Years ago, I renounced the so-called “anti-jihad” blogosphere when it became obvious that the bigots were taking over, and that some people who’d been masquerading as rational critics of extremist Islam were in fact harboring an extremist agenda of their own — giving lip service to the idea that not all Muslims are terrorists while constantly encouraging exactly the opposite opinion, and making covert alliances with far right and fascist European anti-Islam groups.

Now the worst of these anti-Muslim bigots have turned into a huge embarrassment for the conservative movement, as Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, and David Horowitz spread xenophobia at CPAC and lash out at anyone who criticizes their paranoid conspiracy theories. I’m trying not to say, “I told you so.”

Politico has a report on the debacle.

“For 10 years, people have been asking for moderate Muslims to speak up,” said Spencer. “We’re going to be waiting for those guys until doomsday.” 

“Moderate Muslims don’t exist,” said one audience member at the Geller and Spencer event. “Muslims are not able to be moderate — or they are speaking against what is written in the Koran.”

Geller herself attacked CPAC and its organizers — the American Conservative Union, calling for the ouster of several ACU executives.

“This is the problem with CPAC. It’s corrupted and compromised by the Muslim Brotherhood,” Geller told the audience at her panel, saying CPAC’s leaders were either “clueless or complicit” to the threat posed by Islamists.

“There are 12,000 people who come to this event who don’t know they’ve been sold out by CPAC leadership,” said Geller, who said that the event had been taken over by Ron Paul supporters — as well as Islamists. “We have to take CPAC back.”

ThinkProgress is also focusing on this outbreak of rancid bigotry, interviewing Frank Gaffney:

Also see:
Pamela Geller versus CPAC.