2007 CPAC reveals conservative demons

Goldy catches this fantastic Max Blumenthal look inside the CPAC conference - and then pulls out a David Horowitz quote:

The left is driven by envy, resentment and a ferocious hatred of anybody on the other side. And that’s because it’s a religious movement which believes that the world can be redeemed, we can end world poverty, we can end racism, sexism and homophobia, if only those damned conservatives would die. And so every leftist has in his heart, is consumed with hate.”

It's always amused me how the right, seemingly without fail, tries to pin its own demons on us. The typical liberal revenge fantasy right now involves hearings, courts of law and the Constitution. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's the same kind of "hatred" that allowed the Allies to put people on trial after World War II rather than simply executing them.

Conservative revenge fantasies tend to be a little less circumspect, to say the least.

It wasn't our side of the ball who polluted the air waves with people like G. Gordon Liddy, back in the day, talking about "head shots." And it continues to this day.

The fuel mixture on my crystal ball is running a little rich, and in the corners it looks like those asphalt seams are creating a problem, but at the risk of forecasting the future it's possible we will look back at the 2007 CPAC conference as the defining moment where conservatism finally did itself in altogether.

On a weekend where at least two Democratic candidates were speaking eloquently in Alabama upon the anniversary of the attempted march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, conservatives were hanging around with dolphins wearing confederate flags. (Ok, I exaggerate, but not by much.)

If that's the best they have to offer, 2008 is going to be a great election.

MORE-- As usual, Digby says it better than I (or most people) can:

This hideous face of the Republican Party has been obvious to those of us who have been paying attention for a long, long time. It is the single most important reason why our politics have devolved into a filthy grudge match.

For a long time liberals were paralyzed or indifferent as the GOP demonized liberalism as the root of every problem and pathology in American society. We were derided as unamerican, treasonous and evil. After the congressional harrassment of the 90's, the partisan impeachment, the puerile coverage of campaign 2000 and the resulting installation of a Republican president under very dubious circumstances, Democrats of all stripes heard both the Republicans and the media smirking at our outrage and telling us to "get over it."

And all of this was after Bill Clinton had moved the party to the center, had governed as a bipartisan compromiser and the Republicans impeached him anyway. Clearly, the Democratic party was blind if they didn't take the Republicans at their threatening words.

Journalists should really click through and read to the end of Digby's post.