The Republicans will make a bonfire under Jim McDermott,

By any standard this is a low point. It will be interesting to see if Bush goes for a conservative, in-your-face appointment to the Supreme Court to rally the base, which has been more critical than before but has not turned on him.

There's no question that it will hurt him and it will hurt him significantly. He's still getting the solid support from his base. The question now is whether his performance with the hurricane begins to affect his performance with his base.

Government is inevitably going to play a very significant role in infrastructure, and in a country with a federal system where vibrancy and economic health depend on interstate commerce, it's not going to be private enterprise or state governments that will give you things like an interstate highway system.

Radicals don't care about the institutions. They are looking for an ideological crusade. Traditions don't matter.

The best way to get your audience larger and more consistent is to be more divisive and more radical and criticize those who cater to or kowtow to other forces.