The Conservative Political Action Conference, under attack from parts of the right for including gay groups, responded just now to the charge that it’s been “inffiltrated” by Islamic law.
“The fact is that we will have a panel tentatively titled ‘Defining and Debating Shariah in America’ at this year’s CPAC moderated by Cliff May of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,” emailed the American Conservative Union’s CPAC director Lisa DePasquale.
She also expressed puzzlement at the attack on the head of a conservative Muslim group, Muslims for America, by the Reagan Administration official Frank Gaffney.
“If what Frank says were true then, Suhail Khan is much more powerful than anyone ever imagined!” she emailed.
Unresolved: The unlikely alleged alliance between Sharia-backers and gays.
UPDATE: Khan fired back at Gaffney in an interview with POLITICO, saying he was being targeted because of his Muslim faith.
“It’s because I’m Muslim. It’s as simple as that,” said Khan. “There’s no truth to it. It’s the latest iteration of anti-Muslim hysteria.”
“His own diminished capacity -- not only in CPAC, but in Washington politics in general -- has really marginalized him. He’s looking for conspiracy,” said Khan about Gaffney. “It’s anti-Muslim hystyeria. This is not new. This is something that we’ll deal with. The Sharia canard is the latest iteration of that.