Political activist Pamela Geller, creator of AtlasShrugs.com and a WND columnist, will not be appearing at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC, despite drawing packed crowds during events the past four years.
"I won't be at CPAC this year," Geller says. "This year, I applied to speak and was ignored. I tried to get a room for an AFDI (American Freedom Defense Initiative) event, 'The War on Free Speech,' and was ignored. So, for the first time in five years, I won't be at CPAC."
Geller, who has hosted events focusing on the impact of Islam on America, noted, "Every AFDI event at CPAC was standing room only. We turned people away every year."
Geller has brought well-known and controversial names to CPAC.
In 2009, Geller featured Geert Wilders, head of the third-biggest political party in the Netherlands and an outspoken critic of the Islamization of his nation.
The following year, she hosted "Jihad: The Political Third Rail," which included speakers such as Allen West, Wafa Sultan, Simon Deng, Anders Gravers and Steve Coughlin.
In 2011, she focused on the Ground Zero Mosque in New York City with families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim terror attack.
And last year, her event was titled "Islamic Law in America."
Geller calls her annual appearance at CPAC "a must-see event, addressing issues that the Grover Norquist/Suhail Khan cabal refuse to address (jihad, sharia, the war on freedom in the West)."
Norquist is the well-known president of Americans for Tax Reform, who became an outspoken Republican opponent of politicizing the Ground Zero mosque issue, calling it a "distraction." Though he has called himself as a "boring white bread Methodist," he is married to a Muslim woman.
"It has always been a challenge to hold an event at CPAC. But this year, it was impossible," Geller told WND. "Clearly, Norquist and Khan are thin-skinned, desperate to silence dissenting voices, and in league with America's enemies.
Some in the right-leaning blogosphere are reacting with surprise to Geller's exclusion by the American Conservative Union, the sponsors of CPAC.
Donald Douglas of the AmericanPowerBlog said, "[Geller's] events were the freakin' pinnacle of the conference. Sheesh. What is wrong with this world? Now Pamela's banned? Unbe-freakin'-lievable."
Geller has recently been involved in an ad campaign to counter Islamic ads suggesting "jihad" is a peaceful word.
"They're attempting to fool Americans into thinking that jihad is about getting in your exercise and making friends," she told Breitbart.com.
"My ads, in contrast, tell the truth about the jihad that too many Muslims believe in and act upon, and the only jihad that Americans need to be concerned about. They're designed to tell the truth about jihad and lay bare CAIR's deceptions and lies."
CPAC is a three-day event beginning March 14 in Washington, D.C., and WND-TV will be providing live coverage of the event. (Sign up now for the free programming and an email reminder of the broadcasts.)
Some of this year's featured speakers include well-known figures such as Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry and WND columnist and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
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