0 discussed by republicans today at cpac. how does the republican party rebrand itself? >> they think all we care about are tax breaks for the wealthy. >> and rebuild itself. >> the conservative political action conference. >> three days of power talk and positioning. >> what is latin for "let the circus begin?" ♪ we will persevere. >> the man who needs no introduction. >> real peace comes from the marine corps, not the peace corps. >> how in the world did he lose his job? >> this government is completely out of control. >> followed by rand paul. it's a bird. >> it's a plane! >> people are very, very excited about rand paul. >> monkeys, like humans, act crazy on meth. >> what kind of craziness is this? >> these are new, young faces on the scene. >> if you can't be sexy-crazy-mad, you can't get the attention. >> marco rubio. >> they're not free-loaders, they're not liberals. >> translation -- >> this has had an impact on our people. >> it's a little more communicatal than some of the other speakers. >> hard working middle class. >> the republican party is still trying to reinvent and reunite itself. >> it was the left that got us into this mess. >> we don't need a new idea. >> we will persevere. >> it may not happen at this conference. at the circus that calls itself the conservative political action conference, republicans are still trying to distance themselves from the damage done to the party by the mitt romney 47% video, which they know rushed romney's candidacy and fear has the power to continue to define them as a party. here's marco rubio, attacking everything mitt romney said in that video without ever using the words "mitt" or "romney." i hereby invite rand paul to come on this program for the full hour on the day that he releases that budget, where he can explain it right here to the american people. the 2012 republican loser, rick perry, got huge cheers today. with a swipe at mitt romney and john mccain. >> the popular media narrative -- it's that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. that's what they think. that's what they said. that might be true if republicans had actually nominated conservative [ bleep ] in 2008 and 2012. might be true. >> joining me now from the cpac convention in national harbor, maryland is anna marie cox of "the guardian" and alex wagner. anna marie, you're there. so you have the floor. please, explain cpac to us. >> reporter: oh. well, it's sometimes called conservative spring break. i sort of think of it as conservative rum springa. it's a time when -- i think actually, young conservatives cannot just sort of experiment in whatever way spring break con know at a times, but also i think it's a time when they do get exposed to new ideas. that may sound controversial given the old ideas that marco rubio put forward. some libertyians -- these are kids, right, and conservatives on their campus, probably haven't been around this many other conservatives in a while. and i think that's sort of what gives cpac its energies. these people finally feeling like they're among their own. >> it's the thrill of rubbing elbows. alex wagner, the great new idea. america. okay? did you write that down when marco rubio said that? >> i thought we were living in maomao revolutionary kenya. it is a sign of desperation you can't put forth a single eye otah, a shred of policy, a shred of thinking that is somewhat different and instead have to rely on the place. the place is -- the place is the identifier and that's all that they have. i mean, i actually -- i guess ana marie is there and says there is new blood in the conservative movement. it would be awesome to see that. right now, all i can think of when i see that rand pauls and marco rubios and the rick peris and mitt romneys where evil guys converge and concoct their plot for the next episode or whatever it is. and they get defeated every single time. but they keep going back up into that mountain, and looking down on the earth below and sort of rubbing their hands together. they are not going to win with that conclave. pardon the use of the word this week. but that group of tired, old guys pushing the same old rhetoric. military, too, something like a militia? >> reporter: i think sometimes they're a little fuzzy on the details. but you know -- rand paul did, like, really get people on their feet. you know. sort of like he was. i mean, there was a stand with rand, you know, kind of vibe to it. and people really jumped out of their seats for him. and they jumped out of their seats when he talked about down scaling the militariment when he talked about bringing the troops back from our wars. when he talked about the war on terror as not necessarily a good thing. these are ideas that the people here are receptive to. now there's a problem, it's a generational problem more or less. with these people, this is the next generation of the party. do they fit into this party at all if these are the ideas they embrace? rand paul is interestingly -- although he's ten years older than rubio, the one who seems to be cleverly straddling that divide. >> i want to go to my two favorite cpac moments ever and so far this year has not contributed at such delicious more sells as this. i want to go back two years to has not reconciled any semblance of what the truth is. either -- in terms of fiscal policy or in terms of ideology. i think it's incredible that the one thing that is picking up steam here is the notion that we need to slash our defense budget, that we need to be less engaged in foreign wars. that used to be the pillar of the republican party. what do they stand for? >> still what happens is, these kids cheer for that, and then when they get the republican nominee who says, i want to increase defense spending, they all go to the convention and clap and vote for them. >> exactly. that's the parable of cpac. alex wagner always tells me, you can understand politics through hip-hop. and -- >> i never said that, but i like that. continue, my friend. >> he's just trying to cheat this reference in, and like pretend -- >> he'll find a way to get jay-z in. >> don't blow up my tactics. >> go. we're here to help. >> dmx always says, sometimes you come through the front and you leave out the back door. so you have a lot of candidates who come through the front of cpac and get pummeled by these conservatives and slink out after getting beaten up so there is this whole process whereby conservatives get cheered there. but they did like romney, they did beat up mccain. there is a lot of political pressure that never gets resolved because exactly what you're hitting on, lawrence. there's these fundamental, hypocritical sort of contrasts that are never resolved. so it's funny to me as a convention. on the one hand, gets a lot of attention. it is a politically important event but doesn't do what party conventions have historically done, which is reconcile some of where the base is. >> ana marie, i want to give you the last word on cpac tonight, since you are actually there, and please feel free to mention any hip-hop artist you particularly favor. >> reporter: i'm not going to mention -- actually, you know what comes to mind, i was in a panel with the next generation of conservatives and someone seriously suggested what they needed to do was get more concerts like obama did with jay-z. >> all right. >> reporter: that could work. maybe. >> they do have new ideas. ana marie cox, thank you all for joining me tonight. coming up, i will be joined by the man who recorded the romney 47% video, scott proudy, the mvp of the 2012 campaign. and later, it was ted cruz versus dianne feinstein today in the senate judiciary committee. you've got to see this. also coming up, the republican who said -- actually did say this -- this is a quote. it's good politics to oppose the black guy in the white house right now, especially for the republican party. that's coming up. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. 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