Conservative Andrew Breitbart has
launched a boycott of CPAC over the ACU's decision to exclude gay GOP
group GOProud from participation in the Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC).
GOProud has co-sponsored the event two
years in a row over the objections of social conservatives.
However, Al Cardenas, the newly-elected
chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which annually
organizes the event, put the group on notice after its chairman,
Chris Barron, said in several media interviews during the last event
that boycotters were motivated not by policy disagreements but rather
animus toward gay and lesbian people, and called Cleta Mitchell, a
prominent Republican lawyer and an ACU board member, a “nasty
bigot.”
“What is truly sad is that this
troubling development takes place at a time when we should be united
and focused on defeating Barack Obama,” GOProud said in response to
ACU's decision.
POLITICO.com's Ben Smith reported that
GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia met with Cardenas on
Wednesday to discuss the issue.
“It's not going so well,” Smith
wrote.
Breitbart, who has close ties to the
group, is joined by Roger L. Simon in pledging to skip the event.
(Related: Diana
Cardenas, Al Cardenas' wife, rants against gay rights on Facebook.)