Via Talking Points Memo:
The hush-hush meeting was sponsored by the Conservative Action Project (CAP), an offshoot of the Council for National Policy.
Reagan-era Attorney General Ed Meese, the head of the CAP (not to be confused with the liberal Center for American Progress), was scheduled to address the summit, which drew attendees with speeches from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA). Press secretaries for both members did not respond to requests for comment about their remarks.
Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway was also on the summit agenda, along with Edwin Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, and former Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.). Press representatives for Conway and Feulner did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment, but a secretary for McIntosh confirmed that he was speaking at the summit.
A group discussion was to focus on the outcome of the election and the future of the conservative movement. Attendees were also invited to discuss economic, social and national security issues, judicial nominations and state elections and issues.
[...]
Republican House and Senate staffers from the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Republican Conference made the guest list alongside conservative luminaries like Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Republican super-lawyer Cleta Mitchell, ATR's Grover Norquist, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, RNC chair candidate Ken Blackwell, American Values President Gary Bauer and David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Well, isn't that cozy? Ginni Thomas as an invited guest to talk about things like judicial nominations. How utterly wonderful.
And look who some of the presenters are:
Organizations scheduled to be represented at the meeting included the National Organization for Marriage, the Media Research Center, Susan B. Anthony List, the Heritage Foundation, 60 Plus Association, the Federalist Society, the Family Research Council, Americans for Tax Reform, Concerned Women for America and the Tea Party Patriots.
Press and media attendees included:
Employees of the American Spectator, the Washington Examiner and Human Events were also invited, as were John Fund of the Wall Street Journal and Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online (Lopez told TPMmuckraker she did not end up attending).
I'm posting this not to make you throw up your hands and give up. That was my first instinct after the primal scream, too. I'm posting this because I truly believe if we do not get organized and vocal NOW, we give up our last, best chance to make a difference.
This guest list represents 30 years of organizing with Ed Meese at the helm. Norquist and his merry band of thieves certainly contributed, but Meese is the granddaddy of the conservative think tank scheme with the complicity and assistance of corporate media. They did not just put this together yesterday.
Yet, on the left side, there is nothing close to this. Unions have some power, but are eroded by the constant demonization drumbeat of the right wing. We have MoveOn, which is pretty good at activating and organizing around issues, but still, where is the infrastructure?
This should serve as a last call for liberals, progressives, Greens and independents to stand up, unite, build some infrastructure and organization, and start defining our OWN priorities. It may not be too late, since conservatives seem to be swaggering just a bit too much, but we can't afford to keep limping along with the ragtag army, either.
