At CPAC, Will More Attend White Supremacist Dinner Than Minority Outreach Forum?

CPAC is in full swing today, and reportedly the crowds were huge. “The main room is PACKED for Rick Santorum’s speech. Rand Paul is up next…it’s only gonna get more crowded in here,” one person who seemingly was on hand tweeted.

One event that was not well attended, however, was the minority outreach forum, as evidenced by the image above, taken yesterday by John Hudak of the Brookings Institution, a moderate or centrist think tank.

If you hadn’t heard by now, CPAC is the Conservative Political Action Convention, an annual event attended by the far right, the religious right, right wing extremists, and every GOP presidential contender.

That mix, unsurprisingly, includes white supremacists, or white nationalists — whatever you want to call them. Racists as a label doesn’t nearly describe the depths of their hatred.

“White nationalists attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) are planning to gather discretely this evening at a steak house in the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center near Washington, DC, which is playing host to the conference,” Josh Glasstetter writes today at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch.

The gathering is sponsored by the National Policy Institute (NPI), a white nationalist “think tank” whose mission is to “elevate the consciousness of whites, ensure our biological and cultural continuity, and protect our civil rights.” The institute studies the so-called “consequences of the ongoing influx that non-Western populations pose to our national identity.”

NPI’s Richard Spencer privately announced the gathering and guest of honor, Jared Taylor, editor of the white nationalist magazine American Renaissance. Taylor argued in those pages that “Blacks and whites are different. When blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears.”

While most of the attendees of CPAC likely aren’t racists or white supremacists, one thing seems clear: most aren’t interested in minority outreach.

And we’re not just talking about opening up the tent to African-Americans or Hispanics.

GOProud, the gay Tea Party group, was again banned from speaking or participating in a forum this year. So were the Log Cabin Republicans. They were, thanks to CPAC’s leadership, allowed to buy tickets to attend. But having an equal presence at the Conservative Political Action Convention?

No way.

Big problem for GOP. Most important #CPAC2014 panel. Topic: minority outreach. View: largely empty room. pic.twitter.com/LQKQ0QwwVc

— John Hudak (@JohnJHudak) March 6, 2014

 

Previously:

‘A Liberal Lie’ That Any State Has Ever Banned Same-Sex Marriage Says Right Wing Host At CPAC

Earth To Log Cabin Republicans – CPAC Is Just Not Into You

Top Republican Senator Waves Rifle In Air At Conservative Convention (Video)