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CPAC Hub



04/19/2007


Panel Packed for 'Gay Infiltration' of CPAC While NOM Panel Attracts Sparse Crowd: PHOTOS, VIDEO

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Two Instagram photos from Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner reveal that the only gay event at the 2013 CPAC conference - "A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet" attracted lots of interest while Cleta Mitchell, Hans von Spakovsky, Ben Shapiro & Brian Brown's NOM panel (below)was left a bit wanting for interest.

As you may know, gay groups GOProud and Log Cabin Republicans were barred from the conference but found a way in via this panel, organized by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

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The Daily Beast has a report on the gay panel:

The event was hotly anticipated—and overly crowded—as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank actually invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference, circumnavigated the snub by hosting its own panel on same-sex marriage and asked GOProud co-founder and executive director Jimmy LaSalvia and others to speak.

“A new conservative coalition starts here in this room. Will you join us? Will you stand up to forces of intolerance?” LaSalvia implored the crowd. “Join us in building a better coalition that can win and use it in making America better.”

The message projected by LaSalvia and, echoed by his fellow panelists, was that government intervention in how people live is not the conservative way.

Meanwhile, AFA spokeshater Bryan Fischer welcomed Cliff Kincaid, the director of the 'Accuracy In Media Center' to his radio show for a hilarious segment about the gay "infilitration" of the conference.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Kincaid

Continue reading "Panel Packed for 'Gay Infiltration' of CPAC While NOM Panel Attracts Sparse Crowd: PHOTOS, VIDEO" »


Marco Rubio at CPAC: Denying Gays the Right to Marry 'Does Not Make Me a Bigot' - VIDEO

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Florida Senator Marco Rubio spoke at CPAC Thursday afternoon, Think Progress reports:

I respect people who disagree with me on certain things, but that means they have to respect me too. Just because I believe states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot. Just because we believe that life, all human life, all life, all human life is worth of protection in every stage of its development doesn’t make you a chauvinist. In fact, the people who are actually close minded in American politics are people who love to preach about the certainty of science in regard to our climate, but ignore the absolute fact that life begins at conception.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "Marco Rubio at CPAC: Denying Gays the Right to Marry 'Does Not Make Me a Bigot' - VIDEO" »


Gays Find Place at CPAC

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference had barred gay groups Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud from officially participating. They're still not, but...

The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin reports:

LasalviaA sponsor for the upcoming CPAC gathering, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, will use a room assigned to the free-market conservative think tank to conduct a pro-gay rights panel titled, “A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet.” CEI spokesman Brian McNicoll says via e-mail, “As a sponsor, CEI gets use of a room for two hours.” For the “Rainbow on the Right” panel, McNicoll tells me that Fred Smith, a CEI head, is moderating. Liz Mair, Jonah Goldberg, Margaret Hoover and Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud are all confirmed.

Added Rubin:

CEI did not disguise its intentions from the CPAC organizers, who have been roundly criticized for excluding prominent conservatives such as Govs. Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie, as well as GOProud. McNicoll says, “We turned in the name [of the panel] and chose it so there could be no doubt what we were trying to do.” He says that there was “complete radio silence,” and the session was put on the schedule.

CPAC takes place on March 14-16 in D.C..


Former McCain Aide Steve Schmidt Tells Bill Maher GOP Can't Attract Cutting Edge Workers Because They're Anti-Gay: VIDEO

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Former McCain aide Steve Schmidt told a apanel on Bill Maher which included California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom that the GOP lags in its tech and internet capability because it can't attract young, cutting edge workers. Why? They don't want to work for a bigoted party.

Said Schmidt.

"If you look at your first guest on talking about brilliant young people in computers who understand all this stuff [and] be at the cutting edge, it's difficult to make the case to work for a political party that wants to discriminate against their friend who happens to be gay. So we have an enormous problem because of some of our issues in the Republican party that are so out of step whether its with regard to women, gays, the anti-immigrant rhetoric, and it makes it difficult to attract the best and the brightest in this space."

The panel then moved on to CPAC and its rejection of Chris Christie, and Schmidt got thanks from Newsom for signing on to the GOP SCOTUS amicus brief.

Watch both clips, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "Former McCain Aide Steve Schmidt Tells Bill Maher GOP Can't Attract Cutting Edge Workers Because They're Anti-Gay: VIDEO" »


News: Queen Elizabeth, Daft Punk, Rhode Island, CPAC

1NewsIcon Two Oregon men were attacked by a wrench-wielding man hurling anti-gay epithets as they walked their pink poodle. Police are looking into whether or not the incident can be considered a hate crime.

QueenElizabethA1NewsIcon Queen Elizabeth has been hospitalized with gastroenteritis, an intestinal inflammation typically caused by a virus. Apparently these commoner viruses do not know the 86-year old is royalty!

1NewsIcon Gay and lesbian couples, and the wedding industry, are gearing up for spring and summer ceremonies in Maine.

1NewsIcon Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb sees marriage equality on the horizon. Civil unions, he says, are just the first step.

1NewsIcon Lincoln Chafee, the independent governor of Rhode Island, where same-sex marriage recently passed the state House, makes an economic argument for passage: "Without marriage equality in Rhode Island...very desirable employer(s) will consider the difficulties and costs of hiring in Rhode Island against conditions in other Northeastern states. And the company may simply feel it's wrong to deny its gay and lesbian employees a fundamental freedom: the right to marry the person they love in the state they call home."

1NewsIcon Could docs have a path toward a potential "HIV cure" for newborns? "A baby born with the AIDS virus appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who's now 2½ and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection... A doctor gave this baby faster and stronger treatment than is usual, starting a three-drug infusion within 30 hours of birth... That fast action apparently knocked out HIV in the baby's blood before it could form hideouts in the body."

1NewsIcon Sequestration and HIV.

Nflenda1NewsIcon While litigation can create positive change in some cases, it likely won't work when it comes to breaking down homophobia in the NFL, says NBC Sports' Mike Florio.

1NewsIcon "Palestinians Only" buses coming soon to Israel.

1NewsIcon Gay Orthodox Jewish group preps for their first seder in Jerusalem.

1NewsIcon Obama's second term will continue to see the judiciary undergo long overdue demographic shifts: "Reelected with strong support from women, ethnic minorities and gays, Obama is moving quickly to change the face of the federal judiciary by the end of his second term, setting the stage for another series of drawn-out confrontations with Republicans in Congress."

1NewsIcon James Franco admits he teases people about his sexuality, and that questions about it are now a big part of his public persona. "One of the things that's very much part of my public image is the question of my sexuality. It's not something that bothers me in the slightest. It hasn't gone away and I get asked about it from all sides. It's partly my doing and partly not my doing," he tells Attitude.

Stepford1NewsIcon From a New York Times op-ed called "The Perils of Perfection:" "Barriers and constraints — anything that imposes artificial limits on the human condition — are being destroyed with particular gusto. Superhuman, another mysterious start-up that could enliven any comedy show, promises to offer, as its co-founder recently put it, an unspecified service that 'helps people be superhuman.' Well, at least they had the decency not to call it The Übermensch."

1NewsIcon Right wing magazine the National Review blasts CPAC for banning the gay group GOProud and not inviting Chris Christie: "...As friends of CPAC and fellow conservative advocates, we nevertheless regret that CPAC has excluded the gay conservative group GOProud and declined to invite New Jersey governor Chris Christie."

1NewsIcon Daft Punk teases a new album.

1NewsIcon The best type of reporters are the ravishing kind...

1NewsIcon Jack the Giant Slayer topped the weak weekend box office with a meager $28 million.


MSNBC's Chris Hayes Rejects Invite to Speak at CPAC Because They Discriminate Against GOProud, Gays: VIDEO

Hays

MSNBC host Chris Hayes was invited to speak on a panel at CPAC this year, but he's turning it down because CPAC won't allow gay conservative group GOProud (a group Hayes admits is "not an organization I share much with ideologically, or even, truth be told, like all that much") to attend while explaining that the mission of the conference is how to resurrect the Republican party.

Watch Hayes explain it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "MSNBC's Chris Hayes Rejects Invite to Speak at CPAC Because They Discriminate Against GOProud, Gays: VIDEO" »





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