But they're trying.

My colleague Eddie Becker was there when it happened at CPAC this weekend. A couple of Tea Party militiamen understood that if you buy a few cold ones and start talking, you may discover you have some things in common (along with some huge differences).  There have been other friendly encounters of these two movements. In Richmond Virginia for example.

This video is 15 minutes long. Its worth the wait to see Occupiers and Tea Partiers trying to get to the heart of the problem.

Continue Reading...

Both sides came equipped for a war of words. Michael is a young Iraq war vet from Alaska who once admired George W. Bush, and is now an Occupier par excellence. He offered the high-decibel insight that "The system has failed!" Standing next to him, Mo, a big guy and a regular at the now-evicted OccupyDC camp, shouted, "The 1 percent are using you guys."

"The 1 percent?" a CPAC man volleyed back. "God bless 'em. What's wrong with making money?"

Another CPAC-er tossed this verbal firecracker: "Just because you've failed, doesn't mean the system's failed."

Continue Reading...

"Get a job," shouted one conservative. "I've got a job," one long-haired demonstrator fired back. "I'm a farmer. I grow the food you eat." The demonstrators, responding to an email message from the D.C. Metropolitan AFL-CIO Labor Council, came from a wide range of unions including the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and the Sheet Metal Workers Union. They marched with members from the Fight for Philly community group, the New York Committee for Change, and veterans of the two now-evicted Occupy D.C. sites.

Continue Reading...

GOProud, the gay Republican group that was founded because the Log Cabin Republicans were considered too concerned about gay civil rights and not sufficiently focused on "fiscal issues," is not invited this year, because they are too "aggressive" about being gay, which made Jim DeMint uncomfortable.

CPAC also uninvited the John Birch Society, which had made a triumphant return to mainstream conservative acceptance in 2010, when they co-sponsored the conference.

But! While the Birchers and the open homosexualists are no longer welcome, there is still room for multiple outspoken white nationalists!

Continue Reading...

Al Cardenas, the new chairman of the CPAC-organizing American Conservative Union, shares your concerns about the excessive pride of GOProud:

Continue Reading...

And so Trump was on "Regis and Kelly" this morning, where he continued his recent attack on China and OPEC and everything else that Americans don't know much about but know they don't like. And that's fine. "Regis and Kelly" is an entertainment program. The people watching it understand that the funny man is there to entertain them for a few minutes, before their stories come on.

Continue Reading...

Over the weekend, after watching Herman Cain, the longshot black conservative running for the Republican presidential nomination, speak at the right-wing CPAC convention, I addressed some of these questions in a short piece that I posted on the news and opinion website Alternet (where I am a contributor) and at my own site, We Are Respectable Negroes. My essay, "Black History Month is Herman Cain Playing the Race Minstrel for CPAC," made what I believe to be a simple and forthright suggestion: Many prominent black conservatives are as much performers for the pleasures of the white conservative imagination, as they are "principled" politicians and activists. Much to my surprise, that essay has drawn attention, ire and rage from conservatives.

Continue Reading...

With Breitbart claiming that Sherrod's suit is part of a "last-ditch attempt to shock me into silence," does Sherrod actually have a case? To find out, we spoke with  Floyd Abrams, the renowned constitutional lawyer, who gave us a crash course in what Sherrod has to prove in court in the months ahead.

Continue Reading...

Mitt Romney, in typical style, stuffed all the red meat he could find into a speech excoriating the president, but still ended up finishing second in the  straw poll to Ron Paul. Granted, this says as much about the evolution of CPAC into a haven for anti-fed libertarians (with many cultural conservatives now staying away) as it does about Romney, and the straw poll itself is a very imperfect barometer.

But Romney's problems are bigger that CPAC. He's been running -- hard -- for president since at least 2005, laboring to align himself with every right-wing position and pet cause and straining to make conservatives forget about his years as a Massachusetts moderate. He's been somewhat successful in this, but his Massachusetts healthcare program -- originally conceived as a brilliant way of using conservative principles to solve a big problem -- haunts him in the "ObamaCare" era. He says all the things conservatives want to hear, but many of them wonder whether he really means it. Romney may yet win the GOP nomination in '12, but his low (for a supposed front-runner) poll numbers and weak finishes in straw polls like CPAC's speak to the opening that exists for someone -- anyone -- to come along and grab the nomination from him.

Continue Reading...

That marks the libertarian Texas congressman's second win in a row. Just as he did last year, Mitt Romney came in second, with 23 percent to Paul's 30 percent. This mirrors 2010's poll almost exactly, when Paul got 31 percent and Romney 22 percent.

When the results were officially announced, CPAC's main hall erupted in cheers and boos, with Paul supporters trying to out-shout the disappointed majority.

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, whose libertarian message largely overlaps with Paul's, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tied for third with 6 percent each. Newt Gingrich got 5 percent. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty got just 4 percent. Also with 4 percent were Michele Bachmann and Mitch Daniels, Indiana's governor. Sarah Palin, who did not attend CPAC, got 3 percent, while former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain greceived 2 percent, as did Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.

3,742 people participated in the poll, a minority of the 10,000+ attendees.  (See what the straw poll ballot looks like here.)

Continue Reading...

• John Bolton spoke and warned of the threat of an administration that (allegedly) apologizes for America.
• Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) warned that Hugo Chavez wants to obtain nuclear weapons. Mack, who devoted almost his entire speech to Chavez, wants the United States to stop buying Venezuelan oil and institute a trade embargo. Venezuelan oil, it's worth noting, makes up more than 10 percent of U.S. crude oil imports.
• In a panel on "The New Nuclear Threat: China and North Korea" conservative activist hero Phyllis Schlafly warned: "We better start worrying about an attack from North Korea, China, or Iran." During that same panel, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) called China "the worst potential enemy we have in this world." "We need an alliance against China, and that alliance needs to include Russia and India," he said.

After Bolton's speech, he came to the press room to take questions and talk about 2012. He said he's actively considering a presidential candidacy, but he has to worry about earning a daily income and he's never run for public office before. He thinks he can enter the field as late as the end of this year.

Continue Reading...

Here's a quick tour of some of the most interesting flyers I've seen. Click the thumbnails to see a full-size image.

This is the pitch from some young Republicans calling for a boycott of AOL because of its purchase of the Huffington Post. The flyer quotes HuffPo writings that are offensive to conservatives:

This one was handed out by Ron Paul fans protesting the presentation of the Defender of the Constitution Award to Donald Rumsfeld: 

Continue Reading...

There have been tensions between Geller and the leadership of CPAC, particularly American Conservative Union board member Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist. Norquist has been a target of Geller and her cohort for years because of his friendly ties to Muslim leaders. In my interview with Geller (watch below), she accuses Norquist of actually being a Muslim Brotherhood stooge.

In any case, Geller was still able to get access to a conference room at the hotel during CPAC, though it was not sanctioned by conference organizers and did not appear on the official schedule. Her event, which featured several 9/11 family members who are fiercely opposed to Park51, drew a couple hundred people; there were few empty seats. Each family member told their Sept. 11 story and then denounced the plans to build the Islamic center near ground zero. One woman said, "This is like spitting on the grave of my son." Another: "If we have to stand there and protect that building physically -- with Pam Geller first -- we will."

Continue Reading...

I've been asking CPAC attendees about the issue, and one who was willing to talk about it was Ralph Reed, the influential evangelical figure. I had included Reed in my feature on Mubarak's American fan club earlier this month because of a column he wrote expressing horror at the idea that Mubarak would be replaced by a regime including Mohammed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood.

But Reed's tone discussing the protests today was considerably sunnier. "I think we should have made clear earlier than the administration did that we are on the side of the protesters," he told me. "But I think we also need to make it clear that the right outcome, the outcome that will be best for Egypt, best for the Middle East, and best for civilized nations all over the world is a democratic society with respect for human rights and the rule of law."

Continue Reading...

Like "Life Is a Highway," by Tom Cochrane. Which has been played almost as many times as "Dreams." Or "Don't Stop Believin'," which played after Romney's speech while the Palin impersonator temporarily duped the crowd. Newt Gingrich came out to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," which he does all the time. The winner of the blogger-of-the-year award was feted with "You're the Best," from "The Karate Kid."

There has been some contemporary music! Tim Pawlenty just entered to "Born Free." (The Kid Rock version, not the John Barry version. Or the M.I.A. version.) The hippest choice by far has been "Keep the Car Running" by the Arcade Fire, which was briefly heard this afternoon. There has also been some modern country that I couldn't immediately place. (And "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" by Shania Twain, which is slightly less than a decade old and was used, if I remember correctly, as the semi-insulting exit music for a female speaker.)

Continue Reading...

Steele, fresh off his defeat in the election for RNC chair last month, was feeling relaxed. (Even as revelations of mismangement during his tenure continue to emerge.)

TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro asked Steele, "who do you want to see out there at CPAC?" To which Steele replied, with a grin: "I have no one in particular."

Continue Reading...

The Paul supporters are out in force again this year; they're a very visible presence at the conference handing out literature about "unmasking the Federal Reserve," repealing the Patriot Act, and so on. They already made headlines Thursday when they heckled Dick Cheney. And a group associated with Paul reportedly bought 1,000 tickets for supporters, ensuring a strong performance in the straw poll.

Continue Reading...

The line today is that Barack Obama is insincere in moving to the center. Romney's description of the president's State of the Union Address: "Suddenly, Alinsky was out, and Jeffrey Immelt, he was in." Because Obama just could not stop talking about Alinsky before, right?

The jokes got worse and worse. Obama's response to the jobs crisis was "let them eat cake -- excuse me, let them eat organic cake." It's funny, because liberals enjoy eating food that was grown without the use of synthetic pesticides. Man of the people Romney, I'm sure, enjoyed a pile of Pizza Hut wings and a can of AMP Energy drink as soon as he finished speaking.

Continue Reading...

None of these charges had any real evidence to back them up. And it all seems even more ridiculous if you meet Khan, a mild-mannered and conservative former Bush administration official.

I had the chance to talk to him at CPAC (it's his 16th year attending) about what sort of reception he's been getting.

"What you're seeing is a fringe who are making a lot of noise, disproportionate to their numbers who are trying to bring in a message of disunity and of hate," Khan said. "It's my firm belief that the majority of conservatives, and indeed the majority of Americans, will stand against that."

Continue Reading...

Mitch McConnell, this morning: Opposing campaign finance reform was "like trying to get a deaf dog off a meat truck."

David Bossie: "There's only one man who can claim to have balanced the federal budget, and that's Newt Gingrich."

Newt Gingrich entered to "Eye of the Tiger." (I think he does this all the time, actually.) Then he compared the supposedly anti-job Obama administration unfavorably to ... the German government. You know, the one with the VAT and the high personal income taxes and the mass unionization. Gingrich then suggested replacing the EPA with the "Environmental Solutions Agency." (Maybe he thinks the "P" stands for "problems"?)

Then there was some sort of lengthy panel about Ronald Reagan. My favorite part was when a speaker began an anecdote by saying, "Ron Reagan Jr. -- don't boo ..." (Second-favorite part was when a guy said that Reagan "was even more tea party than Jefferson." He was more like the Founders than the actual Founders, themselves.)

Continue Reading...