Ah, I remember the good old days when everyone knew whom to despise. Only a few scant years later, and Bob Barr, darling of the impeach-Clinton set, needs a poison taster for his rubber chicken:

“Are we losing our lodestar, which is the Bill of Rights?” Barr beseeched the several hundred conservatives at the Omni Shoreham in Woodley Park. “Are we in danger of putting allegiance to party ahead of allegiance to principle?”

Barr answered in the affirmative. “Do we truly remain a society that believes that… every president must abide by the law of this country?” he posed. “I, as a conservative, say yes. I hope you as conservatives say yes.”

But nobody said anything in the deathly quiet audience. Barr merited only polite applause when he finished, and one man […] booed him loudly.

I was at the Omni Shoreham yesterday—wish I had known to drop by and be the plant in the audience.