Rubio and Paul at CPAC: 2 visions for the future of the GOP

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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The organizers of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference tossed political junkies a taste of premium-grade smack Thursday when they scheduled back-to-back speeches by Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio—two young Republicans who offered their own visions for the party.

Although Paul and Rubio agree on several things, they represent separate strands of the Republican Party. Paul embodies the more libertarian wing, which places a heavy emphasize on curtailing executive power. Rubio has set his sites on defending a traditional values agenda while focusing on policies that promote small business.

Both men, however, see a need for the party to extend its message to new constituencies, particularly minorities who traditionally support the Democratic Party.

At CPAC Thursday, Rubio spoke first, delivering a wide-ranging message that focused on several red-meat issues for the thousands of conservative activists at the conference. He urged them not to stray from principles and emphasized the need to explain Republican ideas to working-class Americans.

In one of his most passionate moments at the lectern, Rubio defended Republican opposition to gay marriage and abortion, two topics some have urged the party to avoid.

"Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot," Rubio said. "Just because we believe that life—all life, all human life—is worthy of protection at every stage of development does not make you a chauvinist."

Although Rubio called on Republicans to direct their message to the middle class to help shed the stereotype that they're the party that defends the rich, he concluded by urging them to refrain from abandoning long-held principles when striving to reach new voters.

Paul, the son of the anti-war Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, largely kept his remarks focused on a single issue: limiting presidential power. Still riding high from the attention he received from his filibuster, Paul boasted that he was skipping a lunch with Obama that day to address the conference, and said he had a message for the president "that doesn't mince words." At that moment, a man in the audience shouted, "Don't drone me, bro!" Must be from California. Lol!

Similar to Rubio, Paul shared his vision for the future of the GOP, one that emphasized "liberty," and had some sharp words for some of his fellow Republicans, who he said had allowed the party to go "stale."

"The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered," Paul said. "I don't think we need to name any names, do we? Our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. If we're going to have a Republican Party that wins, liberty needs to be the backbone of the GOP."


I'd just be happy with some backbone.

These are two guys I'm really going to be keeping an eye on in the next few years. I like em both. I like Rubio a little more because I think he and I are of similar minds on many issues. But Rand Paul showed me he has guts and is willing to rattle a few cages to try to light a fire under the GOP. Another thing I like is that both arre social conservatives. And both will stand up to the President's strong arm thuggish tactics.

(Look for the mainstream media to begin a campaign of slamming these guys now for the next several years).