The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

CPAC: Getting the Big Ticket

Posted on | March 1, 2019 | Comments Off on CPAC: Getting the Big Ticket

 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland
After breakfast this morning, I stepped out front for a smoke and the street was lined with cop cars, lights flashing. A minute later, up the block, I saw the vice-presidential motorcade speed past, bringing Mike Pence to speak at CPAC — a speech I will watch from my hotel room, because I don’t want to go through all the security hassles to get into the Potomac Ballroom. Meanwhile, a few images from yesterday . . .

With my good friend Evan Sayet.

With talk-radio host Tony Katz.

With former White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

 

And here’s the really big ticket:

Raheem Kassam had what I wanted — a ticket to his Saturday night invitation-only CPAC party — and he also had something else I wanted, a newsworthy quote: “I think we’re winning.”
A former editor for Breitbart who is now a fellow at the Claremont Institute, Kassam was talking about the Left’s campaign to silence conservative voices on social media. That campaign ensnared him this week, when his personal Facebook account was suspended. Kassam’s ban got the attention of Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted: “I’m sure this was an ‘accident’ like I’ve been hearing from the social media masters. Funny that the accidents only happen one way.” Shortly afterwards, Kassam’s account was restored, a result he credited to the intervention by the President’s son. Facebook never explained why Kassam was temporarily banned, although many suspected it was an attempt to intimidate the popular author of No Go Zones: How Sharia Law Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You. An ex-Muslim who formerly worked for UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, Kassam is not easily intimidated, and he sees the social-media crackdown on conservatives as evidence that the Left is frightened.
“If the other side wasn’t afraid, they wouldn’t be coming down so heavy-handed on people,” Kassam told me in an interview near Radio Row at the 46th annual Conservative Political Action Conference. “If [President Trump] gets re-elected next year, I think you’re going to see serious legislation about this — a Digital Bill of Rights.” . . .

Read the rest of my column at The American Spectator.


 

Category: CPAC

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