John Avlon unsurprisingly bashed conservatives on Monday's New Day on CNN during a panel discussion on potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. Avlon labeled the recent Iowa Freedom Summit "the dean of the crazy caucus, Steve King's, cattle call," and asserted that the media covered the conference because "it's the place most likely for a Republican aspirant to say something incredibly crazy in an attempt to pander to the base out in Iowa. So, we're all hoping for the car crash – and there were a lot of them." [video below]
The Daily Beast editor-in-chief later played up the apparent "difference between the center right and the far right" and the "GOP civil war that's been brewing for a long while." Despite the electoral losses of John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2014, Avlon claimed that "the folks on the center right, the establishment crowd, have the best chance of being elected president – let just get real."
Anchors Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo brought on the analyst and his wife, Republican consultant Margaret Hoover, for their take on the Iowa Freedom Summit. Camerota turned to Hoover first and wondered, "Is this the first moment where we start to see them [the potential Republican presidential candidates], sort of, fight between themselves?"
The liberal commentator zeroed in on the speech of Carly Fiorina in her reply. Cuomo and Avlon also interjected some initial replies as well:
MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I don't think this is fighting between themselves as much – though I do think you're right. They're beginning to distinguish their riff; their beat – how they are different from the others. What I think this, more than anything is – you're right – it's a – it's warm-up, but this was not essential.
I mean, the other person who didn't come was – was Bobby Jindal. Do you know why Bobby Jindal wasn't there? Because he was hosting his own spiritual revival in Baton Rouge, trying to-
JOHN AVLON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: As – as Republican presidential aspirants do.
HOOVER: As born-again Catholics do to try to recruit evangelicals to try to vote for them. So, this is – they're all just – they're beginning to start flexing their muscles. They're beginning to get their toe in. I mean, Carly Fiorina's speech was really interesting, because even though she's never won an election – you know, she anticipates – my view – she anticipates, maybe, being selected as a vice presidential nominee – especially running against Hillary.
But I think this is a really important exercise – not just for them to develop their stumps and pitch – this was just not just red meat. These were really thoughtful conservative ideas being presented to a conservative audience. She didn't talk about a lot of social issues – I mean, she talked about abortion. She talked about Dodd-Frank, overregulation, community banks – her experience....
CHRIS CUOMO: She's more experienced than the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, because she traveled a lot, too?
AVLON: Yeah. And she's going to throw Benghazi out there for red meat out of desperation.
Moments later, Avlon dropped his "crazy caucus" line, and cited Sarah Palin's speech as an example. Hoover replied by actually disputing her husband's analyst on the conference:
AVLON: I mean, Sarah Palin's noun salad was – was – I mean, you could diagram those sentences for days, and still not make sense of them, okay? But this is the place where the people come to pander and play to the base. The reason you don't go, is because you actually think that maybe, being responsible might get you the nomination. That's a tough bet in today's Republican Party. But we saw, over and over, these folks just – just pandering, throwing a lot of red meat – and the weirdness comes out.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Margaret calls poppycock on all of that-
HOOVER: ...Look, I think it's an important exercise for the Republican Party. People start getting out there; they tone their speeches – their rhetoric. But this was – look, Sarah Palin is not running for anything. Donald Trump is not running for anything. Ben Carson is not-
AVLON: She's got to flood it to keep her speech fees up – come on!
HOOVER: Well, and that may be true, and that is what's, sort of, nutty about this event. But there-
AVLON: Ben Carson could be real-
HOOVER: Look, there were some serious contenders there, along with a lot of not-serious contenders. But the bottom line is this was a non-essential event. Bobby Jindal didn't go. You know why? Because he's going to Iowa every other week anyway.
CUOMO: He's also – maybe he's trying to hide a little bit also right now-
HOOVER: No, I think they're all going to Iowa. Look, the main calculation – the problem here – keep in mind Iowa is – of the Republican primary/caucus goers, there are about 50 percent of them that fit with, sort of, moderate mainstream Republicans nationally; and then, the other 50 percent are the social conservative Christian crowd. Remember, Mitt Romney did not win the Iowa Caucus last time-
CUOMO: Santorum won-
HOOVER: Santorum won, but we didn't know until a week later. And you know what? It didn't matter, because what matters out of Iowa is the inertia.
Later in the segment, Camerota emphasized the "divide between the grassroots support candidates and the big-donor fund candidates" and asked, "Are the big-donor ones only Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney – is that how this is going to break down?" Avlon responded with his "center right" and "far right" labeling:
AVLON: No. I mean, Chris Christie, I think, has a lot of big-donor support. I mean, the deeper thing is you're seeing the difference between the center right and the far right, and two different paths to try to get that nomination. I mean, this is, sort of, the schism beneath the GOP civil war that's been brewing for a – for a long while. The folks on the center right, the establishment crowd, have the best chance of being elected president – let just get real. The argument is, is that the grassroots folks may have a glide path to the nomination at least until you get to big states like Florida.
HOOVER: I think Marco Rubio and Scott Walker also have access to national money. They have done – they've done a lot of things on a national scale that have – so, I don't think it's just Jeb-
AVLON: I don't think – I wouldn't put Rubio in a pure grassroots.
HOOVER: What most of the candidates are doing there – and you saw Ted Cruz's talk – they're making a calculation, purely based on numbers from 2012. There was a repressed turnout from evangelical Christian white men in the Republican Party. And if you can simply drum up enough of them, and get them to the polls in 2016, you have, in sheer numbers, enough people to get to the polls and elect a Republican president. That is not the party-
AVLON: Hoping for more white people is so dumb on the part of the Republican Party.
HOOVER: You're right. It is – it's is not a formula for the future of America.
Back in June 2014, Hoover and Avlon gloated over the primary losses of Tea Party-backed candidates. The Daily Beast editor also contended that the grassroots conservative movement was off-balance: "Don't call it the establishment. It's the sanity caucus."
