CPAC's Odd Ending

Ron Paul out-polled Sarah Palin almost 5 to 1 and keynoter Glenn Beck got huge ovations as he disavowed any conservative ascendency within the Republican Party.

So someone please tell me - just what the heck happened to a convention that was off to such a wonderful conservative start? Where is the momentum from the Marco Rubio speech and the Dick Cheney "Obama is a one term President" moment?

Perhaps David Keene of the American Conservative Union will be a bit more careful when picking keynote speakers from now on. What happened was predictable, given that the man he picked uses a daily TV show to make it clear that he blames Republicans, Democrats, the left and the right and politics in general all equally for America's woes.

While he has a huge audience, some of these thoughts are not exactly the consensus among American conservatives. They are not consistent with reality either. Besides, CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Committee.

Oh I realize that in a ballroom jammed with a disproportionate share of Paul supporters and Beck groupie Keene is likely not aware of how conservatives across the country viewed this soiree. Not yet . . .

The following lines from his CPAC address -- which are the lines the media have been spreading as his theme -- are simply baffling:

I have not heard people in the Republican Party admit yet that they have a problem. I haven't seen the Come-To-Jesus moment from Republicans yet.

Has he not heard about Marco Rubio? Rubio is now up 12 points on Charlie Crist among GOP voters. That sounds to me like a lot of Florida Republicans admit there's a problem.

What about Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey? The lesson he is teaching the New Jersey legislature this week about government spending could have come straight off of Beck's blackboard. He should be proud of this. Why is he ignoring it?

Has he not heard about J.D. Hayworth challenging John McCain in the Arizona primary? Say what you will about J.D, but the idea that a 30-year incumbent is facing a serious primary challenge indicates that some Republicans are admitting they have a problem.

Beck said in his speech that Rush Limbaugh is one of his heroes. Rush is a Republican by the way. He has been onto Republican problems longer than Beck has. Rush is . . .

I think people are completely overreacting to Beck’s speech. I think his sharp words for the GOP were necessarily hard, but he was by no means over the top. Those that claim that Beck was advocating conservatives abandon the GOP completely in favor of a third party a really off the mark IMO.

Look at how they dropped the ball with Dede Scozzafava! And how many really crappy incumbents have they supported over talented upcoming primary challengers? The GOP Old Guard has failed. They shot themselves in the foot over and over and over again, and honestly, how much better do you think McCain would’ve been? He might’ve vetoed some of the loony stuff that would’ve surely come his way, but he was for immigration “reform” , pro-environmentalism, pro-bailouts and TARP...

The GOP old-boys’ network needs a kick in the groin. They are failures. Their efforts to be liked and respected by the national media have led to their (and our) doom. There’s a reason that McCain was on Meet The Press all the time, and boy did they sure turn on him fast! That’s the lesson the GOP insiders have never learned: prostituting yourself to get favorable coverage from the MSM *never* works. It might work for a day, but they’re looking for the next chance to brand you a fool 5 seconds after they end the segment.

The Ron Paul thing? Meh. Whatever. Meaningless straw poll. Glenn Beck, however, gave an excellent and necessary speech.

Mark Levin: I have no idea what philosophy Glenn Beck is promoting. And neither does he
Mark Levin Fan ^ | February 21, 2010 | Mark R. Levin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2456317/posts

I was invited to be the opening speaker at Saturday’s CPAC session. I had accepted but then, to my amazement, I learned that the John Birch Society would be one of many co-sponsors. This takes the big-tent idea many steps too far for me. So, I withdrew. Apparently, others were not so moved. That’s fine. But it wasn’t for me. Bill Buckley and Barry Goldwater, among others, chased the Birchers from the movement decades ago. And they’re not a part of the movement. So, to give them a booth at CPAC was boneheaded.

I want to commend Bill Bennett for his wise piece this morning on the Corner. I agree with him.

I have no idea what philosophy Glenn Beck is promoting. And neither does he. It’s incoherent. One day it’s populist, the next it’s libertarian bordering on anarchy, next it’s conservative but not really, etc. And to what end? I believe he has announced that he is no longer going to endorse candidates because our problems are bigger than politics. Well, of course, our problems are not easily dissected into categories, but to reject politics is to reject the manner in which we try to organize ourselves. This is as old as Plato and Aristotle. Why would conservatives choose to surrender the political battlefield to our adversaries — who are trashing this society — when we must retake it in order to preserve our society? Philosophy, politics, culture, family, etc., are all of one. Edmund Burke, among others, wrote about it extensively, and far better that I possibly can. But all elements of the civil society require our defense. Besides, why preach such a strategy when conservatism is on the rise and the GOP is acting more responsibly?

Moreover, when he does discuss politics, which, ironically, is often, how can he claim today that there is no difference between the two parties when, but for the Republicans in Congress, government-run health care, cap-and-trade, card check, and a long list of other disastrous policies would already be law? The GOP is becoming more conservative thanks to the grass-roots movement and a political uprising across the country, which has even reached into New Jersey and Massachusetts. Why keep pretending otherwise? My only conclusion is that he is promoting a third party or some third way, which is counter-productive to defeating Obama and the Democrat Congress. These are perilous times and this kind of an approach will keep the statists in power for decades.

And what of his flirtations with Ron Paul’s lunacy respecting America’s supposed provocations with her enemies, including al-Qaeda? Why should such a fatal defect in thinking be ignored? Do we conservatives agree with this?

Finally, Beck is fond of congratulating himself for being the only or the first host to criticize George Bush’s spending. This is demonstrably false. I not only attacked his spending, but the creation of the Homeland Security Department, the prescription drug add-on for Medicare, his “moderate” tax cuts, as well as his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, “comprehensive immigration reform,” and so forth. And I was not alone — Rush and Sean did the same, for example. And as someone who fought liberal Republicans in the trenches when campaigning for Reagan in 1976 and 1980, I don’t need lectures from Beck, who was nowhere to be found, about big-spending Republicans. But this is not about me, or Beck, or Beck’s past drunkenness (which he endlessly wears as some kind of badge of honor). It is about preserving our society for our children and grandchildren. Beck spent precious little time aiming fire at Obama-Pelosi-Reid in his speech, and it is they who are destroying our country.

On as a positive note, I am personally happy to see that Beck has cleaned up his public act — as best I can tell, no more boiling fake frogs on TV or pretending to pour gasoline on someone — and the rest of it. But I do think his speech, which contained nuggets of truth heard before and read elsewhere, including on Rush’s show and in my book and many other books, may have distracted from some of the more compelling and coherent speeches at the event, including Marco Rubio’s superb speech. I fear the media will see to this. I hope not.

Your views are in line with my own. While Glenn Beck has done and said some things that I could not wholly endorse, he is, by far, more correct than incorrect. It has been his voice, along with other radio personalities (including a personal favorite of mine, Jim Quinn) that has given rise and fuel to the tea-party movement. It has been that movement, not the GOP, that has given us victories in New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusettes. While the GOP snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in New York.

The presidency of Barack Obama has been the spark to light the fires, something that would have not happened if McCain had won. The fact that a few Republicans are now making “conservative” noises, should not be surprising. Politicians (with the exception of those on the extreme left) have been adept at sticking a wet finger in the air to check the direction of the wind (and too often for other reasons as well). Where were they when the GOP was paving the way for the Democrat takeover, which they most certainly did?

So Sean Hannity reiterates every election cycle that he expects the Republican LEADERSHIP to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Rush has also been VERY conrary to the obvious lethargic attitude of the LEADERSHIP as well. I have heard no whining and hand wringing or jaw knashing of their critiques of the GOP.

So all of a sudden Beck gets a big megaphone outside of his daily TV and radio shows and the puking begins because someone who is from the outside of the party does it in a very illustritive and analogistic way to attack the PROGRESSIVES in both parties and then some take it as an attack on everyone who calls themselves Republicans?

Blather I say! “Shoot the messenger” on total display because the laundry smelled bad and was not clean. Sorry, Charlie; I am a registered Republican and member of the local REC and I thought the MESSAGE was dead zero on target. One of the main reasons I took the initiative to get involved was because the party was leaving me and just maybe if some Democrats had stood up and called a spade a spade, their party may not have left them so easily as well.

To further make a point, I guess the Tea Party movement got started because the GOP was standing up for conservative ideals? Yea, right. We now have a true grassroots movement whose main objective is to bring governance back to the Constitution. Beck is also making that his main driving point and now some who call themselves Republicans have a problem with that message? Be careful what you whine for because it has been lost on your rants that you already have what you are railing against and maybe it’s just because it tastes too bad to swallow this time and you are the Chef.

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