SALON

Wednesday, Feb 27, 2013 8:03 PM UTC

Conservatives turn on CPAC

The conference's decision to shut out Chris Christie and GOProud has caused some backlash from within

By

Topics: Chris Christie, CPAC, GOProud, Charles Krauthammer, Republicans,

Conservatives turn on CPAC (Credit: AP Photo/Mel Evans)

The Conservative Political Action Conference is facing backlash from … conservatives.

It began when it was reported that gay Republican groups like the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud would not be in attendance at this year’s conservative confab in Washington, D.C. GOProud, in fact, was banned before last year’s event and was not welcomed back this year, either.

There was more trouble for CPAC when, this week, the chair of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the conference, explained that CPAC snubbed super-popular New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie because he opted in to the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, and put too much pressure on congressional Republicans who were blocking Hurricane Sandy aid.

Since some Republicans have been trying to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate, these decisions were naturally going to irk a few people.

First, S.E. Cupp, a conservative pundit on MSNBC’s “The Cycle,” pulled out of the event in protest of the exclusion of GOProud. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I know a lot of people on my side of the aisle have been struggling with this for some time now, too: I’ve been scheduled to speak at CPAC this year, and I just don’t think I can until this issue is reconciled and figured out,” she said Tuesday.

Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post‘s favorite conservative (and frequent presence on Salon’s Hack List), wrote that CPAC “damages itself” with a high-profile rejection of gay Republicans: “For casual political observers not inclined to attend or listen to speeches the only thing they will hear is that a bunch of conservatives wouldn’t allow in a gay group. In a nutshell, this is what is wrong with the GOP and why forward-looking conservatives shouldn’t encourage this nonsense.”

Steve Schmidt, the Republican strategist, dismissed the conference entirely. “Look, this CPAC convention is increasingly the Star Wars bar scene of the conservative movement. I mean all that’s missing at that convention is a couple of Wookiees,” he said on MSNBC.

Schmidt praised Christie, adding that “CPAC is not the Republican Party,” and “their exclusionary policies that gay groups can’t come and participate – and you look at some of the lineup of speakers, these are people that are on the fringe, these are people that don’t attract a wider audience that we need to attract to win elections.”

Conservative Charles Krauthammer said Tuesday that he too objected to Christie’s “lap dance” for President Obama after Hurricane Sandy, but snubbing him from CPAC seems like a “vast overreaction” and a “mistake.”

“He’s a leading Republican, obviously presidential timbre. He’s got the highest popularity of any governor and he’s in a blue state,” Krauthammer said.

Christie, for his part, was unfazed by the exclusion. ”Listen, I wish them all the best,” he said at a town hall meeting in New Jersey, the Star-Ledger reports. “They’re going to have their conference, they’re going to have a bunch of people speaking there. That’s their call … It’s not like I’m lacking for invitations to speak around the country.”

“I can’t sweat the small stuff,” he added. “I’ve got a state to rebuild.”

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 20 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
359 points360 points | 307 comments
vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
267 points268 points | 24 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
232 points233 points | 32 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
113 points114 points | 12 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
85 points86 points | 16 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations