Wolf Blitzer asks RedState's Erick Erickson about their latest bit of, as Paul Waldman calls it, Founding Father Fetishism:

Today, a group of movement right muckety-mucks released "The Mount Vernon Statement," meant to be a guiding document for their side. You've got the heavyweights -- Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform -- and a few lesser lights, such as professional gay-basher Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness. The document itself is about as vague as it could be. There isn't a single policy issue mentioned; just a lot of repetitions of phrases like "founding principles" and "limited government."

But you'll note that it's presented on yellowed paper, with clip art of quill pens at the top! And the signatures are in ornate, Hancock-esque script! And it's called the Mt. Vernon statement -- like George Washington, get it? Read on...

And for another great breakdown of this nonsense, check out this post over at Lefty's Last Cry, a progressive blog from Notre Dame -- Conservative Constitutional Pornography.

This just looks like more of the same gripes from conservatives that we've been listening to for, I dunno, how many years now? And there's this from Digby -- Over Before It Began:

Wolf Blitzer just wondered if this "Mt Vernon Statement" will launch" a new era of conservative ascendance." I thought, already? Did the era of liberal ascendance come and go when I popped out to Starbucks for a cappuccino?

In case you were wondering what this bold, new conservative manifesto contains, here it is. My God, what ever will we do in the face of this fresh, exciting breakthrough?

And as she notes, here's the initial list that signed off on this thing. Hardly fresh faces to say the least.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America

Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation

Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation, was present at the Sharon Statement signing.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

Becky Norton Dunlop, president of the Council for National Policy

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center

Alfred Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator

David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union

David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society

T. Kenneth Cribb, former domestic policy adviser to President Reagan

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government

Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness

Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com

Kenneth Blackwell, Coalition for a Conservative Majority

Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring

Kathryn J. Lopez, National Review