Conservatives recently opened their Strife Summit, better know as CPAC. The headliners were the usual crowd. Mitt Romney delivered a speech that reminded audience members of a guy speaking at an AA meeting and pretending that he’d managed to stay sober. Marco Rubio took the stage and said “The next person who calls me Marco Anthony is gonna get kicked in the shins.” And Sarah Palin continued her book tour while guys in the audience thought about the Farrah Fawcett poster they had in their bedroom when they were fourteen.
The real surprise, however, were the words spoken by Jimmy LaSaliva, president of the gay conservative group GOProud. He said “I’m embarrassed to call myself a Republican right now.” What’s interesting is where Mr. LaSaliva uttered his words:
At the opening ceremony, before the entire congregation? Nope.
Leading a panel discussion in some conference room named after a former president? Nope
Hell, the guy (and his group) wasn’t even officially invited to the event. He came as a guest of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. That’s like having to be the guest of a member to play golf at an exclusive country club.
So, in the end Mr. LaSaliva got to be part of a panel. That’d level of recognition would really make your saliva heat up.
You can just picture an attendee trying to find the room where the panel was held:
“Hey, I’m trying to find the Rainbow On The Right panel. Do you know where it is?”
“Yeah, it’s in the Jefferson Room.”
“Where’s that, I don’t see it on the map.”
“Oh, it’s downstairs. Go to the end of the hall. But I’d ditch that sport-coat if I were you. The Jefferson Room is loud and really hot.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it’s next to the boiler room.”
“Dang, you really put it out of the way, huh.”
“Well, we were gonna make ‘em hold it in a closet. A bunch of us thought that’d be really funny.”
It looks like we’ll have to wait a few more years for these guys to erect the Big Tent. Getting the GOP to change isn’t easy. It’s like trying to get your 90-year old grandmother to stop using the N-word.
Do you reckon ‘LaSaliva’ is some sort of stage name?
Grandma will only stop using the “N” word when she’s six feet under. That’s about where the GOP will be if they don’t make some concessions in this area.