From Huffington Post:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is making no apologies for the organizers of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
This year’s conference has drawn significant attention for excluding prominent conservative gay rights groups and certain high-profile politicians, including Govs. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) and Chris Christie (R-N.J.), while inviting media personalities like Donald Trump.
Although Gingrich is slated to speak at the conference, he told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday that he didn’t “know what the purpose of CPAC is anymore.”
“CPAC at one time was sort of the militant wing of the conservative movement. … But I don’t know how they define who gets to come in and who doesn’t get to come in,” he said. “And, my sense is the board is not very open and not very clear about, you know, whether these are just personality decisions or what they’re thinking.”
Christie was the keynote speaker at last year’s CPAC. But organizers of this year’s event pointed to some of his more moderate stances — support for gun control and cooperation with President Barack Obama on Hurricane Sandy relief — as reasons why he is being shut out now.
Gingrich said CPAC’s decision to shun Christie overlooked “his record on controlling spending and reforming New Jersey government.” The former presidential candidate went on to call Christie “pretty courageous” for his reforms as “a Northeastern governor in a heavily unionized state.”
CPAC organizers have not given a reason for not including McDonnell, who was once a favorite on the right and a potential vice presidential nominee. But like Christie, he has recently upset conservatives by bucking party orthodoxy. He backed a transportation deal that raises taxes and agreed with Democrats to support Medicaid expansion.
Conservative commentators have vocalized their dissent of CPAC’s exclusions, noting that they may send a message that buttresses a commonly held belief that the Republican Party is in need of an overhaul. Leading voices in the conservative media, including the editorial board of the National Review and Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, specifically questioned the decisions to not invite Christie and conservative gay rights group, GOProud. “Maybe it is time to rethink the strategy of systematically shrinking the tent,” Rubin wrote on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Gingrich told Ingraham she was “exactly right” when she said the CPAC’s organizers “shouldn’t be surprised when people criticize them.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/newt-gingrich-cpac_n_2821754.html
Many Republicans are mocking CPAC this year because it has turned into a crazy house of losers talking to each other. We all saw where it was going last year when the drunk Breitbart came out of the conference yelling and foaming at the mouth like a fool. That was the last straw for most people. Kinda like when Trump went birther, he lost all credibility. (BTW, anyone with any sense could see that Breitbart was completely out of control and so filled with hate that his blood was boiling. I remember commenting to my wife that Breitbart looked like he was going to have a heart attack–and he did a short time later. All the right wing haters applauded his rant when they should have done a quick intervention and saved his life.)
But this year, CPAC has even worse problems caused by these dumbass blog awards lionizing and nominating the worst scum of the earth such as Stranahan, Patterico, and JihadWatch, all tied to Muslim hater Aaron Walker. We know that CPAC is now facing a possible protest by Muslims, and decided not to give an award to JihadWatch http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/the-grovers-choice-award-jihad-watch-wins-cpac-award-barred-from-receiving-it.html. We know that CPAC told Ali Akbar’s BlogBash that they were not welcome at CPAC even though Akbar continues to lie about it on the BlogBash site. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/03/02/Blog-Bash-CPAC-2013 And we know that the new venue for BlogBash will be contacted by major Muslim organizations to cancel the BlogBash event because Ali and BlogBash supported Aaron Walker, the publisher of the Everyone Draw Mohammed blog.
CPAC is trying to regain its credibility by running away from crazy and toxic bloggers but it waited too long this year and now is saddled with their scandal and baggage. It is really quite telling that BlogBash is now saying that it is relegated to a piano bar that is so small that no one can even attend unless they are sponsors or nominees. My lord, the reason for award ceremonies is so the winner can accept the award in front of family and friends. Really though, even the nominees should boycott BlogBash this year since it seems to have become Ali’s personal vendetta bash in support of Muslim haters.
Hey piano bar, good luck with all that extra security you are going to have to hire because you are hosting a Muslim Hating Bash. Wonder if you will be able to handle the Brooks Brothers Muslim Bash that plans on crashing the event. Maybe you can invite Muslim hating Pastor Terry Jones go toe to toe with the firebrand Imam who is planning on leading the protest.
Couple of notes today: looks like BlogBash is currently planned at http://www.bobbymckeys.com Ali Akbar is saying that it will be livestreamed. http://www.blogbash.org/2013/03/blog-bash-now-livestreaming-to-a-computer-near-you/
So here are a few suggestions: call BobbyMcKeys and tell them about Ali and about who BlogBash has nominated for awards. Tell them about Ali’s financial support of Muslim hater Aaron Walker, of nominee Lee Stranahan’s close relationship with Walker, his pimping and pornography and rape justifications, and of Ali’s scams and frauds.
Call Muslim organizations and urge them to weigh in by calling BobbyMcKeys and joining the protest at and boycott of BobbyMcKeys. Call the Nation of Islam, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination League, DC Metro Mosques, your favorite Imam. Call women’s organizations such as NOW and ask them to join in.
Let’s put BobbyMcKey’s out of business for hosting anti-American Islamophobes, felons, pimps and pornographers. Let’s get this boycott going on Twitter and Reddit, and everyone blog about it. BobbyMcKeys’ assault on women and Islam will not be tolerated.
Frey got the least votes on that CPAC award. LOL