CPAC Happened? When?

So, the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) happened not to long ago. What’s that? You didn’t read much about it either? That’s odd. You’d think that magical time of year where the GOP and the right-wing get together to somehow figure out how to turn their electoral fortunes around would get a bit more ink, especially amongst the pundit class. All I really saw was an article from Cal Thomas saying he saw a Stormtrooper and Chewbacca at CPAC, and Michael “I’m The Truest Real” Reagan talked about how Rand Paul is the future of the republican party because he's not a Ted Cruz level of asshole.

At least Mr. Reagan get’s it, somewhat. The GOP right-wing really need to find a mainstream candidate. They’re not going to find it at CPAC, however much they want it. And from the little coverage I saw of it, that’s probably for the best. The Paul’s: both Rand and Ron are nothing more than wishful thinking amongst the most right of the right-wing. This fantasy that Libertarianism somehow is of “The Internets” and that those young people amongst it will be enough to turn the tides in a general election is laughable. What’s more, the republican party will never open up the tent wide enough for Libertarians and their candidates.

Ted Cruz, one of the presumptive clowns for the Republican Presidential Candidate Clown Car Rally, had some harsh things to say about John McCain, Bob Dole and Mitt Romney. Harsh isn’t the word I would use, and to be fair Cruz just repeated the talking point that came in the wake of the 2014 election: the candidate wasn’t “conservative” enough. Of course Dole and McCain came out and grandpa grumbled about their conservative bonafides, and more or less did show that the republican party does have a real issue: old white men that won’t go away.

The GOP/right-wing could embrace populism more effectively if they were constantly having to appease old farts that still feel a need to say something. Of course, Cruz’s comment were meant to rankle, he even did the whole “These men are great men, but come on…” preamble before he dropped the “not conservative” enough haymaker on them. But Ted Cruz isn’t a populist candidate either. Perhaps, and given enough time, when the TEA Party slowly erodes the GOP, he could establish himself as mainstream. But for now, he and his patriots are just reeking havoc on an already shaky political party.

To two grand dames of the TEA Party, Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin, showed up to…what were they doing? It seems more and more every year that these two just show up and say nothing, look pretty, and have people yell “Run For President”. Because that’s what the GOP/right-wing needs right now, people mired in controversy and blatant hypocrisy.

Even this column mentions the subdued nature of the CPAC this year, noting that it’s an off year election and that the major juice from the TEA Party Patriots of old has begun to diminish. Also mentioned is a lack of a defined leader to coalesce the party around. This is indeed a real issues the GOP/right-wing is having right now, and from the looks of CPAC this isn’t going to be remedied ANY time soon. I’m come on, Rand Paul won the straw poll!

It’s sad that nearly two years after they lost the presidential election to that rascally Obama that the GOP/right-wing can’t get their shit together as a party. It’s as if they had marginal success with one thing, the “Pelosi-Obama-Reid-Obamacare” tactic in 2010, and now have little else to work with. The fact that the Thomas and Reagan articles both mention a new tact to take should speak volumes to the actual problems the republican party is having. But it’s been the same song and dance since the election, when ol’ Mitt Romney just “wasn’t conservative” enough.

You have to wonder why the GOP/right-wing doesn’t change their message. They have to see that after four years the “Obamacare is gonna get you!” isn’t really working. Even with the faulty start and odd implementation of the program, it didn’t prevent Obama from being re-elected and the democrats were poised to lose seats in both houses of congress anyways. With the further splintering of the electorate the stakes have never been lower, and it’s odd to see the GOP/right-wing really struggle with a clear message at this point.