The Victorious Opposition

I’ve debated blogging about this. The furor over GOProud as a co-sponsor of CPAC has been going on for months, with a lot of threats to pull out, with Liberty University Law School being the only ones to actually do it (these are the folks who’ve been sending me emails, letters and postcards every few weeks for the last year encouraging me to apply…).

The main reason I decided against blogging about CPAC is that I didn’t want to give the airtime to CPAC. CPAC is dominated by the Religious Right, a lot of fringe groups, and other sorts who I don’t even want to waste my breath on. There are some good people, with good ideas, who attend and speak at CPAC, but they’re just lost in the crowd, and often allow their messages to go extreme to fit with the extremism of CPAC.

Check out GOProud’s “Who’s the pansy at CPAC?” response to NOM’s anti-GOProud press-release.

Rachel Maddow got a pretty decent reception at CPAC, with one exception.

Another great CPAC moment: Bob Barr getting booed for calling waterboarding torture

I would submit that there are just as many factions and direction pullers on the left (Code Pink, anti war movement, greeners, ACORN, etc) that make high light reels at whatever conferences they have, it is the nature of the beast.

CPAC is dominated by the Religious Right

And yet Sorba got the collective verbal boot form the crowd, care to reconsider?

Another great CPAC moment: Bob Barr getting booed for calling waterboarding torture

Gee, I heard more cheers than boos, who named this video anyway? and considering that Barr gave up his conservative credentials a long time ago, does even including him at the conference, welcoming different points of view, garner any traction with you?

We have some work to do, no doubt about it, but if you think any party is monolithic and does not have factions, you are not living in the real world.

And yet Sorba got the collective verbal boot form the crowd,

That was absolutely nice to see, but…

care to reconsider?

Nope. All you need to do is look at who’s sponsoring CPAC, as well as who’s speaking at CPAC, what the topic is, and what they have to say at that forum. It’s full of Religious Right agenda, not to mention birther and other conspiracy hacks.

You will note that GOProud is a sponsor of the event, but has no speaking role. CPAC is glad to take their money, but not give them a voice.

Gee, I heard more cheers than boos, who named this video anyway?

He was certainly booed when he said waterboarding is torture; why do you think he had the response that he did and the moderator jumped in?

Bob Barr being there doesn’t really mean diddly to me. Bob Barr is the author of DOMA, and while he now speaks with a libertarian tongue, he’s not actually demonstrated that he’s anything other than Newt Gingrich’s attack dog from the mid-90s.

We have some work to do, no doubt about it, but if you think any party is monolithic and does not have factions, you are not living in the real world.

I didn’t say anything about the party, I was commenting about CPAC. CPAC is as rabidly far to the right as Kos is to the left.

who’s sponsoring CPAC

Wow, that is a big tent, I am more encouraged than ever.

who’s speaking at CPAC, what the topic is, and what they have to say at that forum

I think that might have to do with scheduling more than anything else, who they can get and who can’t make it. Besides, that looked like a pretty innocuous group to me. And any organization that can get the great Thad McCotter is OK in my book.

Bob Barr is the author of DOMA

Which he later regretted and vilified. If you think Barr is anything like Gingrich then you have not been paying attention to what he has been saying for the last several years. To tell you the truth, I am surprised that he even accepted their invitation to speak. But there was clearly more agreement then dissent in that piece you posted.