Even paranoids have news networks

By Rick Perlstein

January 31st, 2008 - 7:01pm ET

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One of the most fascinating phenomena for conservative watchers this year has been to observe how gracelessly our friends on the right have handled the disintegration of the conservative era. One example: right-wing congressmen are retiring in droves—as if the thought of actually participating in a deliberative body, not one as procedurally rigged as a politiburo, has become simply too awful to contemplate.

Another example: all the tell-all memoirs. Used to be, the Omerta was tighter than the mafia. But I've read two books spilling the beans just this year—one of them mediocre, the other quite excellent. The enablers have suddenly become conscience-stricken—now that their bosses are losing.