dude, your party’s been hijacked

By now, you might have seen the Errol Morris vignettes featuring Republicans who aren’t supporting Bush, or perhaps even read a story or two about the conservative newspapers that have chosen not to endorse Bush. Some might say that the rats are fleeing a sinking ship, but I think that analogy doesn’t reflect the reality of the matter, which is that Bush, people are beginning to realize, is not practicing good, old-fashioned Republican conservatism. And even the most staunch party loyalists are beginning to take notice. Today, the magazine The American Conservative came out against Bush’s reelection. They did so in part for strategic reasons (they think that Kerry will be easy to beat in ’08, after spending a term undoing Bush’s global mess), but they also did so because they know he’s serving the interests of the evangelical right, and not those of this country. Their editorial, while anything but kind toward Kerry, is absolutely merciless toward Bush. I would ask any of you who consider yourselves Republicans to take a moment and read it. In my opinion, it’s one of the better endorsements, or non-endorsements, that’s out there right now. (And, dad, if you read it, I’ll buy you a steak or something of equal value.) Here is an excerpt:

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing clich