By Fred LucasCNSNews.com Staff Writer
- Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a prominent Mitt Romney supporter, called on Republicans and conservatives to rally behind Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in a speech Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
About an hour before DeMint's speech, Romney had announced he was exiting the campaign race for the GOP presidential nomination. DeMint told the crowd at CPAC that he thought the Republican Party missed an opportunity by not nominating Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, whom he said would have united the party, but now it was time to rally behind McCain,
DeMint added."He is our only chance of
keeping Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton from the White House, and we need to
empower Sen. McCain to carry our conservative message," DeMint said to loud
applause from the audience, many members of which were skeptical of
McCain.
DeMint was part of a panel of conservative members of Congress at a session entitled, "Is the GOP Still Lost?"
Though McCain has been strong on national security issues and has opposed congressional pork-barrel spending, he has drawn fire from conservatives for his views on illegal immigration, campaign finance reform and other issues. DeMint spoke about the "three legged stool" of conservatism: morality, limited government and free enterprise, and a strong national defense.
He said that, without moral character, free enterprise won't work and that in the absence of a strong economy, a strong military can't be built. Panel moderator Richard Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed," did not mention McCain by name during his introduction of the panel speakers, but he warned the Republican Party about what has happened when it abandons its conservative principles.
Going back 60 years, from Tom Dewey through Gerald Ford to the big spending GOP Congress, Republicans have found out that "when conservatives are unhappy, bad things happen to the GOP," said Viguerie.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who endorsed McCain early on based largely on the Arizona senator's record against earmarks and wasteful spending, was also on the panel. But he did not mention McCain or the presidential race. "We've lost the leadership and principles we know to be true that make this country great," said Coburn, who has a 100 percent voting record with the American Conservative Union, which sponsored CPAC. "But we are back on our way. We have 16 conservatives in the U.S. Senate. We used to only have four."
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said that, in the House, it's about three times that many. Flake was introduced as one of the few House Republicans to vote against the Medicare drug program supported by President Bush and others - a program that many conservatives criticize as "big government conservatism." "About $20 billion goes to earmarks," Flake said. "They spend again and again and again. How much in tax cuts if we simply rescind all the earmarks?"
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