CPAC marks new season of conservatism

>> today i got something that i wait for all yearlong. today something arrived at our office that every year when it comes makes me leap around the office like the steve martin character nathan johnson on phone book delivery day. today, today, today is the day that the cpac schedule came out. the cpac 2013 program is here. it's here, it's here, it's here, here, yay. cpac is the conservative political action conference . the beltway likes to call every gathering of politicos a prom. but cpac is no prom. i'm pretty sure they don't even allow dating at cpac . it's idealogically incorrect. it's more like comic-con or a tricky convention for conservatives. it is super nerdy, but they are super into it. and that makes it awesome. it's three days of conservative movies and prayer breakfasts and meet and greets and parties and swag. the thrill, of course, that it is where establishment conservatives mingle with, you know, the college sophomore ayn rand book club presidents and the bloggers and the john birch society , which still exists. there it is at cpac still preaching the dangers of fluoride. a few years ago i dropped by their booth and talked tooth decay with them. tooth decay and mind control and communism. i have not been back to cpac since then because that year i think i was a little scarred. i was scarred with disappointment by a very, very disappointing encounter that i had at cpac with liz cheney .

>> hi. i'm rachel maddow from msnbc.

>> hey, rachel. how you?

>> i think that was it. i don't know what she said. she smiled at me.

>> what i said was i would love to interview you some time if you would ever want to do it. and she said oh, hi, rachel. i asked if she would call and she never called. i would still love to interview you. i know you will never call. but still. every year when the cpac roster gets announced, it is an exciting and telling window into what is going on in conservative circles and to who is in fashion, who sought of fashion, what conservatives are thinking about. this year at cpac on friday night of cpac this year, they're going to be screening, for example, a movie about the white house being overrun by north korean terrorists. so there is that there is also a panel on united nations versus the united states . and they're doing another thing on threats, harassment, intimidation, slander, and bullying from the obama administration. you know how they bully. there are lots of things this year about loving fracking. that comes up three or four times in the program. the anti-union rights stuff is titled "free at last." that's classy. it's what you would expect from a cpac , except for a couple of things which i present with genuine interest, and no snark, even though i have been snarky the whole time. first of all, i amgen win impressed that they have invited chris hayes , host of "up with chris hayes " here on msnbc invited to speak on a panel with ralph reed . fascinating. nobody would talk to me to save my life other than the john birch guys talking to me about fluoride and mind control . but they have invited chris hayes this year which is very interesting and cool. i don't know if he is going to go, but i think it's cool that they asked him. also, there is this happening on day one of cpac . it is a panel, one of the first official events on the first day of cpac events. look what it is called. too many american wars ? should we fight anywhere, and can we afford it? this is cpac . this is the conservative economic con. i mean, even asking a question about whether we might be fighting too many wars, i don't know what their answer will be to this question, but given where american conservatives have been in recent years on this issue, the fact that they are asking it as a question is itself news and really interesting. and we're going to have more on that in just a second, along with our last preview of the new msnbc documentary that i'm going to be hosting here on this very subject on monday night for its premier. that's