Values Voter Summit goers echo theme of frustration

Mitzi Money, a retired Republican from Greenville, Texas attending the seventh annual Values Voter Summit, beamed and said she was proud to have elected Sen. Ted Cruz.

"He has the fire and ability to fight," Money said.

Money spoke to the NewsHour in the hotel corridor after Cruz's speech at the summit on Friday. With a thick Texas accent, she said she stands by Cruz in his steadfast opposition to the new health care law. Money said she is disappointed in other senators like John Cornyn, R-Tex., and John McCain, R-Ariz., who she said, are not representing her conservative values.

"If we don't fight, we won't win," Money said. "They need to stay shut down."

On the second day of the summit and 11th day of the government shutdown, the health care law and the state of America's economy dominated the talk both on the stage and among conference-goers.

Cruz, who led the Republican fight to strip the Affordable Care Act from the short-term budget proposal to fund the government, called the health law a "trainwreck", a "nightmare" and a "disaster." Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, declared to a roaring audience on its feet: "We must stop it. We must defund it. We cannot accept it."

The Values Voter Summit is an annual political conference to showcase social conservatives. The audience's passion for social issues was on display when Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., received a standing ovation and loudest applause for his abortion stance.

"I'm 100 percent committed to the pro-life movement," said Scott. "We must stand up for the unborn."

Educational freedom from public schools, violence in the media, government regulations and religious freedom for Christians were other prominent issues raised by the rising stars of the GOP appearing at the summit.

While some conference goers were vocal about where their loyalties lie in the shutdown stalemate, others, such as home-schooled Oklahoma high school senior Rachel Seldenrust, just want to see a resolution to the political gridlock.

"I don't think the government should control one-sixth of the U.S. economy, but I'm not completely opposed to the government being involved in healthcare," Seldenrust told the NewsHour.

Seldenrust is a politically-active debater. She traveled to Washington, D.C. with Teen Pact, a Christian leadership institute for teenagers. And as a young American, her frustration lies mainly with America's debt and the impending debt ceiling.

"It's not right to place the eventual burden on the younger generation," she said.

Amid the shutdown, frustration was a major theme with conference goers. For some it's their political leaders' unwillingness to fight, and others, it's their unwillingness to negotiate.

Jim Edwards, a consultant working in northern Virginia, said that he sees politicians talking past each other instead of to each other. And for him, President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are the roadblocks to negotiations.

"They are refusing to negotiate in a government system that relies on negotiation," Edwards said.