After all their dirty deeds, from character assassination through theft of the common wealth to the killing of several hundred thousand people for money, the so-called conservatives are in trouble, and it’s hard not to gloat just a little.

The possibility of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as president was bad enough. Even worse is the absence of a Republican candidate to rally around.

The movement’s leaders “are all pretty much agreed that there is no clear conservative choice,” said the game’s host, David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union. “Or even an unclear conservative choice.”

I agree with them on the first point, but I don’t sympathize on the rest. They only gained power in the Reagan and post-Reagan eras by subterfuge, and they used that power for war profiteering. Was the war profiteering an end in itself, or was it merely a means of achieving Grover Norquist’s famous goal, destruction of the public sector (in other words, feudalism)?

It seems to me that if the so-called conservatives, who were long ago outed as closet radicals, clearly understood their position and actually expected to be seeing President Hillary in their living rooms, they would rejoice: she’s the best recruiting tool they’ve got right now.

After all the lying and murder and incompetence and attacks on civil liberties and windfall profits for oil companies, the Republicans in general don’t have much to offer a skeptical public. True, the public won’t remain skeptical for long, but the mood will last at least as long as the war. And I can’t see us being out of Iraq by 2008 unless there’s a Republican attempt to avert an impending electoral landslide by dumping the albatross and impeaching.

Of course Viguerie et. al. would probably object that it’s unfair to tar them as Republicans. They are conservatives, true Reaganites, harking back to the glory days of Morning Again in America. But that’s no excuse; only ignorance of its history or advocacy of its war crimes could lead to pride in that period of American history.

Still, these folks have proven quite adept at believing whole-heartedly in obvious bullshit. For instance, many of those who harp on fiscal restraint are proud to wear the Reaganite label. Do they recall the tripling of the federal deficit that happened during his Presidency? Many of them are hard put to define the meaning, not to mention the scope, of the problem; others smile quietly and pat their wallets.

But the smiles are harder to find nowadays.

Viguerie, the movement veteran, said that he is not optimistic about victory in 2008 and that he tells conservatives to focus on the long term. “I think it will be ‘012 or ‘016,” he said.

In the meantime, he suggested that conservative Republicans withhold support from McCain, Giuliani and Romney — at least for the time being. “I don’t think it’s worth the conservative energy right now,” Viguerie said.

Posted by Chuck Dupree at March 04, 2007 11:42 PM

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