WHAT KIND OF TEA PARTY GROUP IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE?

Robert Spencer was supposed to receive an award from some hosts at CPAC. But one of the sponsors didn't want to give it to him unless he abridged his free speech and refrained from criticizing Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan:

Islam analyst and author Robert Spencer was scheduled to be honored at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC, for his widely read blog JihadWatch.org, but he won’t be in attendance, he says, because of a speech restriction sponsors of the award placed on him.

JihadWatch.org was the overwhelming winner of CPAC’s People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Right Wing News and TheTeaParty.net.

Spencer said he received confirmation of the award Saturday night from one of the organizers. He had been promised that as a result of his award, there would be an announcement and special promotions of JihadWatch.org.

But as time went on and there was no announcement of the award, and the promotions didn’t materialize, he contacted the organizer and learned there was a problem.

Spencer was told that one of the co-sponsors of the award, TheTeaParty.net, didn’t want to allow him to receive the award at CPAC next week unless he promised not to criticize two board members of CPAC’s hosting organization, the American Conservative Union: Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan.

“I told the organizer that I couldn’t agree to that,” Spencer said.

And he's right not to. But this whole affair sheds light on how at least one so-called Tea Party organization is succumbing to dhimmitude and censoring free speech. What that bunch are doing also takes away the ability to clearly distinguish between left and right. This is exactly why nobody who cares about freedom for civilized society should attend CPAC anymore.