Washington (CNSNews.com) - Liberals who gathered for the fifth annual Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday declared conservatism to be in decline -- even "on the way out," in the words of some movement leaders.

"Despite a decade ... of domination by the far right agenda in Congress and the media and the political arena, they have been unable to bring the American people along," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said during a panel discussion on conservative politics.

"Conservatism in America is on the way out," she said, adding that "progressives are finally on the offense and we're not playing defense anymore."

The discussion, billed as "The War of Ideas: How Conservatism Has Failed," opened with the screening of a videoshot by Max Blumenthal, a writer for The Nation, who went to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in March to confront and embarrass conservatives.

In the video, Blumenthal asks columnist Michelle Malkin, author of "In Defense of Internment," to sign a photograph of a Japanese-American internment camp (she refused on the grounds that Blumenthal is not engaging in "honest debate"); and he asks Ann Coulter why, as a proponent of "the sanctity of marriage," she's never been married herself. Coulter laughed and thanked Blumenthal for respecting her privacy.)

The video, which declared that the conservative movement is "in crisis," drew laughs and gasps from the liberal Take Back America crowd.

Conservatism's problem is deeper than controversial speakers and divisions within the movement, argued Rick Perlstein, a senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future (CAF), which sponsors Take Back America.

"Conservatism will always fail," Perlstein said, adding that the ideology's problems stem from its main tenet of smaller government.

"People who confess their contempt for government cannot be trusted to govern," he said. "When you start breaking down the institutions of government and trifling with them, then you make it harder to govern efficiently."

Perlstein said conservatism "is a movement about nothing, and I don't think it can succeed, and I implore the American people to turn their backs on it."

Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney who is also Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's second cousin, implored activists not be content with the "decline" of conservatism. "We need to take this country back and put it back on the right track," she said. "But do not fool yourselves -- talking to ourselves is not going to do it."

"We ought to be able to step up with a platform and philosophy," Rice said. "We need to understand why we don't appeal to Americans."

Richards pointed to the conference as evidence of the rise of progressive influence in politics. "Who's the biggest conference at this hotel?" she asked, "It's the Take Back America conference!"

The conference is being held at the Washington Hilton, where in 1981 John Hinckley, Jr. failed in his attempt to assassinate conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan.

CPAC, the long-running conservative counterpart to Take Back America, drew a reported 6,300 activists this year to its March conference, held at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington. CAF co-director Robert Borosage announced Monday that Take Back America had "nearly 3,000" attendees.

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