Speech at 2013 CPAC conference: on Principles & Values
Ben Carson:
Not running for office, but God may call on me
Carson, who told the Christian Post this month that he is not interested in elected office but that God may call on him to run in the future, was evasive in front of the audience of hundreds when he was pressed about his
post-retirement plans. "I'm very dedicated to education of the next generation," Carson told the audience at the conference, held in Prince George's County. "Once we get that taken care of, who knows?"
Earlier in his appearance, after bringing the crowd to its feet by setting up a hypothetical with the words, "Let's say you just magically put me into the White House,"
Carson quickly reversed course: "OK, I take it back. Let's say somebody were there... ."
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Baltimore Sun
Mar 17, 2013
Ben Carson:
End the "war on God"
In a wide-ranging speech, Carson advocated for a flat income tax and called for an end to the "war on God." He also spoke passionately about the need to improve the American education system, the thing he attributed to leading him from an
impoverished inner-city childhood in Detroit to a storied medical and writing career. "Education worked for me," Carson said.
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Baltimore Sun
Mar 17, 2013
Bobby Jindal:
Dems are for government expansion & economic contraction
Jindal encouraged Republicans to focus their efforts on ensuring America could once again become a land of opportunity, while seeming to advise that efforts at fiscal restraint should be directed at the most egregious examples of government waste, noting
that Obama would never be able to give enough tax money to his green-energy cronies to create prosperity. "As conservatives, we must dedicate our energies and efforts to growing America," Jindal said.He portrayed this goal as more realistic than a
bitter struggle for control of Washington, given the results of recent elections, and the booby prize awarded to the victors of such a struggle. "If our end goal is to simply better manage the disaster that is the federal government, you can count me
out. I'm not signing up for that. Who here wants to sign up for managing the decline of America?"
He said he was content to allow the Democrats to remain the party of government expansion and economic contraction.
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in "Human Events"
Mar 16, 2013
Sarah Palin:
Don't rebrand the party; rebuild the country
We just lost a big election. We came in second out of two. Second position on the dogsled team is where the view never changes and the view ain't pretty.
We need to figure out then, our job. What will we do next? Let's be clear about one thing, we're not here to rebrand a party, we're here to rebuild a country. We're not here to dedicate ourselves to new talking points coming from Washington, D.C.
We're not here to put a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party. We are not here to abandon our principles in a contest of government give-aways.
That's a game we will never, ever win. We are here to restore America and the rest is just theatrics, the rest is just sound and fury. It's just making noise, and that sums up the job President Obama does today.
Source: Speech at 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf.
Mar 16, 2013
Jeb Bush:
GOP must stop being the party of 'anti' everything
Jeb Bush beseeched a gathering of conservatives in remarkably frank terms to change the course of the Republican Party and to become a more diverse, welcoming and understanding party to minorities and low-income Americans.
Bush made the heart of his speech a call to the GOP to "learn from past mistakes." He made his case in some of the bluntest language he has used."All too often we're associated with being 'anti' everything,"
Bush said. "Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on and on and on.
Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even though they share our core beliefs, because those voters feel unloved, unwanted and unwelcome in our party."
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Huffington Post
Mar 15, 2013
Jeb Bush:
We need to be the party of inclusion and acceptance
Bush faulted the GOP for not caring about large swaths of the country, and said if that attitude remains, the right will forfeit its ability to influence the nation. "The face of the Republican Party needs to be the face of every American, and we
need to be the party of inclusion and acceptance. It's our heritage and it's our future and we need to couch our efforts in those terms," he said.The only way to attract these new faces to the party,
Bush said, is through building real, ongoing relationships with others over a long period of time. "As Republicans, we need to get re-acquainted with the notion that the relationships that really matter are not made through Twitter and social media.
Real relationships take time to grow, and they begin with a genuine interest in the stories, dreams and challenges harbored within each of us," he said.
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Huffington Post
Mar 15, 2013
Mitt Romney:
We lost the election, but we haven't lost our way
I left the race disappointed that we didn't win. But I also left honored and humbled to have represented values we believe in and to speak for so many good and decent people. We've lost races before, and in the past, those setbacks prepared us for
larger victories. It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes, and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories those people and this nation depend upon.It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America,
about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party. I utterly reject that pessimism. We may not have carried the day last November 7th, but we haven't lost the country we love, and we haven't lost our way. Our nation is still full of aspirations
and hungry for new solutions. We're a nation of invention and of reinventing. My optimism about America wasn't diminished by my campaign; no, it grew-It grew as I came to know more of our fellow Americans.
Source: Speech at 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf.
Mar 15, 2013
Tim Scott:
We in America are a conservative nation
Tim Scott said in his CPAC speech, "We in America are a conservative nation" arguing that "We have to grow our economy, not our government." He discussed the need to "bring fiscal sanity back to Washington, D.C."
Scott continued his theme on the economy and quoted a personal mentor who said "Having a job is a good thing, creating jobs is a far better thing."
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. Press Release
Mar 14, 2013
Page last updated: Dec 05, 2018