Christie not invited to CPAC

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What a disaster the Republican leadership is.

CPAC has nothing to do with Republican leadership.  That being said, Christie certainly isn't a conservative, but if I were in the ACU, I'd have invited him.  Sadly, Al Cardenas hasn't been as good of a chair for ACU as David Keene was.  David Keene allowed GOProud to be a sponsor.  Cardenas came in and put a stop to that.  So this isn't all that surprising.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What a disaster the Republican leadership is.

CPAC has nothing to do with Republican leadership.  That being said, Christie certainly isn't a conservative, but if I were in the ACU, I'd have invited him.  Sadly, Al Cardenas hasn't been as good of a chair for ACU as David Keene was.  David Keene allowed GOProud to be a sponsor.  Cardenas came in and put a stop to that.  So this isn't all that surprising.

Those in charge are still "leaders" in the party. You don't have to be McConnell/Boehner/Priebus/etc. to hold influence; it's a broad term.

I mean, is Romney a conservative? It's a Republican event, and they should be inviting one of their frontrunners (and their strongest horse in a general election at the moment). Refusing Christie a spot plays a whole lot worse optically than biting the bullet and inviting a "moderate" (and the fact that CC is considered moderate these days says all that's need to be said about where the GOP is on the spectrum right now).

Honestly, it's not a "Republican event".  I'm willing to bet that if you ask most Republicans who Al Cardenas and David Keene are, they wouldn't have a clue.  Many/most people there are probably Republicans, but that doesn't make it a Republican event any more than an NRA meeting is a Republican event.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

This is what I don't get about conservative leadership. You have a guy who is at least fairly conservative in Christie, who has a much better chance to win than most of the people they invite to this thing, and they just turn him down. Do they want Hillary to get a 40+ state victory in 2016? Because that's exactly what will happen with some of these people. Rand Paul? Rick freaking Santorum? Jindal? I don't mind Paul or Jindal but they have absolutely zero chance at the presidency. Santorum is just an incompetent buffoon. I'm not saying it has to be Christie, I would actually prefer Martinez or Rice, but these ultra conservative types don't like them either because they aren't conservative enough for them. What a joke.

Like I said in another thread.  I had a longtime Republican tell me that she refused to hang up her picture with Christie after he praised Obama about Sandy.  And this isn't a Tea Partier... she's been in party politics for years.  It's just amazing how much obstructionism the party is willing to go with... and for no point at all.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What a disaster the Republican leadership is.

CPAC has nothing to do with Republican leadership.  That being said, Christie certainly isn't a conservative, but if I were in the ACU, I'd have invited him.  Sadly, Al Cardenas hasn't been as good of a chair for ACU as David Keene was.  David Keene allowed GOProud to be a sponsor.  Cardenas came in and put a stop to that.  So this isn't all that surprising.

Those in charge are still "leaders" in the party. You don't have to be McConnell/Boehner/Priebus/etc. to hold influence; it's a broad term.

I mean, is Romney a conservative? It's a Republican event, and they should be inviting one of their frontrunners (and their strongest horse in a general election at the moment). Refusing Christie a spot plays a whole lot worse optically than biting the bullet and inviting a "moderate" (and the fact that CC is considered moderate these days says all that's need to be said about where the GOP is on the spectrum right now).

Honestly, it's not a "Republican event".  I'm willing to bet that if you ask most Republicans who Al Cardenas and David Keene are, they wouldn't have a clue.  Many/most people there are probably Republicans, but that doesn't make it a Republican event any more than an NRA meeting is a Republican event.

Those are not analogous.

Fine - it's like calling a Tea Party meeting a "Republican event".

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

From NRO

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http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/341626/no-cpac-invite-christie-because-limited-future-republican-party-eliana-johnson

My point exactly.  This isn't a "Republican event".  It's a conservative event.  And Christie simply isn't a conservative.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

And again... what is Romney?

A lot more conservative than Christie.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Are we talking about Romney the governor, or Romney the post-primary caricature? Romney was a pro-choice Rockefeller Republican and pushing Obamacare's prototype all within the last decade.

We're talking about the Romney who spoke at CPAC.  Whether or not you believe he was genuine, that Romney was more conservative than Christie.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

This is silly and you know it. No one on the right considers Romney a conservative. Would Karl Marx be allowed onstage as long as he read verbatim from one of Reagan's speeches?

Quite a few people believe that Romney's position changes were legitimate.  Look - I'm all in favor of making the party more moderate - I'd like to see Christie speak there.  But the fact is that he is more moderate than Romney.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

This is silly and you know it. No one on the right considers Romney a conservative. Would Karl Marx be allowed onstage as long as he read verbatim from one of Reagan's speeches?

Quite a few people believe that Romney's position changes were legitimate.  Look - I'm all in favor of making the party more moderate - I'd like to see Christie speak there.  But the fact is that he is more moderate than Romney.

No he's not and you know it. Look at his record. He vetoed a minimum-wage increase. He's clashed with public-sector unions. He's cut the budget in REAL DOLLARS. This man is a conservative. He's just not crazy.He doesn't say outrageously untrue things. To put it bluntly, he's not stupid like so-called "conservatives" like Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and Allen West.

He's not pro-life (although I wouldn't call him pro-choice, but he's not as pro-life as Romney became).  He encouraged passage of a Hurricane relief bill with pork.  He's pro civil-union.  He's supported increased funding to NIH.  He's not a pro-2nd Amendment governor.  And he's a big green energy guy.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

He's not pro-life (although I wouldn't call him pro-choice, but he's not as pro-life as Romney became).

I thought he was pro-choice in the 1990s, but has since become pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, no?  Many, many pro-lifers favor those exceptions, but would still be called pro-life by any reasonable definition.  Heck, nearly every (every?) GOP presidential nominee from the past 30 years has favored those exceptions.

That may be the case; if it is, then I was unaware of that.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

He encouraged passage of a Hurricane relief bill with pork.

I'll give you the rest (although surely you winced while typing "Romney became"), but I really hope this was a joke.

Now try and find things suitably conservative about Romney from pre-2008. You'd have to do some quality digging. Blue state governors, sir.

I don't recall Romney being invited to CPAC when he was a Governor... that's my point.

And wile relief for Sandy was a good thing, the original bill, the bill that Christie blasted Republicans for not passing, was filled with a fair amount of wasteful spending.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

And my entire point is that Romney isn't actually more ideologically conservative than he was as governor. I don't care what he was tortured into saying during the primaries, and the base immediately reverted to deriding him as a phony after the election. I don't really understand his invite.

All relief bills are filled with pork... that's how they get through Congress with legislators that are far removed from the action. Remember how Steve King voted against Katrina aid but was kicking and screaming for New York funding? Regardless, it's inane to criticize a governor for wanting emergency aid for his state as fast as possible. That's a product of geography, not anything ideological.

I do think Romney genuinely became more conservative on some issues (abortion), and others weren't relevant to the conservative cause.  Christie's problem is that he's moderate where it matters, and when the big issue is cutting spending, it doesn't matter if he has a good reason for wanting the bill to pass--pork is pork.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

And my entire point is that Romney isn't actually more ideologically conservative than he was as governor. I don't care what he was tortured into saying during the primaries, and the base immediately reverted to deriding him as a phony after the election. I don't really understand his invite.

All relief bills are filled with pork... that's how they get through Congress with legislators that are far removed from the action. Remember how Steve King voted against Katrina aid but was kicking and screaming for New York funding? Regardless, it's inane to criticize a governor for wanting emergency aid for his state as fast as possible. That's a product of geography, not anything ideological.

I do think Romney genuinely became more conservative on some issues (abortion), and others weren't relevant to the conservative cause.  Christie's problem is that he's moderate where it matters, and when the big issue is cutting spending, it doesn't matter if he has a good reason for wanting the bill to pass--pork is pork.

You come off as an incredibly naive individual. I'm trying to imagine which scenario is more implausible, Romney changing his stance on abortion while in his sixties, or any governor anywhere in this country telling Congress to hold off on a 60-billion dollar aid bill because it had a few pet projects in it. Wonder how that would play with the constituents of New Jersey. (remember, THOSE are the people he serves. Not us.)

That bill can't get passed without pork... it's politics. Must not've paid attention to Katrina.

I'm not naïve.  I'm not making the argument.  I'm explaining the argument from the types of the ACU.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

"The issue which has energized me to get into this race is the recent attempt by certain Republican legislators to repeal NJ's ban on assault weapons."

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Politico, that's not logical.  He said, "I only support things in category A.  Z is in category A."  And you twisted that into, "I only support Z."