Cracks Showing in Conservative Front

Conservatives rallied behind a unified front for a long time, but the strains are beginning to show, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. Witness Andrew Breitbart going after Glenn Beck and religious conservatives in the Tea Party; or the dissension in the ranks on the birther movement; or the 59 Republicans who rejected the 2011 budget; or the likes of Newt Gingrich distancing themselves from Paul Ryan's proposed Medicare changes. It's all part of a "new wave of infighting on the right," writes Milbank.

"This loss of discipline in the conservative movement is the natural byproduct of its rise to power," he observes. "It is easier to be in opposition than to make all the messy compromises needed to govern. When relegated to the minority in both houses of Congress, Republicans were unified by antipathy toward Obama. But in gaining a slice of power, they lost the luxury of being full-time naysayers." (More Andrew Breitbart stories.)