Granted, there is a fair amount of "running against the conservatives." In fact, my own position is that I, personally, would prefer to see just about anyone in charge of the country than the current administration, and I can give you a long list of reasons why, but, of course, you've undoubtedly heard them all before. But when I say "just about anyone," that, of course, has its limitations. Someone who holds the same views or someone even further to the Right, no. But I don't see how anyone who isn't an outright dictator could do a worse job, or a more Constitution-shredding job of governing the country than the Bush administration is doing.

After the failure of Barry Goldwater to gain office, and the various black eyes, that Nixon left them with, the different conservative factions began to realize that if they were ever to gain any kind of power in the foreseeable future, they would have to find common cause with other factions ("The Big Tent," I believe, is what they called it) and begin to work together. It took them a couple of decades, but finally the anti-abortion crew, the tax-cuts for the rich cabal, the religious Right, and the various others agreed to make their own individually hobby-horses secondary to the conservatives-in-general attaining power. Once that was accomplished, then they could decide how to divvy up the spoils. It's the divvying up of the spoils that's what's going on now, and it looks like they're really making a pig's breakfast of it.

Many influential liberals have recently begun to realize that the conservatives had the right tactic. The environmentalists and the peace oriented groups and the abortion-rights and the national health-care folks and the others are going to have to start working together if any of them are ever going to accomplish their goals, and the non-religious are going to have to put their animosity aside and be willing to work together with the burgeoning number of progressive Christians who sick of the religious Right claming to speak for all Christians.

It's happening.

But your word, "hate"—or Cohen's word—is a little too strong, I think.

Don Firth