I also don't trace this current incarnation of Republican power to Goldwater, even though I know most pundits do. McCain is in the Goldwater mold, but Bush ain't by a longshot. Which is why people like McCain better than they do the Bush dynasty. I think lots of people held their noses and voted for Bush, because he was the only Republican to vote for. But I don't think the Republican base thinks much of him or Cheney. You see, I think Bush's exploitation of the Christian conservative base is phony as a three dollar bill. He is a big business Republican conservative, doing what he is told by the Rove, and is simply exploiting the social conservative wing (the Bubba voters) of his base.

I trace this current incarnation of big business Republican conservatives in power to Nixon, right on down to the Poindexters, Negropontes, Rumsfelds, and Cheneys. Nixon's men all. Nixon didn't give a shit about religion, and nor do the men serving Bush. They are all big business conservatives in politics to marry their goals to a big government that serves them. Reagan actually believed in the social conservative values he espoused, but his vice president didn't and was the Nixonian heir apparent of the big business lobby.