After seeing the flyer (sent to him by someone at USC) that I wrote about yesterday, David Horowitz has responded to the radicals at USC on his own blog.

An article that will run in USC’s Daily Trojan newspaper Tomorrow addresses the USC College Republicans’ decision to keep members of the Students for Justice in Palestine and USC Progressive Alliance who wanted to disrupt the event from being allowed inside.

In the Daily Trojan article SJP President Alex Shams, also known as the guy that wrote the e-mail full of nonsense about Mr. Horowitz, expresses concern about racial profiling by the USC CRs. Shams, of course, could never imagine a world in which there were Muslims who wanted to attend the event out of interest, for intellectual stimulation, or because they actually agreed with Mr. Horowitz.

The USC College Republicans have no interest in racially profiling attendees tonight. Why would they? The USC CRs, have Muslim members, and I’m sure believe that not all Muslims want to “stand up and turn their backs” (something the SJP and USC Progs said they were planning, according to the Daily Trojan piece) on Mr. Horowitz during his speech.

So, the SJP and USC Progressives wanted to disrupt Horowitz’s speech, sorry kiddos, you shouldn’t have let the cat out of the bag so quickly. Leftist/radical “activists” have gotten pretty lame. Really, who tells a campus newspaper that you plan to silently turn your back on a lecturer? If you’re going to do it, at least don’t tell the event organizers the day before!

Yesterday I said the “activists” could learn about tolerance and academic freedom from Horowitz, today there’s a new lesson; activism.

If you’re in-the-loop of campus conservatism, you’ve heard the stories of leftist vitriol against conservative students and invited speakers. Campus leftists reserve a special kind of hatred for the few Big-Time  speakers who they can’t bare to share the same planet with—protests, shout-downs, cancelled events, and the occasional pie throwing come to mind.  The University of Southern California has one of those people coming to campus this week.

Conservative activist and Israel advocate David Horowitz was invited by the USC College Republicans to speak on the USC Campus this Wednesday, November 4th; and the lefties are going nuts.

This is a flyer from the USC Progressive Alliance that’s been spotted around campus:

Mr. Horowitz’s topic Wednesday will be combating campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity, so calling him an Islamophobe and racist was the easiest card to play. The quote on the flyer is controversial, but it’s also out of context.

UPDATE: Apparently, the quote on the flyer is something that was never said or written by Horowitz—The quote attributed to Mr. Horrowitz is from a piece by “Hindutva News Analysis”**:Here’s the article from FrontPage Magazine where that quote was published in a 2002 story on 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta titled “What makes people like Atta beasts in Human form?“

USC recently had its own experience with a Muslim scripture that called for the indiscriminate killing of Jews everywhere. Horowitz was on the front lines when the “Hadith of Hate” was banned from the USC Muslim Student Association’s university-owned website.

Last week the Students for [in-]Justice in Palestine sent out a similar e-mail to it’s members, a list of sentence fragments taken out of context. [See the e-mail here] The e-mails ends, “Students for Justice in Palestine has voted to oppose this speaker in any way possible, and I am now calling on you to help us figure out how to respond.”

“Oppose this speaker in any way possible”?

Intolerance, (violence?), and the silencing of political, social, and religious minorities on college campuses is exactly what David Horowitz has been fighting against with his Academic Freedom program. Maybe the SJP and USC [Re]gressives could learn a little lesson from their arch-nemesis this Wednesday.

Not to worry, the event will go on. And,  the “opposition” will be televised, so stay tuned for video.

**I am checking why the article by “Hindutva News Analysis” seems to be attributed to FRONTPAGEMAG.com, a website run by Horrowitz. It seems as if “www.frontpagemag.com” was just added to the article. For now, it looks like I and the USC Progressives both made an error in attributing the article to Horowitz.

I was at the College Republican National Committee’s convention this weekend in Washington DC. It was fun and interesting to meet CRs from all over the country, talk politics and listen to the line-up of Republican speakers.

The convention officially started Thursday afternoon with registration and exhibitions from conservative groups including the NRA, ISI, and YAF. CRs started meeting and getting to know each other, no events were planned for the evening so a bunch of CRs went out to the Hawk n’ Dove at night with CRNC candidate Zach Howell.

Speaking events started on Friday morning with Rep. Frank Wolf from Virginia at 10am followed by Eagle Forum CEO Phylis Schlafly and Rep. Aaron Shock from Illinois. At 11:30 the auditorium was full for a speech from Senator John McCain. The former presidential candidate tried to rally CRs for the mission ahead, talking about how to deal with being lost in the wilderness and how to get the GOP back on track. The day continued with a workshop, that I didn’t make it to, with David All titled “why we lost in 2008,” I figured that I knew why,  since I had just watched Sen. McCain speak before lunch.

Lunch was long, so I missed a speech from former PA Senator Rick Santorum and  “Operation Waiting Game.”

At 4pm CRNC Chairman Charlie Smith announced Leigh Wolf the winner of the CR of of the Year award, and gave him about 15 minutes to speak about conservative activism. The “award” was a free hotel room, a metro card, and an ego boost. Leigh’s speech, although not well attended (there were maybe 20 people in the room), was entertaining and uplifting. Leigh gave CRs from other states a taste of what it’s like to be a CR in San Francisco with a story about exposing Cindy Sheehan as a lefty nut-bag and one about being attacked by hundreds of leftists on campus while tabling for his chapter at SFSU in 2004.

The Lee Atwater Gala Dinner was the big event of the night with key note speaker Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. There was mixed response to the speech, which got a lot of media attention. Some CRs thought Pawlenty’s plans to reach out to “Sam’s Club Republicans” were enlightening and his call for outreach to minority groups inspiring. I was really unimpressed, both by the speech and Pawlenty’s “plans” for the GOPs future. “Sam’s Club Republicans” or “Costco Republicans” or whatever you want to call them are not new, they’re the same middle-class hard working American that both parties court every election cycle. What’s important is how we’ll get them to vote for the GOP in the next election, not pointing out that they exist and probably agree with our core principles. What I want to see is a conservative politician (which I don’t think Pawlenty is) who actually has a plan for courting new Republican voters and knows how to explain our principles to them. Sure, Pawlenty got elected in Minnesota, but the state isn’t turning red under him.

After the Gala Zach Howell held a party in a hotel suite. It was broken up by hotel staff after a while but I’m pretty sure the CRs in attendance were having a good time. The night continued at some DC bars for some, a big group of CRs also went out to see the monuments at night.

Saturday was convention day. The election took a long time with a full roll call vote, but only one position (Midwest Vice Chair) was contested. Zach Howell from Utah was elected chairman, Jeremy Hagen from Missouri – co-chairman, Brand Kroeger from DC – treasurer, Chandler Harris from Alabama – secretary, Michael Antonopoulos from California – Western regional vice chair, Pete Vitale from Michigan – Midwest regional vice chair, Rudy Perciful from Louisiana – Southern regional vice chair, and Tarence Grado from New Jersey – Northeast regional vice chair.

After the convention RNC chairman Michael Steele spoke to the group. I opted out, since I just saw him recently in LA, and chose to join Leigh Wolf and some CRs from California, Michigan, DC and New Jersey  doing a little activism at an anti-Israel protest near the Israeli embassy, pictures and video to come soon.

The “Young and The Restless” party was the big event of the night. CRs enjoyed a wild night with an open bar until 1:30 am, with a DJ, dancing, and even karaoke.

Congratulations to Charlie Smith and the outgoing leadership team for putting on a great convention, and to Zach Howell and the new leadership on their elections. I’ll put up pictures of convention throughout the week.

CRNC Chair candidate Zach Howell announced the remaining spots on his leadership team today, except for the Northeast Vice Chair spot. We’re glad to announce that one of our own, recently elected California CR Chairman Michael Antonopoulos will be joining Howell as candidate for Western Regional Vice Chair.

The whole team (-Northeast Vice):

Zach Howell (UT) – Candidate for Chairman

Jeremy Hagen (MO) – Candidate for Co-Chairman

Brand Kroeger (DC) – Candidate for Treasurer

Chandler Harris (AL) – Candidate for Secretary

Michael Antonopoulos (CA) – Candidate for Western Regional Vice Chair

Pete Vitale (MI) – Candidate for Midwest Regional Vice Chair

Rudy Perciful (LA) – Candidate for Southern Regional Vice Chair

Check out their bios at ZachHowell.com.

Round two is up for CRNC’s CR Activist of the Year. Here are the choices:

1. Jessica Bender – Vice President of Chapter Affairs (Arizona State)

2. John Kleinhans – Vermont State Chairman (Lyndon State)

3. Matt Rubin - Chapter President (University of Toledo)

4. Leigh Wolf – Former Co-Chair of California College Republicans, Founder of Patriot Axiom (San Francisco State)

Read their bios and VOTE HERE.

The first round of voting for College Republican Activist of the year started yesterday. There are 12 nominees that will be split into 3 voting rounds (sorry I missed the first one ) with 24 hours open for voting on each round.

The first round:

1. Nickole Heater, 2008 CRNC field rep who recruited more than 10,000 students in Missouri.

2. Monica Ryskamp, Chapter Chairwoman of the Clemson College Republicans

3. Chris Shipp, Montana College Republican Vice-Chairman

4. Vikram Srinivasan, Duke College Republican Chapter Chairman

You can’t vote on these anymore (fail… sorry) but we’ll let you know about the next two rounds.

The San Francisco State College Republicans, one of the state’s more activivist chapters, was featured in today’s San Francisco Chronicle : “College Republicans Stand Their Ground.”

And so it goes on campuses across the country, the College Republicans are extremists while the Muslim Student Association (an actual wing of the Muslim Brotherhood), La Raza and the “Black Student Union” are played off as liberals.

Congratulations to SF State CRs! Keep it up.

Follow the SF State CRs on Twitter: @GatorGOP, and check out their website: GatorGOP.org

Maria Klingenfuss, newly elected Chair of the University of The Pacific College Republicans, launched a new website today. You can talk to Pacific CRs on Twitter: @PacificCRs, and check out their new Facebook group.

A Townhall blog post, was passed to us today concerning the University of California San Diego College Republicans. Infighting at the UCSD club has been raging since last semester, we hadn’t reported on it until now because we thought it better to let them deal with their problems rather than drag them into the public. So, what’s up at UCSD?

Adam Brickley at The Brickyard, covers the UCSD infighting in a one sided and  lengthy post this morning (read it for background). The story was also picked up here. The full story is not necessarily what’s relevant here, more important are the allegations of corruption and dirty tricks that Brickley levels at the CCR Executive Committee.

From what I can see, if the former Chair of UCSD CRs Dejah Stanley was actually impeached, the melt-down of UCSD CRs was caused by Inez Feltscher and her friends when they supported Dejah in illegitimately removing several officers from the UCSD operations website and pushing Megan Rodriguez out of the club apparently for vindictive personal reasons. It’s hard to discern, not having been there, whether Stanley was impeached or not. Allegedly the impeachment was a circus, attended by non-UCSD students and non-CRs, many of whom cast “provisional” ballots against impeachment. (Updated from reader comments) Even if the impeachement was indeed invalid, the club’s actions under Stanley and Feltscher were turned towards removing Rodriguez from the club completely and reconstructing the chapter.

Everything went downhill from there for the UCSD chapter, External Vice-Chair Megan Rodriguez, and Secretary Ronsen Yako were “kicked out” of the club at an impeachment meeting at which they were not present, the new leadership drafted a new constitution, and aimed their attentions at tarnishing Rodriguez’s name in public. Rodriguez and the ousted officers, no longer able to conduct business after being removed from the UCSD student organizations site by the impeached Dejah, decided to open a charter called “Triton College Republicans” with UCSD to continue the legitimate club–something that was no longer possible at the re-made club headed by Feltscher.

When both “College Republicans at UCSD” and “Triton College Republicans” submitted chartering documents with the State Federation, the Executive Committee was forced to make a decision on which group would be recognized for the next year. In a heated conference call held last Thursday, described by one CR present as a “shit show,” the Executive Committee invited both Rodriguez and Feltscher to present their cases. According to sources, Rodriguez was calm and composed, basing her case for chartering on the claim that theirs was the original club, only renamed by necessity after the club headed by Feltscher crumbled. Feltscher, on the other hand, repeatedly insulted the Executive Committee, claiming that they were corrupt and that the vote was unjust and unconstitutional–It was actually required constitutionally.

It happens that some of the members of the CCR Executive Committee are running on the Revolutionize CCR slate, including Rodriguez, while Feltscher and her group have endorsed their opponents, Red State Rising. What this has to do with the outcome of the vote is beyond me, unless you’re prone to conspiracy theories.

The Chairwoman of CCR abstained from voting, as did RevCCR candidate Michael Antonopoulos, Ms. Rodriguez and the CCR Secretary. Triton CRs was chosen to be recognized in a 6-1 vote. The one vote for Feltscher was from Executive Committee member Ryan McNicholas, who read a prepared statement calling the vote unjust before voting.

It is unfortunate that the decision had to be made, and that UCSD had such a terrible internal struggle, but it happens, and everyone should try to move on for the good of their clubs and in the interest of working together across the state.

Just received a statement from Cheyenne Steel, Chairwoman of CCR:

It has come to my attention that several political blogs have taken interest in recent events that have transpired within the UCSD College Republicans and the California College Republicans. The statements made in these blogs, fed by a group of disenfranchised opportunists, are inaccurate and substantially misrepresent the situation. The decision of the California College Republicans Executive Committee with regard to the UCSD College Republicans was made out of
constitutional necessity and done so without bias or personal interest. Two clubs, each accredited and claiming the distinction that they were the legitimately chartered College Republican chapter at the university, submitted information for credentialing at our annual Convention.

After hearing accounts from representatives of both clubs, a vote took place to determine which club would assume the chartering expiring at the upcoming annual Convention. No chapters were un-chartered, and no one removed from the organization. The vote was simply to determine which club was the rightful owner of the original UCSD charter based on the facts presented and the actions of those involved. We clarified to everyone on the call that all parties involved were still invited to Convention and all discounts and privileges would be honored.

The impact, if any, the situation has on the designation of delegates from UCSD for Convention is a matter of internal discretion within the club. I am extremely disappointed in the actions taken by those unsatisfied with the decision and strongly encourage those involved to work together to resolve the situation internally.

UCSD College Republicans posted a statement on their website regarding the CCR decision.

South Carolina College Republicans also held their convention on April 4th, unanimously electing Clemson University  Junior Katie Welborn as State Chair.

Missed this one, but via CR Nation – North Carolina’s convention was also held on the fourth. Ben Lynch from Wake Forest was elected Chair, and Jason Sutton from UNC Chapel Hill was elected Co-Chair.