CPAC Rhetoric of Fear, Freedom, Free Markets and God's Constitution

Why editorialize here, when the following examples say more about the current conservative agenda of nothing in particular, than I could in a year.

KansasCity: Gov. Tim Pawlenty warned Obama not to "try to take our freedoms."

KansasCity: Gov. Tim Pawlenty warned Obama not to "try to take our freedoms."


And Pawlenty made sure that his Democratic foe knows, "The implication is, we're kind of bumpkins … The Constitution is on our side. We're on the side of freedom. We're on the side of individual responsibility. We're on the side of free markets. We're on the side of rule of law. We're on the side of limited government. God is in charge," he said. "If it's good enough for the Founding Fathers, then it should be good enough for each and every one of us."

FoxNews: The speakers participating in "Jihad: America's Third Rail," an "unofficial" panel wanted their standing-room only audience to know that there's more to fear than jihad it's Islam itself that is the threat. Wafa Sultan, author of A God Who Hates, argued that Islam is a tryannical religion and was roundly applauded when she was introduced as a "former Muslim." Steve Coughlin, who says he was fired from his job as a Pentagon analyst for his un-PC examination of the Koran as a justification for jihad, told the audience … the threat of jihad is closer than we think, "you think they (jihadists) are fighting a war there? I think they are fighting a war right here."

Others speakers included Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who is being investigated for hate speech in Austria for her critical seminars on Islam … Attendees were asked for picture identification because they did not want "certain people coming in," said one guard.

Washington Post: Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) received one of the most thunderous ovations so far in the three-day conference when he delivered a stinging assault on Obama's agenda and a plea to deliver the nation from "the bondage of big government." When Pence updated a line used by conservatives at past gatherings, he brought down the house: "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and a depression is when you lose your job, and a recovery is when [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi loses her job."