A reader ponders:
What I can’t figure out is why there is no organized opposition to Bush among Republicans. You’d think that self-preservation would motivate some of them to do something. But I see no evidence of any such effort. I can only conclude that they would rather switch than fight. It’s easier to become an independent or even a Democrat than try to fight the stranglehold that Bush, the neocons and the religious kooks have on the party these days. The only solution I see if for Republicans to lose as badly as possible next year. Then, maybe, they will wake up.
The cult of the Decider still has enormous power, I think. And it's largely because it's rooted in religious faith in the party's base, not rational judgment. The elites know this is where the power lies, the none of them has the bond with the Christianist voters like Bush has, and so are completely intimidated in taking him on in the primaries. And maybe thereafter.