cpac4Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is serving as emcee at tonight’s opening session of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Watch it in live streaming video after the jump.

One early highlight: After recognizing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Bachmann took a swipe at the federal stimulus plan, using an intriguing historical parallel — not to the New Deal but to the Boston Tea Party:

I just wondered that if our founders thought taxation without representation was bad, what would they think of representation WITH taxation?

“Representation with taxation” probably sounds pretty good to those who live in the city where Bachmann works, but Bachmann opposes letting Washington, D.C., residents have voting representation in Congress, a reform the U.S. Senate approved today.

Here’s the clip (Boston Tea Party comment at 1:10):

Free TV : Ustream

Bachmann sprinkled in other quips between speakers, like “change” being all President Obama leaves in our pockets. She’s not Sen. Amy Klobochar-funny, but just by showing up she proved she’s no Sarah Palin either. The program agenda once had the Alaska governor as a featured speaker but she dropped out, leaving Republican National Committee Chair Mike Steele and U.S. Reps. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and John Shadegg, R-Ariz., as headliners.

Bachmann fairly shouted as she introduced the stars at the head table — all but four being older white men such as Stan Evans, author of a book, “Blacklisted by History,” that seeks to rehabilitate Red Scare figure Joe McCarthy’s image, and at least two National Rifle Association officials.

A notable exception was Carrie Hale, whom Bachmann identified as the “scheduler” at Americans for Tax Reform; with Palin absent, she was the only other woman to sit on the stage. And Steele was the only African-American (not including a man in a white jacket who passed behind Bachmann as she spoke, carrying plates).

“How many times in life do you get a second chance?” asked keynoter Shadegg, referring to the conservative movement’s post-Bush status. “We are unleashed from the mistakes of the past.”

Bachmann brought the program to a close by imploring the audience to remember this night because, she said, in the future, “You can tell your posterity that you were here, you were present at the beginning of the conservative comeback.”

The conference, sponsored by the American Conservative Union Foundation, continues through Feb. 28. One session offered earlier on Thursday had a Minnesota angle: ”Al Franken and ACORN: How Liberals are Destroying the American Election System.” Another featured former United Nations ambassador John Bolton somehow generating laughter with an extended riff on the destruction of Chicago by nuclear weapons (YouTube).

UPDATE: The Thursday evening program is over, but the video player below should carry further CPAC sessions live, and archived video clips are available here.

More: The Washington Independent is chronicling Bachmann’s best quotes from the night.