Progress Report: Bush Bear Hugs The Far Right

February 8, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, and Benjamin Armbruster Contact Us | Tell-a-Friend | Archives | Permalink

RADICAL RIGHT

Bush Bear Hugs The Far Right

Before today, President Bush had kept his distance from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), sending only "videotaped greetings" to address the premiere gathering of the conservative movement. But in a raucous speech this morning, Bush made his first "personal appearance at CPAC since he became president." He touted his "philosophy" and urging the assembled activists to "fight for victory" in 2008, because, he claimed, "prosperity and peace are in the balance." Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the conference yesterday as well, telling the audience that he "damn right" would "support" the "decisions" of the Bush administration again. The appearances by both Bush and Cheney mark "the first time in 35 years that both the president and vice president have addressed the conference in person in the same year." By showing up in person this year, Bush joined a schedule of ideological fellow travelers that ranges from former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. In years past, CPAC has been a forum for the hard-line right wing to show its true colors. The year 2008 appears to be no different.

FAR-RIGHT FORUM: With panel sessions like "Hugo Chavez Democrats: Silencing the Right," "Why Blacks Think Conservative, But Vote Liberal," and "How the Liberals Are Criminalizing Free Enterprise," CPAC 2008 continues the organization's long tradition of displaying the farthest reaches of conservatism. The line up of ideologues speaking at CPAC is a who's who of the far right. For instance, speaking today is Dinesh D'Souza, whose recent book, The Enemy At Home, blames 9/11 on "the cultural left" in "Congress, the media, Hollywood, the nonprofit sector and the universities." Also addressing the crowd is David Horowitz, the father of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, who will be taking part in the "Silencing the Right" discussion. In Horowitz's mind, passionate disagreement with right-wing ideas is tantamount to "silencing the right" with a "figurative" noose being hung over the heads of conservatives. Speaking tomorrow is controversial gun rights advocate John Lott, who famously invented an online fan to defend his disputed research.

COULTER CLASH: In years past, the most controversial attendee at CPAC has been conservative columnist Ann Coulter. In 2006, she made headlines when she derogatorily referred to Muslims as "ragheads," saying that "our motto should be post-9/11, 'raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences.'" In 2007, she said she couldn't "really talk about" then-Democratic presidential candidate and former senator John Edwards because "you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.'" Nominally, "CPAC's organizers decided to cut her from the list of speakers" this year, but Coulter will still speak at the conference in an unofficial capacity. Calling it "unfortunate" that she wasn't invited, the Young America's Foundation (YAF), along with Human Events, Townhall.com, Citizens United, and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, arranged to hold a "Q & A session" with Coulter that "is not part of the general sessions." According to YAF, attendees of the session "must be registered for CPAC." CPAC's organizers have said they're open to officially inviting her in 2009.

CANDID CONSERVATIVES: As Coulter's past CPAC speeches have demonstrated, the annual conference is an opportunity for conservatives to let their guard down and express their true beliefs, no matter how divorced from reality they may be. In 2005, Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) introduced Cheney by declaring that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. "We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make them inside Iraq," said Cox. According to Salon's Michelle Goldberg, "no one gasped" at Cox's "startling revelation" because the fiction was an already-accepted truism for the CPAC attendees. In 2003, one official vendor at the conference sold "No Muslims = No Terrorists" bumper stickers, though he was forced to put them away while Cheney was speaking. In his speech, President Bush claimed today that Cheney is "the best Vice President in history." His remarks were greeted with chants of "four more years!"