Why CPAC Was Right To Turn Down Chris Christie

The organizers of CPAC have come under sharp criticism for not allowing Chris Christie to speak at CPAC. Those who criticize are the same RINOs who have been distorting the brand of the Republican Party,trying to turn it into a Democratic Party lookalike. Although Christie has not been uniformly bad,this blue state governor has become far too blue to be invited to the conference.

Al Cardenas,the head of the American Conservative Union,has done a great job of courageously explaining why Christie is unfit to be heard at CPAC. As he said recently,the governor “strongly advocated for the passage of a 60 billion dollar plus pork barrel bill, containing only $9 billion dollars in disaster assistance ,and he signed up with the federal government to expand Medicaid at a time when his state can ill afford it,so he was not invited to speak.” Unfortunately,Cardenas did not tell the whole story of why Christie should not speak,as his positions on a number of issues conflict with the limited government stance conservatives stand for.

Chris Christie has strayed so far from the conservative fold that some Republicans speculated whether or not he would be chosen for a position in Obama’s cabinet.  He has bought into the liberal rhetoric in areas as diverse as guns,abortion,and global warming. As recently as this last summer,Christie said that he would be opposed to further expanding Medicaid in his state.  Notably,he praised Obama’s response to Hurricane Sandy,at a critical  time when his supposed ally Mitt Romney could ill afford to be stabbed in the back by a big backer. Mr. Christie has a reputation for not reciprocating assistance he receives.

Do we really need someone like this to speak at conservatism’s premier event?