For a ballroom full of downhearted conservatives desperate for some good news, Mark Sanford had an odd message.
The South Carolina governor urged 1,000 activists, gathered in late February at the Ronald Reagan Banquet in a fancy Washington hotel, to be prepared to lose, and to feel happy about it ”” to “be happy warriors,” as he put it.
“Would you be willing to support a cause or a candidate that is likely to lose?” Sanford asked conventioneers at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual gathering.
Too much focus on winning, Sanford said, leads to compromise and the abandonment of conservative principles.
As the diners leapt to their feet and applauded, Sanford declared:
“The name of the game is staying true to the principles that got you into politics in the first place ”” and letting the chips fall where they may.”
Over the past three months, Sanford’s criticism of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus plan has transformed him from a conservative Republican governor little-known outside South Carolina to a political powerhouse with a growing profile among party stalwarts nationwide.
It seems like a lot of good people speaking up on a variety of issues are from South Carolina!
Just what America needs: another political ideologue.
He’s fantastic — I’ve loved watching him be conservative in the state of SC — and he confounds and infuriates the non-principled Republicans here.
Thanks God.
Sanford’s enough for me to endorse human cloning.