The HomoCon Tipping Point
Here's a cool article on "The HomoCon Tipping Point" at CPAC.
It starts with explaining a problem that came to a head before CPAC, where long-time co-sponsor Liberty University dropped out because of the co-sponsorship of GOProud. It sorta sets up the
It then continues with two videos from a series of short speeches by student activists. One is of Alexander McCobin, who praises CPAC right off the bat for including "GOPride" [sic]. There are some loud boos, which sound like they're loud only because the booer is near the mike. Mostly you can hear (and see) applause from the gathered audience.
A few speakers later you get a video Ryan Sorba, who immediately condemns CPAC for including GOPride [sic], which indicates this was more of an off-the-cuff attack inspired by McCorbin's recent praise. He's roundly booed and rejected. (Incidentally, the booing for Sorba starts even before he starts speaking, which makes me think the guy was probably the loud miked booer.)
The audience shots are what interest me in these clips. Since this is a panel of student activists, the audience is also young. The gay-marriage fight is won. This isn't even a real issue for my age group anymore. All that's left is to negotiate the date of surrender.
But anyway... the article continues with the left-wing response to the event. As you might expect, they only focus on what Sorba say, completely ignoring the boos. Gotta keep that narrative going, eh?
But then a funny thing happened. The conservative bloggers who were actually at CPAC and who actually witnessed the Sorba tirade went ballistic on him immediately. From Ace of Spades, to HotAir, to Michelle Malkin and across the entire center-right blogosphere, especially via Twitter, the reaction was one of complete and utter disdain - not for Sorba's lack of etiquette, but for his message of intolerance.
Suddenly the mainstream media and liberal bloggers couldn't hide the truth. The first video of Alexander McCobin was now on YouTube, going viral, and creating the contrast with how Sorba was booed off the CPAC stage. It was undeniable; facts truly are stubborn things. And this all happened at the speed of the internet in 2010.
This culminates in a third video, in which Keith Olbermann, the Glenn Beck of the Left, had to admit the truth on-air.
John Aravosis, long-time gay liberal internet activist, was the first and most prominent voice on the Gay Left to grasp what had happened about three hours after Sorba's CPAC explosion: "To the White House, the DNC, and our leadership in Congress: You are messing with people's lives, and we know it. And the day that an anti-gay bigot gets booed at CPAC, you all better start being very afraid."
---
To be sure, this is just another step on the journey. Blogs like HotAir are getting flack from social conservatives (read as: old people) for the way they reported the Sorba incident. Presidential contender Huckabee has bashed CPAC as too libertarian, which is a just another way of saying they're it's socially conservative enough. It's a war they're going to lose, but they're not going to make it easy.
P.S. If you want to see HotAir: All Gay All the Time, check this out. It'll make you laugh. :)
It starts with explaining a problem that came to a head before CPAC, where long-time co-sponsor Liberty University dropped out because of the co-sponsorship of GOProud. It sorta sets up the
It then continues with two videos from a series of short speeches by student activists. One is of Alexander McCobin, who praises CPAC right off the bat for including "GOPride" [sic]. There are some loud boos, which sound like they're loud only because the booer is near the mike. Mostly you can hear (and see) applause from the gathered audience.
A few speakers later you get a video Ryan Sorba, who immediately condemns CPAC for including GOPride [sic], which indicates this was more of an off-the-cuff attack inspired by McCorbin's recent praise. He's roundly booed and rejected. (Incidentally, the booing for Sorba starts even before he starts speaking, which makes me think the guy was probably the loud miked booer.)
The audience shots are what interest me in these clips. Since this is a panel of student activists, the audience is also young. The gay-marriage fight is won. This isn't even a real issue for my age group anymore. All that's left is to negotiate the date of surrender.
But anyway... the article continues with the left-wing response to the event. As you might expect, they only focus on what Sorba say, completely ignoring the boos. Gotta keep that narrative going, eh?
But then a funny thing happened. The conservative bloggers who were actually at CPAC and who actually witnessed the Sorba tirade went ballistic on him immediately. From Ace of Spades, to HotAir, to Michelle Malkin and across the entire center-right blogosphere, especially via Twitter, the reaction was one of complete and utter disdain - not for Sorba's lack of etiquette, but for his message of intolerance.
Suddenly the mainstream media and liberal bloggers couldn't hide the truth. The first video of Alexander McCobin was now on YouTube, going viral, and creating the contrast with how Sorba was booed off the CPAC stage. It was undeniable; facts truly are stubborn things. And this all happened at the speed of the internet in 2010.
This culminates in a third video, in which Keith Olbermann, the Glenn Beck of the Left, had to admit the truth on-air.
John Aravosis, long-time gay liberal internet activist, was the first and most prominent voice on the Gay Left to grasp what had happened about three hours after Sorba's CPAC explosion: "To the White House, the DNC, and our leadership in Congress: You are messing with people's lives, and we know it. And the day that an anti-gay bigot gets booed at CPAC, you all better start being very afraid."
---
To be sure, this is just another step on the journey. Blogs like HotAir are getting flack from social conservatives (read as: old people) for the way they reported the Sorba incident. Presidential contender Huckabee has bashed CPAC as too libertarian, which is a just another way of saying they're it's socially conservative enough. It's a war they're going to lose, but they're not going to make it easy.
P.S. If you want to see HotAir: All Gay All the Time, check this out. It'll make you laugh. :)