Bozell, Bossie Attack CPAC’s Handling of Atheist Group
26th February 2014
On Tuesday it was announced that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) had decided to allow the group American Atheists to have a booth at this year’s event, but nearly as soon as it was announced, CPAC officials pulled the invitation.
Regardless, the original invitation was enough to spur prominent conservative Brent Bozell to pull out of the longtime conservative event, charging that CPAC is “destroying the conservative movement.”
Which is horseshit, and Bozell ought to know better. Can you be conservative and an atheist? Of course, but that’s not the point. One of the core principles of American conservatism (if, indeed, there is such a thing) is Free Speech, and that means Free Speech for your opponents as well as your friends.
In the CNN report, American Atheists president David Silverman said that his CPAC booth would be a “first step of many” in reaching out to conservatives because he was positive that there were many “closeted atheists” among them.
Indeed there are. Read the blog Secular Right for a good sample, including the Patron Saint of Dyspepsia, John Derbyshire.
“We spoke with Mr. Silverman about his divisive and inappropriate language. He pledged that he will attack the very idea that Christianity is an important element of conservatism. People of any faith tradition should not be attacked for their beliefs, especially at our conference. He has left us with no choice but to return his money,” she said.
But that’s not what he said, if he is being quoted correctly — he said he would attack an idea, not the people holding that idea, and that is what Free Speech is all about. (Sure, maybe he lied, but supporting Free Speech means taking the chance that people will sometimes lie to you. Deal with it.)
Despite having their invite rescinded, that the atheists were approved in the first place did not sit well with Brent Bozell, President of the Media Research Center and an influential conservative leader. Bozell announced that he was pulling out of the conference because of the invitation….
That sounds like a win-win to me — if CPAC needs anything, it’s the absence of people who are of the Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee persuasion.
Reacting to Bozell’s statement, David Bossie, President of Citizens United, told Breitbart that CPAC had “lost its way.”
“When you have a conservative stalwart like Brent Bozell pulling out of CPAC because of the mismanagement of a conference that is supposed to be about conservatism, not republicanism, the conference has lost its way,” Bossie said. “It truly is a shame that every year it seems we have drama surrounding this conference because ACU leadership forgets the three-legged stool of conservatism, which is a strong national defense, belief in the free market, and traditional family values. CPAC is supposed to be a conference for the conservative movement guided by its core principles. If we lose those principles, the conservative movement is dead.”
Couldn’t have said it any better myself.