I’m back from CPAC – the annual Conservative Political Action Conference – in Maryland. Finally caught up on my assignments (Desmogblog/NationOfChange), I’m able to work through some of the pamphlets, books, stickers and flyers that I picked up while I was there.
There’s not a lot surprising here, but it’s always illuminating to see what the groups present when they’re not trying to hide anything. I wasn’t the only reporter there that was present to expose, but by far the media that covers CPAC is friendly. That’s no different than the crowd that covers liberal Netroots Nation.
I may delve into some of these publications and flyers more in a future article but for now here’s a dump of just a little bit of what you’ll find at CPAC.
Here’s some flyers from the continually un-manned booth for “Ukrainian Students for Freedom”
According to an article in The Times their “group is anti-Putin and is raising money to erect a statue of Ronald Reagan in Kiev.” They seem to be well funded enough to afford decent design and a table at CPAC. Almost no info on the net (at least that I can find) for the group.
This guy was sitting at a lonely booth in the back of the hall looking very sad. For journalism sake I probably should have talked to him on camera, but honestly, I was already done with this shit by they time I saw him. Please note the donation levels on the second image: Chief $1000, Warrior $500, Scout $250
The Heartland Institute is a think tank that pushes the idea that CO2 at high levels is awesome for the environment and for humans. They have a LOVE/HATE relationship with Al Gore. (see my Desmogblog piece) This Climate Change denying newspaper is distributed to every elected official in the House, Senate and in state level offices. The image below is a large poster with all of the Heartland Institute’s “experts,” which include journalists with no science background, politicians and a couple of scientists with shady backgrounds and funding.
And finally, because I ‘love’ this sticker, here’s Young Americans for Freedom, a group founded in the 60’s by William F Buckley.
