Today's conservatism

Update: Since many people are stopping by from an old Culture11 comment, perhaps I can interest you in Scott Payne's blueprint for 21st century conservatism.


In case you're unfamiliar with the Conservative Political Action Committee, speakers in previous years have included Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney, Pat Buchanan, Karl Rove, and Newt Gingrich.

Reagan spoke at CPAC a total of 12 times. So it's saddening to see how far they've fallen during the Bush years:



He suggests that Obama may not have been born in the U.S., because that would make him ineligible for the presidency. The crowd cheers.

Is there a floor on how low the conservative movement will fall?

Because that's not it. Watch this clip from yesterday: (meme)



Here Bush's recess-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations jokes about nuking Chicago. The whole audience erupts in laughter.