Gay GOP group GOProud has invited real
estate mogul Donald Trump to speak at the Conservative Political
Action Conference (CPAC), which opened Thursday.
Trump accepted a last-minute invitation
to address the crowd on the convention's opening day at 3PM.
“We wanted Mr. Trump at CPAC because
no one can better articulate the conservative economic solutions that
this country needs than Donald Trump,” GOProud Chairman Christopher
Barron told the New York Times. “As the party and the
conservative movement turn their attention to 2012, we need powerful
voices for common sense conservative fiscal policies.”
Trump, who is considering a bid for the
2012 Republican presidential nomination, will also sit down with
GOProud in the afternoon.
Barron told The Hill that his
group is urging CPAC attendees to vote for Trump in the CPAC straw
poll.
In
an early morning appearance on MSNBC, Barron fired back at social
conservatives boycotting CPAC because of their presence.
He suggested the groups were being
disingenuous in claiming that they were avoiding CPAC over policy
issues.
“The reason why Tony, Joseph Farah,
the World Net Daily crowd, the extreme fringe of the
conservative movement, the reason why they aren't participating has
nothing to do with policy at all, it's because we happen to be gay,”
Barron told host Andrea Mitchell.
Conservative
celebrity and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Wednesday told
Fox News she was OK with GOProud's co-sponsorship of the event.