Right Wing Watch Online ARCHIVE March 2, 2001 Eyewitness Report from CPAC Conference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (1) INTRODUCTION A sense of optimism permeated this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union Foundation in association with Human Events and the Young America's Foundation on February 15-17, 2001. With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives, the White House, and with Vice President Cheney's vote, the Senate, those in attendance seemed barely able to control their excitement. After eight years in the shadow of Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party, the leaders and ground-forces of the ultra-conservative movement are now eager to reclaim their place in national politics and reestablish their influence over the nation's agenda. This year's attendees formed of a who's who of right-wing politics, with booths and speakers representing nearly every major right-wing political organization, including the Christian Coalition, the Traditional Values Coalition, the Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council and many more. This year's CPAC brought together an estimated 3,000 right-wing activists from around the country, all of whom have been galvanized by the combination of eight years in exile, a rancorous election and post-election process, and George W. Bush's apparent commitment to advancing their agenda. The theme throughout the three days of panels and speeches was an unwavering faith in President Bush and a delight with his actions during his first month in office. His executive order barring federal funds to international family planning organizations that offer abortion services or counseling, his nomination of John Ashcroft for Attorney General, and his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut are already earning him a place beside Ronald Reagan in the hearts of the ultra-conservative faithful. Moreover, it is readily apparent that the party stalwarts believe that they now have a dedicated friend in the White House. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (2) Day One A panel entitled "How Bush Can Fight the PR Assault from the Left" began with an impassioned rant by David Horowitz, author of "Hating Whitey and other Progressive Causes," against everything liberal, from Sen. Ted Kennedy and the Ashcroft confirmation hearings to the NAACP and their election-related ads. Horowitz exhorted the audience that it is now time for Republicans to stop being polite and let the world know that the "Democratic Party is the racist party." "Everything that is wrong with the inner city has been done by Democrats," he claimed, later asserting that Democrats would rather protect and defend criminals than law abiding citizens in the inner city. He even stressed the need to allow local police departments to continue to engage in the practice of racial profiling, because blacks commit more crimes in proportion to their percentage of the population. Thus, Horowitz claimed, outlawing the procedure would only hurt the inner city minorities who are predominantly the victims of such crime. Following Horowitz, Human Events columnist and vehement Clinton critic Ann Coulter informed the crowd that George W. Bush has done a spectacular job during his first month in office, and speculated that perhaps he is far more clever than people had believed. In less than a month, Coulter stated, Bush has managed to totally disarm the Democrat's most cliched criticism: that Republicans are mean. Coulter suggested that Bush has apparently figured out that "all you have to do is go around calling yourself nice," making it surprisingly "easy to hornswoggle liberals." Bush has managed to control the agenda, and will continue to do so, said Coulter, as long as he continues to "treat liberals like small children having nightmares." According to Coulter, it seems as if "the mistake Republicans have been making for years was to treat liberals like adults." To discuss the issues of bipartisanship in the closely divided House of Representatives, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay took the podium to a rousing standing ovation. After a few jokes about his inability to find many speaking engagements in this era of "compassionate conservatism," DeLay quickly went on to assure the audience that the opportunity has finally arrived for right-wing organizations to do great things. DeLay asserted that the Republican worldview, a worldview founded on faith in God, the sanctity of life, the belief in absolute truth and the need for personal accountability, has finally won and will now dictate the nation's agenda, a moment DeLay has been dreaming of for two decades. Stating that he "had never been prouder to be an American than when the House of Representatives impeached the President," DeLay assured the audience that now that honor has been restored to the White House, bipartisanship would take the form of agreement about Bush's agenda for the nation. Thus, said DeLay, President Bush now has the opportunity to cut taxes, restructure education, restore 2nd Amendment rights and increase military spending, and he will be counting on those in attendance to help him accomplish these things. After Steve Moore of the Club for Growth dismissed the idea of the House of Representatives increasing spending for "education, child care and all that garbage," Senator James Inhofe was scheduled to discuss the 50-50 split in the Senate, which he did in a most cursory manner. Arguing that Republicans are entitled to majority membership on Senate committees, Inhofe criticized the compromise granting equal representation to Republicans and Democrats and quickly moved on to praise Bush's proposed tax cuts and the need for increased military spending. Finally, he praised George W. Bush for trying to change the tone in Washington and pointed to his appointment of John Ashcroft as a good example. Reestablishing integrity in the White House is now more important than ever, Inhofe stated, "when you stop and think about the thousands of kids whose lives have been ruined by President Clinton's behavior." According to the next panel, there is now also a prime opportunity to "de-fund the left," namely labor unions and liberal non-profit organizations. Stefan Gleason of the National Right to Work Foundation, claimed that labor unions are the engine of the liberal movement and are thus responsible for high taxes and big government. After hinting that the AFL-CIO has embraced communism in its ranks, he urged President Bush to keep this in mind when he issues executive orders and appoints members to the National Labor Relations Board. Moderator Morton Blackwell noted that, as Republicans now control the House, Senate, White House, and have a "tenuous conservative majority on the Supreme Court," their chance has come to permanently de-fund the left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (3) Day Two A panel entitled "The Privacy Crisis" featuring Rep. Bob Barr and Phyllis Schlafly, the founder of the ultra-conservative Eagle Forum, commenced with a standing ovation for both. Mrs. Schlafly beamed with delight that "our government is being run by grown-ups now," before giving a relatively short speech on the danger of allowing the federal government to gather and use personal information about its citizens. A large portion of her speech was spent attacking former-President Clinton's health care plan and his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, as if the plan were currently being debated in Congress. She closed by reiterating the need for American citizens to be vigilant in protecting their personal information because there is a "big problem with the Socialists and Democrats who want to control us." Rep. Bob Barr recalled Tom DeLay's comments the day before regarding his inability to get speaking engagements in the era of "compassionate conservatism," claiming that DeLay "doesn't hold a candle to me" when it comes to hard-nosed conservative ideology. Barr stated that technology currently holds the greatest threat to the "right to privacy," a phrase he used repeatedly, once saying "the right to privacy is absolutely essential." He went on to explain that the right to privacy is found in the 4th Amendment's "search and seizure" protections and the 3rd Amendment's quartering prohibition, though when he was later asked what ramifications this right to privacy might have regarding the issue of abortion, he dismissed any concern by simply stating that "the right to privacy on which Roe v. Wade is based is bogus." Andrea Sheldon Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition moderated the following panel on "Pro-Life Policies in the New Administration." Her opening statement made clear that she and other pro-life organizations expect the Bush administration to reconsider the FDA's approval for the drug RU-486, as well as the use of the "morning-after pill," and to move to outlaw "partial-birth" abortions. Dr. Susan Orr of the Family Research Council cheered President Bush's revocation of the "Mexico City Policy" as proof that he is pro-life "in his heart" and urged that his administration move quickly to revoke approval for RU-486 and enforce O.S.H.A. standards in abortion clinics. James Parmelee of the Northern Virginia GOP PAC moderated a panel on "Breaking the Education Monopoly." His opening statement urged audience members to consider running for their local school boards. To allay any reservations they might have regarding their skill or fitness for such positions, he assured them that "it is more important to be philosophically right than technically proficient." Michelle Easton of the Clare Booth Luce Institute related a personal story of her success with school choice after she pulled her 6th grade son out of public school when he was required to write a Thanksgiving essay from the point of view of a turkey. She went on to lodge a few complaints about President Bush's education proposal, mainly for not going far enough fast enough, before concluding, as did most other speakers, that right-wing organizations finally have the opportunity to put their ideas into practice and they must take advantage of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- (4) Day Three Defeated Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork was the star on a panel discussing the make-up of the federal judiciary under George W. Bush. Moderator Barbara Olson, wife of the new Solicitor General-designate Ted Olson, mentioned that the title of the panel had been changed from "Strict Construction" to "Reasonable Construction" at Judge Bork's urging. As Lynn Hogue of the Southeastern Legal Foundation explained, the "strict constructionist" theory cannot be used in all circumstances, as there are numerous issues coming before the Supreme Court that are nowhere to be found in the Constitution. Thus, reworking "strict construction" into a theory of "reasonable construction" will give them much more leeway in making legal arguments on issues that come before the Supreme Court. Judge Bork delivered a rather short and dispassionate criticism of current and previous Supreme Court majorities, which he accused of inventing a right to privacy as part of its attempts to institute "radical feminism" and "normalize homosexuality in our society." Bork claimed that the Supreme Court has now become the main battleground in our nation's culture war and he complained that the court routinely sides with the left on such issues. Thus, it is up to George W. Bush to appoint individuals to the Court who are "immune to the faddishness that controls those issues." Furthermore, Judge Bork stated that conservative victories in the congressional election of 2002 will be of vital importance if they hope to re-shape the Supreme Court. The issue of liberal media bias was the topic of the following panel and featured the annual CPAC debate between right-wing columnist Robert Novak and ABC News' Sam Donaldson. Novak began by launching into a now predictable criticism of the leading media outlets, arguing that they skew issues to the liberal perspective and ignore opposing ideas. He then offered up a list of eight questions to Donaldson, covering issues from promoting school vouchers to outlawing partial-birth abortion. The questions were phrased in such a way that the only correct answer was "yes," a point Novak made explicitly before saying that "if you say 'no' to those questions, it's hard to get through the day as an impartial reporter." Not surprisingly, Donaldson, representing the "liberal media," disputed Novak's answers and offered a different perspective. His most telling response was given to Novak's "question" about the need for school vouchers when said he did not agree that the best course of action was to have the government offer parents meager sums to send their kids to private school. Instead, Donaldson stated that he was "for strengthening the public schools," a response that elicited impassioned booing from the crowd. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (5) Conclusion For three days, ultra-conservatives basked in the glow of their election year "victory" and plotted a course for George W. Bush's term. Their optimism about what they can hope to accomplish in coming years was apparent, as was their belief that, underneath Bush's language of moderation and compassion, lurks a fellow traveler dedicated to the traditional right-wing ideology. It is said that one can tell a lot about a person simply by the company that they keep. While George W. Bush did not personally attend this CPAC convention, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top advisor Karl Rove did, and it is clear that right-wing organizations believe that they now have a very good friend in the White House. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Right Wing Watch Online About the Religious Right ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Home | News/Events | Issue Areas | Activist Network | Join Us About PFAW | Employment | Privacy Policy | Link to PFAW Ralph G. 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