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Friday, March 15, 2013

Politics CPAC Proves that Conservatives Have No Idea What They're Doing

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 11:40 AM

So far, the biggest splash at CPAC, the annual conservative conference, has been made by NRA Chairman Wayne LaPierre, who, according to National Review's The Corner, called for much bigger government by stationing police officers at every public school:

"There’s not a mom or a dad anywhere who wouldn’t feel safer seeing a police car in parking lot when they drop their kids off to school,” he said.

Acknowledging the ire that has been directed his way since December’s shooting, LaPierre announced, “I didn’t come here to be popular; I came here to stand for what I believe is true.” As for the elitists in the mainstream media and the nation’s capital: “Let them be damned,” he said.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio sounded safe and uninteresting, causing lots of Republican pundits to claim he's Romney 2.0, and Rand Paul continued to push the party toward libertarianism. Politico immediately started pitting the two men against each other in a battle for the future of the party.

Also, Rick Perry said that the reason Republicans don't win presidential elections is that they keep picking candidates who are too damned liberal, Donald Trump said our government is run by "very stupid people," and Paul Ryan said the same stuff Paul Ryan has always said. And a few minutes ago, Mitt Romney basically admitted that he's a fuckup but pointed out that several Republican leaders could fuck up less than he did in the near future.

After the jump, find the full speeches. Perry's is probably the most interesting, in a Bizarro comedy sort of way.

Donald Trump:

Marco Rubio:

Rand Paul

Wayne LaPierre:

Rick Perry:

Paul Ryan:

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Comments (11) RSS

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I can't... I just can't watch these videos. Too soon. Too much... Ugh!

Posted by ArtBasketSara on March 15, 2013 at 11:44 AM

I miss the good old days, when NRA types were complaining about jack-booted thugs from the government.

Posted by bleedingheartlibertarian on March 15, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Um, Rick? Why did the Republican base pick that Massachussetts liberal instead of a Texas conservative like you? Remember how you had basically won the nomination the moment they rolled you out? Why would the gay-soldier-booing Republicans go for the Massachusetts liberal? I'm guessing there's three reasons. (What was that third one? Um... Um... Woops. Never mind.)

Posted by floater on March 15, 2013 at 11:54 AM

Why change now? From these nearly dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion: Government of the white guys, by the white guys and for the white guys shall not perish from the Earth. Go team!

Posted by Gurldoggie

on March 15, 2013 at 12:36 PM

-
I can't imagine why republicans keep losing minority votes...

white male
hispanic male
white male
white male
white male
white male

Posted by Urgutha Forka on March 15, 2013 at 12:37 PM

Lapierre has 180'd since the NRA started getting 90% of its funding from gun manufacturers. Let's not pretend the NRA is anything more than an advocate for increasing profits.

Posted by biffp on March 15, 2013 at 12:39 PM

I wouldn't feel safer seeing a police car in a parking lot when I drop my kids off at school. I'd feel sad at what our country has come to, but not safer. That said, at least it's an improvement over that fuckheaded idea of arming the teachers.

Posted by Matt from Denver on March 15, 2013 at 12:44 PM

when i see a police car at a school i think that something terrible happened.

Posted by Max Solomon on March 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM

Can't we just drone strike them with the Imperial Strike Forces from Cali?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 15, 2013 at 1:05 PM

It's always fun to highlight the mind-numbingly stupid and hypocritical things some Republicans say, but the fact is that the party is running two highly effective strategies specifically designed to counteract the "urban archipelago" phenomenon that delivered the White House to Democrats in 2008 and 2012: 1) gaining control of more state legislatures in time to dominate Congressional redistricting based on the 2010 census, which means that in many states there were more (in some cases far more) Republican representatives sent to Washington even though Democrats won a majority of votes statewide, and 2) changing the electoral-college rules from winner-take-all to proportional representation in as many states as possible before 2016.

As usual, Democrats have been too busy sleeping, ignoring down-ticket races, or patting themselves on the back to mount any apparent countervailing strategies, and in fact they're stuck with current Congressional districts until after the 2020 census.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013…

Posted by rob!