[jeffkrol]

So maybe not too many (in comparison) but a little hope in the rank and file.....
CPAC 2011: Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld booed at GOP convention in D.C.

Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were booed on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual conservative Mecca where high-profile right-wingers are typically adored rather than abhorred.

A number of young people, reportedly Texas Rep. Ron Paul supporters, walked out in protest when the former defense secretary took the stage in D.C. to receive the conference's "Defenders of the Constitution" award. .

When former Vice President Cheney made a surprise appearance to honor Rumsfeld, he too was booed with audience members yelling "Where's Bin Laden," "murdering scum," and "draft dodger."

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/471845/watch:_right-wingers_hec...heney_at_cpac/

[GeneV]

I saw articles about this as well. I wondered who the boos were from. If they were from CPAC enthusiasts, then it is news. If the protesters were there to voice opposition anyway, then meh.

[Nesster]

Aren't Rummy and McCain feuding? Sounds like a set up is being brewed, where in the lead-up matches Cheney is in Rummy's corner and interferes for the wins... only to set up the big match, Texas Lumberjack, where Cheney pulls a switch, double crossing Rummy, and we fade out with Cheney-McCain beating up on Rummy... [If this were to lead to a tag-team series, who runs out of the dressing room to save Rummy? I can't see it being Condolezza or W...)

[jeffkrol]

I saw articles about this as well. I wondered who the boos were from. If they were from CPAC enthusiasts, then it is news. If the protesters were there to voice opposition anyway, then meh.

It was mostly the Rand Paul "pac"...... Booed Trump too when he said he had a better chance as a pres. candidate than Rand..

Some members of the audience exhibited their opposition to Rumsfeld’s receiving of the award by booing, while others boldly shouted, “Where’s Bin Laden?” and called him “murderous scum” and “draft dodger.” A number of audience members championed “Ron Paul” as a worthy recipient of the award.

Eventually, Rumsfeld’s supporters countered the antagonists by chanting “U.S.A.” loud enough to drown out the dissenters.

Critics of the award’s recipient point to Rumsfeld’s defense of torture in the so-called “War on Terror,” as well as his support of the illegal imprisonment of American citizens without a trial. Additionally, those who oppose granting the award to Rumsfeld point to his gross exaggeration of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, as well as Rumsfeld’s linking of Iraq to al-Qaeda and to the September 11th attacks — assertions that were made or implied to drum up public support for launching an offensive war against Iraq.

The day before Rumsfeld received the award, John Birch Society President John McManus remarked:

CPAC giving a Defender of the Constitution award to Donald Rumsfeld shows how far the conservative movement has strayed from its previous principled stands. Rumsfeld is no defender of the Constitution. If he were truly a Constitution defender, he would have sought a congressional declaration of war as required by this Constitution before sending United States forces into Iraq, where they were deployed in order to enforce a United Nations security-council resolution.

There seems to be some slant (Cheney was booed as well)...
CPAC Audience Rejects Donald Rumsfeld
So it's a wee bit of "news"...........
CPAC "civil war"...............
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/02/11/groups-charg...errorists.html

Instead of popping champagne corks, outgoing ACU Chairman David Keene finds himself battling charges that his CPAC is leaning left.
At issue are charges that ACU and CPAC are embracing Muslim terrorists and gays. The reaction has been swift, with the Heritage Foundation think tank pulling out of CPAC after sponsoring it for years, and the Family Research Council, which opposes abortion and gay rights, staying away from the conference, which ends Saturday.

“Our basic concern is that it’s getting hard to see what kind of event CPAC is going to be this year,” says Heritage spokesman James Weidman. “You’ve just got so many different groups going in there that have messages ranging from the not-conservative to wing-nutty.”

Keene shrugs, noting the long list of conservative stalwarts speaking at the Thursday-Saturday event, including Donald Rumsfeld, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney. “What more do I need to say?” Keene asks. “Our mission is not to narrowly define conservatism but to get groups from every wing of the movement together once a year.”

Charges that CPAC is pro-gay result from Keene letting the group GOProud participate. Keene says he warned GOProud not to press gay issues at CPAC. “They said that’s fine,” he recalls. “ ‘We want to talk about taxes. We want to talk about Social Security. We want to talk about those things.’ And then I said you’re welcome to come.”

The claim that Keene is sympathetic to Muslim anarchists comes because he has a Muslim American, Suhail Khan, on his board of directors. In 1999, Kahn portrayed Muslims as victims of American discrimination and violence. Critic Frank Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy, charges that Kahn “is either a Muslim brother [member of the Muslim Brotherhood] or is a man so closely tied to them that he does not appreciate they are the enemy of the United States.” Kahn, who was an aide to President George W. Bush, says flatly: “Frank does not believe Muslim Americans should serve in government.”

JUST HAD to add this:
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/
http://www.frumforum.com/new-cpac-head-distances-group-from-goproud

GOProud had asserted that Cleta Mitchell, the chairman of the ACU Foundation, was pushing conservative groups and individuals to boycott CPAC because of GOProud’s inclusion. Chris Barron, the chairman of GOProud, recently said in an interview that Mitchell was “a nasty bigot.”

“It’s going to be difficult to continue the relationship [with GOProud] because of their behavior and attitude,” Cardenas told FrumForum.

Asked for GOProud’s response, the group’s chairman apologized for his comments about Cleta Mitchell.

“For the past six months, we have watched as unfair and untrue attacks have been leveled against our organization, our allies, our friends and sometimes even their families. Everyone has their breaking point and clearly in my interview with Metro Weekly I had reached mine. I shouldn’t have used the language that I did to describe Cleta Mitchell and for that I apologize,” said Chris Barron.

Asked about whether he values a big tent approach to conservatism, Cardenas said that he did – but that his vision applied principally to reaching out to different minorities and ethnic groups.

“There are not enough African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities here. That diversity is critical – you don’t need to change your value system to attract more diversity into the movement… [but] I’m not going to – for the sake of being inclusive – change the principles that have made the movement what it is,” said Cardenas.

“David [Keene] invited these folks [GOProud] in an effort to be inclusive… Having friends of ours leaving… presents difficulties to me,” he said. “There’s always going to be some tension, [but] there should never be any tension between time-tested values.”

Asked if someone who supported gay marriage could be a conservative, Cardenas replied, “Not a Ronald Reagan conservative… I will say this: we adopted a resolution unanimously at ACU advocating traditional marriage between a man and a woman, so that answers how we feel on the issue.”

Cardenas says that his priorities as the new ACU chairman will be focused on “making sure that our true friends never leave the table.”

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Last edited by jeffkrol; 02-11-2011 at 11:04 AM.