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After last week's appearance at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference, where he told the audience, “There is nothing on this green earth that a liberal fears more than a black American who wants a better life and a smaller government," Fox's Neil Cavuto and his producers decided to bring the disgraced Congressman Allen West on his show. Cavuto immediately asked West if he was possibly going to throw his hat in the ring and run for president, because Lord knows we don't have enough wingnut grifters running that racket already.

There's nothing like seeing a former House member, who the voters of his district had to be insane to elect in the first place, lost his race despite outspending his opponent by about 4 to 1 and then finally conceding in the least gracious manner possible, being asked to weigh in on foreign policy and the economy. Even worse, being asked with a straight face for advice on the future of the Republican party and whether he's going to run for president.

CAVUTO: Real quickly, those who are urging you to run for president at CPAC, and I talked to a lot of them, are you saying you're not?

WEST: Look, Neil, the most important thing is that I'm always in a position that I'll serve my country however they wish me to. If they want a really good dogcatcher I'll be willing to do that. So we don't know what happens, you know, as we go forth for 2013, but maybe I'll have you as my economic advisor.

CAVUTO: Okay, that's already a doomed campaign right there.

Hey, what do you know.? Cavuto actually said something I agree with for once on Fox.

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Conservative strategist Karl Rove on Sunday lashed out at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) after she used her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to blast his super PAC for "vetting our candidates."

Following major losses in the 2012 elections, Rove launched the Conservative Victory Project to pick conservative candidates who could win -- instead of fringe tea party favorites like former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), who said that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."

On Saturday, Palin took to the podium at CPAC and called Rove's effort the "last thing we need."

"The architects can head on back to the great Lone Star state and put their names on some ballot," she said.

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, it was clear that Palin had gotten under Rove's skin because he took a shot at her for quitting halfway through her first term as Alaska governor.

"I have to set the record straight," Rove told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "I'm a volunteer. I don't take a dime for my work with [super PAC] American Crossroads. I even pay my own travel expenses out of my own pocket. I thought Sarah Palin was about encouraging grassroots volunteer activity, I'm a volunteer."

"Second of all, look, I appreciate her encouragement that I ought to go home to run for office," he continued. "I would be enthused if I ran for office to have her support."

"I would say this, though. I don't think I'm a particularly good candidate, sort of a balding, fat guy. And second of all, I'd say if I did run for office and win, I'd serve out my term, I wouldn't leave office midterm."

It should be noted that Rove did leave his unelected office before the end of President Bush's term.

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Caribou Barbie knows a thing or two about bad reality television, but that irony was apparently lost on the knuckleheads wildly cheering this crap during her CPAC 2013 speech this Saturday:

In her big CPAC speech on Saturday, Sarah Palin threw out her usual snappy one-liners (like giving Margaret Thatcher an “Amen Sistah!”) and crowd-pleasing gags (like when she pulled out a giant cup of soda and took a dig at Michael Bloomberg: ”Bloomberg’s not around, my Big Gulp’s safe.”).

On gun control, Palin was of course against it, arguing that saying that “'that chunk of metal did the crime' is like saying that fork made me fat.” She added: “Background checks: A dandy idea, Mr. President, should have started with yours!”

“We don’t have leadership coming out of Washington, we have reality television,” she continued, saying that “they’re being too scripted, too calculated. They’re talking about rebuilding the party, how about rebuilding the middle class?”

“We’re not here to re-brand a party, we’re here to rebuild a country,” Palin added.

On Obama, Palin said: “Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever: Barack Obama, you lie!” And no Palin speech these days is complete without a teleprompter joke: ”Mr. President: We admit it. You won. Accept it. Now step away from the teleprompter and do your job.”

Update: Here's the full transcript of Palin's remarks in the clip above:

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At an event for bloggers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday night, tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-SC) toasted the late conservative activist Andrew Breitbart as a "great and fearless leader."

Following a confrontation with Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) over guns at a Senate Judiciary Committee, Cruz met up with conservative bloggers at the 4th annual Blog Bash, which bills itself as "the largest gathering of right-of-center bloggers."

"Let me tell you, the men and women in this room, you represent power and you represent democracy," Cruz told the crowd. "Let me tell you, each of you, you scare the hell out of Washington... Y'all are on front lines of taking this country back."

The Texas Republican ended his pep talk by holding up a beer in Breitbart's memory.

"I want to collectively remember our friend. And a toast to Andrew Breitbart," he said, turning up the bottle. "A great and fearless leader, and we all carry on with his unshakable, fearless spirit to speak the truth to power. And the more they quiver, the better job we're doing. God bless."

Cruz' speech sent the conservative blog Weasel Zippers into a state of giddiness.

"Must stop swooning… must stop swooning… I’m trying as hard as I can," blogger Zip wrote.

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From this Thursday's opening day of the Conservative Political Action Conference 2013, Texas Gov. Goodhair apparently decided that the "stupid party" could use a little more help with that Hispanic outreach program of theirs: Rick Perry: Immigrant Release Is A ‘Federally Sponsored Jailbreak’:

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington on Thursday, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry decried immigration authorities for releasing several hundred detainees in response to sequester cuts.

President Obama's handling of the sequster "would be laughable if he hadn't taken it one step too far, dangerously releasing criminals onto our streets to make a political point," he said. "When you have a federally sponsored jailbreak, --and dont get confused that's exactly what this is, a federally sponsored jailbreak -- you cross the line from politics as spin to polics as craven form of cynicism where everything goes."

White House officials say the decision was made by ICE independently. Many detainees are not held on criminal grounds and Immigration officials say they only released low risk individuals, not anyone who was required to be held for serious charges.

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President George W. Bush's former chief strategist Matthew Dowd is slamming the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for snubbing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) while inviting former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who he asserts "wasn't competent enough to keep a Fox News contract."

Wall Street Journal editor Paul Gigot on Sunday told an ABC News panel that CPAC had made a mistake by not inviting Christie after he pushed Congress for Hurricane Sandy relief funds and backed some gun-control legislation following last year's mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

"If I were CPAC, I would have invited Christie and let him say what he wanted on guns or anything else," Gigot insisted. "And if you disagree with him, boo him or what have you. But this is a time that the Republican Party needs to have a debate, and a pretty raucous debate."

"CPAC, to me, has totally diminished its credibility as an organization," Dowd agreed. "And you invite Sarah Palin, who wasn't competent enough to keep a Fox News contract? But she's invited to CPAC meeting?"

Democratic strategist James Carville, however, welcomed the CPAC move as something that could help Democrats by elevating fringe elements in the Republican Party.

"Any day that you have more Sarah Palin and less Chris Christie is a good day for James Carville," he quipped. "I'm all for it!"

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Yesterday during a discussion with Thomas Roberts and Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud about why CPAC excludes gays and other groups from their conference the topic of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie came up, and his own lack of invitation to speak. Steve Schmidt, John McCain's campaign manager, had nothing good to say about CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the distilled fringiest of the right wing fringe:

ROBERTS: “Why does the CPAC organization want to risk alienating burgeoning stars like a Chris Christie, not invite him?”

SCHMIDT: “Look, this CPAC convention is increasingly the Star Wars bar scene of the conservative movement. All that’s missing from that convention is a couple of Wookies.”

Schmidt would later go on to call Mitt Romney's appearance last year, where he declared he was "deeply conservative as a Governor", simply "kowtowing" to the extreme right.

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They grow up so fast...

via Politico:

Jonathan Krohn took the political world by storm at 2009’s Conservative Political Action Conference when, at just 13 years old, he delivered an impromptu rallying cry for conservatism that became a viral hit and had some pegging him as a future star of the Republican Party. Now 17, Krohn — who went on to write a book, “Defining Conservatism,” that was blurbed by the likes of Newt Gingrich and Bill Bennett — still watches that speech from time to time, but it mostly makes him cringe because, well, he’s not a conservative anymore.

“I think it was naive,” Krohn now says of the speech. “It’s a 13-year-old kid saying stuff that he had heard for a long time.… I live in Georgia. We’re inundated with conservative talk in Georgia.… The speech was something that a 13-year-old does. You haven’t formed all your opinions. You’re really defeating yourself if you think you have all of your ideas in your head when you were 12 or 13. It’s impossible. You haven’t done enough.”

So is he now a - *gasp* - liberal? Well, no, not quite he says. But this little checklist indicates he's headed in that general direction.

Krohn won’t go so far as to say he’s liberal, in part because his move away from conservatism was a move away from ideological boxes in general. [...]

But a quick rundown of his current political stances suggests a serious pendulum swing away from the right.

Gay marriage? In favor. Obamacare? “It’s a good idea.” Who would he vote for (if he could) in November? “Probably Barack Obama.” His favorite TV shows? “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” His favorite magazine? The New Yorker. And, perhaps telling of all, Krohn is enrolling this fall at a college not exactly known for its conservatism: New York University.

Dave Neiwert at Crooks & Liars remarked at the time (2009) that he thought young Jonathan's appearance at CPAC made perfect sense.

After all, conservative thought (as it were) has always reflected the way a 13-year-old would view the world: like a highly dualistic, light-and-darkness morality fable, filled with heroic patriots and defenders of freedom contending against the slithering forces of puling liberal evil.

Now that he's left The Dark Side, Krohn will be on with Lawrence O'Donnell tonight on MSNBC.

I will be on THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O'DONNELL tonight at some point...so check it out at 10PM on MSNBC. Can you dig it? #BlackDynamite

— Jonathan Krohn (@JonathanLKrohn) July 2, 2012

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Bill Maher wrapped up his New Rules segment on Real Time this Friday with a message for conservatives who think these 13 and 14 year old wunderkinds of theirs like radio host and Rush Limbaugh wannabe Caiden Cowger, or their hit at CPAC a couple years ago, Jonathan Krohn, are so special.

MAHER: And finally New Rule, if a 14 year-old can deliver your message, it's not because he's gifted. It's because intellectually, you're a child. […]

Wow. It's like one of those time travel movies where Rush Limbaugh goes back in time to when he needed just one Oxycontin to get high. I tell you, this kid's got 90 percent of Rush's venom and only 10 percent of the bio-mass. […]

And you know, Caiden is not the only tween right-winger out there. Back in 2009, Jonathan Krohn, yes, that's a real book – I know, it looks like something we made up, but it's not – he published Defining Conservatism, the Principles That Will Bring Our Country Back... and teach us to shave. Here's a little bit of Jonathan speaking at the CPAC convention. […]

Oh my god, is there a charity or something I can give to? Wedgies Without Borders. I'm not trying to slam these kids, because look, being an asshole is totally understandable when you're 14. You're too young for sex and too old to carry your blankie everywhere. It's a very stressful time. But my point is to Republican adults and it is this:

When 14 year-old boys sound exactly like you do and can produce radio shows and books and speeches that sound exactly like yours, maybe you should rethink the sh*t that's coming out of your mouth.

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Keith Olbermann takes apart one of Andrew Breitbart's latest smears of the Occupy movement that we all sadly got a dose of the other night when he was screaming at the protesters outside of CPAC; that the movement is full of rapists.

Debunking Breitbart's "Occupy Rape List":

What you have not seen are the facts behind the transparently dishonest "list" with which Breitbart is trying to smear Occupy as rapists. Sadly, it appears his people's efforts consisted of finding stories in which both the word "Occupy" and some report of sexual misconduct.

It doesn't look like anybody bothered to read the links. Nearly every one of the stories shows Occupy participants were the victims and not the alleged perpetrators, or the incidents had nothing to do with Occupy.

You can read the entire list and the details in Keith's post at KOS, but here's the summation:

So. Seventeen stories Breitbart claims are cases of Rape at Occupy. Just reading the stories, googling the names of those identified, following up - this only took me about 70 minutes. The final result:

-- Two stories on the list were duplicates.
-- One story turns out to have been about consensual sex.
-- One case, in Scotland, led the Occupy group to disband for the sake of safety.
-- One case of an arrest for child porn, with Occupy immediately banning the alleged perpetrator.
-- One case of a girl disappearing -- ignoring the fact that she was home and unharmed a month later.
-- Four cases in which police said neither the victim nor the assailant were apparently even associated with Occupy.

That leaves seven others stories, all of which show police identifying Occupy participants as the victims, six of which show police identifying the alleged assailants as not being Occupy participants.

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