CPAC Tries to Appeal to Conservative Grassroots — But Look Who’s "Uninvited"!

By Brenda Walker

03/04/2014

I’ve been getting uninvited e-mails from CPAC about its upcoming yak-a-thon conference, and the schedule of speakers looks pretty snoozeworthy. But what can you expect from an organization (American Conservative Union) that has consistently been too hidebound to grasp the growing threats of hostile Islam and open borders?

The ACU is quintessentially establishment conservative, but seems like it wants to get hip to new things happening, like the Tea Party (albeit five years late).

An indication of CPAC’s slight lean toward grassroots is the lack of an invite to House Speaker Boehner, although uber-suit types like amnesty hucksters Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan are appearing as usual.

Speaker Boehner (aka Obama’s Amnesty Poodle) is poison to Tea Party friends of national sovereignty because of his squishiness on amnesty.

Boehner gets official snub by CPAC, Washington Times, March 3, 2014

House Speaker John A. Boehner, who has tangled repeatedly with the right wing of the Republican Party, has not been invited to this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, a major snub at the annual gathering and a sign of the top Republican officeholder’s struggle to find common ground with grass-roots activists.

People familiar with CPAC’s planning, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said the American Conservative Union, which hosts the event, never sent an invitation to Mr. Boehner, in part because it wanted the focus this year to be on leading conservative thinkers at the grass-roots level and not at the congressional or party leadership level. [ … ]

Good luck with that outreach thing. Critical issues like immigration enforcement are still overlooked because CPAC at heart represents Conservatism Inc. with a large dollop of Chamber of Commerce.

The blacklisting of speakers and issues has been on the increase. In 2009, Geert Wilders appeared to a packed private gathering of over 500, because the suits running CPAC didn’t think the heroic defender of western civilization was worth a speaker’s slot.

The censorship became so bad that last year Breitbart.com held its own panel called “The Uninvited” which included NumbersUSA’s Rosemary Jenks, JihadWatch.org scholar Robert Spencer and counterjihad writer Pamela Geller. See my blog, How to Get Uninvited to CPAC for details.

Breitbart upped its game this year and has set up a whole day of Uninvited speakers. The only truly sour note is Newt Gingrich, who likes his amnesty in Spanish. Hopefully Gingrich will get the smackdown he deserves for promoting non-assimilation for his own political advantage.

More information about the Thursday March 6 event is available at Homeland Threats. The conference will be live-streamed online.

Breitbart to Co-Host ‘The Uninvited II: The National Security Action Summit’ during CPAC,

Breitbart News Network will hosting its second annual national security forum during the Conservative Political Action Conference and expand the event from a single panel to a full day of events with top conservative leaders.

Speakers for the event include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Jim Bridenstine (R-OK).

Many of the speakers presenting at the Uninvited II were not invited to CPAC, which is organized by the American Conservative Union.

EMPAct America’s Henry Schwartz and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon will be leading the summit; Center for Security Policy President and former Reagan official Frank Gaffney will moderate.

The summit will take place at the Westin Hotel around the corner from CPAC’s location at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor. This year’s “Uninvited” event will take place on Thursday, March 6, the first day of CPAC.

“Conservatives — and Americans more generally — must be informed about the various international challenges confronting the United States today and in the years to come, and what we can do to address them,” Gaffney said. “The National Security Action Conference is a much-needed corrective to the failure of CPAC to cover such topics. Better yet, it will do so with many conservative leaders and others from whom especially the CPAC audience needs to hear, but no longer can.”

“Now more than ever CPAC must honor their membership and turn away from the gutting of our military, giving in to a nuclear Iran and the weakening of our nation at war,” said EMPact America’s David Bellavia. “This cannot stand and EMPact America proudly stands with Breitbart.com to ensure attention is paid to our national security and the feckless policies of the Obama administration, even if CPAC does not.”

Panel topics include the Muslim Brotherhood, “Amnesty and Open Borders: The End of America — and the GOP,” and “Benghazigate: The Ugly Truth and the Cover-up,” among others.

Confirmed speakers for 2014’s “The Uninvited” include:

• Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey;
• Congressmen Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Jim Bridenstine (R-OK);
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Congressmen Pete Hoekstra and Roscoe Bartlett;
• Former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Conway, former Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet Admiral “Ace” Lyons, retired Army Lt. Gen. “Jerry” Boykin, and retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney;
• Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro;
• Charles Woods, father of Benghazi hero Ty Woods;
• Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and National Review columnist Andrew McCarthy;
• Anti-Islamist Muslim leader Dr. Zuhdi Jasser;
• Eagle Forum founder and longtime conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, NumbersUSA director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks, and Center for Immigration Studies executive director Mark Krikorian

More information about the event will soon follow. Check Breitbart News throughout the week for updates.

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