Does the Republican Party care what the American people think about them? Do they want to change their unpopular ideas to get votes the democratic way instead of gerrymandering, rigging the electoral college and making it harder for people to cast a ballot?
If the Conservative Political Action Comittee 2013 (CPAC) speaker lineup is any indication, Republicans don’t even want sort-of-popular people to present their unpopular ideas in primetime slots (Marco Rubio will get 15 minutes in the afternoon before Rand Paul takes the stage). Instead, this year’s CPAC is dredging up the usual suspects whom the American people have already decisively rejected, including the biggest loser of them all — Willard Mitt Romney.
The chosen speakers demonstrate that the GOP has clearly not learned any lessons from their historically bad election results in 2012, despite all the talk of “rebranding.” But perhaps more disturbing — it’s as if an election never even took place.
Here are the five least popular speakers at CPAC, ironically dubbed “America’s Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives.”
Photo credit: http://conservative.org/cpac/2013
Mitt Romney
The wildly unsuccesful presidential candidate, who swung so far to the right during the election people might have mistaken him for moderate Mitt’s robotic clone, is making an appearance at CPAC. He will be speaking at 1 p.m. for a full 15 minutes. Is CPAC trying to keep Mitt a secret? He is not on the list of featured speakers on the CPAC homepage. In fact, there is a blank spot on the bottom right, next to Allen West. Why isn’t Mitt’s picture there?
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Sarah Palin
Failed vice-presidential candidate and reality TV star Sarah Palin will again be speaking at CPAC, despite having no active role in politics for several years, or even a token slot on Fox News anymore.
“We are pleased to again welcome Governor Sarah Palin to CPAC in March,” American Conservative Union chairman Al Cardenas said in a statement. “Governor Palin electrified the crowd in 2012 and we are thrilled to welcome her back this year.”
Photo credit: Larsenphotography
Newt Gingrich
Fresh from bashing Karl Rove for trying to back establishment GOP candidates over lunatic fringe Tea Party candidates in primary races, Gingrich will likely use his time at CPAC to get back to bashing President Obama over, well, everything.
AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File
Allen West
The defeated one-term congressman is perhaps the craziest when it comes to inflammatory statements. West has said he believes that “there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party that are members of the Communist Party.” West has also said that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would “truly be proud” of the “Democrat Party” for using “lies and deceit.”
Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr.com
Wayne LaPierre
National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre will be gracing CPAC with his presence, along with NRA president David Keane. LaPierre’s speech could be the most interesting, as his rantings have increasingly become more paranoid, fearful, and defiant—as when he recently wrote in The Daily Caller that “it has always been sensible for good citizens to own and carry firearms for lawful protection against violent criminals who prey on decent people. During the second Obama term, however, additional threats are growing.”
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
