Every year, thousands of young conservative activists gather to mingle, network, and see their idols up close and live while seeing who can come up with the best zinger against the Democrats. This year, there were the expected attacks against and jokes about the much-reviled trio of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, but they also turned their guns towards a surprise target – the Republican Party.

Despite the fact that almost all the speakers are currently Republicans or have lost an election as a Republican (that would be you Rick Santorum in case you forgot in your diversity hating delirium), someone with limited political knowledge could have easily mistaken conservatives as a third political party in the United States. In fact, some speakers did call for a third political party while giving the middle finger to the GOP. Glenn Beck, in his keynote address, absolutely slammed the Republicans and compared them to the Democrats, which would be like comparing someone to George Bush at Columbia.

Further complicating matters, Rush Limbaugh, another conservative darling who spoke at CPAC via satellite and was the CPAC keynote speaker in 2009, has lambasted Beck for further dividing the right wing. I can honestly say I never thought I would see the day two far-right shock jocks would battle it out over criticism of the Republican Party.

Then again, perhaps the only thing the very bipolar CPAC attendees could agree on was their intense dislike of Barack Hussein Obama. In fact, 98 percent of participants in the CPAC straw poll not surprisingly disapproved of Obama’s performance as President. It was far more surprising that at a conference where attendees could easily support the entire red-tie industry, 2 percent actually approved of Obama’s job performance. Since 2,400 votes were counted, that would be approximately fifty people who approved of Obama’s job performance.

Do fifty students even exist at Columbia who approved of George Bush’s job performance?

The straw poll also held other surprises. For the past three years, moderate Mitt Romney has won the much-revered CPAC president straw poll. This year, he finished second to none other than Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who can barely be considered conservative or even Republican. In fact, when Paul was announced as the winner, audible boos were heard around the ballroom.

Two clear facts emerged from CPAC 2010. First, conservatives of all types and shapes can agree that spending and debt is spiraling out of control, the economy is still in terrible shape, the Obama/Pelosi/Reid triumvirate desperately needs to be stopped, and Ronald Reagan is awesome. Second, conservatives cannot agree on anything else and this split can easily hurt the Republicans/conservatives/anyone-against-the-bankruptcy-of-America in the 2010 elections.

And I never thought I would find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Limbaugh but he is entirely right in blasting Beck. Conservatives, libertarians and Republicans or whatever they label themselves can battle it out in the primaries but in the general elections, anyone who wants to see the survival of America must unite. Because without a state that has money, there is no health care, there is no marriage, there is no foreign policy.

After all, quoting Bill Clinton (oddly enough), it’s the economy, stupid.