• CPAC,  Gay Marriage,  GOProud,  Mike Huckabee,  Sarah Palin

    Video: Sarah Palin, CPAC and Gay Rights – Has Palin Changed her Position?

    Sarah Palin as interviewed by David Brody from CBN.com

    Now, even I am confused with what Sarah Palin is trying to say about where she stands on homosexual issues, such as DADT, Gay Marriage, Federal Marriage Amendment, etc.

    Certainly, GOProud Advisory Council member Tammy Bruce didn’t help mudding up the waters in early January.

    In January, for example, Palin re-tweeted a post by gay conservative talk radio host Tammy Bruce in which she complained about Republican opposition to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” At the time, Bruce commended Palin for what she thought was an endorsement of the repeal effort.

    “I think @SarahPalinUSA RT my tweet is her first comment on DADT, treatment of gays & attempts to marginalize us–thank you Governor,” Bruce wrote on Twitter. But when asked in a subsequent interview on Fox News whether the policy should be repealed, Palin responded: “I don’t think so right now.”

    Now, I don’t care if Sarah Palin attends CPAC and organizations who oppose GOProud’s stances on social issues have every right to boycott or stay away. This is their choice. I have never attended because I hate DC in the winter although I will probably attend Western CPAC this year in the fall.

    But, Sarah Palin REALLY needs to clear the air.

    Her remarks did not sit well with American Principles Project president Frank Cannon. His group was one of the first to call on supporters to boycott this year’s CPAC conference, one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives in the country, over GOProud’s involvement.

    “The concern of conservatives is over the participation of a group whose stated goals run at odds with that of core conservative principles, not over debate over those issues,” said Cannon said in a statement on Monday.  “Governor Palin should clarify her comments by letting us know whether in her definition, traditional marriage is a core component of conservatism.”
    “Certainly Governor Palin would not be in favor of allowing a socialist group to be a participating organization (i.e. co-sponsor of CPAC) in the name of healthy debate,” he added.

    It should be simple for Palin to write a position paper on these issues and post it on her Facebook feed. She has stated during the 2008 campaign for Vice President that she opposed Gay Marriage and supported a Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S,. Constitution.

    In an interview to air tomorrow on The 700 Club, Christian Broadcasting News senior correspondent David Brody asked Palin, “On constitutional marriage amendment, are, are you for something like that?”

    “I am, in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman,” Palin said, citing the 1998 initiative that banned gay marriage in her home state.

    “I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage,” Palin added, taking a position at odds with McCain, who voted against efforts for a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006. Earlier this month, McCain told the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, that he continues to oppose such an amendment today because he thinks the definition of marriage should be a state matter and not one for the federal government “as long as no state is forced to adopt some other state’s standard.”

    So, Sarah have you changed your position, yes or no?

    I can see, that if Palin has, there will be an even more hurried attempt by social conservatives in the GOP to urge Mike Huckabee to run for President – as to oppose Sarah Palin.

  • CPAC,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012: Sarah Palin a NO SHOW Again at CPAC

    Sarah Palin buttons are displayed for sale outside the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada January 29, 2011

    Sarah Palin was EVEN offered the keynote closing address but she is a no go for the Conservative Political Action Conference.

    After skipping the popular Conservative Political Action Conference for the past three years, Sarah Palin has once again turned down the invitation of CPAC officials to address the conference this year.

    CPAC organizers invited Palin to deliver the closing-night keynote speech on Saturday Feb. 12, immediately following the announcement of the results of CPAC’s annual presidential straw poll,  but after several days of negotiations, she declined.

    “We’re disappointed that she wasn’t able to make it this year,” American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene said through a spokesman on Thursday. He noted that Palin “expressed interest in wanting to come this year,” but said that it came down to “a scheduling issue.”

    I think Sarah is afraid of what a third or fourth place finish in the Presidential Straw Poll would do to her brand. You know that Mitt Romney would bus folks in and spare no expense.

    Sarah Palin does not need CPAC to be better known among conservatives, unlike Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels. If her polling against President Obama continues in the doldrums, she will NOT run for President anyway.

    Sarah, if not a candidate, can speak next year at CPAC and deliver the red meat.

  • CPAC,  Focus on the Family,  GOProud

    Focus on the Family to Pull Out of CPAC?

    Well, not this year. But, in the future?

    Gay group causing Focus to question sponsorship role in conference

    Focus on the Family and other conservative ministries are boycotting or questioning their commitment to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., next month because a gay advocacy group is cosponsoring the event.

    Tom Minnery, senior vice president of the Focus lobbying arm CitizenLink, said Tuesday that the February event could be the last time the Colorado Springs-based ministry is a CPAC sponsor.

    CitizenLink is participating this year in part to offset GOProud’s presence at CPAC, Minnery said.

    “When you don’t have the influence of organizations like ours,” Minnery said, “you end up with influences from organizations like GOProud.”

    Over the years, CPAC has become the largest conservative political action rally in America, attended each year by thousands of Republican politicians and conservative Christian leaders. Among scheduled speakers this year are Republican powerhouses Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and author Ann Coulter.

    GOProud formed in 2008 in Washington, D.C., to give gay Republicans a political voice. Its 2,000 members favor conservative causes such as smaller government, fiscal restraint and gun ownership, GOProud founder and president Jerry LaSalvia said.

    But it also strays from Republican orthodoxy by promoting gay marriage and praising the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the U.S. military.

    It’s those exceptions that rankle some conservatives.

    I suspect that social conservative organizations will not participate in ANY events where GOProud is a sponsor. Their interests are incompatible and there is no reason for Focus, Citizen Link, et. al. to associate with them in a private, sponsored conference.

    Dialogue is one thing but inimicable political interests are quite another.

  • CPAC,  WCPAC

    Big Conservative Organizations Leaving CPAC

    Mark Steyn and Pamela Geller at CPAC

    It was bound to happen by trying to accommodate everyone – from the John Birch Society to GOProud.

    Two of the nation’s premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, are refusing to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in February because a homosexual activist group, GOProud, has been invited.

    “We’ve been very involved in CPAC for over a decade and have managed a couple of popular sessions. However, we will no longer be involved with CPAC because of the organization’s financial mismanagement and movement away from conservative principles,” said Tom McClusky, senior vice president for FRC Action.

    “CWA has decided not to participate in part because of GOProud,” CWA President Penny Nance told WND.

    FRC and CWA join the American Principles Project, American Values, Capital Research Center, the Center for Military Readiness, Liberty Counsel, and the National Organization for Marriage in withdrawing from CPAC. In November, APP organized a boycott of CPAC over the participation of GOProud.

    Besides social conservatives being upset with the inclusion of GOProud, there is also a financial scandal that is brewing within the CPAC organization.

    The non-profit organization responsible for the largest annual conservative gathering in the U.S. is under investigation for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money over several years, WND has learned.

    The American Conservative Union, headed by David Keene and best known for its organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in the nation’s capital, has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, but this one is shaking the foundations of the Washington institution.

    The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a “material diversion of the organization’s assets” totaling over $400,000. The group has an annual operating budget of about $1.5 million.

    I never found the desire to travel to D.C. in the middle of winter to cozy up to conservative pundits and leaders who would always come to California anyway. And, besides, the weather is horrendous and why pay for misery?

    Also, with the advent of social media, access to the conservative movement is only a tweet or click away.

    For convention junkies, there is always WCPAC.
    where my USC buddy, Jim Lacy is Chairman.  There will NOT be a controversy there, I bet.

    I will probably attend WCPAC this next year.

  • CPAC,  Mitt Romney,  Sarah Palin

    Mitt Romney’s Classless CPAC Remarks Aimed at Sarah Palin

    Mitt Romney at 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

    At CPAC this past weekend, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took a jaded swipe at Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who did not attend.

    There are so many conservative leaders here this weekend. I was looking forward to seeing Governor Palin again. There’s a rumor that she has been offered an 11-million- dollar book contract. My publisher has been talking to me about an 11-millon-dollar deal as well. I’m just not sure I can come up with that kind of money.

    Both Romney and Palin may be running for President in 2012 but this reminds voters why Romney did so poorly in 2008.

    Remember the personal attacks/TV ads against Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain in the Presidential primary elections?

    Hey Mitt, lay off the CLASSLESS remarks about fellow Republicans.


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