Free Republic

Take Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee out of the 2012 presidential mix, says Al Cardenas, new chair of the American Conservative Union: If they were serious about running, "they'd probably be here." Interviewed at the end of the second busy day of his organization's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Cardenas dismissed the chances of the two high-profile no-shows. "Both Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin would be formidable contenders, but are unlikely to be nominees," he told On Calll. "But my sense I they're not serious about running because I would think they'd probably be here if they were."

The race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination starts in earnest this week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Too early, you say? On the contrary. With the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary only 12 months away, it may soon be too late for anyone who wants to run for president to begin the hard work of raising money, recruiting a staff and wooing Republican activists. So let's get started. Here's the conventional wisdom, fresh from the corridors of power, on the state of the Republican race: There are really only two spots on the...

Tea Party Review magazine to debut By Rachel Rose Hartman rachel Rose Hartman 54 mins ago Billing itself as the "first national magazine for, by and about the Tea Party Movement" a new periodical called the Tea Party Review debuts this week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. But as befits the incendiary movement that lends the publication its name, the magazine's founders want to stress that while they're touting the publication at one of the biggest Republican events of the year, it doesn't mean that they're down-the-ticket Republican supporters. "I'm not a huge fan...

After months of struggling to harness the energy of newly engaged tea party activists, the conservative establishment — with critical midterm congressional elections on the horizon — is taking aim for the first time at the movement’s extremist elements. The move has been cast by some conservatives as a modern version of the marginalization of the far-right, anti-communist John Birch Society during the reorganization of the conservative movement spearheaded by William F. Buckley Jr. in the 1960s and 1970s. “A similar effort will be required today of conservative political and intellectual leaders,” former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson wrote in his column in...

I suspect his remark about CPAC and its sponsorship practices is in reference to the criticism social conservative groups have leveled for the inclusion of GOProud as a sponsor. GOProud is a homosexual conservative group that added its name to the sponsor list. You have to wonder if, in fact, Huckabee did not attend in order to comply with the call for a boycott of CPAC by Liberty Counsel and other Christian extremists. Huckabee strongly disagrees with GOProud’s views on homosexuality, which was made obvious in his confrontation with John Stewart....

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has criticized the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), whose recent conference he refused to attend, alleging it has departed from its conservative principles. Speaking on Fox News last weekend, Huckabee said that CPAC has become "more libertarian and less Republican over the last few years, one of the reasons why I [did not attend the event] this year." The former GOP presidential candidate also suggested that the popularity of the Tea Party nation movement and its events all over the country have caused the influence of the CPAC to rapidly decline, and the organization is...

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is over and almost everyone is describing it as one of the best in years. People left feeling invigorated and enthusiastic. Most people had quite a bit of fun as well. Those who attended are now recovering and reflecting on four great days for the conservative movement. It has been described as a conservative Mardi Gras, and even the left called it a “Woodstock for the right.” Read more: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/huckabees-snark-cant-rain-on-cpacs-parade/

Here’s a first-hand story of the effects of illegal immigration. Both my parents died of cancer. Toward the end of my mother’s life, my brothers and I took her to hospitals more times than we care to remember, for life-prolonging procedures – until there was nothing more that could be done. During her final month I took her to the local Hospital Emergency Room one night. We arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and found the waiting room literally filled with non-English-speaking Latinos. None of the people ahead of us appeared to have an emergency or to be in great distress....

CPAC Shills for Islamic Terrorists Frontpagemag.com Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Pamela Geller, founder, editor and publisher of the popular and award-winning weblog AtlasShrugs.com.. She has won acclaim for her interviews with internationally renowned figures, including John Bolton, Geert Wilders, Bat Ye’or, Natan Sharansky, and many others, and has broken numerous important stories — notably the questionable sources of some of the financing of the Obama campaign. Her op-eds have been published in The Washington Times, The American Thinker, Israel National News, Frontpage Magazine, World Net Daily, and New Media Journal, among other publications. She is the co-author (with...

Feb. 24, 2010 Have Gays Found Their Place in the GOP? Dramatic Moment at Conservative Confab Could Be a Sign of Change Within Republican Party When It Comes to Gay Rights A memorable moment at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference could mark a turning point in the long-fraught relationship between gays and the Republican Party. CPAC is perhaps the nation's premiere conservative gathering, a convivial opportunity for impassioned right-wing activists to network, plan for upcoming elections and listen to the biggest names in the conservative movement. It's the sort of atmosphere in which the casual observer might expect someone...

With attendance bursting at the seams, this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference clearly benefited from the new recruits and fresh energy stirred up by the nascent tea party movement. But the secret ingredient to the enormous success of this year’s largest-ever CPAC was the steady hand of experienced leadership behind the scenes that ensured everything went smoothly. It is precisely that kind of skillful guidance that will be needed for the tea party movement to coalesce and realize its enormous potential. Spontaneous, grassroots uprisings are exhilarating and the tea parties and health care townhalls last year helped flatten the Democratic...

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...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A straw poll of US conservative activists saw Texas congressman Ron Paul emerge as the preferred Republican presidential candidate to run against President Barack Obama in 2012. Some 31 percent of the more than 2,000 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) attendees who participated in the poll voted for the outspoken libertarian. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate in 2008, came in third with 7.0 percent, some way behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (22 percent), who had won the CPAC poll for the last three years. There were boos among the crowd as the...

It's that time of year again. Pundits, pollsters and lobbyists are gathering in the nation's capital to tell conservative activists how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. ... This year, the Beltway leaders of conservatism are racing hard to catch up with a parade they did not launch and cannot control. Across America, grass-roots patriots and anti-Obama protests have changed the political landscape in ways conservatism's entrenched Beltway Politburo did not anticipate. ... The greatest threat in 1960 was international – how to deal with the threat of Soviet communism and the "missile gap" – and anti-communism was...

Sarah Palin’s plan to deliver the keynote address – for a fee – at next month’s first-ever National Tea Party Convention is getting renewed attention in light of her rejection Thursday of an invitation to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The decision to blow off CPAC – traditionally seen as the year’s must-attend event for the conservative establishment – in favor of a little-known convention is prompting some soul-searching among CPAC supporters, and is being interpreted as a calculated play by the former Alaska governor to cast herself as the potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate of the...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Pain is turning down an invitation to speak at one high-profile conservative gathering while accepting another. Palin is declining an invitation to address the Conservative Political Action Conference next month because, a source said, she does not want to be affiliated with the longtime organizer of the traditional movement confab. At issue is the role of David Keene, head of the American Conservative Union which organizes CPAC. In September, POLITICO reported that Keene asked FedEx for between $2 million and $3 million to get the group's support in a bitter legislative battle with rival UPS. ***A...