On the opening day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC -- longtime conservative movement leader Richard Viguerie sounded a theme he has articulated for a year: The GOP is not conservative enough; and after six years of controlling all three branches of government, the party has clearly betrayed the conservative movement -- including the religious right -- that made it all possible.

Back in 1976, conservatives faced a dillemma.  Gerald Ford was narrowly nominated as the GOP candidate for president, after having been appointed as vice-president and then assuming the presidency, after the resignation of Richard Nixon.  Ford was not conservative enough for movement conservatives. So, led by conservative direct mail entrepreneur Richard Viguerie, top movement leaders Howard Phillips, William Rusher, Paul Weyrich and Lee Edwards, among others, sought to join forces with the American Independent Party, of former Alabama Governor George Wallace. When  AIP wouldn't have them,  movement conservatives mostly sat-out the 1976 presidential election.  They decided four years of Jimmy Carter would be better than eight years of Gerald Ford. They began to create the organizaitons of what was then known as the "New Right," (part of which now clearly defines elements of the religious right), and to prepare for Reagan's next run for president.

Richard Viguerie has proposed that conservatives do something similar now.