Keene, who is also chairman of the 31st Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), was interviewed by Moyers via satellite from the conservative summit being held this week just outside Washington. CPAC is co-sponsored more than 70 of the nation's leading conservative organizations and is expected to set the conservative Republican agenda this year.

"Non-defense discretionary spending under Clinton was going up at about 2 1/2 percent. And under Bush it's been going up roughly twice that," says Keene. "I think that the Republicans, unless they want to lose...the definition of their party and what they mean to the base out there that supports them in election after election, have to come to grips with the fact that they are letting that definition be eroded."

Keene's comments come on the heels of recent administration announcements that include a manned mission to Mars at a price tag of $500 billion, a $1.5 billion in proposed spending to promote marriage, and $200 million to fight obesity.

"I think that in spite of any disagreements I have with the president on some of these questions, that basically he's trying to do the right thing," Keene tells Moyers. While Keene is clear that conservatives remain squarely behind the president, he says: "We consider Bush to be a conservative who's allowed the ship to drift a little bit off-course."

The NOW with Bill Moyers interview with David Keene airs tonight, Friday, January 23 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html).

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