After this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), it's clear that social conservatism is still in the driver's seat of the Republican Party.

Given the recent rash of draconian anti-abortion legislation and state-based attempts to roll back gay rights, you can be forgiven if you don't see this as news. But last year, it was common -- among pundits, at least -- to assert that this was a new kind of conservative movement. The Tea Party was most vocal about fiscal issues, and the Republican Party was consumed with demonizing the president's economic agenda: Stimulus, bailouts and health care were the enemies; gay rights and abortion were an afterthought. Values were out, and concern for government spending was in.