CPAC 2013: Props and Crutches

Given the widely noted fractures in the GOP, it’s understandable that this year’s conservative CPAC shindig would feature so many different props, verbal assists and visual aids. Beyond Marco Rubio’s unwitting SOTU Poland Spring reprise, here’s a cross-section:

The wardrobe doubles for a libertarian statement?  (This shot of Paul also reminded me of this.)

Rick Perry. Spelled out. (Just be careful with the meds this time.)

Wayne LaPierre, NRA CEO. Did someone check inside the speech roll?

Mitch McConnell and his stack of Obamacare regulations. Today gay marriage and immigration reform. Tomorrow recycling?

I know. There’s not a prop here exactly. It does evoke, though, all the women who shrank, then peeled off from the Romney campaign.

I give up. …North Korea?

What with distance learning going mainstream, Newt’s gonna be fine.

Because Getty hit Palin a little hard with this expression, below is the “Statue of Liberty” version from Sarah’s Facebook CPAC gallery:

Seriously though, this shot from Reuters (beware the hotel art!) is the best visual commentary I saw of the event. Everywhere you look, it’s about broadening the base.

(photo 1-6: Alex Wong/Getty Images. caption: (From) the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 14, 2013 in National Harbor, Maryland. A slate of important conservative leaders are slated to speak during the American Conservative Union’s annual conference. photos 7-9: Pete Marovich/Getty Images. photo 10: Sara Palin Facebook. photo 11: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters. caption: A woman uses her mobile phone as she sits under a portrait of a young girl while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland March 14, 2013.)