they've been doing the straw poll at cpac since 1976, but only two winners of the cpac straw poll havee president. ronald reagan and george w. bush. back to you in new york. >> thank you, molly, we'll he check back with you. molly henneberg live from cpac for us. as this year's conference enters into its final day, what are we learning about the future of the conservatives movement? steve hays is the senior writer at the weekly standard, and he joins us with more insight. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, heather. >> so what do you expect to take from this year's conference and really, what is the significance? does it take more significance on when many republicans are saying that the party is in a state of transition or needs to be? >> yeah, you know, i don't think it necessarily takes on more significance, so i think what we're likely to leave cpac from this year, what the attendees will leave with is a sense a cacaphonous movement inside the republican party about the direction of the party and i think these things are natural after the kind of election defeats that republica

your reaction to cpac? >> i said a couple weeks ago, it has become the star wars bar scene of the conservative movement. it was certainly that and more as we look at this. the good news for republicans is that group's power is mostly illusory. they're a group that will make a lot of noise, it will be incumbent on our serious candidates to call out the excesses of some of the people at cpac to be taken seriously by the middle of the country. >> robert gibbs, steve schmidt, howard fineman, thank you for joining me tonight. >>> coming up, a new poll showing a surge in the support of marriage equality, support that now includes hillary clinton. but according to john boehner, he will never support marriage equality. but john boehner has a startling new point of agreement with president obama. and in the "rewrite," how the story of sarah palin is the story of the failure of our political media coming up. ill h. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but

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you mean the folks at cpac.epublicans in general. >> well, a lot of republicans in general do believe that. because they live in this echo chamber. for 40 years they've been doing the same thing and it has worked out well for them. and they look, okay, we've been told by our pollsters about these demographic changes. all we need is a different messenger. >> if christie is being ostracized, won't that just help burnish his brand as an outsider and in turn perhaps help him with these independent-minded right-leaning voters? >> you are absolutely right in saying that the best thing in christie's short term interest is that the press pick up on the fact the conservatives didn't want him there. he is about, unless things change, to get reelected next year in a democratically leaning state. it certainly helps him in the short term. in the long term, what kneads to happen for the folks who go to that conference is something new to them. to have a sense of practicality. this is a group of individuals who would rather wi

the pivot to -- >> i honestly think this cpac is the best cpac they've ever put on. >> i agree. >> i of th . guard. i think it's out with the old, mccains and the -- don't take offense, about the bushes, the establishment, the b romneys. jeb bush is there. in with the rubios, cruzs, nikki haley, bobby jindal. >> i think out of respect, he was the nominee for the party. like it or not, he ran and he won the nomination. >> not for the cpac. >> i know that. >> i don't think anyone who won the straw poll went on to win. >> who won straw? >> i don't think anybody who won straw polll went on to win. >> romney won the strawg: poll. >> who won in iowa? >> i don't know. reagan and gw bush won the straw poll once. >> i don't remember in cpac. can i ask but rand paul? that was something a lot of people loved hishi sound bite. he said the gop of old has grown stale and moss covered. i don't think we need to name many names, do we. although i think we did.t our party is covered -- i could argue with him on the specifics. let's say from a message rhetorically, good in. >> he's not talking about th

i'm not here to second-guess cpac. i can tell you from an rnc standpoint, both of those governors are successful because they're getting things done and we think highly of them here at the rnc. >> let's talk about specifically the rnc. on monday, the 18th is going to release the autopsy of the 2012 election. this is the investigation, the investigation that the rnc has put together to move forward. rooints recently talked about that and attributed it to this network. take a listen. >> you'll see the skeleton of this plan start to roll out in the next few weeks. if you look real hard, you'll see that i've made comments similar to what i just told you on this issue in the press over the last couple of weeks and that controlling the debate process, getting involved in moderators and networks and all of these other issues so that we don't have chaos. i mean, we just can't have msnbc, you know, hosting a debate at the reagan library only to have their network make the commentary afterwards for three hours about the debate o

because cpac doesn't believe what these people believe.y don't believe in diversity as you heard donald trump say, don't believe women ought to have the right to make up their own minds. this is on the extreme end of where most americans, including many republicans, are, and as long as this kind of talk is going on and this is what the face of the republican party is, i would be shocked if they won much in the way of elections the next few years. >> steve, i have to ask you this, sarah palin will be speaking tomorrow, but former reagan adviser ed rollins told politico her moment in the sun has gone. she's a personality in the same way the kardashian family is. you are obviously familiar with former governor palin. what do you make of that, that she is america's new kardashian. >> i don't know that she's a new kardashian. this is a person that had a lot of promise and a lot of potential but did none of the things you need to do in terms of hard work, preparedness, to be a national political figure. i've watched it over the last couple years

cpac is not the republican party and the republican party is not cpac. so i appreciate all the work they do out there. but that's one part of the party. i's a great part of the party. but, you know, we're not synonymous. >> and as the first word of the report says, the gop is a tale of two parties. we'll see how that goes. sean spicer, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> let's bring back lynn as well as jackie. first you, lynn, what's your thought in the way sean spicer described what this meant and where the party needs to go going forward. and really trying to distance themselves from what was said during cpac? >> i think what the important take-away for me what chairman priebus is trying to do is take the old out of the grand old party. and just make it more forward looking and cpac doesn't peek for all republicans. no more than the progressive organizations on the democratic side speak for all democrats. you know, the rnc has to be that big tent. everything sean spicer said, i don't think you're stuffy, sean, yes -- >> i think he heard you. >> yes,

they don't feel like he represents cpac. if you don't represent cpac, who do you represent?arah palin, she's certainly not the future of the party. talk about someone who is so last year. she was so four years ago. i'll be interested to see what the reception is for her. i imagine she'll trot out the red meat that is popular here and get a lot of applause. i don't think that means she has a future with any of the people here. >> absolutely astonished. anna marie cox, michael eric dyson. thank you so much. >>> next, wayne lapie prrrre sp at cpac and wonders why some call him crazy. >> they call me crazy. they call us crazy. they call me crazy. they call us crazy. they say we're crazy. [ birds chirping ] i'm your hot water heater. you hardly know i exist. that's too bad. 'cuz if my pressure relief valve gets stuck... [ booooooom! ] ...we hot water heaters can transform into rocket propelled wrecking balls. and if you got the wrong home insurance coverage, it's your bank account that might explode. so get allstate. [ dennis ] good hands. good home. make sure you have the right

cpac just ended a few hours ago. senator rand paul from kentucky, of course, winning the straw poll with senator marco rubio right behind him. and i want you to teak take ak at this. >> our president fancies himself as the champion of the middle class. yet since he came on scene even those lucky enough to have a job they are working more for less. >> but the ulterior motive is if everybody doesn't have skin in the game then you can just persecute this one percent or this two percent or this five percent. if everybody has skin in the game you to be responsible because if you come talking about raising taxes you are raising taxes on everybody you better have a darn good reason. >> judge jeanine: and, of course, congressman sarah palin and dr. ben carson. what do you you think of their comments? >> judge is, i think they are right. i think the interesting thing about every single speaker sat cpac and i would guess probably almost every participant. one thing uniting them and one theme that went through all of the speake

and be courageous. >> greta: cpac, relevant? >> cpac is the great arena of the conservative movement. i talk to people who first came to cpac when they were 16, 17, 18 years old. this this 40th anniversary, 39 years ago ronald reagan the republican party were shattered. reagan stood up and said we have to have bold colors, not pale pastels, and he began a six-year fight over the fortunate of the republican party and the future of the united states. this year it's terrific that people -- the talent you just saw, marco rubio, mike lee, allen west, rand paul, rick perry, who i'm told gave a great speech today there are 2500 young people who have registered at cpac as student and they're going to go home fired up and some of them tube house or nat members or maybe a future president. >> greta: mr. speaker, nice to see you. as we propertied when senators confronted president obama about the secrecy on the drone program, president obama saying, this is not dick cheney we're talking about here? >> and taking the stage and blasting big

it means something, but it's a sml to me that cpac doesn't mean. >> i'm not going to pile on cpac and join the chorus of mocking the conference. it's an important conference and i was looking over the program and there were really great young up and coming conservatives on the program and going to be speaking. voices that need to be heard and diverse groups of people and a lot of women. there is still a usefulness and a purpose to cpac. i still have hope that cpac will become what it needs to be. especially for young conservatives. it's invaluable. i will say that i think what conservatives and cpac need to do in the future is really highlight the good works being done at the state level. in the governor's offices. republicans have 30 governors across the country right now. many of whom are incredibly popular. twice or three times as popular as republicans in congress. they are balancing budgets and doing good things. these are the people that need to be focusing on. that includes chris christie. in terms of messaging, i was reminded by ronald reagan's speech to cpac. which i revisite

the first straw poll i did in 1986 for cpac.emember the results only caused a fist fight because they were wondering if they were counted correctly. we have come a long way since then and now, when we do the balloting, as you know, we do it online electronically. we're able to accommodate more voters than we did in the past. in fact, this year we participants ,930 in the poll this year. it represented people from all puerto rico. the polling places were closed at 1:00 today but there were people standing in line so we accepted them voting past 1:30 this afternoon. all of you who participated give yourself a hand because if you participated this makes it so good. [applause] as you can see, on the slide that is up there now, the growth in the number of participants in cpac straw polls have been significant over the past several years. this year wasn't as great as previous years, it is not as surprising. when you see the results and how many people were cited in the president's straw poll results, it i peers that the conservative m

cpac's invitation to donald trump led michelle malkin to tweet, cpac is dead. the conservative editors of the washington examiner who are actually co-sponsoring the event write, cpac flouts conservatism's rich intellectual tradition by inviting such a trans parent crackpot, a celebrity huckster with no history as a conservative and no knowledge of conservatism. virginia governor bob mcdonald as well as the most popular governor in the country, governor chris christie. that promoted one of the cpac's scheduled speakers to say this. >> i don't know what the purpose of cpac is anymore. i don't know how they define who gets to come in and who doesn't get to come in. my sense is that the board is not very open and not very clear about whether it's personality decisions or what they're thinking. you can say, well, chris christie is invited for x, but you can also look at his record on controlling spending and reform, new jersey government and say, he has a story to tell that's pretty interesting, and for a northeastern governor in a heavily unionized state is pretty

after a weekend carouse iing at cpac, no doubt downing a few in honor of st. patrick, today came the reckoning with the revelation of their own autopsy on what went badly wrong in 2012. this morning, it fell to rnc chair, reince priebus to give his party an uncompromising look in the rearview mirror. >> our message was weak. our ground game was insufficient. we weren't inclusive. we were behind in both data and digital. and our primary and debate process needed improvement. >> yes, mr. priebus presided over the party for all of that and he remains in charge for the release of the savage and scolding document, "the growth and opportunity project." gop. get it? a blistering report based on 52,000 voter contacts. and the respondents apparently didn't mince their words. >> focus groups described our party as narrow minded. out of touch. and, quote, stuffy old men. >> by the way, it's reince priebus' birthday today. happy 41 years to you, young sir. back to stuffy old men, and as therapists like to say, admitting you have a problem is is the first step. and if pack

this year's cpac conference wrapping up in maryland now.e of the conservative movement's leading voices, but what impact do conferences like this really have? we're going to take a closer look coming up next. >> we've lost races before in the past, but those setbacks prepared us for larger victories. it's up to us to make sure that learn from our mistakes and my mistakes and that we take advantage of that learning to make sure that we take back the nation, take back the white house, get the senate and put in place conservative principles. [ applause ] e your money. that's not much, you think. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you. and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. was a record c

he didn't men it is at cpac.it in his gop response to the president's state of the union. who's really taking the lead on this issue for republicans >> this group meeting, a group in the senate and the house meeting with democrats to try to iron out some recommendation and seems like they are getting a lot closer than anybody would have forecast. might remind us on this gay marriage issue, it was not six months ago that the republican platform said there should be constitutional amendment banning it. this transformation, great, i don't think democracy or not, we are seeing any great sign of it. i think imgreat lakes, the evidence of where c pack stands, rick per roy, his credit, talked about how the party needs to reach out to latinos, he was booed for it. and marco rubio wouldn't even touch it. i do think that fills that amnesty is still a very dirty word in republican conservative circles, anybody suggests the republican party needs to get over this immigration hump to be competitive with hispanic suss kidding

have cpac.hat's all i know about cpac. it is the most wildly inconsistent nut house you could ask for. >> of course, of course. there is a budget on the table that is being embraced by much of the conservative world. that is based on fantasy. it is based on repealing settled law. over 40 merced% of the savings based on a myth. it's never going to happen. so the idea that, you know, chris -- or mitt romney gets a pass on being not conservative enough or too conservative or whatever they think he is at this point, seems to just be part and parcel of a party that has not reconciled any semblance of what the truth is. either -- in terms of fiscal policy or in terms of ideology. i think it's incredible that the one thing that is picking up steam here is the notion that we need to slash our defense budget, that we need to be less engaged in foreign wars. that used to be the pillar of the republican party. what do they stand for? >> still what happens is, these kids cheer for that, and then when they g

we overstate the importance of cpac. i have been on a panel at cpac.pac is college students and old retirees. the speeches get covered on -- sometimes people that want to run for president can make a splash on that, but really this is not the organizing function of the republican party, so i think cpac is a basket case. a lot of conservatives now think it's a basket case, but -- >> it's a zoo. i have been there. that's my point. forget the headliners. it's the message sent about inclusion that i think matters. >> they're inviting donald trump. they are inviting donald trump. >> when you mention trump and sarah palin. they are rabble-rousers rather than a spiritual place where deep thought can happen, and that's fine. they'll get the headlines, and they'll sell a few tickets, but what's worrying for anyone with serious national aspirations of the republican party is that this is alarmingly close to the mainstream. that's the problem. >> well, there are sure to be big tweets if not big thoughts of donald trump. >> are you going to be there? >> i'm not go

, the cpac audience is a mixed bag. he's not talking to the house raucous caucus of republicans. as the chairman points out, it is a way to try and at least get the troops on board. >> what's discouraging about it is he's trying to do two things right now. one he's running for president. and the second, he's trying to legislate. and the cpac is all about running for president. but it is not an encouraging sign that he doesn't view his immigration strategy, at least as somewhat tethered to his presidential hopes. because you would think that just playing the long game, that you need to prime the base for the fact that you're going to be out there pushing, you're going to be the signature face of a major immigration initiative. you want to give them at least some warning. >> and running in the republican primary and running against hillary clinton, i think cpac is the primary and the immigration is the general. >> but he's, if he's going to do immigration to run against hillary clinton he's going to be taking hits and lum

this is cpac. very strong conservatives.s went against christie because of what happened at the end of the year with hurricane sandy an the bear hug with president obama. bob mcdonald, i believe, i don't know this but i believe he was left off the list because of what he did by raising the sales tax in virginia. that's probably why they pushed away from that. principles that true conservatives don't like. my question, this appears to be -- for the record, this is a big, big line-up. rubio, ryan, trump, palin, ted cruz. i think this is changing of the guard. new conservatives. but my question is mitt romney no,, offense. don't hate me for this. it doesn't fit. didn't fit for me. >> andrea: what do you think? >> dana: i like to watch cpacc in a non-election year. when there is a primary -- if you remember last year, last year i think, that was when everybody was out to try to win cpac. it gets all crazy. this year you have policy discussions and a little bit more, a chance to chew on okay, what do we want on conservative movem

as indicative of the republican future. >> what is cpac's role?, is it still relevant is it still determinative? >> i don't think it's determinative. the last two republican candidates were romney and mccain. >> they both won the cpac poll in the year before they won the nomination. >> that's true, but they weren't necessarily people that would have gotten the most cheers at cpac. in a variety of settings, there's a certain realism about the broader republican party about its future that you might not hear, an applause meter at cpac. but there were divergent perspectives, you had rand paul who is very much organized his speech around the fear of government and its attack on civil liberties and you had marco rubio who organized his speech on outreach to middle class people and talked about a family that he knows and how do you reach independent voters. it was a conservative speech but it was an outreach speech. both of them got a lot of applause and that argument is going to continue in the republican context for couple of years in palestinian to t

kasie hunt thank you very much reporting from cpac.t. >>> it has been a week since the white house tours ended because of sequestration and now a new survey shows most want those tours resumed. 54% said in a poll conducted for the hill, they said so, 28% said the tours should not be restored. >>> a setback this week for new york mayor michael bloomberg in his fight against sugary sodas. now the mayor wanted to stop sales of drinks and cups larger than 16 ounces. the city is appealing. today there's more to the story. michelle franzen is here with that. >> good morning, alex. that's right. while this case will be heard by a new york appellate court in june, a final ruling may not come before bloomberg leaves office at the end of this year. but one leading mayoral candidate is already trying to stay out of this fight. >> i don't support the soda ban. now that said, i want to congratulate the mayor. he's done more to fight obesity probably than anybody in any city anywhere. but i worry that if you tell people, you can't have that, they're

she's speaking at cpac.ake a listen in for a little bit. >> certainly you're not ashamed to raise it high, and don't worry, we would never dream of making you wait outside on the party bus. it is an honor to be here. we can come together, folks, for an adult conversation about the future of our country, and heaven knows we need this. so much of what passes for our national conversations these days is anything but. remember no drama obama? if only. now it's all drama obama. we don't have leadership coming out of washington. we have reality television. except it's really bad reality tv, and the american people tuned out a long time ago. entertainment tv is a good description of what's going on in d.c. because more than ever it all feels like a put on. every event feels calculated to fool us somehow. every speech feels like a con. washington politicians, too many of both parties, have a bad habit of focusing on the process of politics instead of the purpose of politics, which is to lead and to serve. even our g

they had a good cpac so far.think it was important for him to say i'm sorry, i will not be your president, thereby saying what he said in an interview with chris wallace on "fox news sunday." he is not going to run again. >> bob: that is clear. one thing, it reminded me when mondale, we lost 49 out of 50 states. we went before a large liberal group like cpac on the left. and i was terrified. i thought we'd get booed. he got a rousing reception. people don't want to rub it in. the guy lost. romney supports in the room. just like his concession speech. i'll say this about romney. he extremely gracious man. i don't think you see it in politics anymore. that part of him, that personality and politics that romney possesses is something a lot more politicians could little more of. >> bob: do you remember the -- >> greg: do you remember the things you said about him? >> bob: i said he gave a gracious -- >> dana: he said romney was gracious. not he was. eric, tell us about romney. >> eric: i didn't find it as rousing as

that's basically what cpac said.hey said chris christie, the one republican who actually looked good last year who doesn't turn off voters in the rest of the country -- as i have said before, keep it up guys, you're doing a great job. >>> also tonight on "hardball," the pope and change. the catholic church needs to fix its problems. the celibate priesthood, is it working? the role of women? are they really getting a big enough role? and the issue of birth control. and, of course, the priest scandals. >>> as we've seen, no one has a solution to the sequester silliness, but everyone has their lines of attack ready just as we had them in previous crises. >> dealing with the white house is like dealing with a bowl of jell-o. >> i don't think they're kicking the can down the road. they're nudging the potato across the table with their nose. >> well, that's in the "sideshow." a lot of metaphors. >>> let me finish with my hope that the college of cardinals selects someone who can embrace the future, not cling to the past. a

life opens up when you do. >>> cpac is over. two of its biggest stars were the big winners on saturday night's straw poll. rand paul narrowly won the presidential straw poll getting 25% of the vote down there. marco rubio, second at 23%. far behind the front-runners, rick santorum, 8% in the voting. chris christie who wasn't invited got 7%. paul ryan and scott walker finished fifth and sixth. we'll be right back. we're here! we're going to the park! [ gina ] oh hey, dan! i really like your new jetta! and you want to buy one like mine because it's so safe, right? yeah... yeah... i know what you've heard -- iihs top safety pick for $159 a month -- but, i wish it was more dangerous, like a monster truck or dune buggy! you can't have the same car as me! [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. let's get a jetta. [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease one of four volkswagen models for under $200 a month. visit

that's sort of the mentality of cpac.e covered cpac for many, many years back in the day, it was a pretty serious in kind wonkish exercise intellectual debate. it really isn't that for the most part. it's all political positioning and their political position is we ain't changing. >> well, these politicians want to come away with the biggest headline and the biggest buzz. isn't that part of their mission, as well? >> sure, yeah. it is. and it remains a sort of emotional testing ground for sound bites and for personalities. >> yeah. >> rubio got a lot of good applause lines. rand paul got a lot of good applause lines. rick perry got applause lines for saying -- go ahead, go ahead. >> it's always good to throw the loser under the bus. rick perry knocked mitt romney pretty good today. here's the clip. >> the popular media narrative -- it's that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. that might be true if republicans had actually nominated conservative candi

i know they were nearby cpac.ately, as dana said, the republican party has to see where they got it wrong and doesn't seem like at least at cpac they were admitting to where they got it wrong. donald trump mentioned if you spend $400 million on a campaign and you lose, clearly there's some problems there but that was about as much as they recognized. >> now, let me ask you, dana, quickly, dave weigel of slate, he took notice of the backdrop at the conference and he says it's a bit hard to make out and shows conservative heroes. and file pitches of an african-american man talking to an asian american women. so basically they want to know why they are not appealing to people when people are not projected, included, they are isolating people as abby's talking about. how do you grow a party when you have one-dimensional figures as the face and symbol of the party? >> reverend, surely you would have allowed them to put up your picture there if they had asked you. >> i was just going to say that. >> they have a couple o

angie's list -- reviews you can trust. >>> cpac is over.f its biggest stars were the big winners on saturday night's straw poll. rand paul narrowly won the presidential straw poll getting 25% of the vote down there. marco rubio, second at 23%. far behind the front-runners, rick santorum, 8% in the voting. chris christie who wasn't invited got 7%. paul ryan and scott walker finished fifth and sixth. we'll be right back. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. >>> welcome back to "hardball." former secretary of state hillary clinton ventured back into politics today when she announced her support for gay marriage in a video for the human rights campaign. let's watch. >> lgbt americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our frien

healthy never tasted so sweet. >>> cpac is over. of its biggest stars were the big winners on saturday night's straw poll. rand paul narrowly won the presidential straw poll getting 25% of the vote down there. marco rubio, second at 23%. far behind the front-runners, rick santorum, 8% in the voting. chris christie who wasn't invited got 7%. paul ryan and scott walker finished fifth and sixth. we'll be right back. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. >>> welcome back to "hardball." former secretary of state hillary clinton ventured back into politics today when she announced her support for

official cpac events.d like much, but you try to find ten conservative black speakers and you tell me if it's not a great effort on the part of cpac. >> is if fair to link this one guy that stood up, link him to the republican effort and cpac in any way? >> i think it's fair to link him to the republican party but i don't think it's fair to paint the entire republican party to this one person. we have to see where the tide turned, civil rights law signed by lyndon johnson. to paraphrase, he said i lost the south for a generation. if you peel back what he's trying to say, anyone against this idea of diversity is going to flee the democratic party and go to the republican party. since the signing of this law, democrats have had a difficult time penetrating that bloc of the south states of the traditional southern states. and racial tension isn't part of that bloc. if the republican party really wants to move forward in terms of having diversity, it needs to acknowledge, acknowledge, not say this is who we ar

i want to know at cpac is there optimism at cpac or does everybody have a long face? >> it's a mixed bag. i mean the november election was kind of rough, larry. and i think people are still coming out of that. you would be sort of nuts not to be demoralized as a conservative right now. the important thing this, will be in my speech tomorrow, it's very short but i'll try to make the point quickly is we need to figure out what the real mistakes were and not blame fake mistakes, so we don't screw up again. i can think of ten senate seats in the last two or three election cycles that republicans just pissed away. they were winnable seats. ted stevens, olympia snowe and then all of the abortion in the case of rape bone heads. i can't think of a single race that democrats just lost by being stupid or saying the wrong thing. they do not lose close elections. and republicans really need to concentrate on -- conservatives need to remember hot headness and passion are great but in politics all that matters is scoring >> you're right about that. just one other point. conservatis

reagan came to cpac, probably the most important cpac speech.ople look for a ourse to believe in. " now i believe that i'm arguing that part of that clarity has to be a better future for all americans with new ideas and new solutions that take the principles of our of the constitution and liberate us as a people to create a 21st century that is extraordinary. [applause] i would encourage every republican and every conservative to read two essays by urban crystal in the "wall street journal." he wrote the stupid party. i'm not sure if bobby was quoting him but it is sobering. i ran for congress the second time in 1976. it is sobering to me to be a senior member of the party to tell you that from 1976 to 2013 we have the dominant wing of the house and we have learned nothing. [applause] out i want every republican to read it "the republican future" and take seriously, we're not in the business to balance the budget as the book account ants of the liberals. we're in the business to reshape the budget and create a new and better future with a balanc

chris list issa, i don't think they'll be fbling at cpac.of where the party is moving at least. that wing of the party. >> absolutely. i would say if you think, if you think that he thinks that is good politics, you can tell, bringing out those binders, he referenced it multiple time in the speech why he did the filibuster. what it stood for. and a fascinating juxtaposition. marco rubio followed by rand paul. two of the three or four or five most likely people to run for president and be in that top tier for president. very different images of what the republican party should be and what it can be by the speeches they gave. >> they had binders but not binders for the women. but they will have mitt romney tomorrow so he emerges on the political front. not that the party seems terribly embracing but he will have a shot. >> remember, he dropped out of the 2008 presidential race at the 2008 cpac. >> whether or not it is still powerful, we'll see. thank you very much. chris cillizza, thank you very much. that does it for this edition of "andrea m

that's what he said. >>> now to the sights of cpac.'ve been discussing, there are many fashions of the republican party on the scene of cpac and some of the kiosks in the hallway tell the tale. catch these. a poster for the obama awareness campaign exposes radical agenda on your campus. a spread of pro-gun memorabilia. if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. this bizarre, i plead the second. well. then this non-homage to karl rove. how karl rove and the establishment lost again. and the scene from donald trump's speech this morning. let's just say, it wasn't standing room only. how about seating room plenty? here's a question. if it's a bad sign if you spend your cpac speech, is it, trying to point out what's craziest? enter wayne lapierre, ceo of the nra. >> if you aren't free to protect yourself when government puts its thumb on the freedom. then you aren't free at all. they call us crazy for holding fast to that belief. they can call me crazy or anything else they want. and they say we're crazy? that's crazy. crazy. crazy

the results of cpac's straw poll will be released. between now and then a host of potential candidates will take the podiums at cpac and offer the visions for the party and one name that won't be on the ballot, though, which does include 23 names by the way, is former governor jeb bush. a spokesman said he's requested to be left off the ballot because it's too early to talk about 2016, so the pollsters decided to agree to the request. bush will speak later today and so will louisiana governor bobby jindal, and wisconsin governor scott walker and then texas senator ted cruz who speaks tomorrow. so far, though, when it comes to 2016 hopefuls even the play list has been a study in contrasts. >> senator marco rubio! ♪ ♪ you're insecure >> thank you. >> so, while rubio was introduced to cheers by british boy band one direction, rand paul arrived on stage to metallica's "enter the sand man." can just see the jumping up and down there. rubio may have called criticisms of conservative infighting foolish but he took a thinly veiled shot at rom

robert a little more sound from cpac yesterday. winning, winning, winning. >> that's win, winning, winning. here's what that reminded me of. >> winning. >> winning. >> i mean, you know. you know what i'm saying, robert? was the senator from texas having a charlie sheen moment? >> you could say so, yes. i'm not sure how to answer that. no question about it, the republican party wants to win in 2016. more importantly, they want to win, we want to win in 02002014 the midterm elections. senator cruz, a bumpy road and a clash the last couple of days with senator feinstein on gun control, rubbing republicans the wrong way. he needs to learn some rules before talking about winning on the national air. >> compared with senator rand paul's filibuster, doing the comparison of that with the alamo. how deep is the divide in the gop? >> the last couple of weeks particularly with rand paul's filibuster has shown a deep divide between the libertarian wing, new senators, the tea party and the establishment, and frankly, i mean, when you have mitch

there's more cpac to come over the weekend. >>> coming up, moitt romney spoe at cpac but not being slammedm demint and rick perry for not being conservative enough. what is the gop's hard lesson? go hard right or stick to romneyism? >>> republican senator rob portman used to support the defense of marriage act and used to oppose gay marriage until his son told him he was gay. this is fascinating, until a personal issue came on, a family issue came on, he didn't have that issue. he's had a change of hearts. one, that all politics is local, of course, and, two, as more people come out in terms of orientation, more americans will be accepting as same-sex marriage. >>> plus we know the gop wants president obama to fail, will do anything to make sure he fails. that and no new taxes all they can agree on. why hasn't president obama offered republicans a deal from his point of view? his version of a grand bargain to force the republic chance to say no and walk away from the table? he hasn't done that yet. >>> by the way, donald trump tweeted yesterday, really big crowd expected tomorrow at cpac f

back to cpac.olman has been part of the clache of the of reporters covering the crazies at the cpac convention of the he will join us next here on the "full-court press." >> on your radio and on current tv, this is the full"the bill press show." gripping, current. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest our largest selection of lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. come in now and sea food differently. visit redlobster.com now for an exclusive $10 coupon on two lobsterfest entrees. (vo) current tv gets the converstion s