Category: CPAC

We’re waiting for Mitt Romney’s speech to start here in a few minutes, and I’ll live-blog it once it begins. However, we all have heard the report from Mark Halperin at Time that Romney will use the event to announce his withdrawal from the race. It will, ironically, now overshadow the long-awaited attempt at rapprochement from John McCain this afternoon, but I’d bet McCain would take that trade.
Keep checking back. Romney will take the stage in a few minutes ….
1:17 – Mitt made the right decision, and he made the announcement in the right place. He’s a good man, and I think this will allow the Republicans a lot more time to find accommodation with John McCain.
1:04 – He wants to “do whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq,” and this is his reason to withdraw. He’s going to back out to ensure victory.
1:03 – Whether Hillary or Obama wins, the statists advance. He says “Many in this room are fully behind my campaign.” Is he withdrawing?
12:59 – This has been one of his best speeches — he’s energized, emphatic, and inspiring. If this is his swan song, it will be a little ironic. He’s now talking about economics, his best topic, and the crowd loves the idea of “taking a weedwhacker at regulation” and “standing up to the unions that run our government.”
12:55 – Talking defense of families, and the culture of dependency. He calls for a Constitutional amendment for the definition of marriage — the first policy statement of the speech. Otherwise, this has been a thematic address.
12:52 – Paying some tribute to the culture warriors on the Right. He’s talking about the importance of faith, family, and freedom, and notes that even non-believing Americans believe in something “greater than themselves” which helps set America apart.
12:50 – Without conservative principles, America could become the “France of the 21st century — still a great nation, but not the world leader, not a superpower.”
12:49 – He’s noting the large lead in delegates McCain has. This sounds like a valediction.
12:48 – He thanks talk radio for everything they do for conservatism. Romney also thanks the organizers at CPAC, and promises to come back many times in the future.
12:47 – Huge welcome for Romney. Absolutely huge.
12:45 – Romney’s coming up now, introduced as “the conservative’s conservative”. Be aware — this will pre-empt the AOL show this afternoon. Can’t be helped;my apologies. This is breaking news.
12:40 – She tells the audience that in 1976, people told Reagan to get out of the race for the good of the party, and he refused. If Romney withdraws today, that’ll sting….
12:39 – She says Hillary’s $5 million went to “tear-duct enlargement surgery”. That got a big laugh.
12:37 – Laura Ingraham will introduce Romney. She starts off by telling people to “calm down”, a derisive reference to McCain’s statement yesterday.

John McCain meets some of his fiercest critics today at CPAC, with a 3 pm ET speech that will provide a critical moment for both the candidate and the activists. Most have focused on what McCain has to do to reach out to the conservatives, but fewer understand that the movement has a decision to make as well regarding its future and its relevance.
First, let’s focus on McCain. The Senator will not win an election by suddenly gainsaying everything he has done over the past eight years since his last presidential campaign. He will have to focus on the future, including the future of the badly-needed immigration reform that everyone wants but no one can define to consensus. McCain will need to commit to nominating judges to the bench that will not legislate from there.
He has to end the false dichotomy of “patriotism, not profit” and the little war of words on Wall Street, a kind of populism that conservatives rightly reject. He will also need to recast his focus on global warming to acknowledge that the US cannot unilaterally handicap itself economically and allow more manufacturing to disappear overseas thanks to even more expensive domestic energy production.
If McCain can do all of that, he will have come more than halfway to meeting the conservatives. If the latter doesn’t show up at that halfway point, though, they risk more than a lost election. They put their credibility at risk as a coalition partner for rational governance.
Despite the size of CPAC, the conservative wing of the Republican Party is one of several factions within a big tent. Within that movement exists sub-factions as well. In order to have influence over public policy, any movement has to align itself with other compatible factions to form a governing coalition. That means sharing decisions and sometimes subordinating some issues in order to hold the coalition together, including leadership decisions.
Responsible coalition members understand that dynamic. Factions that refuse to cooperate in a coalition wind up marginalized and pushing the coalition in the opposite direction. If McCain wins the nomination without conservatives, he will push towards the center in the general election. Win or lose, the conservatives will have no influence on public policy either way, and will not be trusted as coalition partners for a long, long time afterwards.
Everyone has a lot at stake today. Conservatives owe McCain a hearing today, and they owe it to themselves to carefully consider whether they want to be taken seriously in the future.
Addendum: Rick Moran has a very funny “preview” of the McCain speech and his welcome at CPAC.

With John McCain rolling up some large delegate totals, his upcoming visit to CPAC tomorrow will be a critical point in his campaign. He has to find a way to work with the conservative activists that could help propel him to victory, and to do that he has to assure them of his own credentials as a conservative. Mark Tapscott has a suggestion for McCain’s opening bid in his speech tomorrow:

1. McCain-Coburn: Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma may be the most credible politician in the GOP, thanks to his no-nonsense, bluntly honest approach to earmarks and federal spending. Coburn is already a McCain supporter. Reagan announced Schweicker ahead of the 76 GOP convention. McCain can put Coburn on the ticket and make him the McCain administration’s tax and budget czar.
2. Reform McCain-Feingold: McCain should admit the First Amendment says Congress shall make NO law regarding freedom of political speech. That means McCain-Feingold must be rewritten as a campaign finance disclosure law, not a campaign speech regulation.
3. Build The Fence: Stop the nonsense and doubletalk. Like Reagan said, a nation that cannot control its border is not a sovereign nation.

The third may be the most likely to appear in the speech. The other two will likely not. If McCain wants to keep Mike Huckabee in the race to frustrate Romney’s hopes of a head-to-head race, he has to keep the VP option open. Besides, Reagan’s announcement of Schweicker didn’t do Reagan a lot of good in 1976, and was widely seen as a mistake. And on the BCRA, I suspect we will not hear any retreat from the Senator who considers that his signature legislation and has gone to court to defend it.
Still, Mark’s right in that McCain has to start negotiating for support in part on the terms of conservatives. He will likely do so on judicial nominations, pork-barrel spending, and budget reductions. We can also expect to hear reminders that McCain has been pro-life during his entire career, and while he might not support Constitutional amendments favored by the pro-life activists, he isn’t going to roll back the work done by the movement over the last twenty-five years.
Today is a travel day for me, as I will be attending CPAC. I’ll report on the speech and its reception, as well as any by Mitt Romney as he tries to keep the conservatives lined up behind him. I’ll be conducting my normal Heading Right Radio show, but I will also have a BlogTalkRadio CPAC channel. It will publish the interviews I conduct immediately as podcasts, so be sure to keep checking the channel for updates.