"Triumph of Bible Belt Imperialism"

[Minstrel Boy]

This is available http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20041104%2FCOMARTIN04%2FTPColumnists%2F&ord=8174105&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false">online only through a paid subscription for web content, so I've transcribed this from the paper edition.

And it's worth noting that Lawrence Martin is decidedly Canadian establishment, and a confident of the PM.

Triumph of Bible Belt Imperialism

Lawrence Martin

In its ideological approach, the US government had never strayed far enough from the centre to be considered a threat to the traditional order. It operated within the mainstream Western framework. The reason George W Bush became so reviled abroad and such a polarizing force at home was because his narrow-band ideological approach threatened that framework

The world, his election opponents believed, could not withstand four more years of Bible Belt imperialism. Now they've got it. The impressive triumph of the radical right on Tuesday has indeed broken the traditional consensus.

America has moved outside the box. It is in a new, potentially toxic territory.

...

The war has the look of an intractable calamity. The massive expenditures for it are on a collision course with fiscal sanity. With their weak showing, the Democrats at least allow Mr Bush to inherit his own hellhole. If he doesn't rebuild the old Western framework, he may never find a way out.