On Sunday, ABC’s This Week discussed the political fallout from the annual CPAC conference and the entire panel, excluding conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, deemed the conservative gathering politically dangerous for any potential Republican presidential candidate.
During the discussion, ABC’s Matthew Dowd claimed that CPAC was so far to the right “[w]hat would happen if Ronald Reagan, with that record, had shown up at this conference? He would have been booed.”
The segment began with NPR’s Cokie Roberts insisting that despite Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s impressive showing at CPAC, “everything he says makes it worse for him...I think it makes it worse for him in terms of the media primary, the money primary. And a general election.”
As the segment progressed, Roberts continued to smear CPAC and argued that the big winner coming out of the conference was Ohio Governor John Kasich because he chose not to attend:
Mitt Romney did himself in. And he did himself in at organizations like this. Because he kept pandering and saying what he thought conservatives thought he should say. And so -- it was not his opponents who did him in. It was himself. Jeb Bush managed to avoid that trap. I think the person that won at CPAC was John Kasich. He didn't show up. And I think that's the wisest thing for anybody to do.
Rather than push back at the anti-CPAC rhetoric, so-called Republican Matthew Dowd maintained that because of Reagan’s actions on taxes and abortion while he was governor of California “he would have been booed” at CPAC.
For her part, Laura Ingraham pushed back and maintained that the idea of Reagan being booed at CPAC was “ridiculous." Ingraham concluded the segment by arguing that “the idea that Reagan would be applauding the fact that we have 18 million people or whatever number we're using today of people who are here illegally, he would be probably horrified.”
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
March 1, 2015
COKIE ROBERTS: Scott Walker has won in two very conservative venues. And the truth is, everything he says makes it worse for him. And that business of I've stood up to public employees unions and I can stand up to ISIS.
MATTHEW DOWD: Actually, I would argue that it makes it better for him in the Republican primary.
ROBERTS: In the Republican primary, perhaps. But I think it makes it worse for him in terms of the media primary, the money primary. And a general election.
JONATHAN KARL: What about that comment? I mean, he didn't compare ISIS to the protesters. That’s not what he did. But he did say, because I stood up to them, I can stand up to the world.
--
LZ GRANDERSON: I think the sweet sound of him being booed at CPAC was music to the ears of independents. Because the further he looks --
INGRAHAM: We're not in the general yet. That's the problem.
GRANDERSON: We're not in the general but at least he doesn't look that crazy. And if he doesn’t look that crazy that means--
INGRAHAM: To you.
GRANDERSON: That means everyone else gets to look and go, maybe what he says actually makes sense because they don’t like him.
INGRAHAM: He acquitted himself well at CPAC. But I was trying to make a forceful point.
ROBERTS: Mitt Romney did himself in. And he did himself in at organizations like this. Because he kept pandering and saying what he thought conservatives thought he should say. And so -- it was not his opponents who did him in. It was himself. Jeb Bush managed to avoid that trap. I think the person that won at CPAC was John Kasich. He didn't show up. And I think that's the wisest thing for anybody to do.
DOWD: I think Cokie's right. I think there's still a great opportunity for somebody else to get into the race. Whether it's John Kasich or Mike Pence. I still bet on some Great Lakes governor wining the Republican nomination. Let me postulate something about this forum in this. What would happen if a candidate showed up that had liberalized abortion laws, that had the largest tax increase in history, that had given weapons to Iran, that had tripled the national debt, that had given amnesty to three million immigrants?
JONATHAN KARL: Stop talking about Ronald Reagan that way.
DOWD: What would happen if Ronald Reagan, with that record, had shown up at this conference? He would have been booed.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. But this is a different Republican Party.
DOWD: It's very different. That's the concern.
INGRAHAM: So Ronald Reagan would be booed at today's CPAC. First of all that's ridiculous.
DOWD: With that record? With that record?
INGRAHAM: The Simpson-Mazzoli bill dealt with 3 million people and with the promise of enforcement.
KARL: This is the amnesty bill in 1987.
INGRAHAM: Who knows what Reagan would say today about where we are immigration. We don't know.
GRANDERSON: They didn't even want to hear about reform. Let alone any amnesty conversation.
INGRAHAM: But the idea that Reagan would be applauding the fact that we have 18 million people or whatever number we're using today of people who are here illegally, he would be probably horrified.
