Guest Blogged by Special BRAD BLOG CPAC Correspondent Daniel Borchers
EDITOR’S NOTE: After an unexpected delay due to breaking news over the last three days?We now conclude Dan Borchers reports from the “Conservative Political Action Conference” (CPAC) held last weekend in D.C.
Borchers — of Citizens for Principled Conservatism, Brother Watch & Coulter Watch — covered the nation’s largest annual “Conservative” gathering exclusively for The BRAD BLOG. As it does each year, the conference featured the biggest of the Rightwing wigs (see article below for a list). Nothing that we know of on the Left comes close.
Borchers’ previous reports on DAY 1 and DAY 2 offered an insider’s view of photos, sounds, video and Ann Coulter’s “ragheads” speech. His final dispatch follows, covering the hopeful, the still-to-be-determined and, yes, the dangerous American disgrace that is Ann Coulter as revealed yet again by this year’s CPAC.
Borchers’ coverage here (and even the VR “ImpeachMobile” in the bargain!) was picked up in a feature story on Monday by the Hard Rightwing Cybercast “News” Service.
For his efforts we are grateful and proud to bestow upon Dan the coveted and too-rarely-awarded BRAD BLOG “Intellectually Honest Conservative Award!” Well done, sir! And thank you?
THE GOOD — Reaching the Next Generation?
CPAC is over, but its legacy will endure.
Perhaps the most startling perennial phenomenon at CPAC is the involvement of perhaps several thousand college students. This is a natural outgrowth of a concerted effort to court America’s youth. Dynamic speakers engage inquiring minds. Indeed, a youth-oriented subculture vies with establishment conservatism for attention. New technologies combine with proven timeless teaching techniques.
I attended four excellent workshops at this conference. All of those I attended were ideologically-neutral, teaching sound methodologies and universal rules relevant to their subject.
The Leadership Institute offered a series of workshops: Grassroots Communications (4 hours), Effective Television Techniques (2 hours), Blogging (2 hours), Public Speaking (4 hours) and Campus Leadership Program Training (4 hours).
Americans for Technology Leadership provided a workshop on Cyber Security: Taking Back the Net. A workshop on State Taxes and How to Beat the Left was sponsored by FreedomWorks.
The Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute offered a Women and Career Development Workshop, a V-Day Unveiled Leadership Training Seminar and a Woman of the Year and National Mentoring Lunch.
THE CONFUSED ? Broadening Tent, Deepening Perspectives?
As Americans enter another election cycle, the Conservative Movement is engaging in a great internal debate over its identity and its goals.
The conservative tent is far broader than liberals believe, with a number or organizations and activist groups in opposition to each other ? either advocating or opposing the Iraq War, drug legalization, supply-side economics, a guest-worker program, or wiretapping and other homeland security measures.
Each year, CPAC has a distinctive flavor. In 2000, exuberance reigned as several presidential candidates vied for support amidst a general anti-Clinton/Gore hatred permeated the atmosphere. In 2002, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hysteria invaded many aspects of the conference. In 2006, ideological diversity was far greater than in previous years (although the CPAC tent has always been fairly broad in my own experience).
Though the majority of attendees are white, racial and cultural diversity is apparent. The Republican national Hispanic Assembly, the National Black Republican Association and Muslims for Bush are representative of the growing racial and cultural mixture within the Conservative Movement.
Although the tone and emphasis varies each year, some things never change. Members of all three branches of government were at home to contend with their issues of the day.
Conference highlights included appearances by Bush Administration speakers, such as Vice President Dick Cheney (ed note: whose motorcade drove by the VR “ImpeachMobile” at CPAC on Thursday night, just two days before he would then shoot a man in the face.), Ken Melhman (RNC Chairman), Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and Rod Christie (former aide to Pres. Bush).
Senators included John Cornyn (TX), Mitch McConnell (KT), Rick Santorum (PA), George Allen (VA), Sam Brownback (KS), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Bill Frist (TN), Jim DeMint (SC), St. Sen. John Barrasso (WY) and St. Sen. Alex Mooney (MD).
Congressman included Tom Tancredo (CO), J.D. Hayworth (AZ), Sam Johnson (TX), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Todd Tiahrt (KS) and Trent Franks (AZ).
Other notables included Attorney General Jon Bruning (NB), Gov. Rick Perry (TX), Gov. Haley Barbour (MS), James Gilmore III (VA), Newt Gingrich (GA), Dick Armey (TX), Bob Barr (GA), Judge Charles Pickering (MS) and Judge Janice Law (TX).
Book signings are favorite events at CPAC and this year’s conference was replete with a plethora of book signings by elected officials (J.D. Hayworth, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich), members of the media (Fred Barnes, Tony Blankley, Howie Carr, Ann Coulter, John Fund, Michelle Malkin, Oliver North, Glenn Reynolds, Ben Shapiro and Martha Zoller) and judges (Janice Law and Charles Pickering). Other notables putting pen to title page included Ilan Berman, Tom Bethel, Frank Gaffney, John Hagee, Paul Kengor, Phil Kiver, Joel Miller, Richard Miniter, Wayne Perryman, Alan Skorski, J. Foret Sharpe, Mark Smith and Mike Wiley.
CPAC revels in hosting the largest annual gathering of conservatives and certainly succeeds in attracting the crem-de-la-crem of conservative celebrities and organizations.
THE WARPED — Endorsement of Extremism?
Despite its boast of being the Grand Old Party of Lincoln and Reagan, the CPAC organizations and principle organizations cater to extremism in the form of their exaltation of Ann Coulter.
CPAC is sponsored by the American Conservative Union, Human Events and Young America’s Foundation. However, those organizations are setting a horrible example for those very impressionable young minds they court. The hypocrisy of these organizations is appalling. They effectively endorse extremism through their perennial exhibition of Coulter as one of their premiere attractions. Indeed, Coulter’s events are always the talk of the Conference.
Human Events employs polemicist Coulter as their “legislative correspondent.” Young America’s Foundation and the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute all vigorously promote Coulter as their most-sought-after speaker (at a $30,000 honorarium). And they all either ignore or justify Coulter’s most extreme expressions.
This year, Human Events sanitized Coulter’s outlandish speech, ignoring her most controversial comments.
“Ann Coulter, Human Events legislative correspondent, was definitely Friday’s biggest draw at CPAC 2006. From the get-go the conservative columnist had the crowd cheering and was frequently interrupted by applause.”
No apologies for or condemnation of her racist remarks, her dream of assassinating President Clinton or her wish that five Supreme Court Justices be bombed. No apologies. No regrets. No integrity, No principles. (ed note: Borchers’ earlier coverage of that speech, including the audio, is here.)
Overall, the CPAC conference is a marvelous venue for inspiring grassroots activism, exchanging ideas and networking. Conservatives and libertarians are free to promote those ideas, policies and causes dear to one’s heart. Even the ACLU found its voice at CPAC.
But the tolerance of extremism ? by the very individuals and groups who condemn those self-same expressions of extremism on the Left ? is intolerable and hypocritical. Their refusal to refute Coulter’s extremist views and her elimination rhetoric threatens America’s “open society” and “public square” even as it diminishes the participatory citizenship of all Americans.
My press kit, distributed at CPAC 2002, asked pertinent questions [PDF]:
My fellow conservatives, it all comes down to a question of faith. Do we believe in Conservatism? Do we believe that character truly matters, that truth is absolute and a prerequisite for any dialogue, that compassion isn’t just an emotion but an action, that being a moral people is more important than pursuing an agenda?Do we believe? Or is our faith an empty tomb? Is the heart of Conservatism hollow? Or are we resolved to elevate, and not assassinate? To inspire, and not denigrate? To love, and not hate? (A Call for Character)
Four years later, despite Coulter’s crazy conduct at CPAC, the CPAC organizers continue to sponsor her divisive and destructive hate speech ? tarnishing all of the good which is accomplished at CPAC.
When will they ever learn?
Cheers,
Dan Borchers
Dan Borchers,
Thank you for being a rare voice and not afraid to speak up for true conservatives; and not the completely out of their mind neoliberals that now seem to dominate the agenda.
You are a shining light in a dark tunnel, my friend.
Now I want you to take it a step further:
NSA Spying: There can easily be a coverup, if people don’t force their elected officials to the wall with threatened removal
Get on the front lines of this war—And you tell your fellow conservatives, to demand of their democrats, republicans to make this NSA probe a reality. And demand they get on the resolution of inquiry or face removal.
That is what I want to hear from people out there like you, going all the way to the mat with both cannons blazing. And then get involved in your community, Mr. Borchers……Get involved in court and file injunctions to stop these Diebold/ES&S machines from getting into anymore states without review of the source code.
In other words, get involved in defending the right we all have: The right to vote for who we want.
Doug Eldritch
Dan, most of the Congress people you have in the confused category, should be in the warped section
(Bolton, Sanatorium, Frist, etc) IMHO
Sorry, Bolton should be in the "thing" column (when you make one) with this guy
There is a simple and easy way to eliminate 90 to 99 percent of our drug problem–legalize marijuana.
In the Czech Republic, citizens can legally grow and possess small quantities of cannabis. Czech citizens use cannabis at higher rates than perhaps any other country on the planet.
Therefore, according to the logic of our drug war cheerleaders, the Czech Republic must have a very high crime rate.
They do not.
When I did a Google search for "crime in Czech Republic" I found that they have a homicide rate of 2 per 100,000 population. Their rate of robbery & violent theft was also at 2 per 100,000 population.
For comparison, the U. S. robbery rate is 145.9 per 100,000 population. (According the the F.B.I.
Uniform Crime Reports).
Drug offenses are listed at 1 per 100,000 population per year in the Czech Republic. In the U. S. we have more than 500 drug arrests per 100,000 population.
(Actually 585 per 100,000 population).
I suggest that the readers compare the U. S. and Czech crime rates, then decide which country has the best drug policies.
I agree Capn’
Only they should legalize all forms of drugs,
then they can control quality and strength, to prevent innocent deaths, from crime and ODs like booze after prohibition
And tax the bejesus out of it for rehab programs, instead of building prisons
and you are correct, the crime rate would drop like a rock, unloading our court dockets and Police Dept cases too
And it would stop the illegal smuggling into this country
to fund covert ops around the world
Oh yeah, theres more plusses than minuses for legalization
Doug E #1
Your post is ambiguous enough to seem to blame liberals for what the neoCons, who have the power, have done.
neoConservative: An intellectual and political movement in favor of political, economic, and social conservatism that arose in opposition to the perceived liberalism of the 1960s: “The neo-conservatism of the 1980s is a replay of the New Conservatism of the 1950s, which was itself a replay of the New Era philosophy of the 1920s” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., link here).
neoLiberalism: A political movement beginning in the 1960s that blends traditional liberal concerns for social justice with an emphasis on economic growth (link here).
When are you going to get it? Accountability pertains to who is in power and doing the wrong.
It is simple: the republicans control the presidency, congress, and perhaps also the judiciary.
They are the majority power. They are the republicans. They are doing the wrongs which only the majority can do.
Don’t blame the minority party who have no power – they have only strength.
It is the american way to hold the powerful to account for the wrongs being done.
It is not american to blame the victim of a crime, because that is unjust. (like The Dick blaming the man he shot in the face.)
Uh oh, looks like the GOP’s favorite female icon is in trouble with the law – and what she did is a FELONY! Check it out:
Ann Coulter gave a fake address on her voter registration application, then voted in a precinct where she does not reside. The Elections Chief Deputy stated "If someone brings us proof that a person falsified a registration, we’ll check into it, then refer the matter to the state attorney’s office if necessary."
The penalty? "Florida statutes make it a third-degree felony to vote knowingly in the wrong precinct. Lying on a voter’s registration can cost up to $5,000 and five years behind bars."
Karma can be SUCH a bitch!
Ann Coulter can be such a bitch too. Take that blonde twit and put her in her prison blues.
Floridiot.. The problem with "Only they should legalize all forms of drugs, then they can control quality and strength, to prevent innocent deaths, from crime and ODs like booze after prohibition" is that some drugs (lots of them, actually) cause serious problems in the brain.. that is, they cause you to be violent and aggressive.
When you smoke pot, you typically get relaxed.. calm.. don’t mind sitting around doing nothing. There’s nothing wrong with that, some people sit around doing nothing anyway (or watch tv, or paint, or draw, or whatever). The drug doesn’t typically cause problematic behaviors (depsite some of the claims of the Government in it’s justification for keeping it restricted).
When someone snorts coke, or smokes crack, they become very agitated, nervous, kinetic.. There is a need to move about and do something (as opposed to sitting quietly and drawing, or what have you).. when you put someone who’s kinetic and aggrivated into motion (into public), there will likely be confrontations and violence. Then you have the fact that these drugs are very addictive, and not easily home-made (pot can be grown easily, harvested easily, etc). People need to "get money" for their fixes, and when you’re on crack and looking for money, you’re a danger to yourself and society at large.
I think the bigger problem with drugs is that people want to "escape" their lives.. they feel a need to "get away", and being trashed on coke/crack/heroin, etc, does that for a short time. I think the better "long term fix" is to help people learn to enjoy their lives more.. but to do that, people need to not be afraid of losing everything if they lose their jobs.. need to not have to work 60 hours a week to get by.. etc etc. We have so many alcoholics because it’s a "legal" escape.. adding pot to that probably isn’t a bad idea (you can make your own wine, beer, liqure, etc.. and if it’s legal, you’d be able to grow your own pot at no danger to anyone else). Most people I’ve known that smoke pot get mellow.. not like a lot of people I’ve seen on alcohol or other types of drugs (meth, coke, etc).
"Accountability pertains to who is in power and doing the wrong. "
No, the problem is you do not understand it is littered in both parties.
Even when the majority of it is on the republicans side, the election theft especially in local races all land on the side of the others. You do not understand that people like Rahm Emanuel are in on it just as bad as these other people like Henry Hyde and J.D. Hayworth.
And they cover up just as fiercely the crimes committed by those neocons/neoliberals because many of them ARE neocons and are the same.
I don’t expect you to understand that fact since you see things only in parties. I do expect Mr. Borchers to get that fact, since he’s been around here far longer.
Doug E.
Kirk and Florida #s 4&5
1970 – typical pot transaction consisted of someone running to Mexico and brinning back a kilo or 2 to split amongst friends. $80-100 per pound or $7.5 to $10 per ounce. Homegrown – better quality no more than $15 per ounce. Too little profit for organized crime.
2006 – CAMP (Campaign Against Marajuana Production) Program in affect. $50 per 1/8th ounce, organized crime digging tunnels under the border and growing plantations in the foothills and delta, armed gaurds at these plantations. It is now unwise to stray from the marked trails in the National forests as you may stumble across booby traps and mexican nationals hired to protect the crops. Law enforcement helicopters buzzing all over the place, cops in camoflage running through the woods with machetes with glee as the find another patch. Meth use skyrocketing since pot too expensive and lack of resources against the meth.
We’ve come a long way Baby!
Way back a few years ago, me and my buds experimented on everything we could get our paws on
(LSD, opium, mescaline, etc.,etc)Thats the way it was late 60s early 70s, seems like only the weaker ones of us got hooked, the rest walked away from it eventually
What made it the most fun, was that it was illegal, and harder to get the beer than the drugs
I don’t think it would turn into an epidemic any more than alcohol or drugs already are
If the shit was toned down enough, it would’nt be that bad
Doug E, I have to agree with Dredd, get the Dems back in power first, and when their strong enough, get rid of the shit later. that is, if the people of that state turn progressive enough to get rid of the shit
Floridot
I’ve been discussing this alot more than you realize. Only the third party will ‘get rid of that shit’. And we first must neutrelize the voting machine fraud, permanently. (which is on both sides.)
Vote Trust
I’m in contact with lehto for instance, he and landes are working on joined lawsuits to force the argument into a nationwide picture. They are doing it for the vote; for all of us independents…the more independents in office, the more accountability on everyone and prosecutions.
Doug E.
Doug E, I’m just sayin, why not fix the party thats already there instead of siphoning votes off of it.
The Dem party is weakened enough right now, so
it can be taken over from within, Democratically.
Without instant runoff voting, this is still a two party
system and the third party just seems to muck things up (history shows this). By Dean being brought in, it showed to me, a beginning of a grass roots movement to take the party back, albeit a little more conservative than most of us want but a beginning nonetheless.
The Party has a big enough tent, with Labor and Farmers in it, throw the DLC out and let the pukes buy a bigger tent for them and if our tent isn’t big enough, we’ll just go to Wal-Mart and get us a bigger one :snark:
From history, we can see that building a new party takes a lifetime of hard work, usually to fail in the end
when, the people of the third party finally realize that this is a two party system and its not going to change anytime soon
Oh yeah, and the neo-cons that took over the Republican party?
Their just old time, mostly southern, anti-labor, pro-military industrial complex Democrats that didn’t like the way their party was was heading in the 60s and 70s
Now that the Dem party has been weakened, their infiltrating them too, hence the DLC and earlier than that, the Fellowship Foundation
The FF is the one that took care of the wobblies back in the thirties, after they (wobblies) got the Wagner Act passed, the FF helped in getting the Taft-Hartley Act shoved through twelve years later
France has draconian drug laws that are viciously enforced. In The Netherlands they understand the issue as a social and medical matter rather than a legal one – junkies can get their regular fixes from drug vans (the personnel thus have a chance to monitor and help, if asked, their patients), and there are countless wonderful coffee shops where you can hang out and score cannabis products. France has over double The Netherlands’ drug addiction rate. Additionally, in the recent World Cup (soccer) tournament, there were riots and loss of life associated with the games played in France, while in The Netherlands there was nothing for the police to do, everyone was so mellow…
Doug E #10
I see things as who did what. The votes in the congress cannot be covered up or made classified. Or The Dick would have done it.
Therefore the votes of the congress are out in the open, and so are the votes of the republican president. No vetoes is his vote.
The votes do not lie. The republicans have voted for everything wrong. They support the wrong Iraq debacle, health care debacle, spy on americans debacle, corrupt voting machine debacle.
The votes tell the truth, and the votes are showing what the republicans have done.
It is cowardly to blame those who did not vote for these things, and let the republicans off the hook, and instead blame the democrats who have no power, but only have strength.
I see things in votes Doug, and I see that you consistently tend to confuse issues to the point you do not know which party gets accountability when America is damaged. That is suspicious to say the least.
Katrina is a republican party, Iraq is a republican party, world record deficits is a republican party, voting machine fraud is a republican party, oil barrons sucking the life out of us is a republican party, and the greatest illegal spy programs in American history is a republican party.
Jack Abramoff and Noe were invited to the republican party, and they want us to pay for their party.
You are not a party guy right Doug?
When you say welcome to the republican party, you can count me out.
Because I count the votes and those votes count.