Nullification — and other — nutbarrery rising again

That's just one of the fruits (rotten apples) of Tea Partiers infiltrating the Conservative Political Action Conference, Gail Collins tells us.

It’s civil war déjà vu. The trick in conservative circles today is to see how furious you can get about Washington’s encroachment onto states rights without quite falling over the edge into Fort Sumter.

That said, there's no Bill Buckley to swat down these-neo John Birchers and keep them, per Collins' header, from taking the conservative movement back to 1854. Indeed, the majority of the staff at the magazine Buckley founded embrace the majority of Tea Partiers' nuttery.

Far more scary, beyond this, is Tea Partiers' connection to more nefarious segments beyond the "normal conservative" pale, including actual John Birchers, the militia movement, and more.

Reap the whirlwind, coming just around the corner, for the Republican Party, as well as for more traditional conservative magazines such as Buckley's National Review, for encouraging such folks.

Look here, at Texas. If Debra Medina can force the GOP gubernatorial primary into a runoff, will she demand pledges or promises from Rick Perry before offering her support? Or will she not offer it at all? Will she even run as an independent in the general election? (One could only hope, with that guaranteeing a Bill White win.

Beyond that, though, we have even worse. Whether Medina is a full-blown 9/11 Truther or just playing at the margins, she exemplifies the ready willingness of Tea Partiers to accept any sort of conspiracy thinking, like the idea that the feds are gathering all our medical records.

That said, the nuttery doesn't stop there. Because, it's state capitals, not just Washington, D.C., that are suspect to some Tea Partiers, like Richard Mack, big into Posse Comitatus-type movements who find the locus of power in the county sheriff.

With people like that, it's not just the national GOP, but governors like Rick Perry who run the risk of reaping the whirlwind. That said, why isn't Medina hammering "Governor 40 Percent" harder with the Trans Texas Corridor?

Finally, let's not forget that many Tea Party groups at least skirt with, or even holds hands with, racists and white supremacists. And, yes, Tea Party leaders of all the different groups each have the onus on themselves to disavow that.