Just to get this straight, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has not invited Bob McDonnell or Chris Christie–two popular and accomplished governors–to their annual gathering. It seems they are viewed as insufficiently pure when it comes to holding high the torch of conservatism. But CPAC did announce that Donald Trump—real estate mogul, television reality show producer, and America’s most prominent birther—has received a slot to speak.
“Donald Trump is an American patriot and success story with a massive following among small government conservatives,” American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas said in a press release. (The ACU is the host of CPAC). “I look forward to welcoming him back to the CPAC stage next week. Mr. Trump’s previous CPAC appearance was hugely popular among our attendees and we expect it will be even more popular this year.”
I don’t doubt that Mr. Trump will be popular with the crowd, since clown acts often are. Just for the record, though: Trump has advocated a single-payer health care system (which even ObamaCare doesn’t give us), called for massive tax increases, favored abortion rights, and revealed himself to be hyper-protectionist. Trump has also donated more money to Democrats than Republicans in recent years and was a registered Democrat from 2001 to 2008, when the Democratic Party was dominated by liberals. On top of that, Mr. Trump is vulgar, shallow, narcissistic, buffoonish, and has a fondness for conspiracy theories.
Apparently this combination of traits is enough to warrant an invitation to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
This is obviously a stunt, meant to generate attention to the CPAC event. We all get that. The problem is that in the process, conservatism itself will be harmed, since is will confirm pre-existing caricatures and stereotypes about conservatives.
For those who actually care about conservatism and who take seriously its intellectual and moral tradition, what CPAC is doing is unfortunate and destructive, and I hope someone at the conference says so. (A Sister Souljah moment, anyone?)
Mr. Trump will garner much attention, the left and the press will have a field day, and the public will watch all of this unfold and simply shake their head at the childishness and unseriousness of it all.
Well done, CPAC. Well done.
CPAC is out of date and old news. They actually relive an era that never truly existed. The minute that they refused to invite GoProud they showed themselves to be completely out of touch with reality besides bigoted and small minded Trump is somehow OK? Trump the bankruptcy-adultery- birther-king, along with. tax-pledge wacko Grover Norquist, who's also an Islamist shill, is what CPAC says is representative of who they are. No wonder the GOP keeps losing. You have to be able to think rationally and reason in order to play politics. The only thing CPAC can do apparently is make themselves look the fool.
How many of those who will attend this convocation would identify themselves as Tea Partyers?
Clown Political Action Committee.__It seems CPAC has been infiltrated by those wanting to discredit conservatism . . . or by the editors of RedState.com, which discredits conservatism . . . .
CPAC deserves Donald Trump. n nThey have pushed themselves further and further to the right, and are now almost off the page altogether. It is beyond laughable. It is pitiful. n nDonald Trump is a ridiculous choice for any legitimate group in our politics. His love of conspiracy alone makes his worldview idiotic. His multiple bankruptcies have shredded any claim of business acumen. His self-promotional antics have made him a national joke. n nHe railed against outsourcing to China — until he was caught manufacturing his Trump Line shirts in China, and his mattresses in Thailand. n nTrump is a phony self-promoter from first to last. But we have long known this about him, and his fellow Birther crackpots. What we now know is that CPAC has simply gone round the bend. n nMr Obama must be very, very pleased.
It is so easy to win an argument. Deem your opponent unworthy of your time as in "fellow Birther crackpots." Bingo, next case. Saves time for circle-jerks that would otherwise be wasted reading the well documented facts of the case.
Well documented "facts"? You must be joking. n nConsider the "facts" as presented by The Donald himself. You may even recall them. n nOn April 6 2011, he announced that he had sent his 'investigators' to Hawaii. There, they made "explosive" findings. "You're not gonna believe what they found," he said at the time. Trump went on to promise that he would "soon" release his "explosive findings" and that they would rock America. n nWell, Mr Rose, that was TWO YEARS ago. Two years. n nWhen did Mr Trump release his "explosive findings"? Where? In front of whom? He has never done so. And he never will. There are no "explosive findings". There isn't even a damp squib. n nSo, either his 'investigators' found nothing, or The Donald was deceitful from the first. Either way, he is once again the fool, and has made fools of anyone who believed a word he said. n nTwo years ago Trump promised he would release his "findings". Two years later, we are still waiting. Donald Trump has been caught, fibbing and exaggerating, once again. n nWhy do you fall for this crackpot? He has zero credibility. His own statements from April 6 2011 prove it. Thanks for asking.
Leaving out Christie is really not a mistake: Andrew McCarthy at NRO has demonstrated that on several important fronts, Christie is not a conservative. The Norquist cabal at CPAC is the real point of interest for serious diagnosticians of the conservative movement. They kept Pam Geller out of the hall (her presentations in the past were always SRO) and kept Robert Spencer from being acknowledged as "People's Choice" winner. Critics of Islam= not welcome at CPAC.
While agreeing that Governor Christie is not a conservative, he is a sitting Republican Governor worthy of being invited annd heard because we disagree and can confront him on his treatment of Governor Romney. While both Donald Trump and Governor are narcisstic, only one has been elected to anything and that one isn't Donald Trump
Worthy? He agrees with Cuomo on 98% of government policy, or so he stated recently. He is not a Republican. He is a lying bas*ard who hugs another lying bas*ard on camera right before the big election. Your right he is not a conservative. Check out the name of the conference. Let us know if you find the word Republican in there anywhere.
c'mon pete, tell us what you really think
Nothing promotes constitutional conservative solidarity more than calling their major conference of the year a clown act. I'll bet your liberal drinking buddies are slapping you on the back real good for that one.
CPAC is like a class reunion of the 2012 losing campaigns n n