Telling footnote for future histories of the American right, circa 1990: at the Conservative Political Action Conference this month, vendors offered eleven different Oliver North buttons and two Fawn Hall pins. One T shirt depicted a soldier with an assault rifle over the slogan WASTE THE RED BASTARDS. But any conservative who might have wanted a George Bush button for his lapel was out of luck. The nation's nominal Conservative in Chief was missing both in person and in likeness.
Bush's absence from the conclave of 45 conservative groups underscores the right wing's dilemma in the post-cold war world: a dearth...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
