March 18, 2013
By Melanie Hunter
cns news

(CNSNews.com) – Conservative legend Phyllis Schlafly told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday that the Republican establishment had given America a series of losers as presidential candidates over the last two decades--and the last time they picked a winner, George W. Bush, he was a bigger spender than the Democrats.

“Why is it that the establishment has given us this bunch of losers?” Schlafly said. “The establishment has given us a whole series of losers: Bob Dole and John McCain and Mitt Romney.

"And even when they picked a winner--George W. Bush--they picked somebody who spent more than the Democrats,” she said.

“He added new programs that cost the taxpayers money, and he tried to give us open borders, first through the North American Union and through the amnesty that he lined up with Ted Kennedy,” Schlafly said.

Schlafly, who founded Eagle Forum and has been a leader of the Conservative Movement for more than four decades, said the establishment tries to enforce “certain criteria” on their candidates.

“First of all, they only want candidates who will vote the way they’re told to vote, and we like to have ones who will go down there and stir up a little trouble and make sure they vote no,” she said. “You know they’re blaming Ted Cruz for voting no on everything that’s come up. Well good for him!”

Schlafly said the establishment wants candidates that “will only talk about economic issues” and not social or moral issues or even national security issues.

“And that’s such a terrible mistake, because those social issues are the cause of the fiscal issue, and they are the issues that get to the heart of people--issues like life and marriage,” Schlafly said.

The establishment also tells their candidates to call themselves moderates and move to the center, she said.

Schlafly challenged political consultants like Karl Rove, who founded the super PAC American Crossroads, over their losing record.

“Now one of their chief spokesman was Karl Rove, and he had almost $400 million to spend on the election last year, and he ran TV ads for 31 candidates and only elected seven of them. That’s a pretty bad record. If you had a football coach with that kind of score, I don’t think you’d keep him the next year,” she said.

Schlafly said the other mistake that the establishment made was focusing its spending on television ads while neglecting get-out-the-vote efforts.

“And the running of the TV ads is kind of profitable to those who pick the ads, but it isn’t doing the job. There are a lot of people who don’t even watch TV anymore,” she said.

Schlafly: GOP Establishment Gave Us Losers Like Dole, McCain and Romney | CNS News