ANOTHER DISGRACE – AT 11:15 A.M. ET:  At last night's Angel's Corner I wrote about the conservative resurgence and what, to me at least, was the basic cause – a belief that our basic institutions have broken down, and are in desperate need of renewal.

But I also warned that this resurgence could collapse if influenced by extremists and crackpots, who must be shown the door, and then some.  No movement can prosper unless it is disciplined and sane. 

Sadly, we've just learned of a serious breach, reported by my friend, Scott Johnson, at Power Line.  It seems that a co-sponsor of this week's CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference ) convention in Washington is the John Birch Society.  For those too young to recall, the JBS is an extremist, right-wing (not conservative) club made up of deranged clowns who did severe damage to the conservative movement in the late fifties and early sixties.

William F. Buckley Jr. crusaded against the Birchers, who, among other things, argued that Dwight Eisenhower was a Communist agent.  He was joined in this fight against nuttery by leading conservatives, including Barry Goldwater.  And for years the Birchers were essentially banned from respectable conservative gatherings.

Now they're back.  Scott reports:

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is a great event attended by just about everybody who is anybody in the conservative movement. It also attracts a lot of college students who aspire to make a contribution to the movement.

ABC's Jonathan Karl reports that this year's CPAC event was co-sponsored, unbelievably to me, by the John Birch Society. Karl quotes some of Buckley's characteristically vibrant denunciations of the JBS. "Two years after Buckley's death," Karl observes, "the John Birch Society is no longer banished; it is listed as one of about 100 co-sponsors of the 2010 CPAC."

Karl reasonably asks: "Why is the Birch Society a co-sponsor?"

"They're a conservative organization," according to Lisa Depasquale, the CPAC Director for the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC. "Beyond that," she told Karl, "I have no comment."

Additional comment is required, and if Depasquale will not provide it, I will. This is a disgrace.

The John Birch affiliation must go.  Immediately.  Right now.  This is just the kind of thing that can cripple the conservative resurgence.   It did so before.

February 20, 2010