Free Republic

Friction between parts of the social conservative and libertarian wings of the conservative movement has escalated into a shooting war in the run-up to the 28-year old Conservative Political Action Conference, with accusations of embezzlement (true), homosexuality (true), and creeping sharia (disputed) hurled against the 28-year old conservative institution. CPAC’s leaders respond that its foes’ real gripe is that it won’t give a platform to their lunatic conspiracy theories about presidential birth certificates (disputed). ...Two of the heavyweight groups of the broader right, the Heritage Foundation and the Media Research Center, have dropped out of CPAC and are expected, planners...

Two of the nation's premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, are refusing to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in February because a homosexual activist group, GOProud, has been invited. "We've been very involved in CPAC for over a decade and have managed a couple of popular sessions. However, we will no longer be involved with CPAC because of the organization's financial mismanagement and movement away from conservative principles," said Tom McClusky, senior vice president for FRC Action.

David A. Keene WASHINGTON – The non-profit organization responsible for the largest annual conservative gathering in the U.S. is under investigation for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money over several years, WND has learned. The American Conservative Union, headed by David Keene and best known for its organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in the nation's capital, has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, but this one is shaking the foundations of the Washington institution. The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a "material diversion of...

David A. Keene WASHINGTON – The non-profit organization responsible for the largest annual conservative gathering in the U.S. is under investigation for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money over several years, WND has learned. The American Conservative Union, headed by David Keene and best known for its organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in the nation's capital, has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, but this one is shaking the foundations of the Washington institution. The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a "material diversion of...

Democrats are in for ugly blowback once they realize how soundly they are defeated in November, Dave Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, tells Newsmax. Already, because of a belief they will lose, the Democratic leadership has gone into “triage mode” by deciding to cut off support for 30 members of Congress seeking re-election, Keene says. “Once that happens to those members, it’s no longer the Republicans’ fault, it's no longer the tsunami that is approaching, it’s their leaders who have sold them out, and you can see the results already,” Keene says. “On the Hill, they are fighting...

The Heritage Foundation Bloggers Briefing on August 10, 2010 welcomed guest speaker David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, speaking on his organization’s recently launched project aimed at exposing ACORN spin-offs, and unmasking what they have done in the past. Given the political situation the country is currently facing today, the American Conservative Union puts forth the questions of what are we [America] going to be facing this fall, and further, what role will ACORN play? ACORN is a community organizing group which was found to have forged thousands of voter registration cards in dozens of states. Former employees...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683           Response from David Keene, NRA First Vice President, to DISCLOSE Act Criticism "As an NRA member, I am writing to express my outrage that the NRA would do a backroom deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to regulate and limit the First Amendment right to political free speech of other groups, while carving out an exemption for the NRA. Your unsavory and unprincipled deal with the Democratic leadership makes it likely that the House will now pass the DISCLOSE Act, H. R. 5175. Besides being unconstitutional, the DISCLOSE Act could...

Days before Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon arrogantly addressed a joint session of Congress on how we ought to run this country, members of the National Rifle Association gathered in Charlotte, N.C., to celebrate their victories in Congress and the courts, discuss their passion for guns, hunting, the shooting sports and plan for the future. The largest turnout for an NRA Annual Meeting since the association’s founding in 1871, the more than 72,000 members in attendance served as a boisterous reminder to politicians of both parties that the nation’s gun owners remain a potent political force that no one should take...

Washington, DC – David Keene, Chairman of the largest and oldest conservative organization in America, the American Conservative Union, today commented on the decision by Washington liberals in the House to pass the Obama / Pelosi / Reid health bill. “With this vote, the U.S. House has chosen big government over freedom and bureaucracy over people,” said David Keene, “The American Conservative Union has opposed this bill from the start because of its massive cost and red tape. The more we learn and Americans learn about the devil in the details of this bill the more disgust among Americans will...

What’s expanding faster than the federal government? CPAC! Last year the diminutive crowd of a mere 8500 overwhelmed the traditional venue, the Omni Shoreham in Washington. This year, the conference was held across the street at the ginormous Marriot, which also became overwhelmed when the crowd swelled to over 10,000. About 5000 attendees were college students, which accounts for the freakish straw poll victory by Ron Paul Perot. Growing even faster than the federal deficit or CPAC, is the Tea Party Movement whose presence was felt throughout the convention. Conservative ideals have always been appealing to most Americans. The problem...

(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...

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...

http://www.acuratings.org/ They were released last week. Currently they're only available in PDF format. They aren't the be all end all but they are a usual barometer among many. They look at 25 votes for each house across a wide spectrum of issues. In 2008 there was a huge lurch to the left according to their scores. Some called their ratings outliers because of this. 2009 saw a general improvement of scores more in line with other years.

Today is the opening of the Conservative Political Action conference (CPAC) — the storied annual gathering of the Right. As I noted the other day, it’s also the season for a bumper crop of conservative manifestos, action plans, and ideological contracts. The Mount Vernon Statement, which lays out broad principles for “constitutional conservatism,” has garnered the most buzz. An elegant tribute to limited government and the Founding Fathers, the document carries the signatures of movement leaders, Beltway heavyweights, and veteran activists. Two of the most prominent backers: the American Conservative Union’s David Keene and Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist....

Tomorrow, for the 37th time, conservatives will gather in Washington to discuss, debate, and forge new solutions at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. For those who may be tempted to despair about the state of the limited government, pro-market and pro-family movement, a little history is in order. In 1975, then-Governor Ronald Reagan inspired a dispirited conservative movement to revolution at CPAC. In a message that resonates to this day, President Reagan proclaimed, “Our people look for a cause to believe in,” and then asked: “Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and...

Decision Brief No. 05-D 44 2005-08-31 On eve of U.N. push for global government, advocates urge Senate to approve a building block: The Law of the Sea Treaty (Washington, D.C.): As concern grows that the United Nations is intent on replacing what the National Security Guidance calls "an orderly arrangement of sovereign states" with a proto-world government - complete with the ability to impose international taxes, a new push is being made for a treaty that would advance that purpose: the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). This sovereignty-sapping agenda is at the heart of a dispute now playing...

WASHINGTON, DC -- The American Conservative Union's political action committee, ACU PAC, today formally endorsed New York Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the upcoming Special Election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. ACU PAC Chairman David Keene said in announcing the endorsement that the New York State Conservative Party has given the people of the 23rd District the choice Republican leaders would deny them. "Doug Hoffman is an intelligent, sincere leader who can and will win this election and at the same time send a message to NY State GOP leaders that they won't be able to ignore," Keene...

Just got this e-mail from Ziegler: "You will want to read about my bizarre adventures on Saturday at Western CPAC in Newport Beach. You can view the complete story with video here. Please spread this link to those who you think might be interested as there are many who will be trying to spike this story. Also, please don't respond to this e-mail unless it is urgent as my e-mail box needs to be cleaned out and I am way behind in doing that. Thanks so much for your support." REMEMBER: JOHN ZIEGLER WILL BE SPEAKING AT UC MERCED THIS...