ABC's The Note today is headlined "Strange Brews: Conservatives Unite Over Anger, Not Candidates." Author and network senior political reporter Rick Klein writes:
The mood at the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering -- which continues into the weekend in Washington -- is decidedly more upbeat than a year ago. And the Bush name, not to mention the (maybe more popular) Cheney one, is back.
Yet the energy fueling the gathering remains of a shapeless, sometimes dangerous variety.
Readers may reasonably have expected examples of this dangerous energy to follow. Klein goes on:
From the rousing ovations for primary challengers, to a speaker referencing President Obama’s past drug use and deriding homosexuality, to the endless teleprompter jokes (only some of them read off teleprompters), to the general motivating anger that has brought the crowd together -- the big tent isn’t exactly pitching itself.
My, my, how terribly threatening. This isn't the first time Klein has sensed peril. In an interview last September (at about the 1:30 mark), Klein spoke of anti-media criticism at the Republican National Convention:
"I think it was dangerous to be up in the press box where we were. I was with Sam Donaldson and we were looking like (garbled) duck tomatoes or something."
The proposition that conservatives are dangerous has long been popular with many in the mainstream media. An inability to substantiate the notion doesn't deter The Note, which modestly bills itself Washington's "most influential tipsheet," from again sounding the alarm. Janet Napolitano, please call your office stat.
