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.
