GOP's past and future collide at conservative conference
A view of t-shirts for sale at an exhibition booth during the final day of the American Conservative Union's 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). / Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
Sarah Palin, evidently for some, is still considered the "future" of the conservative movement.
Ahead of her address Saturday to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which kicks off today at Maryland's National Harbor, the likeness of the 2008 vice presidential nominee sits emblazoned atop the homepage of the convention's website, surrounded by similar busts of Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Block text above them reads: "America's Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives."
It's curious company for Palin, who for four years has wandered on and off the national stage in controversial bursts, encouraging conservatives to "reload" against Democrats as well as some within their own ilk and accusing President Obama of "palling around" with domestic terrorists. Several months ago, the former Alaska governor's stardom seemed all but dead: On the first night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., last fall, she was serving baked beans at an Arizona barbecue dive; in January, Fox News cut its ties with her.
Now she's on tap to speak at arguably the most who's-who affair in conservative politics.
On a roster boasting a flurry of likely 2016 contenders - Rubio, Paul and Ryan, included - where does Sarah Palin fit in? She doesn't, one GOP strategist said - but neither does Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee slated to speak Friday afternoon whose "moderate" platform many Tea Party groups blamed for the ticket's loss in November.
"It's all over the place," longtime GOP consultant Ron Bonjean said of the speaker lineup. From Palin to Romney to Rubio, he continued, "CPAC is sending a lot of mixed messages here. I think [Romney's invitation] was to be nice, but I would guess people would rather look forward than backward. And every single speaker they choose is a statement of where they'd like to see the direction of the party go.
"It's completely confusing," he continued. "But the disorganization, I think, in some ways is very symbolic of the Republican Party looking to define itself as it goes through its own identity crisis."
That identity crisis - which since the formation of the far-right Tea Party in 2009 has gradually inched the party toward the brink of civil war - is further emphasized by the two popular Republican governors who didn't make the guest list: New Jersey's Chris Christie and Virginia's Bob McDonnell.
Chris Christie not on CPAC guest list
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The snub to Christie, who keynoted the RNC and whose no-nonsense approach to his state's budget - and basically everything else - has positioned him as an early frontrunner for 2016, is a "mistake," Bonjean said. Conference chair Al Cardenas pushed back against Republican hubbub over the move, arguing that by signing up with the federal government for Medicaid expansion and rallying alongside the president for a $60-billion-plus "pork" bill for superstorm Sandy relief, Christie had not "earned his wings."
"We felt that Governor Christie, a crowd favorite at previous CPACs, was not particularly deserving this year," Cardenas wrote to the Washington Post. "I have said that CPAC is like an 'All Star' game for conservatives. Even players that have great careers in baseball don't make it to the All Star game every year. I hope he earns an invitation next year. But, everyone must keep in mind that we are not the Republican Party - we are conservatives."
McDonnell's most likely transgression, though Cardenas has not confirmed it, is his recent support for a transportation package that stipulated a sales tax hike. Meantime his attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli - a longtime favorite of the Tea Party - opens CPAC's festivities this morning.
But it's not as simple as the Tea Party versus the Republican establishment, Bonjean said. The number of shades on the conservative continuum and the subtleness between them show a far more fractured movement.
On the CPAC lineup, Palin, once an electric trailblazer for the Tea Party, can be lumped not with the far-right grassroots types, but with firebrands like Donald Trump, the real estate mogul-turned-reality TV star set to speak Friday morning. "Those speakers show that the organization is looking to grab sensationalistic headlines through speakers that will likely say over-the-top statement in front of hundreds of reporters, rather than have a real, serious discussion about the direction of the party," Bonjean said.
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You need to shut your mouth talking to me, "boy" Before I tell your mama and she spanks your butt!
BTW -- $1.7 Trillion ain't nothing compared to $17 Trillion Obama has hung on us!
BTW -- How much does CBS pay you to Troll? Is it by the number of words or number of post?
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My God is the Holy Trinity - that is God, the Father, Jesus, His son, and the Holy Spirit in One -- Not your messiah or master (you choose) Obama
The Dems are the party of the Sodimites - remember?
BTW - I'm not a Republican - so I could care less what they do