The lunatic fringe?

From the L.A. Times editors:

The conference — cosponsored by more than 70 conservative groups and with an audience likely to exceed 5,000 this year — has long been a showcase for the heart and soul of American conservatism. Each year it attracts top White House officials and Republican presidential hopefuls (this year, big-name speakers include Dick Cheney, Tony Snow, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney).

The inclusion of Swift boat operatives on the CPAC agenda demonstrates the continued radicalization of the conservative movement, which seems determined to render itself irrelevant. Yesterday's fringe has become today's conservative mainstream. The Washington Times, one of the right's main media outlets, approvingly refers to "The Left's Repeated Campaign Against the American Soldier" as "one of the more timely titles of CPAC's slate of panel discussions."

Of course, the Swifties' presence on the agenda is hardly the only evidence that the lunatics have taken over the asylum at CPAC. Other giveaways include some unintentionally humorous agenda items: Oliver North — he of the Iran-Contra scandal — will be presenting the "Defender of the Constitution Award," for instance, while right-wing attack blogger Michelle Malkin, whose work has been repeatedly criticized for its cavalier attitude toward facts, gets the "Accuracy in Media Award."

Amusing. And I'd sure like to think that CPAC is an example of the "conservative movement's" growing irrelevancy. But when the major Republican candidates and the Republican Vice President of the United States make pilgrimages to speak before them then one would then have to suppose that the entire GOP is becoming irrelevant. Maybe so, but it ain't happening soon enough.

But what will Howard Kurtz say?

UPDATE: Kurtz calls it a "minor story."