetually angry left.
bluecoat
March 16th, 2013
8:12 pm
The sky is falling.No Georgia that’s just a drone circling….
getalife
March 16th, 2013
8:13 pm
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-15-danzcolor5564.jpg
Boom.
Rafe Hollister
March 16th, 2013
8:13 pm
breck
I have to go as well, but will comment on self righteous, I did the ignorant above. Obama is as self righteous as anyone ever to serve in that office. Anyone who says the opposition party is only out for the rich and doesn’t care about America, when he gets as much money from Wallstreet and has just as many super wealthy contributors, is assuming that his wealthy folks are more righteous than the opposition.
When he tells America that the good economy we have enjoyed from the 1980 to 2008 was unjust and unfair and “We ain’t going back”, even though it worked for 80% of us, he is playing self righteous vindicator. Same with all his “social justice” agenda, he is assuming his “justice” is more righteous than the predecessors “justice”.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:14 pm
Cherokee: the Ryan federal budget plan that slashes taxes on the very wealthy, and pays for it by ending Medicare, Medicaid, and most other federal programs?
——————–
And that’s the Ryan budget that exists in your hypocritical, moronic, angry leftard mind.
The actual Ryan budget is quite different.
Cherokee: Falsehood-teller.
bluecoat
March 16th, 2013
8:15 pm
I think China will be the next world leader.They put their pork in the river.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:17 pm
“free aluminum foil”
too funny, getalife….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:18 pm
We don’t need Obozo’s college transcripts. The results of his first four years are in.
Fail.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:20 pm
Yeah I really hate all that money I’m making in my 401K, Lil.
Makes me sooo angry…!!!
hahahaha
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:22 pm
Yeah, if the market goes up a bit more, you’ll have recovered everything you lost during the recession and the effects of inflation since then.
Quite the recovery! Only took four years.
Rafe Hollister
March 16th, 2013
8:22 pm
You don’t have to agree with Ryan on how to balance the budget, obviously Obama has no interest in that as he said, but had Obama listened to Ryan, he would have known how far off he was in the cost of Obamacare. Maybe he knew and was just lying to America, or maybe he just didn’t have enough knowledge of how the budget works, either way, he sure underestimated the cost.
If he listened to Ryan on entitlement reforms, we could avoid a great deal of pain, but I believe Obama is not concerned with that, as he will be out of office by then.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:25 pm
Yeah Americans had a choice to make last November – they could listen to Paul Ryan or Barack Obama.
Mr. ‘ End Medicare and give that money to rich folks’ didn’t quite make it…
I know, buddy, that’s gotta hurt….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:26 pm
The choice was between responsibility and Santa Claus.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:27 pm
Lil, the Dow fell 23% during President Bush’s excellent adventure – since Obama took over it’s up 43%.
I like ‘up’ better, thank you very much. So like I say, I hope you keep promoting Sarah, and Marco, and Paul, and all those other brilliant folks for President. That will ensure a victory by Hillary or Joe.
And I can keep building wealth….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:28 pm
Bill Maher just discovered that he’s paying his fair share and most of Cherokee’s.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:29 pm
Oh yeah and keep talking about Santa Claus.
That”ll work well at winning the hearts and minds of Americans..
Go for it, buddy….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:31 pm
Winning the hearts and minds of Americans is easy for Republicans. It’s the parasites that are a tougher nut to crack.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 16th, 2013
8:36 pm
And no, not all Democrats are parasites.
Some are just low information types.
Cherokee
March 16th, 2013
8:37 pm
Sorry all – feeding the troll again….
getalife
March 16th, 2013
8:51 pm
It is the best you can get after a collapse and you continue to ignore it collapsed on your watch.
Your party can’t govern and you reward failures.
Get a freaking grip on reality.
getalife
March 16th, 2013
8:54 pm
I watched the World According to Dick Cheney on Showtime and it documented the failures very well.
I was surprised how well it was done.
Just Saying..
March 16th, 2013
8:59 pm
Ted Cruz, from the horse’s mouth:
http://news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-count-proud-wacko-bird-000806551–abc-news-politics.html
Although, I realize some of you will think the opposite…
Dusty
March 16th, 2013
9:05 pm
Well, I was just reading in the AJC that the emergency ObamaCare program for people with chonric illness who could not get insurance coverage has already RUN OUT OF FUNDS. They are accepting no more patients. The government workers running the plan said the expenses were more than they expected. .
You bet! Cheaper healthcare coverage for chronic illness ? There is no such thing and the government knew that but promised anyway. Or should have known it. The gullible went right out and voted for the one who promised!!.
Promises built on faulty assurances just to get votes!! And the poor sick folks fell for it,
It is a sad situation but fooling people about it is not the way to go.
breckenridge
March 16th, 2013
9:15 pm
“Anyone who says the opposition party is only out for the rich and doesn’t care about America, when he gets as much money from Wallstreet and has just as many super wealthy contributors, is assuming that his wealthy folks are more righteous than the opposition.”
Well yeah. During his first term Obama talked repeatedly about closing tax loopholes for hedge funds. But when his campaign needed money last year where did he go? To Wall Street, hat in hand. And suddenly the talk of closing loopholes has vanished.
But seriously……will members of Congress, either party, try to close loopholes? Of course not. That’s how they make their money, taking bribes err I mean contributions from special interests who want preferential tax treatment. And term limits? That will never happen because which members of Congress would vote for such legislation? None.
@@
March 16th, 2013
9:26 pm
Dusty:
Sorry for the late response.
I enjoyed the beautiful weather but not while looking at land.
I need a respite from those adventures. Land’s not moving so there’s no hurry. Lots to be had. I found the perfect 20 acres….wide….flat….with strategically placed old hardwoods. Way out in the boonies. $90,000????
I
don’t
think
so.
Have a good evening.
Dusty
March 16th, 2013
9:27 pm
Speaking of loopholes, there seems to be a big one in Washington. Would you call raising the debt limit a loophole? I mean letting the government plan to spend even greater amounts than the 16.5 trillion $$$ we now owe is not a loophole?
The debt is a gigantic SINKHOLE and Democrats want to make it even BIGGER Like the proverbial story, keep digging and you will hit China.
I think we have already hit China. Let’s hope China does not get anxious and start hitting back.
Hillbilly D
March 16th, 2013
9:31 pm
Sounds like land is cheap in the flatlands.
Dusty
March 16th, 2013
9:50 pm
One man’s flatland is another man’s mountain, HILLBILLY. Or something like that. Doesn’t sound cheap to me.
But what do I know? We bought a few acres on the edge of town and the next thing we knew we had an expressway through the back yard. Whoops! But what’s a little humming and honking now and then. .. a lovely lullaby! (So I’m told.)
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 17th, 2013
7:26 am
Dusty: the emergency ObamaCare program for people with chonric illness who could not get insurance coverage has already RUN OUT OF FUNDS.
———————
The program was put in place and the costs deliberately underestimated to get it to pass and to keep the alleged tab for Obozocare under a trillion. There will be many more foreseen consequences in the years ahead.
Just another form of lying.
Obozo: Liar.
Progressive, Liberal, Lefty...informed thinker
March 17th, 2013
8:34 am
If that greasy group of morons is your future, you’re in deep schit!
Thomas Heyward Jr
March 17th, 2013
8:34 am
“Looking toward 2016, young Republicans are excited about the possibility of a younger nominee like Marco Rubio, 41, the U.S. senator from Florida who loves hip-hop and recently quoted rappers Wiz Khalifa and Jay-Z on the Senate floor.”
.
sheeeesh
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 17th, 2013
9:06 am
Progressive, Liberal, Lefty…informed thinker: you’re in deep schit!
————————-
We learned that last November, when a majority figured out they could vote themselves free stuff paid for by others. Why bother working for a living?
Michael H. Smith
March 17th, 2013
9:33 am
What is so exceptional about America’s exceptionalism, Kyle?
Other countries held that they were exceptional, even to the extremes, as history has witnessed in the cases of Germany and Japan during the early part of the last century; which gave the world some of its’ worst crimes against humanity committed by the believer in a “Master Race”?
Perhaps we would be better off humbled by the words of dear leader comrade obama who tells us that America is very commonplace among the nations of the world and that we have been too often divisive and derisive, when America is no more unique than Greece or Turkey?
Michael H. Smith
March 17th, 2013
9:36 am
We learned that last November, when a majority figured out they could vote themselves free stuff paid for by others. Why bother working for a living?
As Ben Franklin said, when people find that they can vote themselves money it will be the end of the Republic.
bluecoat
March 17th, 2013
9:39 am
The Republicans have no future.Christie would be their only hopes with the independents.All he would need is a long white beard.
bluecoat
March 17th, 2013
9:45 am
Was Ben talking about the elected people or the gen.populace?
Michael H. Smith
March 17th, 2013
9:50 am
Ben was talking about the liberals of this very day who HATE individualism and the independence thereof – individualism, the kind of stuff that makes America the oh so exceptional nation obama laments!
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
March 17th, 2013
10:11 am
Christie would be their only hopes with the independents
—————–
Just for the record, Romney won the independents.
Lost the dependents though…the folks dependent on others to pay their bills for them. The Obozo receptacles.
MarkV
March 17th, 2013
10:23 am
Dusty @ 7:57 pm
“Most people write what they are thinking otherwise how would they do it?”
They write what they are thinking about the question or subject that is being debated, not necessarily about anything beyond that.
MarkV
March 17th, 2013
10:25 am
Dusty @ 9:27 pm
Dusty’ approach to debt limit, deficit and national debt best can be characterized by the proverb: “road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
She is like somebody who would advise a business owner whose business is losing money because of poor merchandise, lack of customers and outdated and breaking down equipment to fire some workers, cut the wages to the rest, and stop maintaining the equipment to save expenses.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
March 17th, 2013
11:03 am
“You mean the Ryan federal budget plan that slashes taxes on the very wealthy, and pays for it by ending Medicare, Medicaid, and most other federal programs?”
Which, of course, is a blatant lie by Cherokee, as the Ryan budget does no such thing.
And never has.
redneckbluedog
March 17th, 2013
11:11 am
CPAC 2013 – White, racist, mostly male gun owners who want to take over the country and “liquidate” everyone else…..that is very scary to me as a Jewish American..!!!!!
“HEIL DONALD”….”HEIL WAYNE”……”HEIL INBRED HILLBILLIES”….!!!!!!
breckenridge
March 17th, 2013
11:30 am
And the CPAC winner is…..Rand Paul! Well done indeed. Actually the youngsters, the Ron Paul supporters, the college kids, showed up in droves and carried the day for Rand. I’m sure the CPAC sponsors, who were backing the unelectable Rubio, weren’t so happy about that. Good.
Is Rand Paul really another Ron Paul? Too early to tell. Hey these so-called fiscal conservatives in Congress can chirp all they want but their voting record is the proof in the pudding. Not once during his tenure in Congress did Ron Paul vote for a deficit budget. Democrat in office? Republican in office? It didn’t matter, Doctor No gave each and every deficit budget 2 thumbs down. And that’s why I supported the guy in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. It was a sad day when he retired.
Dusty
March 17th, 2013
11:48 am
Well, stop quivering ;and crying all you ‘fraidy cats. It’s another nice day out there. Church was good with a fine message of good news. On the way home, I saw two Canadian geese enjoying a walk on the grass.. They are so handsome!
MarkV, I then thought about your birds. What kind are you seeing now? I I hardly see any at my place.
Now, don’t you worry your head about my business practices. If I had a business like you mentioned, I would shut it down and rent the building. So there.
The 16.5 trillion dollar USA debt is a different situation. But one thing is for sure. Somebody is NOT minding the store and they are ruining the business. There is no way such a debt can be justified. It is poor management any way you look at it, ’specially when they plan to increase the DEBT.
I’m sorry but you cannot pay off debt by spending more. Water doesn’t run up hill either.<—–I like that one whether it fits or not.
breckenridge
March 17th, 2013
11:55 am
I’m looking at the text of Palin’s speech at CPAC yesterday……..she said the GOP needs to be more inclusive. That’s pretty funny since the organizers of the event banned that gay republican outfit.
Rusty next time you’re at church tell the congregation to be sure and follow the Constitution and not vote for candidates who want to legislate their religious beliefs.
Dusty
March 17th, 2013
11:56 am
Breckenridge,
Americans know more about Tom Cruise than they know about Rand Paul. Who?? But keep on trying.
So far, the only person at CPAC enjoying a big success is Sarah Palin. She knows how to make a speech that makes people listen. She’s funny and there’s not much to laugh about in Washington.
Maybe Kyle will come home and tell us the winners. We know who got the most attention.
Dusty
March 17th, 2013
12:00 pm
Breckenridge,
Who is Rusty? We don’t discuss politics at church. There’s something much more inspiring there.
You would know that if you ever put your foot in the door. Try it sometimes.
snoqualmiefalls
March 17th, 2013
12:31 pm
Come on Kyle talk about the real issues would you? Please let us all hear about the serious discussions that Karl Rove and the former half term governor of Alaska spoke about. Lets talk about the gift that grandpa McCain gave the country… you know kyle the gift that keeps on giving ala Palin.
Let us also talk about the unmentionable former president Bush or the future president Bush.. oh I forgot.. they are persona non grata at the Con fest… so sad since they given so much to the conservative movement…
C-Pac… not large enough to be a country but small enough as an insane asyum.