years. they had a lot of disagreements. it s not kay ros. it s a healthy, constructive way to reargue within a party as democrats once did, and bill clinton led them out of the wilderness. they ll find somebody, whether they can find somebody to take them all the way out, that s a big, big question. i bring up her quote when she talks about reviving the party and rebuilding the country because it seems like there isn t a consensus about the real objective here, whether it be those who are in attendance at cpac or those who have not attended but are kit critical abo about the gop. in order for there to be any kind of reform or direction, it seems like there has to be a coming together, a real common ground on which direction we re going, if there is going to be a gop that s looking for a new face. well, that s hard to do when you re out of power. there is no mr. or mrs. republican leader at the moment.
welcome back to hardball. the conservatives have come to town to washington. the annual cpac conference is under way just outside washington. it s making news not only for who s coming, that s mitt romney, donald trump, sarah palin, but also for who s not coming. popular gop governor, chris christie and bob mcdonnell, he s from virginia. in other words, invite the noise makers, snub the people who might actually lead the party out of the wilderness. my view, of course. al is chairman of the american conservative union, the group that puts on cpac, and former national chairman of the republican party, michael steele, an msnbc analyst. it s great to have you on. i want to ask you something very positive and nice to warm you up before we get started here. how happy are you we have a hispanic pope? oh, boy, i m glad you asked.
welcome back to hardball. the conservatives have come to town to washington. the annual cpac conference is under way just outside washington. it s making news not only for who s coming, that s mitt romney, donald trump, sarah palin, but also for who s not coming. popular gop governor, chris christie and bob mcdonnell, he s from virginia. in other words, invite the noise makers, snub the people who might actually lead the party out of the wilderness. my view, of course. al is chairman of the american conservative union, the group that puts on cpac, and former national chairman of the republican party, michael steele, an msnbc analyst. it s great to have you on. i want to ask you something very positive and nice to warm you up before we get started here. how happy are you we have a hispanic pope? oh, boy, i m glad you asked. as a practicing catholic, i got on my knees yesterday and i was so happy.
right of center far right of center immigration proposal which he s notched back from. but he s running for it. what s happening? he s putting himself out there. for the past few months after the republicans lost, people kept saying bush is the answer. bush can help us. bush can lead us out of the wilderness with latino voters. that s who they kept looking to. what was the timeline on this? when was bush high? well, i think starting with the election. then got blown away. blown away. the thing is, here he comes out. i think he s completely botched what he was supposed to be good at. made a bad move. people have all made bad moves in the beginning. but i want to know about positioning. is he positioned somewhere between now if he sticks with this tougher position on immigration, is he positioned to the right of rubio and christie and to the left of the crazies out there like santorum? is he in the right place?
which he s notched back from. but he s running for it. what s happening? he s putting himself out there. for the past few months after the republicans lost, people kept saying bush is the answer. bush can help us. bush can lead us out of the wilderness with latino voters. that s who they kept looking to. what was the timeline on this? when was bush high? well, i think starting with the election. then got blown away. blown away. the thing is, here he comes out. i think he s completely botched what he was supposed to be good at. made a bad move. people have all made bad moves in the beginning. but i want to know about positioning. is he positioned somewhere between now if he sticks with this tougher position on immigration, is he positioned to the right of rubio and christie and to the left of the crazies out there like santorum? is he in the right place? i think he s in the right place, but it s really a narrow niche. i think the republicans are going to have a civil war a