CPAC gay-basher's past: Domestic violence plus...

By GottaLaff

Remember this guy?




Well now, via TPM, we find out he has quite a past:

The man who cited natural law in an off-script anti-gay rant at CPAC has had two run-ins with the real law in the past decade, including a restraining order for domestic violence, according to court records in California.

Ryan Sorba of California Young Americans for Freedom, who is a longtime anti-gay activist, in 2001 had a restraining order brought against him by a woman in a San Bernardino County domestic violence case, according to case records.

What a guy. How inclusive of the GOP to give him a platform.

He was also ordered to move out of the "family dwelling" in Highland, a small city outside San Bernardino, according to records. Sorba was 19 at the time and did not appear in court for any of the proceedings.

In an interview with TPMmuckraker this morning, Sorba declined to provide a detailed account of what happened, but dismissed the matter as "the stupidest thing you could ever imagine."

"I got in a fight with a kid in my neighborhood. And the mother did not want us getting in any more fights," he said. "And so the mother filed a restraining order. And then nothing else ever happened."

He says they're all pals now. And he says they were pals then. With friends like Sorba....

But wait! There's more!

In 2008, Sorba pleaded guilty to a noise violation for a disturbance at a polling place on election day. He told TPMmuckraker that he was handing out pro-Prop 8 flyers when "some homosexual guy came up and I guess he called the police and they gave me a ticket."

Asked how he knew the man was gay, Sorba said "because he looked gay, he sounded gay -- it was evident."

"I'm proud of that ticket. I look at that ticket as if it's a trophy," he said.

Welcome to The Big Tent GOP.

H/t: Harborguy

Huckabee nails CPAC after dismal straw poll finish

Who would have thought that a fearmongering fundie like Huckabee would be on the outs with the Republican establishment.

Washington (CNN) - Following his disappointing sixth place finish in this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee criticized the conference as increasingly irrelevant to the conservative movement and accused its organizers of conducting a "pay for play" event.

(snip)

Huckabee, who has never fared well in the poll, said the results did not surprise him. "CPAC has has become increasingly libertarian and less Republican over the last years, one of the reasons I didn't go this year," he said Saturday on Fox News, where is a paid contributor.

The 2008 GOP presidential candidate said the "truly grassroots" energy on the right lies in Tea Party movement.

"Where CPAC was historically the event, the Tea Parties now are having their own events all over the country and a lot more truly grassroots people are getting involved because of the Tea Parties," Huckabee argued.

He added: "Because of the way that [CPAC] solicits sponsors it has almost become a pay-for-play. It's almost like, who will pay money to be able to be a sponsor and get time on the program. It's one of the things that has hurt it's credibility in recent years."

Video- "Rodeo clown" Beck declares, "America is not a clown show"

So, never mind what I said, but pay attention to what I say. Sigh. Via Media Matters.

"CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results" of straw poll

By GottaLaff

Via Taegan:

Politico: "CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results, which could have the effect of reducing the perceived impact of a contest that was once thought to offer a window into which White House hopefuls were favored by movement conservatives."

Because, you know, the attendees didn't already embarrass themselves before the straw poll results were announced.

At 31% Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll, Palin? 7%

By GottaLaff

Just in via CNN:

Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll.

Via Greg Mitchell:

Fox anchor says "amazing how much support Ron Paul has, I've never seen a politician with such a strong organization." No, not a joke.

Poor Mitt Willard Romney. His winning streak is over.

Results via Mike Madden:

Straw poll at #CPAC10:

Ron Paul wins with 31%,
Mitt Romney 22%,
Sarah Palin 7%,
Tim Pawlenty 6%,
Mike Pence 5%,
Newt Gingrich 4%.

Losey McSevenPercent comes in third. And Newtie? Yeah, no.

Then again, these things don't mean much. But it is fun to snark about.

VIDEOS- CPAC: All the Breitbart lunacy you can stomach

By GottaLaff

Kerfuffles, shouting, sour-faced name calling, rants... Breitbart just can't seem to keep from losing it on a regular basis.

First, this from Dave Weigel (story here):



Next, this from Mike Madden at Salon:

Breitbart yells, defends ACORN investigation: The conservative media honcho says -- loudly -- it doesn't matter whether ACORN aided any real prostitutes.

And what's with the crazed fast-motion head shaking?

You have to admit, he gets all the attention he wants, and, as KagroX puts it, with gusto:



UPDATE: Here's one more, courtesy of my Twitter/Blunt pal, Tommy Christopher and Colby Hall, both of Mediate:



What an ego Breitbart has. If only he earned the right to have one.

VIDEO: "Genius" 14-year-old speaker is back at CPAC, makes lame teleprompter joke

By GottaLaff

This Jonathan Krohn kid has always given me the creeps. His delivery is way too slick:

"For the record, I am not using any teleprompters today because I loaned them to President Obama," he said to laughter.

Okay, once and for all: This is one of the stupidest memes since the genesis of memeology. How it persists in light of HandNotes McAlsoToo is beyond comprehension.

Let's review: When you give a big important speech that will be watched by the entire world, "winging it", or even attempting to memorize it, would be reckless and not too wise.

Every word, every syllable is parsed. Experts in any given field use notes for speeches. Who wouldn't?

HandNotes McAlsoToo herself should, and does, use notes when she gives a prepared talk. Memorizing that much is cumbersome and time-consuming, especially for someone who must repeatedly address crowd after crowd on any number of topics.

Nor would I want the president of the United States to spend his valuable time and energy studying words instead of the urgent issues at hand.

And guess what? Teleprompters allow the speaker to keep his nose out of a pile of papers, so that said speaker can address his/her audience directly. We teach that in basic acting/speech/cold reading/you name it. It's common knowledge and common sense. It's not exactly an audience pleaser to continually show nothing but the top of your head to your viewers.

However, question and answer sessions are quite another matter. Thorough knowledge of multiple subjects is mandatory. Answering questions off the cuff, being well-prepared, engaging your questioners all require a head full of facts and information.

A few notes might be helpful for occasional reference, although it's preferable not to use one's palm when there is so much paper available.

Paper: Acceptable. Palm scribble: Unsuitable and unprofessional, even for a 14-year-old in a ninth grade Public Speaking class.

Got that Teen Genius? You gave a 2 minute quippy intro. Political leaders give substantive, full-length, informative speeches. If you have to pat yourself on the back for getting through 120 seconds without a teleprompter, then maybe you should brush up on your memorization skills... and your stand-up routines.

CPAC Watch: Tuh-Weet! Reagan rises from the dead

By GottaLaff

Saint Ronnie is alive! Alive, I tells ya!


And Rushpublics and Tea Tanrumers think our Amurkin educational system is just dandy the way it is.

Which explains these:

And last but not least, my fave:

H/t: TexBetsy, Tengrain

VIDEO: The Big CPAC rap show embarrassing moment... *Cricket, cricket*

By GottaLaff

::Cricket, cricket::



Oh no, seriously, this is just deadly.

Painful.

Off the scale cringeworthy:

A few CPACers eventually walked in, looking for rap. They seemed bewildered. No one canceled the show officially, and no one knew what was going on. [...]

We hung around for a while, hoping for some hear some phat rhymes from headliner Hi Caliber, the tea partier rapper we profiled last year. He never showed.

I caught up with Hi Cal this afternoon to find out what happened. "The crowd disbanded early," he said, "so we moved the show."

The new performance will be tonight "after Ann Coulter," he said.

Yeah, because Ann Coulter is so hip and kewl and rad that all the rapper fans and awesome, with-it, gnarly Rushpublics will be drawn like flies to her rhythmically hott, pulsating, rapitude-inous aura.

More here.

H/t: Cody

PhotOh! CPAC edition

By GottaLaff

TPM has an excellent photo gallery of CPAC. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Photos by Jeff Malet / maletphoto.com

The words "insane asylum" come to mind.

Sarah the Money Grubber

By GottaLaff

Chargey McBigFee, is going all ballisticky over CPAC for being profiteery, also whatnot. She word-saladed something about CPAC being about “pocketbook over policy.”

My guess is they refused to provide her with free Sharpies, but that's just me:

Palin “ruffled feathers” last year when she dropped out of CPAC two weeks before the event. She had been the conference’s first confirmed speaker and organizers said they were “obviously disappointed.” At the time, she cited the “duties of governing.” Palin also dropped out at the “last minute” from CPAC 2008.

While declining CPAC this year out of concerns over profiteering, she had no problem attending the National Tea Party Convention. [...]

Palin was reportedly paid $100,000 for her appearance at the Tea Party convention, but CPAC doesn’t pay its speakers and some speculated that Palin’s absence is due to money.

Hey Chargey, how's that hypocrite-y thing workin' for ya?

While we're on the subject of money and CPAC, check out who their sponsor is:

VIDEO: CPAC audience boos Bob Barr for condemning waterboarding as torture

By GottaLaff



I still can't get used to agreeing with Bob Barr on anything, but I sure do agree with him on this.

This afternoon, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held a debate titled “Does Security Trump Freedom?” that featured former GOP congressman and Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), and former Bush Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh.

Torture. Doesn't. Work.

What amazes me even more than my palling around with Bob Barr is the number of Americans who still don't realize the truth about waterboarding, or any form of torture-- that it does not produce usable testimony or reliable information.

Then again, I can't figure out that whole concept of loons wearing tea bags on their heads either.

CPAC Watch: Tim Pawlenty exploits Tiger Woods scandal

By GottaLaff

Timing is everything:

"It's like Tiger Woods' wife, we should take a nine iron to the back windshield of big government spending and smash it out."

-- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), quoted by Minnesota Public radio, speaking at the CPAC conference.

Had Timmy just waited, he'd have learned that he should be speaking in hushed, reverent tones about the Woods affair(s).

And how tasteful of him to politicize that scandal to make his party look like they might actually have a plan or something.

Not to mention the emphasis on violence.

Not to mention the hypocrisy, considering the number of scandals members of his own party have recently been involved in.

Not to mention he's just wrong.

Video- Andrew Breitbart slams Rachel Maddow at CPAC

Wow, I've never really heard him speak at length before, but he's a fracking idiot. No wonder O'Keefe is his BFF.

Video- Scarborough asks Rubio if he condemns Beck for calling Obama a racist, comparing him to dictators

So, you think he condemned Beck?

VIDEO: Rubio mocks Obama’s teleprompter…while in front of a teleprompter

By GottaLaff

Rushpublic Hypocrisy gone wild:

Dave Weigel, attending the conference, doesn’t think Rubio was reading from the TelePrompters, but at least in this clip, he seems to be moving his head from side-to-side as if he were looking at them.

Plus, one is visible.

Anyone see anything written on his hand?



Dee-lish! CPAC is so much fun.

PhotOh! Rachel Maddow's snapshot from CPAC gets ugly comments

By GottaLaff

Rachel Maddow popped into CPAC and snapped this photo of some of her swag:



Nice of the CPAC gang to hand those Palin pics out, because she just can't seem to get enough exposure these days.

Under a post of Rachel's photo over at MediaBistro, some of the comments were typically, right wingily stupid:

yakuza_saint
so what type of swag do they give out at left-wing butch lesbo events?

4 people liked this comment.

PicklingTheBeast 1 hour ago

Yeah...Rachel is envious of Caribou Barbie. She'd have to lose about a hundred IQ points to compete with Sister Sarah.

Moderate 1 hour ago

Maddow the stalker.

unicornsforeveryone 2 hours ago

Creepy...
Ray alone in a hotel room with a glossy pic of Sarah Palin...

pants on the ground, pants on the ground

How mature.

Video- Rachel Maddow at CPAC

Video- Red State's Erickson on right-wing infrastructure: "We've got Fox News"

I don't think you're supposed to say that stuff out loud Erik.

Cheney and Cheney team up at CPAC

What a pair. Here's hoping he falls for the bull and runs in '12, it'd be so sweet.

Washington (CNN) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney earned a standing ovation Thursday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, proclaiming "Barack Obama is a one term president."

Cheney, who was not scheduled to appear, received a warm welcome from the unsuspecting crowd and joked, "A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office again ... but I'm not going to do it."

During his brief remarks, the former vice president focused on recent Republican electoral success and the future of the conservative movement.

"There are some great years ahead of us. It is very, very important that we succeeed, and I'll do everything I can, but most especially I want to encourage that younger generation," Cheney said. "It really is a remarkable time to be a conservative."