CPAC 2010: candid pics

Photo Gallery from CPAC 2010 in Washington DC 
Wanted to embed here but was unable but the pictures are pretty good.
Conservative Political Action Conference begins in Washington

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 19, 2010; A01

Emboldened by a belief that their political fortunes are on the rise, conservative activists descended Thursday on the capital city they love to hate, seeking to stoke what they consider a grass-roots uprising against President Obama and Democrats in Congress.
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference was once a venue for the right fringe of the Republican Party, but in recent years it has drawn more mainstream party figures and now provides a stage for presidential aspirants to prove their conservative credentials.
This year's CPAC, which began Thursday and will run through Saturday, had a festival atmosphere, as thousands of jubilant activists turned the Marriott Wardman Park ballroom into a hive of old-guard conservatives and Don't Tread on Me "tea partiers" hungry for new leaders and messages that can carry the GOP out of the political wilderness.
It was, in the words of one speaker, "our Woodstock."
Featured speakers in the opening session included former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who sought to turn the page on his 2008 presidential campaign by casting himself as a populist and every bit the conservative standard-bearer. He defended the policies of former president George W. Bush and his party's lockstep opposition to Obama's agenda, saying that Obama had "failed" and that the Democratic majority in Congress would "soon be out the door."
"If these liberal neo-monarchists succeed, they will kill the very spirit that has built the nation -- the innovating, inventing, creating, independent current that runs from coast to coast," Romney said. Pounding on the lectern as the audience leapt up, he declared: "And we won't let 'em do it."
The attendees stomped and screamed at the appearance of the surprise guest who introduced Romney: Scott Brown. "I'm the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts," Brown said. "Let me just say that one more time. I am the Republican senator from Massachusetts."
Former vice president Richard B. Cheney also made an unscheduled appearance, bounding out from behind the dark curtain with his daughter Liz. He received a hero's welcome, to cries of "Run, Dick, run!"
"Knock it off," Cheney quipped. "A welcome like that's almost enough to make me want to run for office, but I'm not gonna do it."
Since the days of President Richard M. Nixon, CPAC has served as an annual gathering of conservative thinkers. But now it is an important venue for any ambitious Republican, and this year's agenda features potential presidential hopefuls. In addition to Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) will speak Friday, while former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) will speak Saturday, before the results of a presidential straw poll are released. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is not expected to attend.
The gathering continues to draw its share of firebrands. Dana Loesch, a St. Louis radio host and a tea party leader there, challenged conservatives to organize in unexpected ways -- over burgers and brews at bars where liberals congregate or by starting "flash mobs." Longtime National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre gave an impassioned tribute to Charlton Heston, the late actor and NRA president.
And at a time of strife within the Republican Party, which lacks a clear national leader and is struggling to unite behind a common agenda as the November midterm elections approach, one theme emerged in each speech Thursday: Attack Obama.
"When it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys," Romney told the thousands who had gathered for his speech.
By 10:30 a.m., the conservative movement had already seemed to crown its latest darling: Marco Rubio, 38, a son of Cuban immigrants who is running an outsider's campaign in Florida for U.S. Senate. The audience showered Rubio with applause as he ruminated in a keynote address about American exceptionalism and his own improbable journey.
"It's sometimes easy to forget how special America really is," Rubio said, making his debut on the national stage. "But I was raised by exiles, by people who know what it is like to lose their country, by people who have a unique perspective on why elections matter, or lack thereof, by people who clearly understand how different America is from the rest of the world. . . . What makes America great is that there are dreams that are impossible everywhere else but are possible here."
Rubio is running in a hotly contested GOP primary campaign against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a race that has pitted the conservative grass roots, which have embraced Rubio, against the more moderate party establishment.
Rubio's assaults on Obama's economic policies and his administration's handling of national security enthralled the activists.
"We will do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to defeat radical Islamic terrorism," Rubio said. "We will punish their allies like Iran. We will stand with our allies like Israel. We will target and we will destroy terrorist cells and the leaders of those cells. The ones that survive, we will capture them. We will get useful information from them.
"And then," Rubio continued, trying to speak over the boisterous crowd, "we will bring them to justice in front of a military tribunal in Guantanamo -- not a civilian courtroom in Manhattan."
Romney sounded similar themes as he defended his party against allegations from Democratic leaders that Republicans have become "the party of 'no.' "
"Before we move away from this 'no' epithet the Democrats are fond of applying to us, let's ask the Obama folks why they say no -- no to a balanced budget, no to reforming entitlements, no to malpractice reform, no to missile defense in Eastern Europe, no to prosecuting Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a military tribunal, and no to tax cuts that create new jobs.
"You see, we conservatives don't have a corner on saying no," Romney continued. "We're just the ones who say it when that's the right thing to say."
After distancing himself from the Bush administration during his 2008 campaign, Romney on Thursday defended the Bush-Cheney record, drawing hearty applause from the audience. "I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly," he said, adding: "He kept us safe. I respect his silence even in the face of the assaults on his record that come from this administration. But at the same time, I also respect the loyalty and indefatigable defense of truth that comes from our 'I-don't-give-a-damn' vice president Dick Cheney."

GOP speakers court key group at conservative conference
By Philip Rucker and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 20, 2010; A03

The second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference turned into a call to arms Friday as aspiring national leaders and other favorites of the movement's grass roots warned that President Obama and his party have ushered in an era of American decline.
As they exhorted activists to help overturn the Democrats' congressional majorities in November, speaker after speaker took the dais and touched familiar chords of conservatism: smaller government, lower taxes, limited federal spending and a muscular assertion of American power abroad. They rallied a few thousand partisans who had arrived at the Marriott Wardman Park ballroom encouraged, even giddy, by the prospect of Republican successes in the midterm elections and beyond.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) received one of the most thunderous ovations so far in the three-day conference when he delivered a stinging assault on Obama's agenda and a plea to deliver the nation from "the bondage of big government." Pence said, "This is our moment" -- not just for a Republican majority on Capitol Hill, but for a conservative one.
"Now's the time," Pence said. "It's time for all of us to do all we can to preserve what makes this country great. If you can give, give. If you can speak, speak. If you can write, write. And if you can run, run."
The loudest applause for Pence came when he mentioned the upcoming trial of Sept. 11 terror suspect Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Pence said the U.S. intelligence community should be given the tools to fight terrorism as a war and then called on the Obama administration to alter its plan to try some terror suspects in civilian courts.
And when Pence updated a line used by conservatives at past gatherings, he brought down the house: "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and a depression is when you lose your job, and a recovery is when [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi loses her job."
Pence was among a handful of Republicans mentioned as potential 2012 presidential candidates who hoped their speeches at CPAC might endear them to this important part of the Republican electorate. On Thursday, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney addressed the convention, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) joined Pence on Friday's roster.
In his speech, Pawlenty delivered a forceful rebuke of Obama's first year in office, saying repeatedly that conservatives "will fight back." He embraced the grass-roots revolt against the Democratic leadership in Washington, drawing a parallel with Ulysses S. Grant, the scrappy Union general who went on to become president after the Civil War.
"The implication is, we're kind of bumpkins," Pawlenty said. "Well, history is on our side. The Constitution is on our side. We're on the side of freedom. We're on the side of individual responsibility. We're on the side of free markets. We're on the side of rule of law. We're on the side of limited government. And, like Grant, we fight."
Pawlenty, who is considering a 2012 candidacy, sharply attacked Obama, suggesting that his administration was making the United States "a beggar nation" because of the increasing reliance on foreign debt. He went so far as to compare Democrats to embattled golfer Tiger Woods, saying that "we can learn a lot" from Woods's news conference Friday.
"Not from Tiger, but from his wife," Pawlenty said. "She said, 'I've had enough.' She said, 'No more.' I think we should take a page out of her playbook and take a nine-iron and smash the window out of the big government in this country."
CPAC speakers largely focused their remarks on fiscal conservatism and a strong national defense, but Friday's speeches also included pointed language on abortion, same-sex marriage and other social issues. Pawlenty, seeking to burnish his conservative bona fides, embraced religion as the first of four principles that conservatives should follow.
"God's in charge," he said. "There are some people who say, 'Oh, you know, Pawlenty, don't bring that up. You know it's politically incorrect.' Hogwash."
"That's right," some in the audience shouted.
"These are enshrined in the founding documents and perspective of our country," Pawlenty continued. "In the Declaration of Independence, it says we're endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. It doesn't say we're endowed by Washington, D.C., or endowed by the bureaucrats or endowed by state government."
Throughout the conference, several speakers blamed Democrats for an America they said is on the wane. Pence quoted former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who, as she was coming to power, described her country as on its knees. "America is not yet on its knees, but it's bowed," he said.
Pence then asserted, without naming names, that "officials in this administration" say privately that they see their job as "managing America's decline." He then said, "The job of the American president is not to manage American decline. The job of the American president is to reverse it."
An hour later, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) went further, suggesting that Obama -- through economic policies she labeled "Bailout Nation" -- is leading the country toward an economic collapse on the scale of 1920s Germany and 1940s Argentina.
"People can indulge in Fantasy Football, but you can't indulge in Fantasy Economics," Bachmann said. "It just doesn't work."
"The joy of being an American is that we get to choose," she added. "We get to choose our destiny. Whether it's decline or whether it's greatness, it's in our hands to make the choice. . . . It sounds to me like someone is choosing decline."
Bachmann, a "tea party" heroine, was treated like a rock star when she burst onto the stage to Tom Jones's "She's a Lady" -- a cheeky reference to Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) having admonished her recently on the radio to "act like a lady."
She did not disappoint her fans with her speech Friday, taking them on a journey through American colonial history and speaking passionately of liberty, the right to life and the pursuit of happiness.
"It is of this suffering and of this self-sacrifice that our nation was built upon," she said, her voice quivering with emotion. "They chose greatness for us, rather than decline. That is our history. That is the American story."

Possible Republican candidates for president 'try out' before CPAC, governors
By Liz Sidoti
Sunday, February 21, 2010; A03

Republicans who might want President Obama's job flocked to Washington this weekend and repeatedly ripped into the Democrat, an early tryout of sorts for their party's nomination.
"Barack Obama has created at least three jobs that I know of: Bob McDonnell, Chris Christie and Scott Brown," former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a fawning crowd Saturday, referring to the GOP candidates who prevailed recently in the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey and the U.S. Senate contest in Massachusetts.
He predicted that Republicans would take control of Congress this fall and added: "We'll elect a new president in 2012."
In appearance after appearance, possible GOP presidential contenders used two national platforms -- a caucus of conservatives and a gathering of governors -- to promote their credentials and test their strength in an incredibly fluid field a full two years before the GOP chooses its nominee.
Along with Gingrich, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence and former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania courted conservatives with long speeches at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour held court at the National Governors Association meeting as chairman of the GOP governors, and Govs. Mitcell E. Daniels Jr. of Indiana and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana attended. Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty plugged away at both events.
Among possible candidates missing: 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and South Dakota Sen. John Thune. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's presence was limited to a video shown to a small group of conservatives.
No Republican has announced a bid. Several are considering it or are laying the groundwork. They are putting campaign teams in place, visiting early primary voting states and using political action committees to sow goodwill -- and money -- among the party's candidates.
GOP hopefuls are emboldened by Obama's weakened poll numbers just a year into office, and they see an opportunity to capitalize on anger rippling through the electorate over his policies.
"If you see me losing 40 pounds that means I'm either running or have cancer," said Barbour, a former lobbyist and GOP chairman who Republican insiders say would be a formidable candidate. He said he would focus this year on helping fellow Republicans in governor's races. "If after these elections are over there's anything to think about, I'll think about it then," he said.
Still, he added: "I think it is unlikely that I'll run for president, but that does not qualify as ruling it out." He made a brief stop at the conservatives' meeting Friday.
None of the would-be candidates speaking before that crowd mentioned running for president. Nonetheless, signs of the next White House race were everywhere.
Each speaker delivered what could only be described as early versions of a routine campaign address, testing messages before an important part of the base in Republican primary contests. Potential campaign advisers gathered in the ballroom corners.
Supporters encouraged attendees to vote their way during a 2012 straw poll. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian who has railed against spending and the Federal Reserve, won the most support, followed by Romney, Palin and Pawlenty. The results mean little more than bragging rights for the winner.
After his address Friday morning, Pawlenty shook hands, signed autographs and posed for pictures along what appeared to be a makeshift "rope line" of the kind presidential candidates are accustomed to; aides were close by.
Pawlenty is far less known nationally than Romney, so Pawlenty's speech was intended to introduce his biography, outline his vision and take on Obama. He did all three.
As the RGA's vice chairman, Pawlenty had a high profile role at the governor's gathering and was appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Barbour was booked on "Fox News Sunday." On Saturday, Santorum, looking for a political comeback, played off Obama's hope-and-change campaign slogan, saying: "Mr. President, America is the hope. And you can keep the change." Gingrich, who was the last to speak, made a grand entrance into the standing room only ballroom from a side door. He shook supporters' hands as he made his way to the stage as "Eye of the Tiger" played loudly and the audience chanted "Newt."
-- Associated Press