Empty stage for empty suits at CPAC 2014
Dispatches from the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) are coming in, and they’re not pretty. The CPAC conference is being held at the Gaylord Hotel (oh, the irony) in Maryland, and thus far has been a showcase for the Republican Party’s cultural symbols of God (love ‘im), Guns (love ’em) and Gays (hate ’em).
As for God, CPAC banned conservative atheist group American Atheists from the conference, but is screening “The Gift of Life” featuring Mick Huckabee. As for guns, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell waved a rifle around like Saddam Hussein, and presented it to retiring Republican Senator Tom Coburn. That’s because McConnell is being primaried from the right for his U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, and who needs a record, a vision or charisma when a gun says it all? As for Gays, CPAC likewise banned conservative gay group GOProud from sponsoring a booth at the conference, but white nationalist group ProEnglish was welcome to have one.
As for everyone else, John Hudak of the Brookings Institution posted a very telling picture yesterday, from the CPAC Minority Outreach session. It was of a nearly empty room. So much for the post-2012 election Republican “Autopsy” report calling for GOP outreach to blacks, women, gays, Latinos and Asians.
But perhaps the most telling moment thus far at CPAC occurred this morning, when Texas Governor Rick Perry told the crowd made up largely of older white people that “you are the path to the future.” This is after College Republicans had to spend money on a study to find out what everyone else seems to know: that young people hate the Republican Party because it’s so intolerant.
At this point, though, CPAC has made it clear that the Republican Party isn’t just a dead party. It’s a fake party.
Photo by Gage Skidmore, used under Creative Commons license. http://is.gd/ZjV4YI
