On Sunday, conservative Washington Post columnist Richard Viguerie wrote an article about Bush's Base Betrayal which was lauded with a resounding cheer on nearly all progressive websites, and used by democrats as yet another example of the political fallout that Bush and all those attached to the RCC will be facing this upcoming election.

Seeing respectable progressive websites like HuffingtonPost, Raw Story, Thinkprogress and multiple others proclaim Viguerie's article as some wondrous sign, as if Viguerie were some ally in our fight against the Republican misleadership was just, another example of the inferiority complex we democrats are facing these days.

Because in no way should this article be lauded. There is very little in this article a democratically inclined voter should be excited about.

Viguerie is angry that Bush is not conservative enough. He wants Bush to step it up to a new level, to mix even more extreme social conservatism with the blind Reaganomics that swelled the deficit. Viguerie's article is not the conservative refutation we would look for in someone who has 'seen the light' and noticed that conservatism these days is anything but. His biggest complaints are that Bush hasn't been heavy handed enough in getting his judicial nominees passed, that the Medicare drug bill was far too costly and that the No Child Left Behind Act was an intrusion of the government on both a state and federal level. Viguerie argues that it was merely the immigration issue that tipped conservatives over not the corrupiton, the lying, the breaking of federal law. No, of course none of that.

Some of the demands Viguerie has for the Republican leadership show the beginnings of what the party would look like if the extremist evangelicals had full run.

Viguerie asks 'where are the serious efforts by Republicans to protect unborn children from abortion? Where is the campaign for a constitutional amendment to prevent liberal judges from allowing same-sex marriage?'

And later says:

'Instead of conservative action on social issues, the Republican-controlled House has approved more taxpayers' money for an embryo-killing type of stem cell research. And it passed a "hate crimes" measure that could lead to the classification as "hate" of criticism of homosexual activity. '

We won't even go into the fallacy and pure bigotry of his statements, because all I want to know, is why, are we as progressives rejoicing over a man who, in his opposition of the Republicans under the Bush way, has no desire whatsoever to ally with democratic positions, and instead is calling for a political party even more at odds with our values?

Did anyone even notice the gaping silence about the NSA wiretapping issue? No. Apparently that's not even an issue in Viguerie 's vision for the party.

Viguerie's article is not a rallying cry for democrats to rejoice in, instead it's a warning sing, a prediction of what we could see running our country if democrats don't step it up. Democrats can;t even say that theymade a big to do over this piece because it shows a dangerous division and an insight into the party infighting of the Republican Party, but they should realize thatRepublicans still hold the upper hand with control of essentially all three branches of government, don't seem to play by the rules and have no qualms in raising the very wedge issues Viguerie mentions to keep them in power.
And if they do stay in power for these reason, you can bet they are going to be implemented.

Democrats should be more cautious on what republican defectors we support. Only pure repentance of the Repuglican way should be accepted.