The Conservative Political Action Conference, which is scheduled to feature a parade of potential Republican presidential candidates testing their messages and their appeal to thousands of party activists from all over the country, began Wednesday and continues through Saturday.
McClatchy sat down with Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors the event, for a preview. Schlapp, former political director for President George W. Bush, became chairman in June.
McClatchy: How do you define conservatism today?
Schlapp: That’s really something that CPAC is all about trying to determine. We’re not a church. It’s a mistake to somehow think there’s a book of dogma and you accept those teachings if you’re a conservative, and if you don’t, you’re not. People who approach politics that way are making a mistake.
It’s more a political coalition than anything else. Conservatism is the . . . desire to have a limited government that doesn’t get involved in my life, that doesn’t have a bloated bureaucracy that (gets) involved in every aspect of the economy, that isn’t a big regulatory state.
McClatchy: Fairly or unfairly, conservatives have developed a reputation as somewhat intolerant. Is that a fair conclusion and if so, how do you overcome that?
Schlapp: It is our intent to be open-minded, to be inviting and to have a conversation with anybody. Certainly conservatives who have diversity of opinion on all kinds of issues need to be welcome at CPAC and play a large role.
McClatchy: So have you invited any activists for abortion rights?
Schlapp: We haven’t invited anyone here because they’re pro-choice but I know there are people in our program that have those views; there are sponsors that have those views. Take the concept of libertarianism alone – it’s a huge part of our movement. They believe government shouldn’t be involved in those issues, and they are welcome here.
McClatchy: Why are the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative gay-rights group, not a CPAC sponsor? (Greg Angelo, the group’s executive director, will speak as part of a Saturday panel on Russia.)
Schlapp: There was a certain amount of confusion whether they’ve signed up or not. . . . After CPAC is over and we’ve gotten a good night’s sleep, we’re going to meet and discuss what issues we can work on together.
Gay conservatives are welcome at CPAC. . . . We can’t be any more forthright that this is an event for conservatives and that includes conservatives who are gay.
(Until last year, under previous chairman Al Cardenas of Miami, gays were not welcome at CPAC. Until a few days ago, Log Cabin Republicans said they were still excluded from CPAC.)
McClatchy: Are you concerned that modern conservatism is being defined as simply anything that President Obama is against? Is conservatism being oversimplified?
Schlapp: It’s always hard for conservatives. They’re usually in the lane as saying the growth of government is a threat. And liberals are in the lane where they get to come up with new government programs. The way the argument goes is liberals come up with new programs to help someone and the conservative then says I’m against that new government program.
The problem with that from a marketing standpoint is that we always say no and the liberal looks like he’s trying to help someone. That’s a completely false argument, but that is a little bit what happens.
McClatchy: Give me an example where government works.
Schlapp: I think America in the world is one of the few positive forces to keep the world stable. I like that we’re feared. I worry we’re not feared as much as we should be. The second thing is that government has a big role, an important role, in assuring our rights are protected.
McClatchy: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are not listed as speakers. Where are they?
Schlapp: Mike Huckabee had had some past criticisms of CPAC. I think he couldn’t get here because of his schedule. We would have loved to have had him and we did invite him.
McClatchy: Sen. Graham?
Schlapp: Lindsey Graham, this idea he’s running for president is a boomlet. It’s happened in very short order. Unfortunately, I wish if he is going to run for president and wanted to speak at CPAC, I wish he’d communicated much earlier. I assume we would have been open to inviting him. . . . We weren’t trying to be disrespectful to Sen. Graham.
McClatchy: What about Jeb Bush?
Schlapp: Jeb Bush is coming to CPAC because Jeb Bush wants to be at CPAC and he knows the importance of talking to these activists, and I give him credit for coming. The words he chooses as he explains his positions on these issues will be incredibly important. He has a chance at CPAC to, without any filter at all, explain to these activists what his philosophy is and what his approach is on these issues and other issues he faced when he was gov.
McClatchy: What are the concerns about Gov. Bush?
Schlapp: You know what they are. They’ve been so widely reported. When was governor he cut taxes every year. He was seen as a governor who took on the teachers’ union. He was tightfisted with the budget. But it’s been several years since he’s been governor. As you know, politics is about tomorrow, not yesterday. He has to tell these people what he wants to do for them tomorrow.
McClatchy: Discuss national security and the divide among conservatives.
Schlapp: I worked for Bush and Cheney. Is that the conservative position? Rand Paul (Kentucky senator and possible 2016 candidate for president) has really found a voice that’s less interventionist. Is he the conservative consensus after so many wars, so many deaths?
I talked to a lot of candidates. They don’t know where to go. They don’t know where that consensus is. They don’t know which book to pull off the shelf, to study, to learn what the consensus is. There’s a lot of diverse opinions on what the consensus should be.
Conservatives agree on this: We didn’t get hit after 9/11 in a major way. That is a pretty major achievement. I think there’s a growing fear we’re taking our eye off that ball.