GOP Base Sees Moderate Plot in Reform Group

Righties compalin that Cantor rebranding effort excludes them
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2009 8:40 AM CDT
GOP Base Sees Moderate Plot in Reform Group
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is a member of Cantor's "National Council."   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, FILE)

With Eric Cantor's high-profile new group aimed at diagnosing what ails the GOP, members of the party base are worried that the answer might be them. Social conservatives from Steve King to Mike Huckabee are accusing the group of excluding them from the National Council for a New America, Politico reports. Says former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, conservatives “have the experience of being used and then abused and then forgotten.”

Righties aren’t pleased at the idea of a panel of experts telling them what to do next. “Ronald Reagan didn't summarily dismiss values voters like this new group of ‘experts’ has,” grumbles Huckabee. But Cantor denies intent to exclude any faction of the party. The group is still inviting members, he says, but “it’s been an incredibly successful rollout.”
(More Mike Huckabee stories.)

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