CPAC Live Blog Thursday 3/14/13
U.S. News and World Report will be bringing you the latest from the Conservation Political Action Conference, where several U.S. Senators and House members are expected to speak.
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Wednesday, Elizabeth Flock uncovered that the ruckus that has been started over the exclusion of Republican gay rights group GOProud from CPAC, for the second year in a row, may be about to get a little bit bigger Thursday. -
.@kencuccinelli at #CPAC2013: "It is unacceptable for a child to receive a poor #education simply because of where they live." #VAGOV
— The RGA (@The_RGA) March 14, 2013 -
Our @nranews set at #CPAC2013 is in a perfect location between Radio Row & the Potomac Ballroom - #vine vine.co/v/bd1l6xAIZ5A
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) March 14, 2013 -
There's a whole lot of fun. here at CPAC - the music has a younger edge to it, with Mumford and Sons and fun. playing between speakers. -
Discussing war spending, Dr. Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute notes government spending as a percent of GDP actually grew under conservative hero Ronald Reagan thanks to the Cold War.
He suggests following Calvin Coolidge's model, who Eland says cut government spending in half. -
You know we are with a well-informed conservative crowd, because typically calling out Ronald Reagan is frowned upon among GOP-ers.
But as Eland pointed out, he was quite the wartime spender. -
Jenny Korn of the American Action Network points out that different states have different needs when it comes to immigration reform, even among border states.
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Korn's tone reflects a change in conservative attitude about coping with 11 million undocumented immigrants.
"I don't like amnesty, but this is a real problem we have to deal with it," she says.
She adds that "harsh rhetoric" from certain pols has poisoned the well in the past. -
The convention hall is still largely empty and the crowd hasn't reacted much at all to immigration discussion.
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"Republican elected officials who vote for tax increases are rat heads in a Coke bottle," Norquist says, discussing the kind of brand damage that can be inflicted.
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Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, says the Tea Party is far from dead "unless all these people at CPAC are zombies."
- Lauren Fox -
A panel on a federal balanced budget amendment is being moderated by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. Also on the panel: Derek Khanna, the former Republican Study Committee staffer who was fired for publishing a paper on copyright reform not approved by his bosses. Khanna has also been leading the popular campaign to make unlocking cell phones legal. -
Leading into prime time here at CPAC - up next, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.
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Former Alabama congressman Artur Davis, who famously switched from the Democratic to the Republican party, is speaking on a panel about inclusion in the conservative party.
Davis said the GOP needed to work on "how to get people who on first blush don't think like us." -
That's it for today's coverage. Come back tomorrow when will do it all over again!
