Griper Blade: The Conference of the Crazy People's Action Committee

In years past, the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) has earned the nickname "Crazy People's Action Committee" with its right wing religious fanaticism. Speakers at CPAC conferences have used the opportunity to warn against the Homosexual Menace and the way "undermedicated" "psychotic" leftists were destroying the judiciary by only allowing "activist judges" to sit on the bench. It was about abortion, it was about evolution in schools, it was about how the only way to be a good person was to be a good Republican Christian.

A lot has been said about this year's CPAC conference -- which wrapped up this weekend -- but one thing that few have noted is the toned-down nature of the religious lunacy. It was still the Crazy People's Action Committee, but the craziness has shifted focus. Feverish warnings of God's judgment have been replaced with feverish warnings of creeping socialism -- which, in CPAC World is synonymous with communism, which in turn equals fascism. That fascism was an anti-communist movement is lost on these people since, let's face it, the audience they're speaking to are as ignorant as they are crazy. Where CPAC used to be a gathering of religious nutjobs, it's now become a gathering of people like Joe the Plumber.

So I guess the good news is that if you ever needed proof the conservative movement was abandoning the religious right in droves, I give you the 2009 CPAC conference. The bad news is that this doesn't mean they're any saner. Not that the movement conservatives have moved away from the religious right entirely -- you can still find groups claiming that homosexuality can be "cured" with prayer -- but it's clear that they're no longer front and center in that movement.

Still, as the lunacy shifts focus, it becomes no saner nor closer to the mainstream. Mitt Romney, for example, won the conference's straw poll -- making it two consecutive wins for Mittens. After winning last year's poll, Willard went on to fail to buy the Republican primary with masive infusions of his own money. Clearly, CPAC doesn't represent even the mainstream among Republican voters... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]