At the Values Voter Summit on Friday, former Miss California Carrie Prejean said that conservatives needed to be “an example” of “tolerance, respect and just how to be civil.” But her advice was ignored the next day when Young America’s Foundation spokesman Jason Mattera addressed a breakout session called “Turning The Tide In Your Generation.” In his comments, Mattera evoked the battle of David against Goliath as a metaphor for conservative college students who are ‘persecuted’ by the big bad liberals who control academia.” While discussing that theme, Mattera took the opportunity to argue for the supremacy of conservatism by saying, “our women are hot“:

During the panel, Mattera took the David and Goliath metaphor another perverse step: If conservatives (David) smite liberals (Goliath), they will be rewarded with the hot conservative women, just like King Saul promised his daughter to the warrior who slew the evil giant. “You know his daughter must have been beautiful because there’s no guy whose gonna die for an ugly girl,” Mattera chortled. “Our women are hot. We have Michelle Malkin. Who does the left have, Rachel Maddow? Sorry, I prefer that my women not look like dudes.”

Reporting for CampusProgress, Sarah Posner points out that Mattera had even more problems with his David and Goliath metaphor: “‘David has the righteous answer,’ Mattera said, ‘because he is taking pride in his Christian beliefs.’ No matter that Mattera didn’t accurately grasp David’s biography or the biblical timeline. In conserva-land, David, a character from the Old Testament, was a Christian even before Christ was born.”

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.

Yesterday, ThinkProgress, picking up a post by the Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel, noted an offensive Facebook message by Young America’s Foundation spokesman Jason Mattera, in which he said, “If Sotomayor gained life experience from The Ghetto, does that mean she’d have a tendency to shank Scalia?” Mattera responded to “the silly outrage from liberals” today in a message to Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey:

Okay, guys. Sorry. I got it all wrong: Sotomayor will not “shank” Scalia on the bench. What I meant to say is that she’ll shoot him up in a drive-by. Watch out, brother Antonin!

Second salvo launched! Your turn, Sonia.

Mattera, who grew up in Brooklyn, claimed that his posting was part of a joking “inner-city rivalry” with the Bronx-born Sotomayor. He also said that he was just “mocking the notion that Sotomayor is somehow better qualified for the Supreme Court because of her early days in The Bronx.”

The Republican establishment has often appeared worried that attacks on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina nominated to the court, could appear racist. But the activists of the conservative movement are less concerned. In May, blogger Debbie Schlussel called Sotomayor “Justice J-Lo.” Now, the Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel reports that Jason Mattera, the spokesman for Young America’s Foundation, has posted a blatantly offensive message about Sotomayor on his Facebook page:

This week, the Young America’s Foundation is hosting the National Conservative Student Conference.

ThinkProgress reported recently that YAF’s spokesman Jason Mattera (who describes himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism“) had denied a request by a representative of our sister organization, Campus Progress, to cover the event. From Mattera’s email:

Our event is open to real members of the press. You will not receive press credentials. My advice for you is to watch it on C-SPAN. If you have a problem with that decision, you can complain to the Foundation’s media department spokesman. Oh wait”¦that’s”¦me. :)

Mattera’s reaction was criticised around the web — including by fellow conservatives at National Review, who acknowledged that they had received press credentials for Campus Progress’ annual conference. Apparently Mattera didn’t care. Yesterday, he tracked down and ejected Conor Clarke, one of the lone progressive journalists covering the event for the Washington Monthly:

I was approached by YAF’s spokesman, Jason Mattera, on my way to see Newt Gingrich. “Who do you work for?” Mattera demanded, with a touch of petulance. “The Washington Monthly,” I told him. “Are you writing for anyone else?” “I’m blogging for Campus Progress.”

And that did the trick. “There’s the elevator,” Mattera pointed. “I can have one of my interns push the down button.” But it didn’t end there. What happened to the vaunted marketplace of ideas, I asked. The openness and exchange?

When Clarke asked why he was being ejected, Mattera responded, “Because I said so.” He then admitted, “If you were with The National Review, I’d get you a seat right up front and have one of my interns give you a nice massage, and grab you a cup of Sunkist.”

Read the rest of Clarke’s piece HERE.

Starting July 30, the Young America’s Foundation – which “specializes in helping young people advance conservative ideas” – will host the The National Conservative Student Conference.

Julie Siegel, a staff member at the Daily Pennsylvanian at UPenn, contacted YAF and asked for credentials to cover the convention on behalf of CampusProgress.org, the student publication at the Center for American Progress.

YAF’s spokesman Jason Mattera, who describes himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism,” denied her request:

Our event is open to real members of the press. You will not receive press credentials. My advice for you is to watch it on C-SPAN. If you have a problem with that decision, you can complain to the Foundation’s media department spokesman. Oh wait”¦that’s”¦me. :)

Subsequently, Mattera made clear that his decision to reject Siegel’s request was made on ideological grounds. Mattera told CampusProgress.org editor Ben Adler that The Nation, the country’s oldest progressive magazine with a circulation of almost 200,000, would also be denied credentials.

Mattera has twice covered the CampusProgress student conference for the National Review after that publication was granted press credentials, including the 2006 conference which took place on Wednesday.

Contact Rich Lowry, who is on the board of YAF’s National Journalism Center and writes for the National Review, and ask him if he supports Mattera’s decision to exclude reporters on ideological grounds. Let us know what you hear back.