CPAC: Extremism Proudly on Parade

CPAC: Extremism Proudly on Parade

Let the sun shine in and it shall reveal all. Get a gaggle of conservatives
together all cozy and warm and they shall let their true selves hang out. From
Ann Coulter to the swiftboaters, the conservatives are primed and ready
to slime for the coming campaigns.

The Republicans know all about Ann Coulter. So do I, because I\’ve written about
her, focusing on her as a money making machine. Her hate speech never ends. Conservatives know all too well what she\’s capable
of unleashing and they set her loose anyway, likely because of
what she unleashes. They love it. They evidently like hearing
her hate. It fuels their fire, their emotions, taking a page out of the wingnut radio hate medium. That\’s how dry the well has become
for conservatives. Ann Coulter is their wellspring.

But now we\’ve got dueling rhetoric, in a lame attempt to give Coulter cover.
Ann Coulter v. Bill Maher, Who is more outrageous? Newsbusters makes the comparison.
Maher made several comments about Cheney\’s near brush with a suicide bomber
that has the team in a tizzy. They also completely miss the point. Ann Coulter
followed a Republican presidential hopeful at the big CPAC meeting. Bill Maher
would never be asked to address, let\’s just say, the Democratic winter meeting.
Why? Maher isn\’t a Democrat, but that\’s just the starter of the list. Maher is completely free, which doesn\’t line up with accepted political speech of any party. But Newsbusters does their best to make the case to compare against Coulter, anything to provide cover for conservatives.

Ridley: It’s one thing to say you hate Dick Cheney, which applies to his politics. It’s another thing to say, “I’m sorry he didn’t die in an explosion.\” And I think, you know… Maher: But you should be able to say it. And by the way… Frank: Excuse me, Bill, but can I ask you a question? Do you decide what the topics are for this show? Maher: Yeah, I decide the topics, they don’t go there. Frank: But you exercise control over the show the way that she does over her blog. Barney Frank: They said the bomb was wasted. (laughter and applause) Maher: That’s a funny joke. But, seriously, if this isn’t China, shouldn’t you be able to say that? Why did Arianna Huffington, my girlfriend, I love her, but why did she take that off right away? … … (snip) *****Update II: As of 1:30 PM EST, there are 504 articles at Google News concerning Ann Coulter\’s comments yesterday at CPAC about John Edwards. Regardless of your opinion of those comments, how can they be close to as offensive as someone voicing regrets over a failed assassination attempt on a sitting Vice President? Bill Maher Sorry the Assassination Attempt on Dick Cheney Failed

Ann Coulter\’s vile hate speech encourages the continued bigoted judgments of yesteryear and the Republican Party, while making it okay to reiterate that gays and lesbians are less than second class citizens. Plus, Coutler took her hate speech further to invoke a Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, in a slur that is beyond the pale. The CPAC audience joined in, at least in part, but now the fall out has begun, with CYA in full force, enter Bill Maher (here\’s
the clip).

As for conservatives finally doing something and alienating Coutler, this
is a start, but all Rick seems to want to do is banish her from the media, while giving liberals hell for going after her.

Well, she’s our problem and it’s time for conservatives to solve it once and for all. If liberals want to help us with her emasculation, fine. Otherwise, shut the F**k up and stop ginning up the outrage over what anyone with half a brain can see is a deliberate attempt by Coulter to garner cheap headlines and publicity. If you want to be stupid enough to play into her hands and jump through the hoops she sets up for you, don’t expect conservatives to follow. (snip) Enough is enough. I am sick to death of this woman leading people to believe that she speaks for conservatives. She doesn’t speak for me. And if you believe that she speaks for you, or if you were one of those mouth breathers who applauded when she used that disgusting epithet deliberately to hurt other people (not just John Edwards), then you are hopelessly beyond the pale yourself and would do well to examine exactly what you believe a conservative is and what is acceptable political discourse.

But conservatives don\’t get to sound indignant that we\’re bringing
the subject up at all, when it\’s conservatives who invited Coulter to the CPAC party. The Republican Party
embracing this vile blonde is the problem, not us. You can ask Human Events to drop her column all day, but when is the GOP going to quit inviting her to the front of the line?

It\’s the big machine conservative elements that continue to book Coulter and
keep her afloat, as well as colleges who invite her to campuses. The suggestions
are not nearly enough, especially since the mainstream Republican candidates
for president in \’08, like Romney, think it\’s okay for Coulter to carry the
Republican talking points to every podium in the country. When CPAC gives her a C-SPAN forum it\’s conservatives that have to
take the blame.

But Coulter and Newsbusters, along with CPAC and all the other Republican enablers
of this type of hate speech, are only the beginning. Republicans are bringing
back the swiftboaters for \’08, also offering them a prime place at CPAC, while
lifting one of the biggest hate mongers of the conservative movement even higher.

The inclusion of Swift boat operatives on the CPAC agenda demonstrates the continued radicalization of the conservative movement, which seems determined to render itself irrelevant. Yesterday\’s fringe has become today\’s conservative mainstream. The Washington Times, one of the right\’s main media outlets, approvingly refers to \”The Left\’s Repeated Campaign Against the American Soldier\” as \”one of the more timely titles of CPAC\’s slate of panel discussions.\” Of course, the Swifties\’ presence on the agenda is hardly the only evidence that the lunatics have taken over the asylum at CPAC. Other giveaways include some unintentionally humorous agenda items: Oliver North — he of the Iran-Contra scandal — will be presenting the \”Defender of the Constitution Award,\” for instance, while right-wing attack blogger Michelle Malkin, whose work has been repeatedly criticized for its cavalier attitude toward facts, gets the \”Accuracy in Media Award.\” All this is bad news for the conservative movement, which will only become more marginal if it continues to embrace its lunatic fringe. But it\’s probably good for progressives, who stand to gain the most from conservatism\’s self-destruction. The lunatic right returns Bad news for Republicans: Leading conservatives are embracing former Swift Boaters.

Malkin getting the \”Accuracy in Media Award\” is like Ann Coulter
getting HRC\’s person of the year. It defies the imagination. I caught Malkin
and Hot Air lying last year after TBA, but others have other times since.
Accuracy in media cannot be accurately associated with Ms. Malkin. Hey, but
Republicans and the facts never shall meet.

CPAC has done a lot of things for conservatives, but mostly it has once again
revealed the extremist right-wing at its heart. Ann Coulter gets a prime spot
after a presidential candidate, with Michelle Malkin considered the conservative
gold standard for \”accuracy.\” Conservatives live in an alternate universe.
It\’s a tolerance and fact free zone.