Oh, Tea Party Patriots. How many times must you be reminded that you are, for the most part, irrelevant? Make all the scary movie trailers you want to fire up the last vestiges of paranoid Americans, but rest assured the only ones it resonates with are paranoid right wing Americans.

RJ Eskow picked up on this little gem of a movie trailer which was, according to him, a hit at CPAC. Somehow I am not surprised. Here is RJ's short summary of the movie they're promoting:

These films portrayed centralized government as Evil incarnate. Their scriptural source was the Book of Revelations, whose cryptic, evocative prophecies have fascinated and frightened believers for millennia. The same message resonates in “Movement On Fire,” which opens with a young woman staring across a river toward a city. “It was created to give us freedom,” she says in a voiceover as a torch burns beside her. “Our city became a great beacon of liberty and hope to the world.” The wind lightly ruffles her hair. “It was a shining city on a hill,” she adds, quoting the phrase that passed from the Bible to Puritan minister John Winthrop before winding up in Ronald Reagan’s 1976 concession speech.

“But 15 years ago,” says the narrator, “something happened.” Shadowy hooded figures creep up behind her. “Freedom died.” In a shot that moves so quickly we barely see it, one of the figures covers her eyes.

News anchors report on the rise of the “Development Party,” which took control of the city after winning control of its “Senate.” (Hmmm. Cities don’t have “Senates.” Who could they be talking about?) We see a gray-haired man with large, black, nearly pupil-less eyes. “All must contribute,” the dead-eyed “Troy Marcus” intones, “because from each, everything shall be given to all.”

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Because sometimes 100 seconds is all anyone can stand. More insanity to come, I'm sure.

[h/t TPM]

Praise be to Judge Antonin Scalia, for he sees what the rest of us do not. The man for whom nasty, brutish and short is not simply a political formulation, but a mirror image, can look at hundreds of years of slavery, 100 more of legalised segregation and another 50 of daily discrimination and see "racial entitlement" in the basic right to vote in America. I guess it's kind of like the right-wing-clown entitlement enjoyed by our current Supreme Court.

Scalia, of course, was a modern Republican (in a robe) before it was even cool. I mean that in the sense that it's clear to anyone taking so much as a gander at what animates the GOP of 2013 - as well as Scalia's immunity to legal reasoning - that it's not any set of policy ideas, but simple emotion: all-consuming, blood-curdling, vein-bulging-out-of-the-forehead, Mel Gibson-watching-Fiddler-On-The-Roof ANGER.

Policy-wise, the GOP is an entity that literally lacks any new ideas, has no interest in governing and has rejected all of its own policy positions from as recently as early 2008 as "oh-my-God-we're-all-doomed!" creeping Socialism (see: cap and trade, earned-income tax credit, individual healthcare mandate). Rejecting anything right wingers sneeringly see as created by them-there libruls is the secret handshake of modern conservatism.

You believe in global warming? Then they don't, dang it! You accept that human beings didn't ride saddleback on a brachiosaurus into the Battle of Little Bighorn? They have an App for that, the Creation Museum, where you can ride Noah's Ark with your friendly Triassic-period imperial walker. You offer them way-too-friendly a deal on the budget? Then as Cartman from South Park says, "screw you guys... I'm going home".

The most potent example is the rise and fall of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as conservative heartthrob. He was a Republican Superhero just a year ago, when he headlined what Republican consultant Steve Schmidt called "The Star Wars Bar" of conservative gatherings, the CPAC Conference. Yet, he was quite publicly not invited to this year's CPAC.

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OK, CPAC event on racial tolerance has gone nuts, there are neo-Confederates asking why whites are being systematically disenfranchised

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 15, 2013

Shortly after Donald Trump called for more white immigrants at CPAC, a breakout panel entitled “Trump the Race Card: Are You Sick and Tired of Being Called a Racist and You Know You’re Not One?” began. According to the CPAC schedule, it was sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. A recent study by IREHR confirms their nationalist bent:

Local groups affiliated with Tea Party Patriots that described themselves as militias included the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, the Billy Hill Militia in Oklahoma, and the now-defunct North Coast Militia.[226] Other Tea Party Patriot-affiliated groups actively promoted militia formation. The Pocatello Tea Party, for example, promoted the “Ten Reasons Why We Need a State Militia.” Among the reasons given, “Cultural subversion, corruption, and dissolution,” (including “Pluralism” and “multiculturalism”), “invasion by illegal immigrants,” “Schemes aimed at overthrowing the Declaration of Independence,” and “a staggering burden of governmental financial liabilities.”[227] In Springfield, Missouri the 9-12 Tea Party group advised followers to join the SW Missouri militia.

Other signs of the militia impulse include the omnipresence of Richard Mack at Tea Party-related events--not just those of the Tea Party Patriots mentioned earlier.

This is the group who sponsored a panel intended to claim they're not racists.

Talking Points Memo's Benjy Sarlin was in the panel, live-tweeting.

A CPAC session sponsored by Tea Party Patriots and billed as a primer on teaching activists how to court black voters devolved into a shouting match as some attendees demanded justice for white voters and others shouted down a black woman who reacted in horror.

The session was led by K. Carl Smith, a black conservative who primarily urged attendees to deflect racism charges by calling themselves “Frederick Douglass Republicans.”

Disruptions began when he began accusing Democrats of being the party of the Confederacy — a common talking point on the right.

“I don’t care how much the KKK improved,” he said. “I’m not going to join the KKK. The Democratic Party founded the KKK.”

Lines like that drew shouts of praise from some attendees and murmurs of disapproval from one non-conservative black attendee, Kim Brown, a radio host and producer with Voice of Russia, a broadcasting service of the Russian government. Read on...

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Echoing what he told a Koch Brothers audience in November, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference that he would cut Social Security benefits and that he would make changes to Medicare that would effectively begin the privatization of the program. While Romney was a little more vague about privatizing Medicare, he made no mistake about his proposal to cut Social Security:

"We're going to have to recognize that Social Security and Medicare are unsustainable, not for the current group of retirees, but for coming generations," Romney told the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference. "And we can't afford to avoid these entitlement challenges any longer."

Romney said: "We are going to slowly and gradually raise the retirement age for Social Security" from the current 66 for full benefits. "And we'll slow the growth rate in benefits for higher-income retirees."

As for Medicare, "tomorrow's seniors should have the freedom to choose between Medicare and a range of private plans," Romney said to applause. "And if these future seniors want a more expensive plan, then they will have to pay the additional cost."

Romney's proposed "solutions" are, of course, designed to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Both programs are sustainable for generations to come and the proposals that Romney and other Republicans are making for the programs would be more likely to create the problem they say they are trying to save.

h/t David at Video Cafe for the clip.

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This just in from Andrew Metcalf. Around 150 or so Occupy members were protesting outside of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this evening when hotel security came outside with shields to keep the group away from the hotel.

Emily Crockett of Campus Progress was standing right next to Andrew (Metcalf) and began filming. (Thanks, Emily!)

The Occupy protesters are repeatedly chanting "Hey, hey! Ho, Ho! CPAC has got to go!" Suddenly, Andrew Breitbart jumps out from behind some shrubs and decides to take it upon himself to take the occupiers to task, and starts shouting "Behave yourself! Behave yourself! Behave yourself!" Before security escorts him away he continues screaming "Behave yourself! You're freaks! You're freaks and animals! Stop raping the people! You freaks! Stop raping the people!"

In response the occupiers start chanting "Racist! Sexist! Anti-gay! Rightwing bigot, go away!" As Breitbart disappears in the distance, you can hear a soft little female voice say "I've never raped anyone in my life!"

That's Andrew Breitbart, always on his best behavior.

Fred Karger, the openly gay Republican presidential candidate, held his own party at CPAC last night. Despite being barred from exhibiting or speaking at the conference, he kept his suite door open, set up an open bar and attracted a crowd of young Republicans and reporters.

He’s been on a roll recently, after his home state of California put his name on the ballot on Monday. He’s now on ballots in six states. But, at CPAC, he has been ignored.

“I’ll represent about 30 percent of the population on the ballot and this group won’t even rent me a booth,” said Karger, when I spoke to him at his party, “It’s the second year in a row. Last year, I didn’t take any action, but this year… I said, OK, I’m going to apply in November and get the early bird discount.”

Despite his best efforts, organizers from CPAC ignored him. He said the group told a Buzzfeed reporter they were sold out.

“I knew you couldn’t be sold out if you still had an early bird discount,” said Karger.

So in January he filed a discrimination complaint with the DC Human Rights Commission. On Friday morning, he met with the Human Rights Commission who is moving quickly with his complaint, according to Karger

“It goes next to mediation and CPAC is going to have to show up,” said Karger, who noted the commission has subpoena power.

He said if the commission sides with him then CPAC will have to allow gay people at their convention next year, which has been booked at the DC convention center, or they’re going to have to move to another location that doesn’t have a discrimination policy.

“I’m not settling for anything less than that,” said Karger.

Last year, CPAC angered some of its large sponsors like the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and Liberty University after it allowed GOProud, the gay Republican organization, to have a booth at the conference for the second year in a row. But after a change in leadership from David Keene, who defended GOProud’s presence, to Al Cardenas, they changed their policy. This year, CPAC sent GOProud a letter in July of 2011 informing them they would not be invited to participate in formal events for CPAC 2012.

Karger said taking a strong stance against gay rights is not helping the Republican Party.

“We’re a minority party, we need younger people, we need new blood, we’re going to be going the way of the dinosaurs,” said Karger, who hopes the party will be more inclusive.

He said the number one reason he’s running for president is to open the door for future gay candidates, “so they don’t have to have their fingers slammed in the door for no reason.”

Then he got back to his party, where unlike CPAC, Karger invited everyone. Around 11 p.m. the party was crowded and guests were jovial.

But then a couple of hotel security guards came and shut it down.

“This party is over,” said the large man wearing a fake police badge that said Marriott Security.

David grabbed Mitt's CPAC speech, and highlighted his main points which read like a Rush Limbaugh cheat sheet. Was it ever riddled with lies! He had the audacity to tell the CPAC audience what a staunch opponent of stem cell research he was:

During my time in office, I stood up to those who wanted to call into question the very definition of life. I vetoed a bill that would have opened the door to cloning and embryo farming.

He did do that, but he lied to win the election and then flip flopped on his promise to support stem cell research.:

In addition to abortion rights, in 2002 Romney sang the praises of embryonic stem cell research, showing no concern that such research resulted in the destruction of embryos. On June 13, 2002, Romney spoke at a bioethics forum at Brandeis University. In a Boston Globe story filed the next day, he was quoted as saying that he endorsed embryonic stem cell research, hoping it would one day cure his wife's multiple sclerosis. And he went on to say: "I am in favor of stem cell research. I will work and fight for stem cell research," before adding, "I'd be happy to talk to [President Bush] about this, though I don't know if I could budge him an inch." When pressed, however, Romney and his aides declined to offer an opinion on "therapeutic" or embryonic cloning.

He describes himself as a pro-life candidate now and Ann Coulter will vouch for this, but in 2002 he had a very different position.:

Romney would later say that his views were evolving at this time and that when pressed he would say he was "personally" pro-life. However, he evidenced no such hesitation when he sought the endorsement of pro-choice groups. To the contrary, he repeatedly tried to reassure pro-choice advocates by stating that he would not alter the "status quo" with regard to abortion laws. He frequently dismissed claims that his pro-choice credentials were inferior to his opponent's. Attempting to dispel doubts about his pro-choice credentials at the 2002 GOP state convention, Romney repeated that any argument that said he was less supportive of a woman's right to choose than others was "cynical and divisive."In their debate in October 2002, Romney's Democratic opponent Shannon O'Brien said, "It comes down to a matter of trust. I think Ted Kennedy said it best when he was running against Mitt Romney in 1994. His opponent wasn't pro-choice or anti-choice, he was multiple choice."Whereupon Romney said: "Let me make this very clear: I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose."

He's the 'multiple choice' candidate. I like that.

Down in the depths of the Conservative Political Action Conference are the booths showcasing the sponsors, co-sponsors and exhibitors. In perhaps the most prominent position, just to the left as you enter the exhibit hall after taking the escalator down, is Google's booth.

The booth sits next to NewsMax Media, a Republican news site, and across from the Heritage Foundation. Just to the right is a Tea Party booth. To get to Google's booth you have to walk by a large display put up by another sponsor, the National Rifle Association. Google is the only major American corporation that paid the $20,000 fee to be full sponsors.

I went up and spoke to to a couple of the young men that were operating the Google booth on Friday morning.

"I wasn't a part of the process," said Zachary Yeremian, when I asked him why Google had chosen to sponsor CPAC instead of just buying a less expensive co-sponsor or exhibitor booth, "We have no idea," he said. Yeremian said the booth was being used to show conference attendees how to use Google Plus and also to promote their new election page google.com/elections.

For its part, Google issued a statement saying the event was attractive because half the audience was under 25 and heavy users of technology. Yeremian gave me the Google representative's email who arranged the sponsorship, but she didn't respond to my questions.

Yeremian was careful not to weigh into the possible public relations issues Google's presence at CPAC may cause.

"We're not trying to advocate for anything," said Yeremian, "We're just here to promote google.com/elections and Google Plus."

There were only a few other major corporations that sponsored booths at CPAC: Koch Industries and Altria, the holding company that owns Phillip Morris, were listed as specialty sponsors and AOL and Microsoft/ElectionMall had bought a $5,000 co-sponsorship booth, according to the list of sponsors.

The majority of the other sponsors and co-sponsors were attending CPAC to push forward their ideological issues or companies. Co-sponsors included Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, Christians United for Israel, FreedomWorks, The American Petroleum Institute, Tea Party Patriots and the New York State Conservative Party.

But in the way back of the hall, at the exhibition booths, there were some real characters. Back there I found a mannequin adorned with body armor and a fake m-16. There was a booth selling books by Glenn Beck, Scott Rasmussen and Herman Cain. A second amendment advocate told me, "guns are the civilian defense weapon." A student at the Students for Life of America booth told me he didn't support abortions for women who were raped, "Two wrongs don't make a right, even though the rapist is a criminal, the child is still innocent."

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Charles Krauthammer took major shots at CPAC and almost everybody who attended when he he came on with Bill O'Reilly Tuesday night to discuss the 2012 GOP presidential field. Ron Paul winning the CPAC straw poll for a second year in a row is really bugging the grand poobahs of the conservative movement.

O'Reilly: It's kind of a weeeeird straw poll, isn't it?

Krauthammer; That's because it's a weird group that we're talking about. These are Ron Paul Libertarians we're talking about. ....

I'm not sure where Ron Paul is on the Louisiana Purchase, but I'm sure it's a kind of iffy position. And what you got of the group, CPAC, what you're talking about is a lot of college students who all want to be Ayn Rand and soon they'll grow up and become conservatives, so I wouldn't put a lot into this poll because the group is a kind off a fringy group. It's not Twilight Zone fringe. It's more off shore, you know floating on a raft out there in the Gulf of Mexico. Mainline Conservatives are not going to elect Ron Paul, nobody heard of Ron Johnson and legalizing pot is not going to be a big agenda for Republicans in 2012.

He could have let up after he called them fringy and weird, but that wasn't enough disdain for him so he painted a bleaker picture for The Factor's audience. by comparing them toan off shore, you know floating on a raft out there in the Gulf of Mexico type of crowd.

Fox News has loved to use Ron Paul after Obama was elected to help whip up the frenzy against him, and they continue to do so, but during the 2008 Republican primaries, Fox wouldn't even invite him to their candidate forum because they thought Paul was pretty much a nutcase. Now they are praying that he doesn't run in 2012 because it will help split GOP votes away from their preferred choices like Romney and cause all sorts of problems in the upcoming primary. Paul supporters are, as we've seen, incredibly vocal and show up to support him with as much passion as Tea Partiers did during the despicable August health care town halls. If Fox disses him again it's not going to play this time and these college kids will never support the standard Conservative line. Just ask Rudy Giuliani.

By the way, BillO attacked all Democrats who attended Netroots Nation and skipped the DLC, but it's just fine for Mitt Romney and John Thune to show up at CPAC. He hasn't met a double standard he doesn't love.

Charles in Charge then rated the current crop of GOP candidates that could or will run for president if you care to hear his analysis. By the way, Krauthammer just loves Paul Ryan as a potential Prez, so that makes him as fringy as the CPACers, in my view.