Sarah Palin wowed the crowd at the CPAC 2013 convention. The former governor of Alaska still has it when it comes to delivering a rousing, populist speech. Palin even got a 2-minute standing ovation merely for sipping from a Big Gulp! Who else could get that? More importantly, she connected the many failures of Barack Obama to the misfortunes of Middle Class America. All of Washington, for that matter! Her advice to the Inside the Beltway gang is to ″get over yourself!″
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie might be invited to speak at the next Water Buffalo Lodge meeting, but not at this year′s CPAC convention. The Conservation Political Action Committee has decided that he is not their cup of cactus tea! Perhaps some people are still fuming over Gov. Christie giving Barack Obama a nice photo-op following Hurricane Sandy? Given that exit poll data does suggest that a significant number of undecided voters did opt for Obama following the super-storm, critics of Christie might be correct in that he helped reelect Obama. CPAC is extending speaker invitations to such notable figures as Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Representative Paul Ryan. Even Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum are invited to speak at CPAC.
When Mitt Romney spoke at CPAC, or on the stump recently for the Maine caucus, which he won, Mitt tries to make the case that he is a conservative, just like his father, George Romney. There is one minor flaw in this strategy, George Romney was no conservative, two flaws if you realize that neither is his son. It is not hard to see why Mitt uses negative campaigning to destroy authentic conservatives, either, since his father did so regularly. The most famous example of this was in 1964, when George Romney literally made it his mission to undermine and destroy the Barry Goldwater campaign.
CPAC 2012 ended this evening following its annual straw poll and this year′s keynote speaker, Sarah Palin. Mitt Romney won the straw poll with 38% to Rick Santorum′s 31%, with Newt Gingrich at 15% and Ron Paul at 12%. The Washington Times also conducted a national phone survey of just Conservatives where Romney also won with 27%, Sanorum at 25%, Gingrich at 20% and Paul at just 8%. Grover Norquist spoke to the audience just before the straw poll results were announced, echoing the feeling by many that while it is vital to elect Conservatives to the House and Senate, any Republican will do in the White House. But Sarah Palin wants it all, with a clean sweep of people with genuine Conservative convictions in their hearts and minds.
Of course I will be accused of being biased, but Newt Gingrich really did wow the crowd at CPAC today. He began going anti-Establishment, pointing out examples from the past 50 years of GOP politics where the Inside-The-Beltway and Wall Street bunch opposed the principles and ideals of the Conservative grassroots of the Republican Party. He then launched into a concise, focused messaged laying out his plans for restoring the American economy and getting the federal government off the backs of the citizens. An enthusiastic audience cheered many times, giving Newt several standing ovations.
