{"id":2431,"date":"2004-08-30T11:29:04","date_gmt":"2004-08-30T16:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/2431.html"},"modified":"2004-08-30T11:29:04","modified_gmt":"2004-08-30T16:29:04","slug":"council-for-national-policy-gets-a-little-more-unwanted-publicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/council-for-national-policy-gets-a-little-more-unwanted-publicity\/","title":{"rendered":"Council for National Policy gets a little more unwanted publicity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just to follow up on Friday’s item<\/a> about the ultra-secretive, ultra-conservative Council for National Policy, the New York Times obtained some information about the group’s convention gatherings and ran an interesting piece<\/a> over the weekend. (Alas, the article was hidden deep within Saturday’s issue, where it was sure to be missed.)<\/p>\n

As the article makes clear, the only thing the CNP values more than a right-wing political agenda is the secrecy with which it pursues that agenda.<\/p>\n

“The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before of after a meeting,” a list of rules obtained by The New York Times advises the attendees. <\/p>\n

The membership list is “strictly confidential.” Guests may attend “only with the unanimous approval of the executive committee.” In e-mail messages to one another, members are instructed not to refer to the organization by name, to protect against leaks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Usually, political groups trip over one another to try and gain public notoriety and attention. The CNP, meanwhile, doesn’t even want the public to know it exists. The easiest job on earth would be to serve as this group’s press secretary.<\/p>\n

The Times, meanwhile, learned a few interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits.
\n
\nFor example, this was disconcerting:<\/p>\n

Not long after the Iraq invasion, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld attended a council meeting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Too bad Congress doesn’t get as much attention from the White House as the little-known Council for National Policy.<\/p>\n

As for the group’s convention gathering:<\/p>\n

* Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) spoke to the group on Thursday and accepted its Thomas Jefferson award. He told the CNP, “The destiny of our nation is on the shoulders of the conservative movement.”<\/p>\n

* Under Secretary of State John Bolton spoke to the group about Bush’s plans for Iran, a spokesman for the State Department said. It might be nice if the rest of us knew such information, but then again, we’re not members of a secretive, right-wing cabal, so we’re out of luck.<\/p>\n

* A spokesman for Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta confirmed that Mr. Acosta had addressed efforts to stop “human trafficking,” a major issue among Christian conservatives.<\/p>\n

* Dan Senor, who recently returned from Iraq after working as a spokesman for L. Paul Bremer III, the top American civilian administrator, was scheduled to provide an update on the situation there. <\/p>\n

* Ralph Reed spoke on “The 2004 Elections: Who Will Win in November?,” attendees said.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to argue that this is a quiet little group with limited influence when it’s getting briefings like these — in secret — and when its members include John Ashcroft, Bill Frist, and Tom Delay, among others. <\/p>\n

It’s also hard to understand why the national media has shown virtually zero interest<\/a> in the group’s efforts — an inquisitive press is supposed to seek out those in power who are desperate to shield themselves from public view. What does the CNP have to hide? Apparently, quite a bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just to follow up on Friday’s item about the ultra-secretive, ultra-conservative Council for National Policy, the New York Times obtained some information about the group’s convention gatherings and ran an interesting piece over the weekend. (Alas, the article was hidden deep within Saturday’s issue, where it was sure to be missed.) As the article makes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}