Palin: No 'problem' with gay group at CPAC

The Hill ^ | 10 Feb 2011 | Michael O'Brien

[Notary Sojac]

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said Wednesday evening she has no objection to the participation of gay Republicans at this weekend's gathering of conservatives in Washington.

Palin said she didn't see anything wrong with the participation of GOProud, a group of gay Republicans, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which runs Thursday through Saturday.

"I don't have a problem with different, diverse groups that are involved in political discourse, and having a convention to talk about what the answers are to their problems that face America," Palin said Wednesday on Fox News when asked about GOProud.

Palin isn't participating in the conference, and she's declined previous invitations, despite CPAC's role as a cattle call for possible Republican presidential candidates.

But other prominent conservatives have said they're skipping the conference. The conservative Heritage Foundation and other socially conservative groups withdrew due to the inclusion of GOProud. And with those groups out, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) followed suit. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also declined participation, though it's unclear if that decision is linked to GOProud.

Aside from DeMint, though, the other Republicans mulling a run for president are slated to speak or participate at the conference, hoping in part to boost their standing in the closely watched straw poll of attendees.

Palin suggested that conservatives had more important issues to worry about than which groups were attending the conference.

"People are losing their jobs; they're losing homes. We're still engaged in a war," she said. "There are so many life-changing, life-and-death issues out there in front of us. You know, we'd better be concentrating on what is really important here and not going kind of tit-for-tat as people are positioning themselves for 2012."

[johncocktoasten]

What would be the antithetical statement? GOPRoud should not participate in the conference because they are gay? If it’s an “infiltration” it will be seen as such and their ideas will go nowhere. If they are truly conservatives we should welcome them to the cause and remind them that gay marriage is going nowhere.

I know gays who are prosperous, law abiding, highly educated, pay exorbitant amounts of taxes and are concerned about the direction of the country the same way many on FR are. They don’t wear their sexuality on their sleeve and just want to be able to live and let live.

I adamantly disagree with the militant gay agenda, and many gays do as well. Excluding folks from the conservative movement based on being gay is a loser and is bigoted. I don’t think it’s in our interests to create group think like as has been created in the black community.

[unseen1]

I agree it's thin ice but then that's why she gets paid the big bucks to thread that needle and lead the entire country not just the groups we like. Obama has failed at that mission. He only is the leader of the socialists. To be a leader of a diverse group of citizens you can not play just to your base. We need to find things that unite us.

I don't agree with the homosexual agenda and I don't want a politician that panders to that group.

I do agree with the concept of free speech and I do want a leader that understands freedom is messy, that it is chaos squared and if you take freedom from someone because you don't agree with their choices or lifestyle you give them the freedom to take it from you later when they get power.

I'm tired of the 50/50 split. the only way to get over it is to concentrate on what unites us not what divides us. Leave the issues that are 50/50 to the states not the federal government and work on the ones that 70-80% agree with.

[Gene Eric]

>> The obsession with gays on this forum is scary.

Cut the ‘gay’ crap. The opposition is about the intrusion of homosexuality.

[Huck]

bafflegab

Nice word! Never heard it before.

[Notary Sojac]

I don't think we should tar all of FR with that brush.

Just about everyone on FR is opposed to gay marriage and opposed to the use of tax money to promote homosexuality, particularly in the schools. I'm in that category. I don't think you can be a conservative and believe otherwise.

Admittedly, there is a small group which can't seem to discuss the issue without raving almost to the Fred Phelps level. I do like to tweak them from time to time....

[techno]

Sarah Palin is a Constitutionalist but also a libertarian and a social conservative.

Her social conservative credentials are impeccable because of her pro-life stance and her personal relationship with Christ.

She is a libertarian in terms of the 2nd amendment and said on Napolitano’s inaugural program on Fox that she feels the police have more important things to do with their time and resources than raiding houses where adults are smoking pot in the privacy of their own home. And during the debate on Oct 2/2008 she mentioned that with regards to gay rights she takes the same approach, that adults have a right to enter into different relationships regardless that she would not enter into the same relationships herself.

And finally Sarah would follow the Constitution and I know some pro-lifers don’t want to hear this but the availability or non-availability of abortion should reside in the 10th amendment to the Constitution being under the jurisdiction of each state to decide for itself. And some folks on our side oppose Palin simply because they want abortion banned across the board regardless of what the Constitution says.

[org.whodat]

Correct, there was post after post after post the she did not go because of the queers, now there will be post after post after post about conviction. LOL, break out the grape cool-aide.

[Yaelle]

When are Freepers going to be fair to gay People as opposed to gay agendas? I understand the upset at some of this gay group’s platforms, but Freepers sound so anti gay People most of the time with such insults. I imagine that if there were a group of conservatives with Down Syndrome, a bunch of Freepers would be calling them retards and cretins. It’s really unpleasant.

I think there should be fair discussion with any gay conservative about what is a civil right and what is groupthink that would be harmful to the family. I agree with Sarah - freedom of speech is important.

[r9etb]

Just about everyone on FR is opposed to gay marriage and opposed to the use of tax money to promote homosexuality, particularly in the schools. I'm in that category. I don't think you can be a conservative and believe otherwise.

Agreed. And I wasn't tarring all of FR. But it did seem like you were mostly doing a bit of tweaking....

[aSeattleConservative]

Gee, Sarah Palin believes in freedom of speech? Who would have thunk it?

I hate to break the news to you so late in life MEGoody (you are an adult aren't you?), but SODOMY is not a form of "speech", it's a deviant behavior.

aSeattleConservative says "buh bye Sarah Palin."

[aSeattleConservative]

Gee, Sarah Palin believes in freedom of speech? Who would have thunk it?

I hate to break the news to you so late in life MEGoody (you are an adult aren't you?), but SODOMY is not a form of "speech", it's a deviant behavior.

aSeattleConservative says "buh bye Sarah Palin."

[concerned about politics]

The sodomists can be part and parcel of politics, but when their agenda runs the show, I am bowing out too.

Ditto. They're literally FORCING people to accept their fetishes through litigation. That takes away OUR rights to think and believe as we please. I find their behavior repulsive and unacceptable, so why would I be forced to hire one? Rent to one? Teach their behavior to my kids? Buy or sell from or to them?
Who decided they have the right to dictate what we will tolerate and what we will not tolerate? The politicians collecting the campaign donations for the sake of their own power and privilege? Those who wish to tear the moral fabric apart for the sake of the socialist revolution?
What good have homosexual laws done for anyone other than a handful of sexually dysfunctional people? Why not offer them psychological assistance instead and leave the rest of us out of it?

[sweet_diane]

"All she has to do is mildly indicate that gays are entitled to life, liberty and happiness and certain heads explode around here.

yep, that seems to be the case.

As much as the gay community in general hates Sarah Palin, this must really irk them!

[Diogenesis]

Gov Palin is correct.

This is not about gays.

It is about that CPAC [ = Obama Republicans] supports
the Islamic invasion, CAIR, Mitt Romney and antiSemitism.

---

CPAC/ACU/CAIR is run by David Keene
involved in Palin-bashing and Romney-care polishing.

""Palin-bashing CPAC/ACU Chair donated $2,000 to Arlen Specter, endorsed Romney""

""Exclusive: Conservative group offers support for $2M"

""Palin rebuffs CPAC, Keene""

"Washington Insider David Keene Disses Governor Palin, Claims to Speak for Grassroots
"Keene's ACU also puts on the annual CPAC conference in Washington.

.In the last three years CPAC has devolved into nothing more than
an annual love fest for the most established of establishment
Republicans, Mitt Romney. It should come as no surprise that David
Keene supported Mitt Romney in 2008. "

---

"David Keene Endorses Romney"

---

"ACU President David Keene Endorses Romney
Long courted by Romney, Keene agreed to formalize his endorsement of
the former governor during a face to face meeting in Florida on
Tuesday, according to knowledgeable sources."

---

"David A. Keene (born May 20, 1945) is the current chairman of the American
Conservative Union, a position which he has held since 1984. Additionally, he is the
managing associate at the Carmen Group Lobbying, a lobbying firm based in
Washington, D.C. In December 2007, Keene endorsed Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. "

---

"(at CPAC 2010, the) message there was that "real conservatives" don't support the war
on terror because it is a creation of the "Israeli lobby" - which coalesces with the left-
wing's new anti-Semitism against neoconservatives. Karen Kwiatkowski is a darling of
both the leftist Huffington Post and the anti-Semitic paleocon site Antiwar.com.


…is a board member of the ACU, and from the looks of CPAC's
covered topics and omission of discussion of jihad, it looks as if he exerts enormous
influence over David Keene, the ACU's nominal leader. Norquist and his ally Suhail
Khan seem to be in charge at CPAC - no CPAC event goes on that doesn't reflect their perspective. ….
Grover Norquist's troubling ties to Islamic supremacists and jihadists have been known
for years. He and his Palestinian wife, Samah Alrayyes, who was director of
communications for his Islamic Free Market Institute until they married in 2005, are very
active in "Muslim outreach." …..
It was Norquist who ushered these silver-tongued jihadists into the Oval Office after the
worst attack ever on American soil. ….
Grover Norquist was on the jihad payroll before and after the carnage and death of
September 11….
Norquist also introduced Nihad Awad, cofounder and executive director of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations, to President Bush. ….
It is no surprise that CPAC 2010, like CPAC 2009, had nothing addressing the war we
are actually engaged in. This is due to the influence of Norquist, Keene, and Suhail Khan,
a CPAC board member. According to Gaffney, Khan "has repeatedly been a featured
speaker at MSA, ISNA and CAIR events" - that is, Muslim Students Association, Islamic
Society of North America, and Council on American-Islamic Relations, three groups
linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, the international Islamic organization dedicated to
establishing the rule of Islamic law and the subjugation of infidels worldwide."

---

CPAC's Grover Norquist Joins Obama Push For Illegal Alien Amnesty - FR

CPAC's Grover Norquist Joins Obama Push For Illegal Alien Amnesty

[longtermmemmory]

well that was a weasely answer.

[techno]

American Spectator straw poll of 2012 GOP contenders:

http://spectator.org/polls/2012-feb-straw-poll/

Currently Sarah Palin is at 63.85% and her closest competitor is Herman Cain at 5.05%. Please vote if you haven’t already.

[Responsibility2nd]

I know gays who are prosperous, law abiding, highly educated, pay exorbitant amounts of taxes and are concerned about the direction of the country the same way many on FR are. They don’t wear their sexuality on their sleeve and just want to be able to live and let live.

 

 

How very noble. How very open-minded. Why don't you invite them to become members here at Free Republic?

 

The fact is, they wouldn't last one day if they outed themselves. And not just on the issue of homosexuality, but on the way that perversions skewers other aspects of their political, moral and economic values.

 

They do not want to "live and let live". They have an agenda and it's driven by the immoral illness that infects their heart and soul.

[Notary Sojac]

Some of the Freepers who go ballistic about teh faggots and want to bring back the death penalty for sodomy are also among the biggest Palin cheerleaders.

I believe they are going to find that Palin is MUCH more libertarian than they would like.

I won't ping them to this thread, but they will discover the disconnect sooner or later as the campaign goes on.

[longtermmemmory]

the DC whisper is that Obama has a second term in the bag.

[johncocktoasten]

More indylindy nonsense. I suppose in your world, social conservatism’s governmental goal is to ostracize, exclude, and inter people who have had abortion or are gay. The FEDERAL government’s job is to stay out of these issues and allow states to handle them. Too many people want the US President to be the church pastor and spiritual leader, enforcing their morality with the force of law. I want the Feds out of it. The state of Georgia can handle their morals just fine thanks.

Others who support federalism are our friends, regardless of sexual orientation.