Thousands of Republican activists kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday deeply divided over not just who should be the party’s presidential nominee but whether Republican leaders in Congress have been effective enough in slashing spending and shrinking government. Many at CPAC defended the efforts of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to cut spending and reduce taxes. The two leaders are understandably limited in what they could accomplish in Washington since Democrats control the Senate and White House, forcing Republicans to compromise, their supporters said.
“He’s trying to push a loaded freight train down a track,” Ann Peden, a local GOP chairwoman from Texas and long-time CPAC attendee, said in defense of Boehner. “He’s doing the best he can. He has to manage his own members and pick his battles.”
But conservatives, many of them affiliated with the Tea Party movement, say they believe McConnell and Boehner have been weak leaders who squelched the voices of new House and Senate members whose Tea Party-inspired message of smaller government and lower spending helped give Republicans a majority in the House and a much bigger presence in the Senate.
Boehner and McConnell attempted to address both sides in separate appearances before a packed ballroom, but some attendees left the room in disgust.
“I’m not applauding them,” Doc Grantham, of Fairfax, said as he walked out just as McConnell concluded a speech condemning the Obama administration. “I think a lot of us in the Tea Party are dissatisfied. We didn’t come out in 2009 and 2010 to send a message and to then be ignored.”
Conservatives and Tea Party activists have been critical of Republican congressional leaders for cutting deals with Democrats and the White House that increased government spending and raised the nation’s debt limit to a record $16.4 trillion. They also expressed frustration that federal health care reforms have yet to be repealed despite reassurances from Republican lawmakers.
“I know they have a tough job,” Grantham said of McConnell and Boehner. “But there are some other leaders in there who are being ignored.”
For CPAC attendees like Grantham, speeches delivered Thursday by relative newcomers like Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida resonated more powerfully with the crowd than did McConnell and Boehner, who some here have labeled “the establishment.”
Boehner talked in his speech of achieving major tax reform, reducing the budget deficit and expanding domestic oil drilling by the end of 2014, all the while hinting at the necessity for compromise that will not “make the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
DeMint called for the opposite.
“We don’t have shared goals with the Democrats,” DeMint told an enthusiastic CPAC crowd.
The party’s internal divisions are worrisome to some CPAC attendees, who say it could hinder Republican efforts to move an agenda forward.
“There needs to be a meeting of the minds between the old leaders and the Tea Party,” CPAC attendee Andrea DelVeccio told The Washington Examiner. “They’ve got to learn how to bring the Republican message back to a vibrant, strong message for all of America.”
