Free Republic

Abortion on Demand Reconsidered Tilla Bradley, March 11, 2010 One strong advocate the casualties of the pro-choice agenda have is the ever-present pro-life movement. These activists oppose the legalization of abortion while offering pregnancy counseling. “Real freedom is never death.” Kristan Hawkins, the executive director of Students for Life, said recently at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We only have the rest of our lives to end abortion.” Charmaine Yoest, the head of American United for Life, saw encouraging signs of progress during the past years, noting that the movement is “maturing and becoming more sophisticated.” Fellow activist, Carrie Gordon...

I suspect his remark about CPAC and its sponsorship practices is in reference to the criticism social conservative groups have leveled for the inclusion of GOProud as a sponsor. GOProud is a homosexual conservative group that added its name to the sponsor list. You have to wonder if, in fact, Huckabee did not attend in order to comply with the call for a boycott of CPAC by Liberty Counsel and other Christian extremists. Huckabee strongly disagrees with GOProud’s views on homosexuality, which was made obvious in his confrontation with John Stewart....

This kid is deep in the closet, people. My colleague Nate Gunderson caught me as I was nearly out the door. I was walking back from the bloggers’ lounge with a friend in the Virginia newspaper business, and Nate tapped my shoulder to tell me that Ryan Sorba, the kid who embarrassed himself in front of the world by denouncing GOProud to a round of boos, was standing twenty feet away from me. He had a few people near him, probably curious about who he was and what he stood for.After deliberating for a few seconds, I decided to let...

<p>But what many people don’t realize is that Sorba’s “outburst” was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from the podium to thank the American Conservative Union, the main CPAC organizer, for making the controversial decision to approve GOProud’s participation.</p>

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has criticized the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), whose recent conference he refused to attend, alleging it has departed from its conservative principles. Speaking on Fox News last weekend, Huckabee said that CPAC has become "more libertarian and less Republican over the last few years, one of the reasons why I [did not attend the event] this year." The former GOP presidential candidate also suggested that the popularity of the Tea Party nation movement and its events all over the country have caused the influence of the CPAC to rapidly decline, and the organization is...

Feb. 24, 2010 Have Gays Found Their Place in the GOP? Dramatic Moment at Conservative Confab Could Be a Sign of Change Within Republican Party When It Comes to Gay Rights A memorable moment at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference could mark a turning point in the long-fraught relationship between gays and the Republican Party. CPAC is perhaps the nation's premiere conservative gathering, a convivial opportunity for impassioned right-wing activists to network, plan for upcoming elections and listen to the biggest names in the conservative movement. It's the sort of atmosphere in which the casual observer might expect someone...

Are you a free man or property of the State? Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution wrote, “If the liberties of America are ever completely ruined...it will in all probability be the consequence of a mistaken notion of prudence which leads men to acquiesce in measures of the most destructive tendency for the sake of present ease.” To acquiesce for present ease means to give up today’s God given liberties for tomorrow’s serfdom. Liberty can be exchanged for bondage. As a liberty loving free man you have the

I watched Glenn Beck mesmerize the audience at the CPAC meeting that had begun so well with serious conservative speakers such as former Vice President Dick Cheney. However, it ended as a libertarian fun fest and Beck strikes me as the clown prince of libertarianism. (snip) Beck is, above all, a performer. He made his bones on talk radio, migrated for a while to CNN, and then to Fox News where he is enormously popular. His manner is that of the smart kid in high school who secretly wishes he was the captain of the football team, but has to...

When I attend many conservative functions in my early 20's, I was usually the young "whipper snapper" in the room. Now that I am 39 years of age, one troubling thing that I have noticed is that I am -STILL- the young Whipper Snapper in the room. Morality is dying off with the “greatest generation”. As I look into this CPAC audience I noticed something a little different than the conservative functions to which I am accustomed. I see allot of...

California Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chairman Ryan Sorba generated a media controversy when he was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) denouncing the organizers for inviting a homosexual Republican group, GOProud, into the event as an official sponsor. In "controversial" remarks, Sorba said homosexuality was unnatural and that he welcomed more debate and discussion about the subject from his political adversaries. But what many people don't realize is that Sorba's "outburst" was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from...

(excerpt) This moment at CPAC is even more important for the conservative movement as it happened at an important time when there is already a generational change going on in America. Boomers are fading, Xer’s are ruling, and Millenials are finding their way. Forty-eight percent of those who participated in the CPAC straw poll last week identified themselves as students. They are the future of conservativism. And they shouted down an anti-gay bigot. There will surely be other homocon-related clashes within the conservative movement, just as the Democrat Party has regularly used the gay community as pawns in their re-election...

The few controversial parts of CPAC 2010 were outweighed by the momentum driving the various factions on the right together - opposition to the federal government's spending, bailouts, and attempted takeover of healthcare. 10,000 turned out for CPAC 2010 this year, 1500 more than last year. With Republicans out of power in Washington and Tea Partiers revolting against the Obama administration's massive spending and bailouts, conservatives are coming together stronger than ever. Although there was a National Tea Party convention earlier this month in Nashville featuring Sarah Palin, attended by 1500, it was clear that Tea Partiers were unified with...

"Ronald Reagan would never have loosely generalized about conservatives and the Republican Party because like a surgeon, like a real thinker, and like an activist, he wanted the distinctions to be known, he wanted the distinctions to be clear, he wanted to promote our principles, and he wanted to contrast them with those who either had no principles or were promoting something else. Carpet-bombing the Republican Party takes out an awful lot of good people, too many good people." -- Mark Levin, February 22, 2010 Mark Levin took great issue last night with "carpet-bombing" the Republican Party: Mark had some...

The drama did not end with Breitbart slamming all comers at CPAC. Susie (Medea) Benjamin was called out as she and her partner Tighe Barry snuck into the ballroom while Beck was finishing up his speech. Towards the end of Glenn Beck's keynote speech while I was busy tweeting on my @#$%@# netbook, Doug Welch (Stix Blog) mentioned to me that he just saw Code Pink walk through Bloggers Lounge towards steps leading to the floor of the ballroom. I immediately grabbed Doug, notified Caleb Howe and encouraged other bloggers to head out into the ballroom in search of Code...

I'm back from CPAC and I see Curt and Mike have been busy posting videos of choice main ballroom speeches from CPAC. I will be eternally grateful to them.Let me tell you the most important lesson I learned covering CPAC - Netbooks are terrible for blogging, video editing and photo editing. I found to my great dismay that the best I could do was Twitter and check email with this #$@^$% netbook.That being said I've got loads of exclusive videos, photos and stories to share with you now that I'm back home with access to a real computer. Let's start...

February 21 Saturday Night Beck There’s a lot to say about CPAC. This morning the major papers are highlighting Glenn Beck’s speech. I like Glenn a lot and I think he has something to teach us. But not what he offered last night. Analogizing his own struggles with alcohol to the problems of our polity and in our politics, he said, “Hello, my name is the Republican party, and I have a problem!” “I’m addicted to spending and big government.” ”It is still morning in America.” ”It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning...

When Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was censured by various GOP county committees in his own state recently, Graham dismissively blamed it on “Ron Paul people.” When Florida governor and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist was defeated in a Republican straw poll by challenger Marco Rubio in December, Crist complained it was nothing more than “Ron Paul people” At this year’s 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C/, there were plenty of “Ron Paul people,” enough to deliver the congressman a first-place victory in the annual CPAC straw poll, long considered a decent gauge of conservatives’ mindset. But...

California Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chairman Ryan Sorba generated a media controversy when he was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) denouncing the organizers for inviting a homosexual Republican group, GOProud, into the event as an official sponsor. In "controversial" remarks, Sorba said homosexuality was unnatural and that he welcomed more debate and discussion about the subject from his political adversaries. But what many people don't realize is that Sorba's "outburst" was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from...

When I attend many conservative functions in my early 20's, I was usually the young "whipper snapper" in the room. Now that I am 39 years of age, one troubling thing that I have noticed is that I am -STILL- the young Whipper Snapper in the room. Morality is dying off with the “greatest generation”. As I look into this CPAC audience I noticed something a little different than the conservative functions to which I am accustomed. I see allot of...

When I began hearing headlines out of CPAC about the gay rights activist and the support for Ron Paul in the straw poll which is being trumpeted by the left media with such joy I began to think back to something I heard regarding Alinky tactics in "Rules For Radicals". Dont send out people to events to protest against the opposition send out people in support that will undermine their beliefs and divide their supporters. In this example I believe they sent out people in KKK outfits in support of a republican cadidate to undermine him and make him look...