Amid skirmishes, common ground for conservatives

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:



Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.
"Economic productivity begins and ends with the needs and purposes of the family household," Rep. Paul Ryan told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Economic conservatism and social conservatism have the same moral root." Ryan's was a clear note of accord at a conference where discord was a major undercurrent: Some social conservative groups boycotted the conference because a gay Republican group had co-sponsored it. Also, the libertarian presence was so strong that some attendees joked that instead of CPAC, it should be called LPAC. Last week's CPAC brought the social conservative-vs-economic conservative tension to the fore. GOProud, a gay conservative group, was one of CPAC's sponsors for the second straight year. This prompted the Family Research Council, a prominent social conservative think tank and activist group, to drop its sponsorship.
At the same time, the contretemps revived talk of "fusionism" - the notion that social and economic conservatives aren't merely strategic allies, but philosophically linked.

So the easy story for the media was that social and economic conservatives are splitting. But there's also plenty of evidence they're moving closer together.

For instance, look more closely at the Tea Party, clearly powered by concern over taxes, spending, bailouts, and deficits, and you see a bunch of social conservatives. The Tea Party Senate nominees - Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, Joe Miller, Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Ron Johnson - are all pro-life. Many of the vanquished establishment candidates - Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist, Mike Castle, and Lisa Murkowski (who won as a write-in after losing a primary) - are pro-choice.

[Saltbag]

Agree or disagree with GOProud, they are completely non-newsworthy compared to what needed to be discussed about CPAC. I've heard that Reagan had a good speech at CPAC, but from what I've watched it hasn't seemed very constructive. You know the meeting at work that you have every week whether it's needed or not, versus the one that's scheduled to accomplish a specific goal? The first is kinda how I feel about CPAC.

[righteousmomma]

I was disappointed with CPAC this year.

 

Cain was the best speaker of the ones I heard (and I did not hear them all)

[Valin]

righteousmomma Saltbag

 

if I may....Secretary Bill Bennett

 

A small but Great speech