"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Pat Buchanan on the conservative movement
"An anti-government philosophy turned out to be politically unpopular and fundamentally un-American.” -- David Brooks
"Today, if you’re not rich or Southern or born again, the chances of your being a Republican are not great." -- Ed Rollins
Those are just a few small nuggets from George Packer's exceptionally good essay on the gradual collapse of the conservative movement. (Though I think his closing argument, that John McCain will run a "different kind" of GOP campaign, is looking a bit shaky given its emerging theme of "Don't vote for the appeasers.") In any case, you can read the whole thing here.
--Christopher Orr