CPAC 2011: Wednesday Night Hoot Owl Edition — Keene Quits CPAC

WOWza! ….Quite a bit happening during “travel day”!!!:  All of us who contribute here at RIGHT WING News will be sending in posts from the Conservative Political Action Conference, so you will have some great:  “ears to the ground” to: know what is happening.:  Here’s what: was being discussed: Wednesday: in and around the CPAC conference as the conservative bloggerazzi arrived……

Bye Bye Congressman Lee — Nice abs, though

I have arrived in chilly Washington D.C.: without being: groped EVEN once at the airport this time. Oakland, CA airport was my departure point ( SFO is where I got the double-committee grope with multiple “swabbings” of my laptop for supposedly “explosive” material.) Directly in front of me, however, the TSA agent was having an especially contentious set-to with a black man about his printed-out boarding pass and his picture ID. Couldn’t hear anything, but the man was eventually let through. It was very very tense for awhile and I have to wonder, how DID the guy get through?

Final airline security note for the day: At Washington Dulles, a woman airline worker wearing a hijab was taking luggage off the carousel. It got my attention, shall we say? Sorry, having devout Muslims working in airports freaks me out and always will.: 

BLOCKBUSTER!!! David Keene Resigns as head of CPAC

Washington Times and a few others are carrying this story tonight…. American Conservative Union leader David Keene has stepped down. He will apparently still preside over the conference this weekend, but he has been replaced by the ACU board….just hours before CPAC is to begin.

Keene has been the “lightning” rod of controversy after it was discovered his ex-wife absconded with $400,000 from the CPAC. ( see WND story here.) Many writers, like Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, have been calling for Keene and others to quit.

Frankly, I think it proper for Keene to leave, in fact, he can and should do so now. Besides the financial impropriety, the encroachment of Muslim activists in the board are also troubling.

Keene is being replaced by Alberto Cardenas, a refugee from Cuba. Cardenas sounds fantastic.

More comings and goings:

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Virginia) HANGS it up. Isn’t standing for re-election. KEWL!

Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY-CD-26) also hangs it up after HANGING IT OUT on Craigslist. Lee is married with a baby and was answering a Craigslist ad from a single woman looking for men to date. Once the woman discovered that Lee was lying about his age, his job and his marital status, she contacted Gawker.com and the rest……….as they say is history. DLTDHYOTA, Chris. That was a very quick Congressional career. Lots of ironies, as Lee was prominent in warning teenagers about the DANGERS OF THE INTERNET.

The Big Gay Party at CPAC hosted by Breitbart is getting raves from the gay “media mafiosi” at Gawker ( they’ve been breathlessly blogging it for weeks….) (it’s invitation only and no I wasn’t invited…) features the “omnisexual” singer Sophie B. Hawkins. Omni-sexual? That’s a new one for me and I am sure someone from GOProud will be writing to explain it…or not. This is one of those “big tent” things that I will need to get up to speed on, I suppose. I think it’s great Breitbart is doing the party for the gay conservatives who want to be involved at CPAC and noone else can bring it the way he can. Love him or hate him, and I adore him, Breitbart makes news. Andrew Breitbart will go down in history as a media pioneer. He is THAT dynamic.: 

Lt. Col. Allen West, our newest GOP Florida Congressman, is going to be keynote speaker at CPAC Saturday night. We can speculate all around this and everyone is, but he is a fantastic orator and will no doubt tear us loose from our shoes.: 

Sarah Palin was offered the keynote address, but isn’t coming again this year.: 

If you recall, not that long ago, the fall of 2009, there was the viral video that made West a Republican folk hero.: 

Here it is again.

Every year, CPAC does a “straw poll” of attendees on a presidential candidate. Last year, Libertarian-Fed-buster Congressman Ron Paul won the poll (thanks to his energetic band of college student supporters who we think stuffed the ballot box.) WhatEVER. The mainstream media like to make a big deal out of the straw poll. It’s totally meaningless, a brief snapshot in time.: 

Interesting, though: The 2011 CPAC Straw Poll does not include Donald Trump. And as I wrote a few weeks ago, Trump may not be “in” with the “in” crowd of the GOP, but I think he can do it. It doesn’t surprise me however, that Trump is not here at the conference.: 

Had a chance to chat with bloggress extraordinaire, Fausta Wertz when I got in. In addition to being a great conservative voice since 2004, Fausta speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. She writes often about the very scary South American political scene, what with Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being such good buddies and all. She was full of great stories. Check her out if you haven’t read her before.: 

Should be interesting what people say: Thursday about Keene’s departure.: 

See my earlier coverage of CPAC 2011 with links to all the controversies leading up to this year’s meeting.

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