Saturday was the third and final day of CPAC, the annual conservative clambake hosted in Washington by the American Conservative Union. The rhetorical red meat came fast and furious via the speeches of Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter and Ted Cruz, as well as some rare internal soul searching from a few stray Republicans.
Early Saturday afternoon, the nation got to observe several notable state legislators speak, including Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, who used his time in the national spotlight to again brag about how he intends to reject Gov. Rick Scott's call to expand Medicaid coverage in Florida.
"States are being lured, and I would argue coerced, into expanding programs like Medicaid and passing regulations not through federal mandate but with the promise of free money," he said. "They're trying to buy us off, one by one."
As the crowd cheered, he said, "But I am not buying it, Florida will not buy it and America should not buy it."
This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2013.