ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

Google Groups ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess

Cutrona, Danielle (Judiciary-Rep) Posted in group: Groundswell Mar 13, 2013 1:18 PM

CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess

By: Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman March 13, 2013 04:36 AM EDT

Its not hard to make fun of CPAC. From the presence of Donald Trump to a meaningless straw poll to a cavalcade of fringe-dwelling book merchants, the event has become more carnival than conservative salon. What is more notable about this years rendition of the annual confab, which begins outside Washington on Thursday, is not the easy caricature but how thoroughly the Conservative Political Action Conference reflects the state of the Republican Party four months after yet another humbling presidential defeat. It is a muddle, but a muddle with meaning. Establishment Republicans are angry that popular GOP governors Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell are being snubbed, but conservatives, seeing Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush invited, are moaning that a traditional movement event has been annexed by the country club crowd. Future Republican bright lights will be in attendance, but so will yesterdays news, most of it with headlines no one wants to read. (PHOTOS: CPACs lineup for 2013) A Republican gay group isnt welcome yet neither are hard-liners on immigration. And another member of the Paul family is poised, to the frustration of organizers, to again win the presidential straw poll. For decades, perhaps even for a century now, Republicans have grappled with their moderateconservative divide. But as the CPAC jumble illustrates, the confusion surrounding the party is now more complex than the enduring center vs. right paradigm. We all need to be singing from same hymnal, cautions former Mississippi governor and Clinton-era Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour. When the other side has the megaphone of the White House, it makes it all the more important that your side sticks together on message and has more message discipline. We have to have moderate Republicans, conservative Republicans, neo-con
https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ Page 1 of 6

ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

Republicans, tea party people all saying, Here are the thing we agree on and that we should emphasize. (Also on POLITICO: 2012 blame game: Will it ever end?) But as CPAC gets under way, its the differences that are coming into stark relief. The gathering has long been seen as an early indicator about the state of conservatives and thats no different today. But unfortunately for the right, its the GOPs identity crisis that nows being reflected by CPAC. And its a dark night of the soul thats been building for years. Each of the three legs of Ronald Reagans venerated Republican stool has gone wobbly in the wake of consecutive White House defeats, as the party grapples with both a core constituency thats increasingly at odds with public opinion and the legacy of its most recent president. The pillars of the conservative era ushered in by Reagan a muscular defense, traditional cultural values and devotion to free markets are being questioned by leading Republicans, and what could take the place of the Gippers trinity is now being openly debated in a fashion more reminiscent of the famously fractious Democrats of yore. (VIDEO: Top 5 Republicans to watch at CPAC) Republican leaders are questioning the interventionist foreign policy that President George W. Bush and the partys last two nominees paid obeisance to; party elites are urging a more tolerant or even supportive stance on gay rights and would be just fine if abortion wasnt discussed at all; and while conservative thinkers muse about a harder line on Wall Street, many GOP governors are bowing to the greatest expansion of the welfare state since the Great Society and their contemporaries in Congress, having just raised taxes at the start of the year, still entertain the possibility of more revenue increases in exchange for a fiscal grand bargain. We have to, as a Republican Party, get bigger, not smaller, and were a party thats becoming more regionalized and I think a smaller, less significant national party, said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, deadpanning: Were a great red state party. The way to compete in blue America, Paul said, is to embrace a more restrained foreign policy and take a federalist approach on values issues. If you want to get together a majority in California I think your only chance is to be more of a libertarian Republican, said Paul, who is considering a presidential bid in 2016 and believes the views of his father, former congressman and long-shot presidential hopeful Ron Paul, are being vindicated. So its funny that those who resisted the influence of libertarian Republicans from 2008 to 2012 I think were smart to revisit that. When I talk to the national party I think theyre aware of that. (PHOTOS: 10 memorable CPAC moments) But while Paul seeks to remake the GOP in his image, other party leaders, such as Barbour, hope to downplay differences and believe consensus is the only way to be relevant in the Obama era. Open internal warfare, this view goes, merely offers aid and comfort to the opposition. In other words, Republicans cant even agree on whether they should litigate their disagreements. And here again, CPAC illustrates the problems rather than the solutions. The loudest statement from the conference may have come before it even began. McDonnell, who pushed through a major transportation bill last month that raised some taxes, and Christie, who publicly embraced President Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy and accepted the Affordable Care Acts expansion of Medicaid, have been excluded.
https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ Page 2 of 6

ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

But, as their defenders note, in addition to their perceived apostasies, the duo also happen to be among the most popular GOP governors in America, as well as potential presidential candidates, and were the first indicators of the conservative backlash when they were elected in 2009. (PHOTOS: Scenes from CPAC 2012) Tom Kean, the former New Jersey governor, called it stupidity that Christie wasnt asked to speak and argues that it exemplifies his partys ills. You have probably the most popular governor in the country in New Jersey, and this is supposed to be a showcase of conservative ideas, Kean said, arguing that CPACs Christie rejection reinforces something about the party that is a real negative. That negative? If you want to succeed in politics you build a broad coalition. ! You want to be elected nationally, you build that broad coalition thats inclusive not exclusive. Anybody who tries to say if you cant accept our definition of Republican youre not a Republican are just ensuring that Republicans are not going to win another national election. Barbour also said that not inviting Christie and McDonnell over issue differences is a mistake. Al Cardenas, who oversees CPAC as head of the American Conservative Union, shrugged at the critique. There are a lot of folks active in the peanut gallery, he said. You get comments from the left, comments from the right. Look. We have a very thorough vetting process. But CPAC isnt simply imposing purity tests on speakers. Were that the case, the likes of Romney, Jeb Bush and certainly Trump wouldnt be gracing the stage. Instead, its an amalgam of names from the past (Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Connie Mack) and party leaders of the present and future (Paul, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Reince Priebus). Explain to me how Mitt Romney is the future of the Republican Party when were trying to look forward, complained one senior Republican. To CPAC veterans, the events evolution into a GOP cattle call thats more closely identified with Republicanism than conservatism is the most worrisome development, particularly at a time when true believers need to take stock. We really have to have a serious discussion about where our movement can go, said longtime conservative PR maven Diana Banister. And the movement is separate and apart from the Republican Party and should remain so. Moreover, the invitations to the likes of Trump and Palin and the Crossfire-like debate between Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala signal that organizers are as interested in attracting buzz as confronting policy differences. It has become celebrified, lamented Banister, who is still going to attend on behalf of clients. Political reporters look at the elevated importance of it, but I do think its a cavalcade mostly built around what conservative book publishers and movie producers are interested in, added GOP strategist Chris Henick. Lighten up, responds Cardenas, who calls critics boring. To think that theres a dichotomy between intellectual stimulation and just good old fashioned fun I
https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ Page 3 of 6

ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

mean whats with that? he said. Weve got 32 panels comprised of the most significant academics and intellectuals that we have in the conservative movement. Weve got sessions going for 14 hours. Indeed, away from the would-be candidates and rabble-rousers on the main stage theres a whole other world of controversy at CPAC thats also a stand-in for what the GOP is wrestling with as a party. GOProud, a Republican gay rights group, has for the second consecutive year not been allowed to sponsor or formally participate in the conference. But The Competitive Enterprise Institute is sponsoring a panel called A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet and has included the head of GOProud as one of the participants. Immigration, too, is flaring up as a point of contention. Cardenas is an outspoken backer of immigration reform, and the CPAC panel on the topic is stacked with like-minded Republicans at a moment when the issue still divides conservatives. To some in the party, immigration reform is nothing short of imperative for GOP survival. Immigration is an existential issue for the party, said veteran strategist Terry Nelson. If we cant get it right, were going to be in trouble for a long, long time. But other Republicans think party elites are out of step with their base on the issue. This is the culmination of turning CPAC in a monolithic pro-amnesty event, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a leading foe of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Krikorian faulted not Cardenas but Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist who also sits on the board of the American Conservative Union, CPACs parent. CPAC has always been under the thumb of Grover, said Krikorian. Shot back Norquist: If he imagines he didnt get invited to speak because I opposed this, he is incorrect. If he claims this is true, he is lying. Noting the odd exclusion of immigration reform opponents but also GOProud and McDonnell, Krikorian said with a laugh: It really is kind of confused. And theres the CPAC straw poll, an honor that grim-faced event organizers have had to bestow on Ron Paul in recent years. The younger Paul will certainly be at or near the top of the running this year, beating or at least competitive with mainstream favorites like Bush and Rubio. Indeed, nothing may represent the threat to GOP business as usual like the ascent of the Bowling Green ophthalmologist. In an interview Tuesday with a small group of reporters at National Review, he was open about his desire to move Republicans to Obamas left on national security. When you saw the debate between President Obama and Romney on foreign policy, they sounded pretty similar, Paul said. In the vice presidential debate, Biden was more assertive, but Ryan didnt disagree with most of his positions. It was sort of like, Well either come a little bit slower out of Afghanistan, or well do this. But Biden had a good response, Were coming home. And I think thats what people want; I think thats what people are ready for, that were coming home. And on cultural issues, Paul would like to take marriage out of the tax code altogether, soften the GOPs approach to illegal drugs and compromise on immigration.
https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ Page 4 of 6

ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

To be a national party again, Paul contends, there also must be a bit of political federalism and tolerance within the GOP. I would say that one leg [of the GOP stool] has to be bigger, depending on what part of the country youre standing in, said Paul. Theres some evidence that Pauls argument rings true on national security. The most telling part of his jeremiad against drones last week was not that he was joined by other Republicans many of whom just wanted to be aligned with the latest round of Obama-bashing but rather how little blowback he got beyond that from the most predictable hawks. Even some Republican regulars view the step away from such an aggressive foreign policy as a healthy correction to the Bush years. Were not the policeman of the world, said Barbour, hardly a dove. But the interventionists arent going away and will surely have their own candidates in 2016 cautioning against any sort of retreat abroad. Rick Santorum, the Republican runner-up last year, may be one of those candidates. I disagree with Sen. Pauls isolationist policies and believe that the most important role of our president is to keep us safe, said Santorum on Tuesday. Further, the preference shared by Paul and many in the ranks of the GOP elite to play down social issues will be stoutly resisted by a conservative base that remains unapologetically opposed to samesex marriage, abortion rights and amnesty for illegal immigrants. And thats to say nothing of grassroots Republicans who want to see Obamacare defunded not accommodated and a hell no approach on taxes. This, even more than differing views on national security, poses the most significant challenge for Republicans: how to return to majority status when, on issue after issue, the views of your base are out of step with the country at large. The most disconcerting thing to me right now is there has not been another point in memory where the base of Republicans is so far from where a majority of the electorate is, said one of the partys most well-known operatives. Kean agreed that there is a gap between the GOP base and where the rest of the country is, but he is more worried about the reflex to read out heretics rather than tolerate some drifting from the true faith. No great coalition, no great party ever has agreed on everything, he said, The Republican Party is facing an identity crisis, said GOP pollster Steve Lombardo. But its not that the party doesnt know who it is its that part of the party knows exactly who they are, and they dont want to move from a very rigid and defined identity. Alexander Trowbridge contributed to this report.

2013 POLITICO LLC

https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ

Page 5 of 6

ICYMI: CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess - Google Groups

3/14/13 7:55 PM

https://groups.google.com/forum/print/msg/groundswellgroup/4crLh5-8kG8/drGyXatayQsJ

Page 6 of 6