<\/p>\n
by Joe Cunningham
\nRedState.com<\/p>\n
The American Conservative Union, the board that oversees CPAC, is dealing with some internal strife as a result of board chairman Matt Schlap\u2019s announcement that Milo Yiannopoulos will be a keynote speaker at this week\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n
Leon Wolf at TheBlaze is reporting that members of the board \u2013 some publicly and some privately \u2013 are upset with the invitation, which is believed to have been made unilaterally by Schlapp himself.<\/p>\n
Cracks began to appear in the facade almost immediately, as ACU board member Ned Ryun began immediately tweeting his displeasure with the decision<\/a>, alleging that the ACU board was not consulted and that the invitation to Yiannopoulos was an affront to \u201cbasic decency.\u201d<\/p>\n
TheBlaze has spoken with numerous other ACU board members about the decision to invite Yiannopoulos. Some, like board member Peter Samuelson, offered a mere \u201cno comment\u201d on the decision to invite Milo or on the substance of Milo\u2019s remarks. Others, like board member John Eddy, would not comment on the board\u2019s internal deliberations but stated categorically that he was opposed to Milo\u2019s comments and would not defend them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ryun\u2019s allegation that the board was not consulted appears to be corroborated by other members, who spoke to TheBlaze under the condition of anonymity. The ACU hasn\u2019t met in over six months.<\/p>\n
One of those members also told TheBlaze that he would be resigning from the board if the invitation wasn\u2019t rescinded, also indicating he wouldn\u2019t be the only one to do so. You can read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As with just about everywhere else, Yiannopoulos is a divisive figure. He has run around making \u201canti-PC\u201d a substantive quality rather than a quirk, and it has lured in many conservatives.<\/p>\n
His shtick has always been to put his sexuality first and foremost. His college tour\u2019s name is a homosexual slur. He claimed the alt-right isn\u2019t racist because he is alt-right and prefers having sex with black men.<\/p>\n
The revelation that he would defend relationships between underage boys and grown men is therefore largely unsurprising. He is simply a sexual provocateur, and has channeled that into what many are calling (incorrectly, I might add) conservatism.<\/p>\n
The fact that he was offered an invitation at all is just further proof \u2013 albeit the most extreme proof yet \u2013 that CPAC is about the crowd size and the money, and no longer about the content of actual conservatism.<\/p>\n
There are conservatives who will be there, rest assured, and the attendees will get conservative messages from the event.\u00a0But, the spectacle is more important to guys like Schlapp, and it\u2019s killing the value of the conference.<\/p>\n