YAF organizer kicks progressive intern out of right-wing conference: ‘Why don’t you move to Canada?’
YAF organizer kicks progressive intern out of right-wing conference: ‘Why don’t you move to Canada?’
The conservative Young America’s Foundation (YAF) is currently holding its annual conference here in Washington, DC, featuring Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Ann Coulter, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Today an intern with CAP’s youth branch, Campus Progress, was kicked out of the conference by YAF spokesman Jason Mattera. The intern, Emily Rutherford, recounted her experience:
Mattera explained that the problem was that I’m a Campus Progress intern, and that since I’ve been liveblogging the conference all morning, I wouldn’t be allowed in, since blogging isn’t allowed at YAF’s conference (despite the fact that attendees have been tweeting about the conference all day). I told Mattera that struck me as bizarre, and a little bit like censorship. He suggested that I tell this to my “friends in the White House, and maybe they’ll pass a law to make us let you in.” Mattara is, apparently, unaware of the fact that it is Congress, not the White House that passes laws. [...]
Mattera laughed at me, and then replied, “Goodbye—oh wait, here, have an Obama fist bump.” I refused his proffered fist, and he added, “Why don’t you move to Canada?” He seemed to think this suggestion was hilarious.
As Rutherford noted, Campus Progress recently held its own annual conference and allowed any student — regardless of ideology — into the event. But this tactic seems to be standard for Mattera and YAF. In 2006, Mattera — who has described himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism” — refused to grant credentials to a University of Pennsylvania student who wanted to cover the conference on behalf of Campus Progress and ejected a Washington Monthly writer/Campus Progress blogger.
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Well, come on. If you’re gonna be discussing specific strategies to disrupt town hall meetings and send forged letters to Congresspeople, ya can’t have just anybody liveblogging it.
That might wreck the whole plan.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:59 pmMean-spirited sarcasm – that’s the right wing.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:00 pmYoung American Sociopaths in training.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:00 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Did Emily notice if Mattera was wearing a Swastika lapel pin or armband?
August 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pmSounds about right. Send deranged freepers to disrupt town hall meetings so serious minded people can’t rationally discuss important policy decisions but make sure nobody can witness your secret bund meetings. This country acts more and more like Germany between the wars every year.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:06 pmWhere do these young Fascists draw their inspiration from? Hah!
August 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pmWell, maybe Mattera was afraid there would be a town-hall-style heckling. Or a shanking?
(Man, I want to Vote Down myself for even going There.)
August 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pmMattera-The face of the New American Fascism
August 4th, 2009 at 6:10 pmRemember, this is the same guy who said he wouldn’t join the military to fight in Iraq because he was fighting “the war of ideas” in this country.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:11 pmYou can’t blame them for banning outsiders. After all, Jim DeMint, Ann Coulter, and Newt Gingrich are going to be speaking.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:14 pmWhat many of you can’t understand is that they are sociopaths. That’s what you’re dealing with. This society needs to realize that and how to deal with it because they cause a great deal of damage.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:17 pmJim DeMint, Ann Coulter, and Newt Gingrich ARE outsiders. This fringe embracing GOP is NOT your parents’ GOP!
August 4th, 2009 at 6:18 pmI’m sure Mattera will read this blog thread so I will say to you, you ain’t normal and never will be. Eat it, creep. And I don’t appreciate you scaring gullible old people for profit. Shows what you are.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:21 pmTreatment for a sociopath: Two Words: Nothing Works.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:23 pmMr. Cobb says:
What many of you can’t understand is that they are sociopaths.
No, most of us realize they are sociopaths. What is not widely recognized is that they are not acting alone. Rather they are in the “employ” of those who would destroy our country and the Constitution that is at the base of it. That would be those who espouse the conservative ideology.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:26 pmThose who “destroy our country and Constitution” are also sociopaths. That’s why I wrote that he and others are “in training.”
August 4th, 2009 at 6:31 pmThat is so mean spirited! I’m astonished!
Fact is stranger than fiction.
Republicanism is a mental disorder.
The MSM is hypocritical to support them.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:42 pmMr. Cobb says:
Those who “destroy our country and Constitution” are also sociopaths. That’s why I wrote that he and others are “in training.”
I call those who are “running the ship” psychopaths not sociopaths. But this is a semantic disagreement. Both are nuts in my view and we do have to understand that and more effectively deal with them.
Dems who cling to the idea that “we just have to present the facts” as is the current approach to the Town Hall meetings on health care, are going to lose the battle. This is a fight for the emotions of the general public, not a university course for the uneducated.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pmRock on, Emily. It figures that Mattera and his ilk would only be able to reply with a phony fistbump and a derogatory remark about Canada. Like the Republican Party in general, these folks are redundant in the modern world. They have no vision, no style, and certainly no class. As someone above wrote, they are definitely a “fringe group.”
They need to read some Tolstoy and find compassion for others.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:53 pmThis smarmy kid has his routine, nothing new.
Fact check for Mr. Mattera: You may be laughing, but the 30th-ranked health system in the world is laughing at #37. You should also note that Canada’s health spending is less than ours and yet they cover 100% of the population.
You’re welcome to reality anytime.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:57 pmHuman predators in training.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:57 pmMerlin, I gave you a ‘thumbsup’ because I concur.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:59 pmEr, I don’t want my health determined by the invisible hand of the free market. lol
August 4th, 2009 at 7:02 pm* * *
jason has the look about
him of a young backup and
the comedy stylings of a
sloppy batanando.
. . .
August 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm***
nice tie.
:)
August 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm“…Mattere …. who has described himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism” …
He’s been in the vegetable ‘crisper’ too long.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:08 pm“Why don’t you move to Canada?”
I always ask such RightWing jerks, Why don’t you move to Somalia ? You’d LOVE it ! No gun control, no EPA, no taxes. Just don’t forget your Kalashnikov.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pmWillowOrchid says:
“…Mattere …. who has described himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism” …
He’s been in the vegetable ‘crisper’ too long.
Usually, if someone has to describe themselves in some way, others aren’t using that phrase to describe him.
Apparently, he’s also called himself the “funniest guy in Canada”.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:12 pm“… he added, “Why don’t you move to Canada?” He seemed to think this suggestion was hilarious…”
Yeah, doltish sarcasm is the epitome of Repug humor. Maybe she could have replied:
“Why don’t you go live in Honduras?” They just has a fascist coup d’état. Mattera would fit right in, until he was thrown out.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:15 pmWhere are the trolls to tell us how “libs always stifle discussion”? For all the whining here about the vote up/down option, one would think they’d be outraged by the YAF.
I’m happy to tally their responses of outrage.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:18 pmMove to Canada? He wants to p*** off our closest ally? If people like this gain power, we will have absolutely no friends left in the world.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:20 pmMattera is a pompous prick. These conservative windbags are only open to their own monologue – no open discussions or free thinkers allowed. Why would Mattera possibly want other progressive students to know about their lack of ideas, logic and commonsense?
Their level of stupidity, greed and pure evil is astounding.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:28 pmJason Mattera – Proud to be a JERK.
wow… surely his mom is pained… hopefully…
August 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm“Why don’t you move to Canada?”
Mattera, why don’t you move out of your parents’ basement and get a real job, one in which you contribute something useful to society (as opposed to your current job)?
August 4th, 2009 at 7:39 pm“Goodbye—oh wait, here, have an Obama fist bump.” I refused his proffered fist, and he added, “Why don’t you move to Canada?” He seemed to think this suggestion was hilarious.
Cripes, these cretins just don’t do humor at all, I don’t think they even get the whole concept of humor.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:44 pmhormiga brava chavez says:
Their level of stupidity, greed and pure evil is astounding.
Well… they are not stupid. They have researched and prepared their approach since Goldwater back in the 60s. It may sound stupid to us, but look at their successes in the Raygun Presidency, ‘94 Congressional election, the devastating personal attacks on Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in “04 that won the day for them. Then there was the defeat of health care in ‘94 and effect of bringing the Clinton administration to its knees in the last few years of his term. All this and not even mentioning the overwhelming devastation that Chainy and his puppet “W” brought us.
Greedy and evil… you betcha! Stupid? Absolutely not. To believe that they are stupid is to buy into their game by writing them off.
They know something that the Dems don’t understand. It is emotion, not logic and superior policy that wins elections.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pmThey are weak and will die.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:59 pmWhat a horrifying little circle-jerk that conference must have been. Didja figure out which building you want to blow up, yaffers?
August 4th, 2009 at 8:10 pmDon’t even go to these things anymore.
Just ignore them.
Look no liberal or progressive is going to win here. If it’s their meeting you’re on their turf and they’re going to toss you out.
So you know what you do?
Stop going to them.
Don’t even go to republican meetings anymore.
Isolate them.
They want to be marginalized into a tiny, radical demographic, fine.
Let them.
They think their parties shrinking now, wait until no press other than Fox attends their stupid meetings anymore.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pmI tried. TP’s filters have prevented me from posting some information about Mattera, even though I edited a couple of bad words (legitimate biological terms, I might add). Let’s just say he’s not a good person. You can read more here, if they let me.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:18 pmGive me five minutes alone in a room with this punk, and I’ll wipe the smirk off his face and have him sobbing like a girl–without touching him. I have D cups and a brain–lethal weapons against Republican thugs like this.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:44 pmSo the conservative YAF spokesman Jason Mattera is a douchbag?
August 4th, 2009 at 8:45 pmColor me (not) surprised.
These people have the social conscience of cannibals.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:46 pmWonder what they’re hiding???
August 4th, 2009 at 8:49 pmMerlin Says:
They know something that the Dems don’t understand. It is emotion, not logic and superior policy that wins elections.
This is correct. The primary Republican m.o. now is to tap into people’s emotions and frighten them. When humans are tapped emotionally, they tend to think less. For example, if I run up to you at work and say, “The building’s on fire, get out now,” odds are that you would just run for the nearest exit. You’re not going to think, you’re going to react. If you hesitated on the way out long enough to notice that I’m just standing there, and you begin to use your brain, only then will you realize that I was playing a joke on you. Thanks to people like Frank Luntz (and I better not ever hear of a single taxpayer cent going to this man), Republicans have learned that when voters think, Republicans lose. So, they do everything they can to keep the public agitated and worried, because if they’re feeling, they’re not thinking.
Republicans know that if they run on the facts, they cannot win because the facts do not support their position.
So, what can we do? Well, maybe we should try doing it their way, but with the truth. One of their favorite tactics is to say to voters, “Do you want some Washington bureaucrat deciding what health care you get?” We should turn this around and say, “Do you want some insurance company idiot who gets paid more for denying your claim to decide what health care you get?” (This has the dual advantage of both playing to their emotions and of being a hell of a lot closer to the truth than what their side is saying.) I’m sure we can find other truth-filled emotional arguments, but I think we are going to have to start going that route. Simply telling the truth doesn’t work with some people, though it’s usually the people you aren’t going to win over anyway because they’re hell-bent on voting against their own best interests.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:17 pmThis is typical of Mattera. That Portugee little greaseball has been a boil on the tip of the nation’s dick ever since he was a snotball college Republican. I love taking down that little prick.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:28 pmWhy is it that the liberals allow anyone and everyone into their primaries, etc, (diverse opinions are permitted), but conservatives isolate themselves and refuse to allow any and all non conservatives in? Oh, that’s right… because if those people started making liberal statements, why, then, conservatives might actually hear something they don’t want to hear and might actually, god forbid, learn from it.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:21 pmoh wait, I thought conservatives and the teabaggers were defenders of democracy…*shocked look!
August 4th, 2009 at 11:26 pmSounds about right. Send deranged freepers to disrupt town hall meetings so serious minded people can’t rationally discuss important policy decisions but make sure nobody can witness your secret bund meetings. This country acts more and more like Germany between the wars every year.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:34 amThe guy in that photo above looks very gay to me….IMHO…
August 5th, 2009 at 7:00 amJason Mattera, culture war chickenhawk !
August 5th, 2009 at 8:35 amYAF = Young Americans for Feudalism
How reality-free is the YAF?
The president of the YAF, Ron Robinson, has a book out about the “Funding Fathers” — the “unsung” heroes of conservatism, the people who funded/bolstered Reagan and the rise of the new right wing extremism that the YAF is today.
The book DOES NOT name the number funder of conservatism over the last 30 years, DOES NOT NAME HIM!!
Who is that? Sun Myung Moon. Moon outspent anyone funding and molding the minds of today’s right. No one, NO ONE outspent him, but in YAF land reality is scorned and to admit that Moon was their primary sugar daddy the last 30 years was just a little too much reality for the YAF so they left Moon out.
Funny, they mentioned Richard Viguerie who has been propped up, bailed out and kept in business all these years by Moon but not Moon, the money man, the “unsung” funding hero the book claims to be about.
Do you think they didn’t want to address the fact that much of the overseas billions laundered into the country to fund the right was swindled from widows in Japan?
Read part 2 here to see how hundreds of millions to fund today’s right was made.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:33 pmOf course Mattera would do that to a woman, a bully such as he apparently IS wouldn’t have the guts to do that B.S. to someone who might be able to physically back him down. You people are nothing but a bunch of cowardly wussies.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:12 pmContact Jason Mattera here:
jmattera@yaf.org
August 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm