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NRA Organizer: We Don't Want "Anti-Gunners" To Vote

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Recommends a big sign that says “Pro gun? Go Vote.”

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre speaking on Friday at CPAC.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — An NRA organizer warned conservative activists Saturday that if they are to stave off sweeping new gun control laws they need to not only turn out their supporters in elections but also discourage "anti-gunners" from voting.

"The thing is, we don't want the anti-gunners to vote," Miranda Bond, a Grassroots Coordinator at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, told a crowd of activists attending the annual CPAC conference here.

"So put up a great big sign that says 'Pro-gun? Vote here.'" Bond said the "anti-gunners" would stay away because they're "scared of guns."

The rest of the panel focused on organizing techniques, as well as techniques for making Congress pay attention.

"We're very close to shutting down the phones at the U.S. Capitol because our members are calling so much," said Bond.

"When they've got 500 postcards lying around, they definitely take notice of what we're saying," Bond said.

A PowerPoint presentation included tips for effectively using Facebook, Twitter and other social media to spread the NRA's message.

The session, called "NRA University," took place in a packed breakout room at the Gaylord National convention center, where CPAC is being held. It featured two speakers from the NRA's legislative arm. Participants received a free NRA hat and a free one-year NRA membership at the end of the session.


Brent Bozell Levels Broadside Against Entire Republican Establishment

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From Boehner and Cantor to Rove and Ryan, conservative firebrand has nothing nice to say.

Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — For America Executive Director Brent Bozell lashed out at Republican leaders Saturday, accusing Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team of failing to push a conservative agenda.

"John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy, you said all the right things to conservatives to propel the GOP back to the majority and you to the top three leadership positions in the House. You, like virtually every single other Republican elected to Congress solemnly vowed to rid us of Obamacare, which you can do simply by refusing to fund it. Why haven't you done so?" Bozell asked, charging that the House GOP leadership has "done nothing for over two years but give us excuses and more commitments that tomorrow, yes tomorrow, you'll honor your promises."

"Gentlemen, where promises are concerned, you are not what you promised to be," he added.

Indeed, virtually every major Republican on the national stage came under attack by Bozell, who is a favorite of conservative activists.

On Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Bozell said, "You ran, and won as a fiscal conservative. You leave punishing Virginia with the largest tax increase in history. I wish we'd never elected you. Do you have national aspirations? Sorry my friend, forget them."

On Karl Rove's efforts to begin working to recruit primary candidates, Bozell warned "the last thing the GOP needs is for the anti-conservative professional political consultant class infecting its ranks. And the last thing we conservatives want is them infiltrating ours.

Bozell also attacked Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, dismissing his new budget as "not conservatism. It is, literally, Democrat Lite. Do you have national aspirations? Do yourself and your country a favor. Rip that budget up."

Bozell, like most of the conservative activists speaking at the annual CPAC conference of conservatives here, also rejected the notion Republicans needs to go through some soul searching and reform.

"No we don't. Stop listening to the professional politicians and consultants most responsible for those political train wrecks. If you need someone to pilot your ship, you don't hire the captain of the Titanic," Bozell said.

What Country Poses The Greatest Threat To America?

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BuzzFeed asked dozens of CPAC attendees that question. A snapshot of the grassroots' view on foreign policy.

Tea Party activist William Temple.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Only at the Conservative Political Action Conference will people tell you that the most dangerous country in the world is Washington, D.C.

BuzzFeed put the same question to dozens of people at the annual conservative get-together over the past three days: "Which country in the world poses the greatest threat to America?"

The diverse responses — which ranged from standard-issue concerns about Iran to less predictable answers — offered a fascinating glimpse at the in-flux nature of current conservative foreign policy.

"My answer is, 'the principality of Washington, D.C.,'" said Republican moneyman Foster Friess with a wink.

"The answer to that would be America itself," said Peter Schiff, a libertarian former candidate for Senate in Connecticut. "Iran is a small thing next to Washington, D.C."

Former Congressman Allen West gave a multipart answer.

"There are three levels of warfare; strategic, operational, and tactical. So on the immediate term, I would say Iran. In the operational, I would say that would be Russia. And in the long term I would say China," said West. "But I would also say that there are non-state non-uniform belligerents that are trans-national that we have to worry about, and that's that radical Islamic terrorism."

Allen West

"That would be Iran, and Ahmadinejad's desire to wipe us off the map," said William Temple, a fixture at Tea Party gatherings who wears a colonial outfit and carries a "Don't Tread On Me" flag. "But Egypt's becoming more of a problem, with all those Abrams tanks Obama's sending to Morsi."

"Iran, because [Ahmadinejad's] so unpredictable," said Tanya Grimsley, a conservative activist who runs a website called AllenWestRepublic.com. "I mean, if anyone's going to launch a jihad or something...I don't worry as much about China, because if they destroy us, where China's concerned, they hurt where their money is coming from, you know what I'm saying? Iran, they don't care. It's just global jihad."

"Iran. China wants to catch up with us, they don't necessarily want to kill us. An awful number of people in Iran want to kill us," said Barbara Bowie-Whitman, a conservative activist from Virginia.

"Iran. They're going to attack us with a nuclear weapon," said Timothy Finn, another conservative activist from New York.

"I would say Iran, because of their aggressive nature," said Naomi Lubkin, from New Jersey. "North Korea is bad as well, but Iran has the money to do it. And they're working on their nukes."

"Iran. They're radical Muslims and they're working on a bomb," said Virginia Cheezum, of Virginia.


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Pamela Geller: CPAC's Muslim Board Member Is 'Worse Than Al-Awlaki'

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Another year, another attack on Suhail Khan

Image by David Karp / AP

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A prominent conservative activist Saturday accused of Muslim conservative of waging a "stealth Jihad" against the movement, warning his position as a board member of the influential American Conservative Union is more dangerous than the American-born al Qaeda leader killed in a US drone strike.

"Am I saying that Suhail Kahn is as bad as [Anwar] Al-Alwaki? He's worse," conservative blogger Pam Geller said at a CPAC panel. ACU puts on the annual gathering of conservatives.

"Listen to me. He's worse because look what he's done to this conference. Look at the influence that they have had on this conference...It's Stealth Jihad."

The panel, sponsored by Breitbart.com, was called "The Uninvited" because Geller and other speakers who warned against Kahn were not invited to speak at official CPAC events. At previous CPACs, Geller and others have offered similar attacks on Khan, warning that he and fellow ACU board member Grover Norquist are aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.

Norquist brushed aside those attacks Saturday.

"You can't get worked up about it, because they're not important enough to dislike," Norquist said. "But it's sad ... none of those people are part of the modern conservative movement. They never have been."

Norquist declined to refer to Geller by name.

"There are always people who try and poach on CPAC and I guess the woman from New York has several times that she was being banned or something," he said. "And everyone's going, 'what? we don't know who she is. We didn't know that she's banned.'"

CPAC Straw Poll Crown Returns To The Pauls

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Rand Paul picks up where his father left off.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Kentucky Senator Rand Paul won the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll on Saturday with 25 percent of the vote, a feat his father used to regularly achieve as a presidential candidate.

The Paul wing of the party won the CPAC straw poll for their leader Ron Paul in 2010 and 2011. Mitt Romney won it last year. It has little to do with who ends up achieving the presidency.

But it's a window into the mood of the movement conservatives and libertarians who populate the party somewhat warily together, and this year the result represents an ascendant libertarian wing of the party.

Paul was one of the breakout stars of the conference, packing the ballroom during his speech, during which most of the audience stayed on their feet. Red and black "Stand With Rand" posters, t-shirts, and buttons adorn many of the attendees here — a #StandWithRand bracelet was even in the official CPAC swag bag. And Paul's 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan's nomination as CIA director has been invoked more than once from the main stage as a totem of true conservative and anti-Obama values, including by RNC chairman Reince Priebus: ""When President [Barack] Obama refuses to answer a simple question, Rand Paul didn't sit down. For thirteen hours, he stood proudly on the principles of liberty. One by one, other senators joined him. How great is that?" Priebus said. Even Marco Rubio's more traditional conservative message was drowned out by the reaction to Paul's speech, which focused on drones and cutting foreign aid.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio placed second in the poll with 23 percent of the vote, according to the Washington Times, with Rick Santorum placing third with 8 percent. The poll results showed that of the 2,930 voters at CPAC, well over half were male and a large portion were between 18 and 25.

Twitter Founder Says He Wants To Run For Mayor Of NYC

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Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, said on 60 Minutes Sunday night that he wants to run for mayor of New York City in the future.

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History Channel's Satan Looks A Lot Like Barack Obama

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The character is part of The Bible , a 10-hour television series airing on the History Channel.

Original source of this screenshot comes via CBS via the History Channel.

Via: @adamsbaldwin

Here is the actor who played Satan. His name is Mehdi Ouazzani.

Here is the actor who played Satan. His name is Mehdi Ouazzani.

Source: cinemamarocain.net

HISTORY channel has the highest respect for President Obama. The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. It's unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. HISTORY's 'The Bible' is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history."


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At CPAC, The Marriage Fight Is Over

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Opponents of gay rights spoke to a nearly empty room, while supporters had a standing room–only crowd. “We cannot be at war with America on issues of fairness, on issues of equality,” conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin says.

Image by Chris Geidner/Buzzfeed

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Cleta Mitchell, a D.C. lawyer who successfully led the charge to keep the LGBT conservative group GOProud out of the Conservative Political Action Conference for the past two years, is finding out what it means to lose a hard-fought battle.

Mitchell and the National Organization for Marriage's Brian Brown looked down from a stage at the annual, signature conservative conference whose social values they'd fought to defend to find they'd lost their troops.

"We are treated as if we are bigots," Brown complained to a largely empty room, assembled for a panel dedicated to discussing the bullying they and other conservatives say they face from the Obama administration.

An hour later, speaking to a packed room at another CPAC panel about increasing tolerance in the party, GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia basically agreed.

"We have tolerated something in our movement for far too long: anti-gay bigotry," LaSalvia said. "Let me be clear, I do not believe that just because someone opposes same-sex marriage that that automatically makes them a homophobe. But there are, however, a few. There are a few in our movement who just don't like gay people. In 2013, that just isn't OK in America anymore."

Like Brown at the earlier panel, LaSalvia appeared to view the afternoon as a key moment for this battle. Both men were on the offensive with striking vigor — and with good reason.

Far from a sole, fringe, pro-marriage equality speaker — and a day before Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced his support for marriage equality — panels both before and after Mitchell's panel had speakers encouraging the Republican Party and the conservative movement to embrace marriage equality.

They weren't always expected voices. Liz Mair and Margaret Hoover have been supportive of GOProud since the beginning, but this CPAC they were joined on a Thursday panel sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute by none other than the National Review's Jonah Goldberg. Conservative scholar and provocateur Charles Murray also pointedly backed the cause at CPAC. Jennifer Rubin, the conservative Washington Post blogger, was among those speaking most strongly about how the Republican Party needs to adjust course on gay couples' marriage rights if it wants to survive.

"There are lots of rationales and lots of reasons that one can come to this conclusion. But, if you simply want to be a debating society, we can debate that. If you want to be a winning political party, I would suggest the debate has already taken place in America. We cannot be at war with America on issues of fairness, on issues of equality," Rubin said.

On the other side, Brown appeared, at least implicitly, to agree. Spending very little time addressing his arguments about marriage itself, most of his comments at CPAC were focused on how opponents of same-sex couples' marriage rights are treated.

Speaking of the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate-group listing, which includes the Family Research Council and the Ku Klux Klan, Brown said, "What happens when you lump together good people who know the truth about marriage with those who want to attack others? Well, we saw: A shooting happened. … You saw what happened to Chick-fil-A, simply because Dan Cathy says that he believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman."

Although ongoing issues of anti-LGBT violence and discrimination remain unaddressed and equality remains a distant goal — and although the Republican Party is nowhere near done with its internal debate — the die is cast and the once incredible notion of gay couples getting married has become a growing norm.

The fact that, even at CPAC, the question now is a real debate — strongly represented by advocates on all sides in discussions — is perhaps one of the strongest signs of just how successful the movement for marriage equality has been in recent years.

"We're looking at the new conservative coalition," GOProud's LaSalvia said Thursday about the crowded room. The biggest question that remains is whether and when a majority of the conservative movement will realize it.

If they don't, Rubin said, the party could be doomed.

"In 10 years, I don't know if there will be a Republican Party," Rubin said. "There's nothing that says that we have to be around. But there is a lot of evidence, historically, that the progress in America has been all in one direction: tolerance, inclusion, barriers fall. You don't go backwards."


David Plouffe: Hillary Is "Strongest" 2016 Candidate Of Either Party

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The former Obama campaign manager talks Hillary Clinton at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday. Asked if he'd ever run her campaign, Plouffe says, “I'm done with that.”

Via: youtube.com

Compassionate Conservatism Is Back

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A new Republican National Committee report promises to look beyond Reagan. But only as far as Bush, and Rove.

President George W. Bush with his Scottish Terrier Barney in 2004.

Image by Jason Reed / Reuters

The 98-page, breast-beating report released Monday morning by a Republican National Committee subcommittee opens by telling the party not to look back: "It is no wonder that Republican policies can seem stale; they are very nearly identical to those ordered up by the Party more than 30 years ago. For Republicans to design an agenda that applies to the conditions of 1980 is as if Ronald Reagan designed his agenda for conditions that existed in the Truman years," it quotes two former Bush aides, Ari Fleischer and Michael Gerson, as saying.

But while the new RNC document may move past Reagan Republicanism, it marks a different kind of restoration: of the campaigns of President George W. Bush, and in particular to his first campaign, which promised "compassionate conservatism."

Compassionate conservatism was, indisputably, political genius. To its critics, it was cynicism — conservatism with, as The New Republic snarked at the time, "hugs for poor people." To its backers, it had an under-recognized impact on President George W. Bush's policy, driving efforts to fight AIDS in Africa and poverty at home, often by steering federal funds to religious charities. The vision's most recent standard-bearer was probably former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, whose 2008 campaign demonstrated a clear appeal to his party despite fierce attacks as "big government conservatism," but it had essentially vanished by the 2012 campaign.

The first section of the new report states the problem: "Some people say, 'Republicans don't care.'" It quotes the father of compassionate conservatism — in the sense of a vision that is very conservative; and also genuinely focused on the problems of the poor — Jack Kemp. And the report, in the spirit of Kemp — and unlike either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama in 2012 — uses the p-word: poverty.

"If we are going to grow as a Party, our policies and actions must take into account that the middle class has struggled mightily and that far too many of our citizens live in poverty," it says. "To people who are flat on their back, unemployed or disabled and in need of help, they do not care if the help comes from the private sector or the government — they just want help."

The report is fundamentally about branding, which is to say politics; it's notably light on policy. It also, Politico's Maggie Haberman noted Monday morning, skims over the mechanical issue that many insiders see as the party's deepest operational problem, its relationship with vendors.

And at its core, the report is a glimpse of the party Karl Rove and George W. Bush, assisted by figures like Fleischer and Gerson, sought to create starting in the late 1990s. This was the party in which George W. Bush was elected, but one whose message shifted dramatically on Sept. 11, 2001. From there, Bush ran almost exclusively as a national security president, and by the time he began pitching elements of Social Security privatization in his second term, the move was a non-sequitur and came with none of the halo of compassion of the earlier Bush years. The Tea Party represented a wing of the party — which included some, but certainly not all, of Bush's own aides — who saw the ostentatious push for "compassion" as a veneer over policies that ought to, they thought, triumph on the merits; and who believed that the contrast with President Barack Obama meant that the veneer was no longer needed. Romney's private suggestion of a class war between 53% of makers and 47% of takers in the American economy represented a particularly pure version of that.

Now the Republican National Committee is returning to Bush's original vision. The question is which policies — and in particular, what vision for solving poverty — will accompany that push.

Hillary Clinton: "I Support Marriage For Lesbian And Gay Couples"

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“LGBT Americans … are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. … I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law,” Clinton says. She ties her support to her service as secretary of state in a new video for the Human Rights Campaign.

Obama Renews Minimum Wage Push With Labor Secretary Nomination

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Obama: “Minimum wage should be a wage that you can live on.”

Image by Charles Dharapak, File / AP

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama once again called for a hike in the minimum wage when he nominated a civil rights lawyer to the post of Secretary of Labor Monday.

Tom Perez, assistant Attorney General for civil rights under Eric Holder, was formally nominated by the president to replace Hilda Solis as the Secretary of Labor. In an East Room ceremony attended by a number of big names from the civil rights and labor communities, Obama hinted that the selection of Perez was part of the push for a rise in the federal minimum wage he called for during his State Of The Union address in January.

Perez "understands that the minimum wage should be a wage you can live on," Obama said. During the State of Union address, Obama called for the minimum wage to be increased to $9.00 per hour.

Before he joined the Obama administration, Perez was Secretary of Labor under Gov. Martin O'Malley in Maryland. In a statement, O'Malley referenced Perez' work to implement the state's Living Wage law, which requires state government contractors to pay better than the minimum wage.

"From foreclosure prevention to living wage implementation to workforce development and skills training, Tom established an aggressive portfolio that helped Marylanders weather a changing new economy," O'Malley said.

So far, Republicans in Congress do not seem interested in Obama's call for an increased minimum wage. Last week House Republicans voted unanimously to reject a Democratic proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to around $10.00/hour.

The Republican Party Wants To Become An App

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A new platform in at least one sense of the word. The right's new data obsession.

In the Republican party's new comprehensive reboot document, one word appears with surprising frequency.

Written 197 times in the 97-page document, the call for "data" — more, better, smarter, more accessible — is the closest thing this plan has to a unifying theme. There are section headers such as "Generating Better Data" and "Building a Data Analytics Institute," as well as language obviously co-opted from the tech world (or at least borrowed from the same school of management consulting). Like Google or Facebook, the GOP proclaims that it wants to be a "Bottom-Up, not Top-Down" organization.

Most striking is a passage in which the document describes the creation of a unified data service — a platform, not unlike Google's or Facebook's or Dropbox's:

Romney campaign volunteers will see special meaning in passages like this. A catastrophic failure in Orca, the campaign's crude attempt at an internet-based vote-tracking program, left Republican get-out-the-vote activists impotent and frustrated on Election Day.

But Orca was merely an illustration of a much larger problem: that the Obama campaign had succeeded in building a complete digital platform, with data strong enough to survive (and help win) countless election cycles. Alexis Madrigal explained in November:

The campaign had turned out more volunteers and gotten more donors than in 2008. Sure, the field organization was more entrenched and experienced, but the difference stemmed in large part from better technology. The tech team's key products -- Dashboard, the Call Tool, the Facebook Blaster, the PeopleMatcher, and Narwhal -- made it simpler and easier for anyone to engage with the President's reelection effort.

The Republican Party has no real equivalents to these tools; nor does it have the data necessary to make them useful.

This is a reasonable fixation for the party to have, but the document's need to define basic tech terms (UI, API) suggests a party that may be even further behind than it realizes. And passages like these don't help:

To help with our messaging and connecting with non-traditional Republican voters, an allied group could produce videos of minorities, women, and young voters explaining why they are Republicans and post them on the Internet.

...

We also need to communicate with young voters where they get their information. We can't use old communication tools for young voters. Technology is second nature to young voters. Using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram is important, but we also need to be actively looking for and utilizing the newest and most cutting-edge social media platforms to engage this generation.

67% of American adults are on Facebook today. "The Internet" isn't about "young voters" anymore, and hasn't been for half a decade.

In tech terms, this document puts the Republican campaign machine ahead of where it was but well behind of where it needs to be.

In fact, this app-ified, platform-centric party sounds little like the 2012 Obama campaign and a lot like this one, described in Wired. The title: "Obama's Secret Weapons: Internet, Databases and Psychology." The publish date: October 2008.


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RNC Report Gives House Republicans Cover On Immigration Bill, Activists Say

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The call to “embrace and champion” immigration reform in the GOP's new blueprint gives Boehner the legroom to ignore the Hastert rule and bring a bill to the floor. “Most Republicans get it,” says Sharry.

Image by Cliff Owen / AP

Immigration activists voiced their approval for the Republican National Committee's new roadmap, a 97-page report on the future of the party, which calls on conservatives to "embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform."

Support from the Republican establishment for immigration legislation clears the way, advocates argued Monday afternoon on a press call, for Speaker of the Republican-controlled House John Boehner to bring a comprehensive immigration reform bill to the floor without support from the majority of his party, skirting the unofficial "Hastert rule" that traditionally blocks such legislation from seeing a vote.

"The report this morning provides really important political cover for the Speaker to bring a bill to floor," said Gary Segura, professor at Stanford University and a principal at the polling firm, Latino Decisions. "It may not convene the support of the majority of the party, but it would convene the majority of support of Congress overall."

Because the RNC report, released Monday morning, highlights immigration reform as key to the future of the party, conservatives dissenters would "understand the need for the party to do it," said Segura.

"We applaud the Republican National Committee for endorseing comprehensive immigration reform," added Clarissa Martinez de Castro, a director at the National Council of La Raza. "It's a solid step forward."

Asked if the report should have specifically endorsed a pathway to citizenship — which 70 percent of Latino voters want included in new immigration legislation, according to a poll released Monday by Latino Decisions — Segura said the Hispanic community doesn't need "lock-step conversion among all aspects of the Republican Party."

"We're pretty confident that we will end up with comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

"The RNC report signifies that Republicans have made a decision that the party needs to get this issue behind them," he said. "At the end of the day, it will help them get a new hearing from many new voters who can't hear them now because their tone and their policies have been so anti-Latino."

Sharry acknowledged that "hardliners" in the Republican party will "continue to make stupid comments," he said, citing pundits like conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. But the positions outlined in the RNC report, he said, make clear that "most Republicans get it."

Clock Ticking For Politicians Who Want To Endorse Marriage Equality

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One week left to be remembered as a leader on the issue.

Image by Manuel Balce Ceneta, File / AP

WASHINGTON — The race is on.

As the clock ticks down to the moment the justices of the Supreme Court will consider whether California's Proposition 8 marriage amendment and the Defense of Marriage Act are constitutional, the pressure is on for politicians to come out now for marriage equality — or risk being seen as opposing the tide.

After Sen. Rob Portman's announcement last week and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's announcement Monday morning, the question is who else will appear between now and next Tuesday morning, March 26, to state their support for the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Of course, for adamant opponents of marriage for same-sex couples, the deadline provides a fresh chance to push back, an opportunity former Sen. Jim DeMint is seizing.

But on the right, there's a large group that sees the shifting debate in the conservative trenches and the national polling and just wants to sit back and wait to see what the Supreme Court does with the cases before deciding the path forward.

This week is the time for politicians to choose if they want to have any chance of being remembered as leaders on the issue. For others, holding off on comment until the Supreme Court rules gives protection to those who would rather remain under the radar on the issue.

Nowhere is this latter position more clearly seen than in the formal Republican Party apparatus.

When Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus unveiled the party's post-election report, the "Growth & Opportunity Project," on Monday morning, he was asked about Portman's announcement. Straddling the noncommittal divide, he spoke about how "people don't deserve to be disrespected" and said of Portman that "it's his decision." Leaning slightly, however, he said that Portman was "a good, conservative Republican" and said unambiguously that Portman would continue to receive the support of the RNC.

In the report itself, the group who looked at the party's future — and sought outside views in focus groups in Iowa and Ohio — concluded, "We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate we care about them, too. We must recruit more candidates who come from minority communities. But it is not just tone that counts. Policy always matters."

Although there were policy recommendations regarding some areas, no specific policy changes were recommended regarding LGBT rights. Nonetheless, the report strongly suggested something would have to give: "Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be."

The closest the document came to talking about marriage was in coded language in a section about youth outreach. "On messaging, we must change our tone — especially on certain social issues that are turning off young voters. In every session with young voters, social issues were at the forefront of the discussion; many see them as the civil rights issues of our time. We must be a party that is welcoming and inclusive for all voters," the document stated vaguely.

Meanwhile, Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry — including Abby, Liddy, and Mary Anne Huntsman — will be meeting in D.C. on Monday evening to push forward their message that now is the time to take action on one of those "civil rights issues of our time" — an event that also could serve as a great chance for anyone else still wanting to make news this Monday.

RNC Chairman Priebus Talks About Sen. Portman

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Cory Booker To Campaign With New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidate

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The Newark mayor and likely candidate for U.S. Senate next year says he will focus on the governor's race for now. His first public event with Chris Christie's challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono.

Image by Mel Evans / AP

Mayor Cory Booker will headline a campaign appearance in support of New Jersey's Democratic candidate for governor, state Senator Barbara Buono, hosting a "Listening Tour" Tuesday afternoon in downtown Newark, according to a source with knowledge of the event.

Booker told BuzzFeed earlier this month that he would not announce his own campaign for U.S. Senate in 2014 until after the governor's race. "It would be wrong to hold a press conference," he said at the time, adding that he wouldn't want to divert attention from Buono's uphill battle this fall against popular Republican incumbent Gov. Chris Christie.

Although the Newark mayor has said in multiple interviews this year that his "focus" remains on the New Jersey gubernatorial election, this will be his first public appearance in support of Buono since endorsing her candidacy in January.

Buono and Booker will walk Newark's Ferry Street on a "listening tour" with local residents and business owners, and plan to end the afternoon with remarks and a press conference.

The RNC Report, By The Numbers

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Hispanics get 90 shout-outs in the 98-page Republican autopsy, and Jews get one.

"Hispanic" — 98 mentions

"Hispanic" — 98 mentions

Image by J. Scott Applewhite, File / AP

"African American" — 38

"African American" — 38

Image by Paul Sakuma, File / AP

"Asian" — 23

"Asian" — 23

Image by Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times/MCT

"Jewish" — 1

"Jewish" — 1

Image by Isaac Brekken / Getty Images


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Former RNC Chair Backs Obama Labor Secretary Pick Despite Republican Concerns

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Michael Steele has nothing but nice words for Tom Perez.

WASHINGTON — As Republicans in the Senate gear up for a potentially nasty nomination fight over President Obama's pick to be Labor Secretary Tom Perez, former RNC chair Michael Steele is standing up for him and calling on the Senate to confirm him.

"I don't agree with the idea of blocking him, number one," Steele told BuzzFeed. "I've known Tom Perez a long time. He's a solid man, good family man. He's a dedicated public servant and there are so few of those these dayss."

While Steele said he and Perez "disagree on some issues philosophically," he called on his fellow Republicans to confirm him. "Tom is a very passionate guy like I am. He believes in the idea of public service and the president recognizes that and has said he's going to be a strong voice for the workers of this country as he was for the workers of Maryland as our labor secretary," he said. "I think a lot of people want you to put on that partisan hat and chew him a new one, but for what purpose? He's been good at his job and he's been faithful to the oath that he swore."

Both Steele and Perez are former statewide officials in Maryland. Steele was the state's Lt. Gov. from 2002-2007. Perez was Maryland's secretary of labor from 2007-2009. In addition to times they'd worked together in Maryland, Steele also singled out the time both men served together as Aspen Institute fellows.

"He's going to be a fine secretary. I've gotten to know him even better through our association with the Aspen Institute," Steele said. "That's another one of those areas where the right and left have come together and kind of looked at problem solving as opposed to partisanship. I think he's going to bring that mindset to the job [of Labor Secretary.]"
Republican Senators like David Vitter and Jeff Sessions have pledged to battle Perez's nomination, picking up on conservative concerns about his time as head of the civil rights division for the Justice Dept. under Attorney General Eric Holder. Some progressive commentators have suggested a battle over Perez will hurt Republicans as they attempt to reach out to Latino voters after the drubbing the party took with the voting bloc in 2012.

Steele rejected that idea, even as he stood up for Perez against GOP attacks.

"I think that's wrong. Would they say that if Tom Perez was Tom Smith? They're focusing on the fact that he happens to be Latino, that he's Hispanic," Steele said. "The disagreements, as I understand them, that some have with him have nothing to do with him being Hispanic or would somehow change because he is Hispanic. … This is a slippery slope that we don't need to get on, that you can't disagree with someone because of their race or ethnicity."

Jake Tapper's Brand New CNN Show Looks Really Familiar

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The first new show of the Jeff Zucker era is good, but it's nothing new.

If you watched the debut of CNN's new Jake Tapper vehicle The Lead and didn't see Jeff Zucker's vision for a dynamic new network, you weren't alone. The show, while well anchored by Tapper, came off more like a hybrid of older CNN shows The Situation Room and Out Front with Erin Burnett than a fresh take on the cable news formula.

Visually, it borrows from the Situation Room's very roomy feel on set with its huge video monitors in the background and an almost exact camera shot to open the show. Definitely not the best way to announce to the world that the network is steering in a whole new direction.

Opening shot for "The Lead's" debut.

Opening shot for "The Lead's" debut.

And from 3/14's "The Situation Room"

And from 3/14's "The Situation Room"


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Republicans, Obama May Agree On Lower Corporate Tax Rate, But It Still Might Not Happen

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Success likely hinges on the fate of larger tax reform package.

House Ways and Means Committees Chairman Rep. Dave Camp will be leading the way on tax reform legislation, including changes to corporate tax rates.

Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

WASHINGTON — Republicans and President Obama have finally found an issue they can agree on, and it may just be the most arcane bit of legislating Washington ever does — corporate tax reform.

But, reflective of the institutional sluggishness that has characterized the modern Congress, the measure still might not become law, should corporate tax reform become mired in a bid toward a larger overhaul of the tax code.

During his closed-door meetings with Republicans last week, Obama told lawmakers that he backs the idea of lowering taxes on corporations without raising government revenues — a key policy goal for the GOP for years.

"(Obama) said he is for revenue-neutral corporate reform," a House Republican lawmaker confirmed. "I've never seen a definitive statement from the president on that issue, so I think that was positive. The big question is, will this be followed up by other meaningful action?"

"If they're revenue-neutral on corporate, we're at the 50-yard line," the Republican added. "We also want revenue-neutral on personal and small business."

The president echoed his support for lowering corporate tax rates during a meeting with Senate Republicans, according to senators who were in attendance, and later with House Democrats.

"The president did make reference to the fact that the rate, as it exists right now for corporations, does put us at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world, and we have to find some way to address that," Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley told reporters after the meeting.

But, in his meetings on the Hill, the president also indicated that he would be reticent to support revenue-neutral corporate tax reform were it not coupled with other revenue-positive tax reform, a position House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also supports.

Although House Speaker John Boehner has identified tax reform as a priority for this Congress, the major ideological hang-up over revenue could doom a larger overhaul of the federal tax code, a heady feat that has not been accomplished since 1986.

As Democrats insist that revenue from closing some tax loopholes be used to reduce the federal deficit, Republicans say that the revenue should be used to reduce rates for individuals.

And corporate tax reform could fall victim to this larger dispute, despite consensus on that individual issue.

"It has to be done in a comprehensive way," Rep. John Larson, a Democrat on the House Ways and Means committee, said of tax reform. The allure of a larger deal, he said, would be to produce "a package that makes it worth everybody's while."

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