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Live From CPAC
The Hottest Ticket in Town
CPAC’s ‘Blog Bash’ makes citizen-journalists heroes for a night.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Thursday night, more than 500 people will crowd into Bobby McKey’s Piano Bar here to pay a sort of backhanded tribute to a man who hates them: Brett Kimberlin, the convicted bomber-turned-progressive activist whose attempt to suppress the truth about his criminal history became a major rallying point for conservative bloggers last year.
The National Bloggers Club, which will be hosting the fourth annual “Blog Bash” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), helped call attention to the plight of Virginia blogger Aaron Walker, whose online battle against Kimberlin escalated into a series of courtroom confrontations. Last May, “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day” helped called attention to the cases of those who, as syndicated columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin wrote, were “targeted by convicted Speedway bomber Brett Kimberlin because they dared to mention his criminal past or assisted others who did.” She added: “The late Andrew Breitbart warned about Kimberlin and company.”
Breitbart, of course, was the digital media entrepreneur who died last year, barely three weeks after he accepted the “Changing the Narrative Award” at Blog Bash — the only award for journalism Breitbart ever received in his lifetime. This year, the award has been re-named in honor of Breitbart, whose celebrated role in exposing the Anthony Weiner cybersex scandal helped demonstrate the power of online media. The connection between Breitbart, Kimberlin and the Weiner scandal … well, it’s complicated. I spent weeks last year covering the Kimberlin story (see, for example, “Terror by Any Other Name,” May 29, and “Online Armageddon”), and its multi-layered complexity is a challenge to explain briefly.
It begins with Brett Kimberlin, who in 1981 was convicted of a weeklong string of bombings that terrorized the small town of Speedway, Indiana. He was sentenced to 50 years, but served only 17 years, during which he managed to become a minor celebrity by claiming to have once sold marijuana to Vice President Dan Quayle.
After leaving federal prison, Kimberlin evidently leveraged his political connections into a new career as a progressive activist; in 2005, he co-founded two tax-exempt organizations that have since raised more than $2 million. In 2010, one of those groups, Velvet Revolution, took aim at Breitbart’s organization, urging criminal prosecution in Maryland against James O’Keefe III and Hannah Giles, the two young conservatives whose undercover video sting destroyed the left-wing group ACORN. Breitbart fired back a few months later, with a lengthy article by Mandy “Liberty Chick” Nagy about Kimberlin’s past. From there, a steadily escalating online war began, that evidently put a number of bloggers — including Nagy, Walker, Patrick “Patterico” Frey, and Breitbart.com contributor Lee Stranahan — on Kimberlin’s list of targeted enemies.
Since May, when bloggers rallied around Walker, the enemies list has grown to include the entire National Bloggers Club, which helped defray Walker’s legal fees. In recent weeks, Kimberlin and his allies have attempted to shut down Blog Bash, contacting the venue and threatening protests against the event. If Kimberlin thought he could intimidate conservatives, he was sadly mistaken. Tickets to Blog Bash have become so highly coveted that many VIPs can’t get in, as the club’s president Ali Akbar pleads that fire-code capacity won’t allow any extra attendees. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made the guest list, as did 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and yesterday the National Republican Senatorial Committee announced that it was co-sponsoring the event — a rare gesture by the GOP establishment, reaching out to conservative bloggers who are often critical of the Republican Party leadership.
This show of unity on the Right is, as I say, a backhanded tribute to Kimberlin, whose criminal record and harassment of bloggers is the subject of 5,000 flyers that the National Bloggers Club will distribute at CPAC. But the true tribute is to Andrew Breitbart, who warned about Kimberlin, and who inspired bloggers to fight back.
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
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TLP| 3.14.13 @ 7:15AM
(CNSNews.com) - The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) wants its white VISTA volunteers who work with low-income, racially diverse public schools to examine the “privilege” their Caucasian race confers on them.
DPI devotes an entire Web page to “Power and Privilege,” including links to racial justice workshops and online tests where VISTA volunteers can “learn about your personal bias.”
One “diversity” document linked to DPI’s Web site suggests that white people “wear a white wristband as a reminder about your privilege, and as a personal commitment to explain why you wear the wristband.”
The document -- written by a diversity resource center in New Jersey -- also suggests that white people ask themselves questions, such as: “How do I ignore privilege? What am I doing today to undo my privilege? How do I fool myself into thinking I am powerless?”
Can we PLEEEEEASE stop with all of this White Guilt BULLSHITTTTTTT?
Joellen| 3.14.13 @ 8:29AM
Tim, that's the lefts weapon. America needs to turn it back on them. Give examples, i.e, how many WHITE Americans died to free the slaves; how many LEFTIST exploit and use Black Americans to advance their leftist agenda.
Change the narrative everytime - it'll take patience and maybe years, but change the narrative.
loulou| 3.14.13 @ 10:24AM
I don't know... you can't reason with them. Logic and facts are not absorbed by the lefties.
mike 3/505| 3.14.13 @ 10:40AM
The best way to deal with the liberal/statist/leftists, is operant conditioning. Every time one of your liberal acquaintances says something stupid...pop them in the mouth...soon, just like a dog who gets the newspaper for peeing on the floor, liberals will quit saying & doing stupid stuff. It takes fortitude to do this...to overcome the meme that all opinions are equally deserving of respect. ...they are not.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 2:36PM
Contest, tomorrow at Monday's Wes Welker Story.
Kaminsky bailed.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 10:55AM
If you ever got to ask them those questions, they would surely answer: Not Nearly Enough.
There seems to be something lacking in the White Liberal's Genome.
They actually Hate the fact that they're White. They feel the need to endlessly Flagellate themselves, that they might be Forgiven for the SIN of being White. For SINS that they never committed. For SINS that happened Hundreds of Years ago.
The Blacks never apologize that they Overwhelm our Social Safety Net Programs. They don't apologize for committing 53% of all of the Violent Crimes in this Country, even though they're only 12% of the Population. They don't apologize for filling our Prisons with their Offspring. For the Carnage these offspring cause in the Public Schools. The almost Daily Rampages of other people's Private Property because of some PERCEIVED Sleight, and causing hundreds of thousand's of Dollars in Property Damage, Stolen Goods, and Lost Business.
It's not just that it's so Stupid.
It's that it's MADNESS.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 10:58AM
That's for you - Joellen.
Congratulations on the new Revolution Theology Franciscan Pope, ya just got.
Evidently, their were no Jesuits in the room.
God Help Us.
vtwin| 3.14.13 @ 11:36AM
Change the narrative, got it.
How many WHITE Americans died to keep the slaves in bondage?
mike 3/505| 3.14.13 @ 12:11PM
How many blacks, sold other blacks into bondage?
Next. I can do this all day...and I have history and facts on my side...unlike the liberals/statists...who operate on emotion only.
loulou| 3.14.13 @ 1:07PM
BUT they are incapable of absorbing and processing facts. They are ineducable.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 2:38PM
Contest tomorrow at Monday's Wes Welker Story.
John Navratil| 3.14.13 @ 6:42PM
vtwin,
Well, if we are playing twenty questions....
Where does the world 'slave' come from? It isn't from Africans sold into slavery by Arabs, in remembrance of which blacks in American choose Arab (or perhaps Arabicky) names.
Of the fifteen million Africans shipped to the new world, home many made it to what is now the U.S.?
Who rose to suppress the slave trade?
Bonus questions: Why is there no call for reparations in Brazil? Why is there no black population in Arabia? Hint: look between your legs and notice what is missing.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 7:06PM
Contest at Monday's Wes Welker Story.
Denver Todd| 3.14.13 @ 9:32AM
When Americorps volunteers set up camp at my father's assisted living facility sometime back, I accused them of ageism and had them wear yellow stars with pictures of Britney Spears. It backfired. Everytime the residents accused them of being young, they started to dance in the hallway just to rub it in.
Toinfinityandbeyond| 3.14.13 @ 3:17PM
Oh!
What are we going to do without our C.F.A.G?
What are we going to do without Brainfart?
Right?
Stephie| 3.14.13 @ 7:56AM
I feel no guilt, do you?
loulou| 3.14.13 @ 10:24AM
Nope, I don't.
crankitup| 3.14.13 @ 8:01AM
I'm convinced Andrew Brietbart was wacked by a hot-shot. He was white and privileged, and now he is rendered powerless, he exposed the truth and injustice of the left, he was assasinated by his enemies because he believed in freedom and the truth, he was fearless and a true American. Where's the outrage ???
JJC| 3.14.13 @ 11:55AM
So many of the circumstances surrounding Andrew's death are highly suspicious and nobody seems to care. Incredible and very discouraging.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 3.14.13 @ 9:46AM
When discussing Kimberlin, it is probably relevant to wonder how representative he is of the rest of the left.
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 11:01AM
You spelled "Dr. Kildare" wrong.
See you tomorrow (or, tonight, if you choose to go) at Monday's story on the new Denver Bronco - Wes Welker.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.14.13 @ 10:53AM
Wow, no gays on the VIP list for Blog Bash? Where are Goldberg and Fumento to decry this horrible travesty by conservatives?
[Note: Sarcasm alert.]
TLP| 3.14.13 @ 2:40PM
Seriously.
WTHell happened to Goldberg?
JimH| 3.14.13 @ 1:19PM
Nice to see some praise for bloggers, a few days earlier on your site Ross Kaminsky was trying to draw a distinction between bloggers and real reporters such as himself in an otherwise informative post: ‘… except that it appears to have been posted by a blogger rather than a reporter’
Tina Trent | 3.14.13 @ 3:25PM
Hi -- Please correct -- Breitbart received the Accuracy in Media journalism award in 2010.
Occam's Tool| 3.14.13 @ 6:44PM
I always like to discuss how Liberal family policies kill Black kids. I also like to point out that drug legalization will make it safer for white kids to buy pot while worsening drug use outcomes for Blacks and Native Americans. Since I am an expert on Native American drug use (I am a psychiatrist for a Native Suboxone clinic, and run a hospital that serves 3 Native reservations), it is fun to watch the Liberals squirm as I discuss how many Natives their policies will kill.
I am a fan of the White Hot Spike in arguments. Never surrender, and always engage my opponents with cruelly logical arguments. It is fun to call Liberals racist vermin, and prove it.
Liberals don't think about consequences of their actions, just whether or not it sounds good.
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