TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Jessica Mackler, President, American Bridge 21st Century
RE: What To Expect At The Western Conservative Summit
DATE: June 27, 2015
The long road to the Republican nomination is winding through America’s highest-profile home for Illuminati and Reptoids this week with Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and more attending the Western Conservative Summit. Here’s what to expect from this weekend’s cattle call:
1. The New GOP Litmus Test: Gay Marriage
The Western Conservative Summit made news earlier this year when they barred the Log Cabin Republicans from attending their conference, but their backwards attitude towards the LGBT community won’t stop there. Summit Gala headliner Scott Walker has already doubled down on his call for a constitutional amendment, and panelist Tony Perkins went on an epic Twitter rant Friday, calling the ruling a “shocking abuse of power” and promising it would “supercharge” opposition to gay marriage. Don’t take Perkins’ word for it: Rick Santorum didn’t even wait for his speech to begin teeing off, telling Denver radio station KNUS that the ruling was the court’s attempt to be “trendy” with marriage equality and would lead to polygamy.
2. Bashing John Roberts — And Danger For Jeb
Sorry, Jeb: Despite his counsel to you in the 2000 Florida Recount, John Roberts’s decision to save Obamacare (twice!) has made him persona non grata among the Republican base. GOP primary voters have historically made their candidates answer questions about what kind of judge they’d appoint to the Supreme Court, and in the wake of King v Burwell we can not only expect to hear more promises to appoint clones of Justice Scalia, but more thinly veiled shots at George W. and Jeb Bush as well.
3. Scott Walker’s Head In The Sand
With Wisconsin Republicans seemingly taking more shots at Governor Walker’s budget by the hour and the drip-drip-drip of bad news from WEDC now including Wisconsin taxpayers on the hook for a Maserati, will the notoriously on-message Walker tweak his stump speech to explain the trouble at home? Or will he stick his head in the sand, tell the Kohl’s anecdote again, and hope nobody notices?
4. The GOP’s Hispanic Voter Problem On Display
Hispanics account for 21% of the Colorado population and 14% of the eligible electorate in this critical swing state, but the Western Conservative Summit features not one, but two candidates who have endorsed cutting down on legal immigration and another who suggested immigrants were only here “because they heard there is a bowl of food just across the border.” With the Republican primary turning increasingly into a race to the right, will the party show any signs of turning around their brand in time for 2016?
Published: Jun 27, 2015