CPAC

Mitt Romney spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday, finally giving up the ghost of his failed campaign. He tried to put the best face on his loss, but after spending $50 million of his own, he was not a happy camper. He did, however, manage to coin the next big political catch phrase. Praising his retreat from the field as an act of party unity – and setting himself up for another run in 2012 – Romney said he did it to prevent Hillary from winning the White House where she would “surrender to terrorism.” So now, after five years of “cut and run" and "stay the course," any suggestion of troop withdrawal will be denounced as a "surrender to terrorism.

Duplicity, which is deeply ingrained in most politicians, not just conservatives, was displayed at CPAC as a shield of honor. With one face, speakers promised to strike down Roe vs. Wade, praising God and gushing about the sanctity of each individual life, especially those yet to be born, while with the other they promised to continute sending American troops to their death, reguardless of the cause or location. Obviously, the sanctity of life does not apply to the battlefield. Romney, who never fought anywhere more dangerous than a corporate board room, was especially patriotic.

John McCain, who will in fact carry the Republican standard this Fall, took the opportunity to pander to the party’s conservative base. This genuine tough guy, a bona fide American war hero who didn't give up a single piece of information to his North Vietnamese captors, promised the CPAC audience that he would be a really really, really, really good conservative. Not everyone was impressed.

Tom DeLay, the Former House Majority Leader and power broker from Sugarland, Texas who is now under federal indictment for corruption, told Chris Mathews that McCain's mea culpa wasn't quite sincere enough for him. Ann Coulter, the conservative author and commentator who has gained national fame by turning bad manners and vile speech into an art form, opined that McCain wasn’t a true conservative. God help the Republicans.

a foot on either side