American Conservative Union may be key to GOPUSA

[starroute]

Two names that keep coming by in stories related to GOPUSA are that of the American Conservative Union and its yearly conference, CPAC. For example, GOPUSA board member Kerri Houston has also been with the ACU. And Bobby Eberle was attending an ACU event on 9/11.

The ACU goes back to 1964, and many figures on the right have belonged to it at one time or another, but the current crew seems particularly closely connected with the whole current range of Republican dirty tricks, campaign smears, and manipulation of the media.

For example, here's a report on the February 2001 CPAC:
http://www.conservative.org/battleline/010218bl.asp

A lot of familiar faces were there. Some were the standard right-wing big names -- everyone from Jesse Helms and Phyllis Schlafly to Ollie North and Gary Aldrich to David Horowitz and Ann Coulter. But there were several less prominent figures whose names set off alarm bells for me in particular

Chairman David Keene. Like so many of the others involved in particularly sleazy activities (Bruce Eberle, Richard Viguerie), Keene goes back to Young Americans for Freedom in the 60's. He's been business partners with Craig Shirley.

Craig Shirley. Connected with both the Willie Horton ad and "Stolen Honor."

Frank Donatelli. Another YAF-er. Associated with James Baker and worked with him to disrupt the 2000 Florida recount. Co-founder with Craig Shirley in 2003 of a pro-Bush group that pressured the FEC to radically limit the free speech rights of non-profits. Was one of several people shown on The Daily show last fall to be parroting GOP talking points. (See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1146495#1157108)

Floyd Brown. Producer of the Willie Horton ad.

Steve Moore, president of the Club for Growth.

Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Karl Rove

Charles Jarvis of the United Seniors Association (now USA next), which is currently attempting to destroy AARP in order to eviscerate Social Security.

Lynn Hogue, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation. That's "Buckhead's" stomping grounds, and Bruce Eberle's favorite client.

L. Brent Bozell. Involved in everything from the CBS memo flap to being the almost sole source of indecency complaints to the FCC.

Bruce Eberle.


Now, I'm not suggesting that all these people were there to conspire together. But it certainly is a striking lineup -- and if you wanted to do a little conspiring on the side, something like a large, right-wing convention would be an excellent place to do it.

Whatever's been going on the last few years can't possibly have all been orchestrated out of the White House. A lot of it is the same old figures on the right who have been up to no good for the last 30 years, doing their best to destroy Social Security and the environment and coordinating with Karl Rove only when it seems useful. That is one of the contexts into which this GOPUSA stuff has to be placed in order to make any sense.

[skids]

1. Recommended. Good digging. n/t

[Mitt Chovick]

9. Why don't we have something like this

No wonder we get beat like a drum

[blueheeler]

2. Madder than hell looking at these names....

Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Karl Rove


K Blackwell right in between the others makes me boil :mad:

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Definietly an angry dem

They all had this planned.

[Mist]

3. Thanks for the info--I loved your many-armed chart

you posted the other day! No doubt about it, the VRWC is a many-tentacled mutant octopus.:tinfoilhat:

[paineinthearse]

4. Follow the money...nt

[Roland99]

5. Goes back to the days of Goldwater

[autorank]

6. "conspire together" you ask. That's what trade associations are for!

They need a cover to work out how to manage the market. So, yes, they were conferring. Where does that lead you with "Gannon"?

[starroute]

7. An account of the very first CPAC in 1974

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?print=yes&id=272

Ronald B. Dear and Frank J. Donatelli, the executive directors of the ACU and YAF respectively, led the team that handled logistics and publicity for the conference ... Other conservative leaders were invited to participate and many did, including Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie and Morton Blackwell -- three chieftains of the emerging "New Right" movement.

<snip>

Blackwell and other activists involved in the planning of the first conference argued passionately that the young conservative movement cadres badly need organizational skills and because of this the first CPAC -- and a number thereafter -- gave prominence to political workshops, "double tracking" sessions on foreign and domestic policy with practical panels on direct mail fundraising, campaign techniques and the like.

This emphasis on the practical lessened over the years as conservatives came to dominate the Republican Party at all levels but they are still an important CPAC legacy. Conservatives activists were pioneers in a number of areas such as direct mail fundraising (Richard Viguerie), independent expenditures (ACU in 1976), precinct organization (Wisconsin State Sen. Bob Kasten in the mid 1970s) and these and other innovations were introduced to a wide conservative audience at CPAC conferences.

I'm beginning to think that CPAC has been more important than I realized, and not just recently. Clearly some of the same people -- like Morton Blackwell and Frank Donatelli -- have remained consistently involved for over 30 years. And just as clearly, Blackwell has used these conferences as a base from which to disseminate his own particular style of campaign dirty tricks, just as he's done in the Leadership Institute.

I've been trying since last fall to find the common element among the various components of the dirty-tricks faction of the right wing. I traced some of them back to Young Americans for Freedom and others to the College Republican National Committee. (In the late 60's, the leaders of these two groups were David Keene -- mentioned in my first post above -- and Morton Blackwell, respectively.) But I didn't know what had held them together since. It's beginning to look as though CPAC may be at least the public face of that connecting factor.

[annabanana]

10. excellent

You may have to re-draw your magnificent chart (again) to incorporate new findings. I have found it VERY useful in talking to people just beginning to understand the size and nature of the beast.

[Al-CIAda]

11. kick

[Old and In the Way]

12. Why is Bobby Earle radioactive?

No one seems to be acknowledging his existance in the Republican Party. Check out Billmon's comments on "The Man Who Wasn't There" http://www.billmon.org/ hmmmmmm.

Here's a great research site of the "interconnectedness" of the VRWC:

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/index.php