Ann Coulter last week told the media there was hope for the conservative movement in America. Coulter said she was inspired by the small but enthusiastic group of “young right-wingers” who showed up at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. But when you do understand a little bit more about the leadership in that group of “young right-wingers” the idea of a bright future for the struggling movement is anything but probable.
James O’Keefe is one of those young right-wing leaders that the conservative movement embraces. O’Keefe showed up at CPAC only after he posted bail on felony charges he faces in New Orleans. That CPAC young right-wing leader was arrested for trying to tap the phone lines and computer system of a Democratic U.S. Senator. The criminal operation led by O’Keefe and several other leaders of the conservative movement’s “bright future” would not be considered inspirational by normal standards. It was a criminal operation not much different than one led by another conservative leader named G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy and his pals also believed that criminal break-ins and wiretaps should be part of the conservative social and political agenda.
Liddy’s felony convictions had no effect on how conservatives regard him. He is apparently a neo-con hero for young wing-nuts like O’Keefe. O’Keefe will no doubt become a conservative icon if he serves the full ten-year prison term he is facing for his political espionage. We can only hope.
The F.B.I. special agent who helped arrest O’Keefe explained that O’Keefe was disguised as a telephone repairman during his attempt to promote the conservative movement by tapping a U.S. senator’s phone. But do a simple Google search on O’Keefe and all his disguises are easily removed. You will see stories about his association to white supremacist groups as well as a dozen other neo-nut organizations that allow him to fit in perfectly with the birthers, the deathers, and tax protestors who kill people by crashing their airplane into government buildings. O’Keefe may represent the “bright future” by CPAC standards, but today he appears to be just another paranoid conspiracy freak who defines the new conservative movement.
It is no surprise that Ann Coulter was thrilled to see O’Keefe show up at CPAC. Coulter and O’Keefe are soul mates. She made that clear when she told us that the widows of 9/11 were “The witches of East Brunswick” who actually were “enjoying their husbands’ deaths.” She made those statements because those 9/11 widows were critical of the fact that “W” allowed that massacre to occur.
Ann also showed her best side when she said this about all Muslims: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.”
The CPAC meeting this year was desperate to attract a younger crowd. They organized an event called XPAC that stands for “X-treme Politically Active Conservatives.” Imagine the excitement surging through the room at that “X-treme” rally when their most visible and most relevant young right-wingers – Coulter and O’Keefe – made their entrance. Gordon Liddy surely must have felt like a proud father. He saw clear proof that the nut never falls far from the tree.
