Andy Barr: Why Sarah snubbed CPAC

"Special interests over core beliefs"
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Politico's Andy Barr opines :

A Palin source bashed CPAC and its leader David Keene in an interview last year with POLITICO announcing that the former governor wouldn’t be attending – even though CPAC had listed her as an invited guest for the second year in a row. The source called the annual gathering an example "special interests over core beliefs" and "pocketbook over policy."

"That's not what CPAC should be about and people are tiring," the source said. "Palin is taking a stance against this just as she did in Alaska."

The criticism of CPAC was fueled by a report that David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union, had asked FedEx for between $2 million and $3 million to get the group's support in a bitter battle on Capitol Hill with rival UPS. This was not the first reported allegation of Keene selling his influence with the conservative base, and is a large part of the reason why the ACU and its annual conference have waned in influence over the years.

The previous year, Palin’s camp and CPAC feuded over them listing her as a speaker at the conference despite the fact that she had not confirmed.

Keene didn't help mend the rift between CPAC and the Palin camp two years ago when he told Newsmax that Palin was “whining” about how the media was viciously and constantly attacking her. Even though Gov. Palin's team was in negotiations with CPAC, Barr believes that her appearance at the conference "was never in the cards." The lamestream media always knows better than those who were actually involved in the process they speculate about.

- JP