CPAC panelists lashed out at the Occupy movement Saturday during a discussion about the differences between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, while about 100 Occupy protesters shouted slogans against conservatives as they marched to the conference in a light snow.
The ballroom in the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel was packed for the panel, and attendees gave standing ovations throughout panelists’ speeches.
“They are out here protesting us because we are a threat to their agenda,” said panelist Amy Kramer, the chairwoman of the Tea Party Express. “We believe that power should be put back in the hands of people in the states and not in the federal government.”
Protesters outside said they were dismayed they hadn’t been invited to the panel. On the march to the hotel they chanted, “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, right wing bigots, go away.”
Kevin Jackson, of theblacksphere.net, who was one of the speakers, said of the Occupiers, “I think these guys are nutjobs. I love to confront lunacy in all its forms, and this is a perfect example of it.”
Speakers spent the discussion, which lasted about half an hour, reaffirming the Tea Party’s viability and pointing out differences between Occupiers and Tea Party protesters, calling Occupiers un-American and suggesting they had been co-opted by major labor unions.
They called the Occupy movement “irrelevant” and said that Tea Partiers should focus on electing conservatives to Congress, not sparring with Occupy.
Occupiers outside the hotel, who marched from Meridian Hill Park earlier in the afternoon, had attempted to enter the Marriott Wardman, but were stopped at the driveway by police, who told them they couldn’t protest on private property. It was the second day of the protest dubbed “Occupy CPAC,” which kicked off Friday with a union-backed demonstration attended by about 200 people.
Later that night, Occupiers protested outside the Marriott again, but were pushed back from the hotel entrance by D.C. police using nightsticks.
