--- title: CPAC Features Politicians Speaking Out Against Common Core description: Anti-Common Core lines earned applause at CPAC, but when the questioning probed deeper, everyone cringed. canonical: https://time.com/3726097/common-core-cpac-jeb-bush/ author: Haley Sweetland Edwards article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-27T18:54:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:33.446Z article:section: Politics og:title: Conservatives Lash Out at a Common Enemy At CPAC og:description: With one notable exception. og:url: https://time.com/3726097/common-core-cpac-jeb-bush/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762599523960fc39/69878141428a9e4c22cc758d/cpac-conservative-political-action-conference-mark-peterson-republicans-christie-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2880 og:image:height: 1620 og:image:alt: CPAC Conservatives Republicans Chris Christie og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Conservatives Lash Out at a Common Enemy At CPAC twitter:description: With one notable exception. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762599523960fc39/69878141428a9e4c22cc758d/cpac-conservative-political-action-conference-mark-peterson-republicans-christie-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ghost of Common Core Haunts Conservative Gathering > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: REAL TIME: Donald Trump At CPAC 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): REAL TIME: Donald Trump At CPAC 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QH9p6obo.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2015-02-27. Business tycoon Donald Trump shared his views on ISIS, Obamacare, and immigration at CPAC 2015, and talked about a possible presidential run in 2016._  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards Feb 27, 2015 6:54 PM UTC  New Jersey governor Chris Christie on stage at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. New Jersey governor Chris Christie on stage at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards Feb 27, 2015 6:54 PM UTC For the politicians speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington this week, it’s usually pretty easy to give the grassroots audience the red meat it craves. Abortion? Against it! Taxes? Lower them! Obama? Don’t like him! But one hot-button issue was trickier than usual for some of the politicians, especially the governors who are likely to run for president in 2016: Common Core. With one notable exception, the speakers at CPAC were against the state education standards, saying they hurt local control of education and took the power from parents and teachers. On Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal demanded the [immediate repeal](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2015-02-27/jindal-we-must-repeal-common-core) of Common Core. That same day, Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon-cum-presidential hopeful, slammed it for eliminating parental choice, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz questioned the conservative credentials of anyone who doesn’t actively attempt to dismantle the program. “If a candidate says they oppose Common Core, fantastic,” said Cruz. “\[But\] when have they stood up and fought against it?” Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took turns condemning Common Core for being poorly implemented and impinging on state control. That was all well and good–anti-Common Core lines tend to earn hoots and applause from the grassroots—but whenever the questioning on Common Core probed ever so slightly deeper, everyone seemed to cringe. That’s because, just three years ago, the majority of Republican politicians—including Govs. Walker, Jindal, Christie and Jeb Bush—not only supported the implementation of Common Core, they outright championed it. In early 2011, 40 states, including nearly all Republican-led ones, voluntarily signed on to the shared standards. In the next two years, five more followed suit. In 2011, Walker included Common Core in his first [state budget](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/32.pdf), explicitly instructing the state education chief to come up with a Common Core-aligned state test for Wisconsin kids. In 2012, Jindal told a crowd of business leaders that Common Core “will raise expectations for every child.” In 2013, Christie told a crowd of educators that he was [sticking with Common Core](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-common-core-conundrum-for-2016/) regardless of the “knee-jerk reaction that is happening in Washington” among Republicans who will simply disagree with anything President Obama supports. “We are doing Common Core in New Jersey and we’re going to continue,” he said boldly. But as the politics around the issue have shifted, driven largely by a grassroots base of Tea Party conservatives, all of them have tip-toed backwards, either distancing themselves or outright condemning the standards. All of them, that is, except Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor has, in the past two years, earned the ire of the conservative base by not only refusing to condemn Common Core, but by [continuing to support it](http://time.com/3703727/jeb-bush-common-core-iowa/). That’s awkward. Some at CPAC responded to this rift by ignoring it entirely. In a panel about Common Core on Thursday—entitled “Common Core: Rotten To The Core?”—a group of vehemently anti-Common Core educators simply avoided saying Bush’s name. “Entire Common Core panel at CPAC happened without mentioning the words ‘Jeb’ and ‘Bush,'” tweeted Igor Bobic, a politics editor at the _Huffington Post_. ### Behind the Scenes of CPAC  Peter Dudziak of John, Minnesota attends CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2014. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Nine year old Thomas H. from Virginia at his first CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Sarah Palin at the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, MD on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Dr. Ben Carson gives a speech to open Thursday's session at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Timothy Flynn from New York City poses in an American flag jacket at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Rick Santorum takes a selfie with a supporter at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  A Rand Paul supporter at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Rand Paul speaks at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Sen. Ted Cruz shakes hands with a Sarah Palin supporter at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  A reporter asks attendees to choose their favorite candidate at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  CPAC attendees listen to Donald Trump in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Jeb Bush speaks at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gives a thumb's up at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  A supporter poses with a life-size cutout of Rand Paul at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson greets supporters at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Former Republican Governor of Texas Rick Perry at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Buttons for past Republican campaigns on display at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Supporters watch Rand Paul speak at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Donald Trump signs a Playboy magazine at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  Attendees applaud at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME  An empty room ready for the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME But others, including Laura Ingraham, who has made no secret of her dislike for the former Florida governor, came at Bush swinging. This morning, the conservative radio host told the crowd that there really wasn’t any difference between Bush and potential Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, citing the two politicians support for Common Core as among their similarities. “So I’m designing the bumper sticker,” she said. “It could be, Clush 2016: What difference does it make?” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Where are you on the scale in terms of where you think you are in deciding to run? One to a hundred I would say 75 and 80. I am really inclined, I want to do it so badly, I'm looking at it very seriously. I don't want what happened to Mitt Romney to happen again, because that was a tremendous blow. For this country. As far as our borders are concerned we need strong borders. We need a wall If I run, I will tell you the king of building buildings, the king of building walls, nobody can build them like Trump. That I can promise ya. [ APPLAUSE ] Nobody if I decide to run and win. Nobody would be tougher than Donald Trump. Nobody. You know, a year ago you wouldn't have said it and nobody would have liked it, now everybody likes it, you may have to have some boots on the ground for a period of time until you get rid of the cancer. 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