The 2014 Western Conservative Summit kicked off in Denver, Colorado last night, where thousands have gathered to hear from a star-studded lineup of high-profile speakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Dr. Ben Carson, Salem Radio’s Hugh Hewitt, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Sen. Mike Lee, among many others. Also included in the summit’s list of influentials were Townhall Media’s own Guy Benson, Katie Pavlich, and Mary Katharine Ham.
Radio personality James Golden joined the trio in a Saturday morning discussion on “Who’s winning the fight on the right?” where the commentators thought through whether conservatives are causing a fatal self-inflicted wound by fighting among themselves instead of focusing a majority of efforts on challenging liberals.
Program Chair and Summit Founder John Andrews said WCS14 was excited to welcome back Guy and Mary Katharine for their second and third summits, respectively, and to introduce Katie for the first time in their lineup. Andrews commented that not only were all three excellent journalists and commentators, but he was happy to include them because they are “all such wonderful role models” for the younger crowd that attended as part of the Young Conservatives Leadership Conference.
In addition to the panel discussion, Benson will be the opening speaker for the Conservative Persuasion Boot Camp – a training workshop that shies away from internal messaging and focuses, instead, on how conservatives can effectively communicate messages with those outside of the party.
Pavlich will be on site to sign books and discuss her latest work, Assault & Flattery: The Truth About the Left and Their War on Women, which hit bookstores last week.
The Summit is celebrating its 5th year with the largest turnout to date. More than 2,500 people are expected to participate in this weekend’s events across several venues in Denver, Colorado – up from the 900 who gathered for the original summit in 2010.
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This year’s theme is “America at Its Best,” and Andrews took some time to talk to Townhall about just what that means:
“We think it’s very important for conservatives not just to stand firm on what we are opposed to – and we are opposed to amnesty, or open borders, or unrestrained spending - there are lots of things we are opposed to - but unless we offer a positive, optimistic, practical, forward-looking vision of what kind of America it will be as conservative ideas and leaders take charge, we’re always going to be on the outside looking in. The theme of ‘America at Its Best’ is intended to cast that kind of a positive, practical, optimistic vision, in addition to drawing a bright line against the liberal progressive agenda we want to resist.”
To learn more about the Western Conservative Summit or to live stream this weekend’s events, check out their website here.
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