CPAC straw poll: Paul 31% Cruz 11% Carson 9% Christie 8% Walker 7% Santorum 7%

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I thought Cruz's "ask President Dole and President Romney" attack was distasteful. Not so much for John McCain, but still, the point stands.

[pbrower2a]

I have heard bits and pieces from the convention on GOP Pravda and most are awful.

[Mr. Morden]

Btw, for those who aren't watching live, you can catch all the speeches on the ACU's Youtube channel.  E.g., Christie's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFJ_7GqpggI

[Mr. Morden]

Catanese's Day 2 speech grades:

Paul A
Santorum B+
Huckabee C
Perry A

(I watched Perry's speech, and he seemed to be a bit drunk--despite it being 9 in the morning--but maybe that's just me.)

[Indy Texas]

I thought Cruz's "ask President Dole and President Romney" attack was distasteful. Not so much for John McCain, but still, the point stands.

This made me think of something I've always wondered - why is the GOP so disdainful of its history to an extent that Democrats and liberals never approach?

It amazes me how these people can nominate someone one year and then express open, unadulterated contempt for them just a few years later.

Compare the way the Right and the GOP treat George H. W. Bush - a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore conservatism - to the way the Democrats and liberals treat Jimmy Carter - also a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore liberalism.

Democrats don't openly mock failed candidates like Gore and Kerry (or even low-hanging fruit like Dukakis) while the Republicans seem to want to pretend every president and presidential candidate other than Ronald Reagan never existed.

[Eraserhead]

So why was Huckabee's speech apparently so bad?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

(I watched Perry's speech, and he seemed to be a bit drunk--despite it being 9 in the morning--but maybe that's just me.)

I'm 100% sure that he is overly medicated. He had some type of severe back injury IIRC which has rendered him in constant pain.

[IceSpear]

I thought Cruz's "ask President Dole and President Romney" attack was distasteful. Not so much for John McCain, but still, the point stands.

This made me think of something I've always wondered - why is the GOP so disdainful of its history to an extent that Democrats and liberals never approach?

It amazes me how these people can nominate someone one year and then express open, unadulterated contempt for them just a few years later.

Compare the way the Right and the GOP treat George H. W. Bush - a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore conservatism - to the way the Democrats and liberals treat Jimmy Carter - also a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore liberalism.

Democrats don't openly mock failed candidates like Gore and Kerry (or even low-hanging fruit like Dukakis) while the Republicans seem to want to pretend every president and presidential candidate other than Ronald Reagan never existed.

Because anybody who loses isn't a real conservative. They talked about Dubya as if he was the second coming of Reagan all throughout his presidency, until his popularity tanked, then suddenly he was a big spending liberal RINO.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I thought Cruz's "ask President Dole and President Romney" attack was distasteful. Not so much for John McCain, but still, the point stands.

Cruz's mere existence is distasteful in my opion.

[Mr. Morden]

CPAC attendees give their thoughts on 2016:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/03/07/video-cpac-attendees-discuss-2016-presidential-race/

[Mr. Morden]

So why was Huckabee's speech apparently so bad?

In Catanese's grading, he complained that Huckabee basically just recited a laundry list of GOP talking points, without actually drilling down into any of them at all.  But I don't know, I think Cruz basically did the same thing (but he threw in more red meat, so got the crowd more on his side).  I still think Huckabee is charismatic enough that even when he's just giving a laundry list, he comes off OK.

In watching these speeches, I guess there are two ways to evaluate them.  You could judge it from the perspective of who's playing best to the crowd at CPAC, and thus who might get a couple of extra points in the straw poll, based on their performance.

But that's not the interesting way to look at it.  More interesting to view it as a preview of the candidate's message for the primary race, once the race officially begins.  What does their performance tell you about how good of a politician they are, and how well they might be able to do in the race for the nomination.

On that score, of the speeches I've seen, I still think Christie has the most political talent, and is best able to tune his message properly, to curry favor with GOP voters in a way that doesn't box him in too much ideologically, to destroy his electability.  Of course, the big question for him is whether corruption issues will sink him or not.

But I also haven't watched Rubio's speech yet, and I guess he talked about foreign policy in a way that set up an intra-party clash between him and Paul.  So I'll take a look at that at some point as well.

[Eraserhead]

I'll be shocked if Rand Paul doesn't win the Straw Poll.

[Mr. Morden]

They changed the program a little, so now the straw poll results won't be announced until 5:40pm (assuming they run on time).  There's a good chance I'll still be sleeping then, but obviously post the results here in this thread if it happens when I'm not around.

[Mr. Morden]

Paul wins:

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=aiIvQuvb

Paul 31%
Cruz 11%
Carson 9%
Christie 8%
Walker 7%
Santorum 7%
Rubio 6%

[Maxwell]

McDonnell is no surprise; shocked that they put Scott and not Bolton on there.

That's because nobody cares about Bolton besides politicos, and Scott is actually a Senator.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

CPAC opinion polls show Republicans are more libertarian on the role of government, anti-intervention, and a plurality support legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical use.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

 straw poll: Paul 31% Cruz 11% Carson 9% Christie 8% Walker 7% Santorum 7% Rubio 6% Ryan, Perry 3% Jindal, Rice, Huckabee, Palin 2%

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

CPAC opinion polls show Republicans are more libertarian on the role of government, anti-intervention, and a plurality support legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical use.

A plurality support marijuana legalization for recreational; a majority supported it for medical.

[Suburbia]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

[Maxwell]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

Can we stop pretending he's relevant? Please?

[SWE]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

Winning the CPAC poll doesn't make you the frontrunner. Ron Paul won it in 2010 in a landslide

[Supersonic]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

Can we stop pretending he's relevant? Please?

Word.

[Maxwell]

That said, I don't think Rand Paul winning CPAC means that much, but his polling outside of CPAC also shows him near the top in most polls, so he's certainly a relevant player. The question is, how relevant will he be when the field narrows. I can't imagine him uniting that much of a collation.

[MurrayBannerman]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

Can we stop pretending he's relevant? Please?

If only it were 2011...

[Likely Voter]

The big loser here is Rubio who was second last time. He dropped 17 points, with that vote seemingly going to Paul, Carson and Cruz.