tmatt SCORES!

Cultural conservatives and libertarian conservatives are gathering in several camps:

• Those who trust the team of God and President Bush above all.

• Those who do not trust Bush, in part because of rising evidence that the crony card trumps everything else.

• Traditional conservatives — including many in pews — who are insulted that Bush passed over thousands of more qualified candidates (including younger judges, other females and minorities) and that now, to fight the opposition, the White House is playing the God card.

Then, BOOM:

Journalists must realize the leadership of the Republican Party knows that pro-life, traditional religious believers — Democrats, as well as Republicans — have nowhere to go in an era in which, to paraphrase Maureen Dowd, the Democratic Party’s only iron-clad value is the defense of Woodstock. So the Republican establishment can treat cultural conservatives the way the Democrats treat labor unions.

STORY.