Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place.

For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad!

The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic--they "don't want to do what's right for America."

I suspect the White House and its allies have turned to name calling because they're defensive

Now conservatives and Republicans are going to have to win back their party.

This will require courage, serious thinking and an ability to do what psychologists used to call letting go. This will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time