Every year, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) grows larger, and every year it stirs up controversy about who is participating.
This year is no exception.
The conference that takes place Feb. 10 through 12 in Washington will draw 11,000 people, up a thousand from last year. And the controversy, intrigue, and name-calling have already begun.
Some say CPAC should exclude GOProud, a gay conservative group. Others say it should emphasize national security issues more. Conspiracy theorists hint darkly that CPAC has been overtaken by Muslim extremists. And some insist that any group that has chosen not to participate this year must not approve of CPAC policies or speakers.
Rubbish, says Dave Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, whose foundation runs CPAC. Having been chairman since 1984, Keene has seen it all. He bears the brunt of lobbying by those who want to be speakers or want to ban others from speaking.
To Keene, those who try to define what conservatives should think and try to exclude those who don’t agree don’t understand what the movement is all about and why it has been so successful.
“CPAC does not attempt to define the movement,” Keene says. “In the past, you had people say that anybody who is for free trade should be thrown out, or anybody that is not for total restrictionist immigration policies should be thrown out, or groups that are not religious should be thrown out.”
In addition, says Keene, “We’ve had groups that are on one side or the other which never participated because they don’t feel they want to be identified with anybody else. Some economic groups don’t want to be associated with social conservatives. Some of the social conservatives don’t want to be associated with economic groups.”
Over the years, CPAC has excluded only one group, a Citizens Council in Mississippi, which Keene says was racist.
