The Other McCain

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

Disorderly Conduct at Right Online?

Posted on | June 21, 2011 | 24 Comments

Well, maybe we got a little rowdy at happy hour, but I didn’t think anyone did anything worth getting arrested for, so you can imagine my surprise at this headline today:

GOP blogger arrested at Netroots Nation
for allegedly harassing two female bloggers
for wearing Muslim head scarves in public.

What was that about? Minnesota Public Radio:

A St. Paul blogger faces misdemeanor charges after he allegedly harassed two Muslim women last week in downtown Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police say John Hugh Gilmore, 52, who writes a blog called Minnesota Conservatives, caused a scene Thursday night on Nicollet Mall. Sgt. Bill Palmer, a police spokesman, said Gilmore appeared to be drunk when he confronted the two women wearing the Muslim headscarf known as the hijab.
“Mr. Gilmore made some comments that he didn’t believe the women should be in the United States, and that he thought that they were ruining America,” Palmer said.

I have never met Gilmore and, until I saw this story, had never heard of him or his blog. The “hijab flash mob” appears to have been a provocative stunt by the Left — at one point, these women came to Right Online trying to waylay Herman Cain — and I regret that any conservative would allow himself to be provoked, which served only the purposes of the provocateurs. Here is Tony Katz of PJTV covering this publicity stunt:

Since the Left is so intent on accusing the Right of bigoted insensitivity, I’ve got an idea: Next year, I’ll ask a couple dozen of my buddies from the Sons of Confederate Veterans to show up at Netroots Nation in authentic rebel uniforms, flying the Confederate battle flag, and see if we can get any “progressives” arrested for disorderly conduct.

After all, if the Left wants to demand that multiculturalism requires us to enthusiastically embrace the devotees of a 7th-century Arab fanatic like Mohammed, I don’t see how they could deny such tolerance to the admirers of Jefferson Davis.

Deo Vindice!

UPDATE: Related news:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Organizers of the liberal Netroots Nation conference to be held in Providence in summer 2012 have taken steps to keep a traditional conservative counter-event at a distance.
The conservative conference RightOnline, a project of the Virginia-based group Americans for Prosperity, has staged its convention in the same city around the same time as Netroots Nation since 2008.
Raven Brooks, Netroots Nation’s executive director, said Tuesday the group had a noncompete clause in its contracts with the Rhode Island Convention Center and two Providence hotels.
“Good luck finding a venue in 2012,” he tweeted over the weekend, in reference to RightOnline. “Two words, non-compete clause. Hugs and kisses.”
Erik Telford, executive director of RightOnline, said his group has made “no firm decisions” on where to hold its 2012 conference. Providence is a top contender, but locations on the West Coast, among others, are also under consideration.

Permit me to say that many bloggers at this year’s Right Online kept saying, “Minneapolis? Why the hell are we in Minneapolis?” The 2010 conference in Las Vegas was awesome, and many Right Online attendees suggest that we stop following around Netroots Nation and instead establish Vegas as the permanent location. I’ll leave it up to Erik Telford and the AFP brain trust to decide, but I’d personally prefer a genuine resort location — Miami, San Diego, or any place with sun, sand and palm trees — to Providence, Rhode Island.

Category: Islam, Progressivism, Right Online

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