Hmmmm! Florida’s new Republican Senator has declined an invitation to speak at the annual gathering of conservatives in Washington next month. Faithful readers will know that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has been roiled in controversy for weeks now over two important issues—the role of GOProud (a gay Republican group) in the event and over the involvement of leaders of CPAC perceived to be soft on the Muslim Brotherhood (which I discussed here yesterday, and earlier in January here).
This is what The Buzz (St. Petersburg Times) is saying today (Hat tip: Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum):
Sen. Marco Rubio is the latest top-name Republican to bail on the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, set to begin Feb. 10.
The newly-elected lawmaker will be focused on his Senate duties that week then “return to Florida for a working weekend capped off by the Pinellas County Lincoln Day Dinner,” on Feb. 12, spokesman Alex Burgos told the Buzz.
Burgos denied the decision relates to controversy over the inclusion of a gay conservative group, GOProud. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and groups such as the Heritage Foundation and Family Research Council have pulled out in protest.
Rubio could in fact just be concerned with sticking to the business Floridians sent him to Washington to do. But, he also raised a few eyebrows last week when he declined an invitation to join the Senate Tea Party Caucus.
The Buzz wraps up its report by saying:
The site [CPAC website] says South Florida Republican Rep. Allen West is a confirmed speaker.
I can’t imagine Rubio or West being as concerned about GOProud as at least West might be about the past efforts of CPAC organizers Norquist and Khan who succeeded in previous years in keeping the discussion of Sharia and Islamic supremacism either off the CPAC agenda completely or only mentioned in an obscure session or two.
This year both Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch) and Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs) are on the agenda and I note that Geller wisely comments here that even if not particularly welcome, a discussion of Sharia in America is one this large conservative audience needs to hear.
The ten thousand great Americans who will be attending CPAC are not sharia compliant. The patriots attending CPAC are not Islamists and are not willing to hand America over to sharia (Islamic) law. We need to reach them. We need to educate them. They know they are being deceived. They look around their towns and cities and see the unremitting capitulation to Islamic supremacism.
Arm them with knowledge, I say, and what better way then to bring the leading authorities across the world to speak honestly and forthrightly directly to the American people? This must be done if we are to have any shot at saving America.
If you are going to CPAC be sure to hear what Spencer and Geller have to say about this all important national security issue.
Just a reminder! Certain Washington insiders, ruling class Republican groups and some national level Tea Party organizations are trying to keep grassroots activists away from three main issues: immigration, family values and national security. They think they can herd us like sheep to focus on the fiscal issues of interest to their funders, but they can’t. We can fight for budgetary restraints, lower taxes, less regulation AND the troika of issues —immigration, family values, and national security—that we care passionately about.
Ann Corcoran
Judy K. Warner
