Bush supporters are cultists.

First the link: The Conservative movement in America is gone. Maybe DEAD. Off the radar for sure. Run over and obliterated not by the Left but by George W. Bush and the wild band of loons who support him against all logic.

Now the rest:

THe liberal movement for a better, more just, and ever greater society is muddled, habitually on the defensive, and lacking good leadership - but it is very much alive.

HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? You ask, and I answer.

Many moons ago (say 2002) there was a political movement in the United States called "the conservatives". I never liked what they stood for - as time always proved them wrong

(start with slavery, keep going through child labor laws, womens' suffrage, Jim Crow, Social Security, voting rights, - bring your self into the 90s with Global Warming and round the bend with WMDs - and you will find a cornucopia of tunnel vision and fear. The Right is nearly always Wrong. There track record is appalling.)

However: I have often respected leaders of the old conservative movement. Barry Goldwater was an honorable hero. Frankly, Goldwater deserves more respect than he gets from the Right. Ronald Reagan, though no JFK or FDR, was still a good man of clear conviction, and a fine President. 80% of the time I disagreed with him - but I trusted him and liked him.

But conservatism as a political movement is dead. The link above extrapolates on this phenomenon more clearly than I could. Read it. I only add this: The dearly held beliefs of generations of conservatives have been put to sleep by George Bush and his rabid supporters. Sadly, real Conservatives are barely aware of it. Still.

George Will yelps now and then. And Pat Buchanan has left the Bush ranch. But the great defenders of small government are silent.

The political use of 9/11 by the "neo cons" - far from destroying liberals ( we are have no microphone, but still have loud voices - and we will get the mike back eventually) has eaten away the heart of American conservatism. Small Government as an ideal is gone in this administration. The system of checks and balances defended by the Right and Left for 220 years is now only defended vocally by the Left. Senator Pat Roberts seems to think the President has no check on his power.

Look at the books: debt is the fiscal policy of this Republican administration. On domestic issues Bush is, well, Clintonian. No Child Left Behind is a carnival of expansive nanny state government. On paper, the prescription drug "benefit" would make Truman and LBJ dance with joy. Of course, they where liberals, who knew how to govern, so the implementation would not have been botched.

Judges are the one place W has been "conservative". But this must be cold comfort to thinking Conservatives. 5 years of GOP rule in DC and the debt has exploded, the Saudis and the Chinese control the American economy, and the reach of the Federal government is greater than ever.

Wake up, conservatives. Get your balls back. We on the Left need your help in restoring American values.

Besides, it gets boring bashing the neo-cons. Their PR is good, and the lies they tell are so over the top it often becomes performance art - but they have no soul. Those defending this god awful President are members of a cult. There simply is no other way to describe their level of mindlessness. Any 10th grader playing Risk would have done a better job invading Iraq. The Weather Channel pizza delivery kid knew New Orleans was flooding - but the Prez did not...

What will it take to end the neo-cons' Kool Aid cocktail party?

It may take a while cuz liberals are a motley bunch - but we will end it. Sure could use the help of some of the good old Conservatives.