Headline from Yahoo! News:

Bush rallies conservatives for campaign

I tend to agree with Peggy Noonan on this one:

George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.

For all the (well deserved) animus that is directed at Senator McCain, I think it’s important to recognize where this “compassionate conservatism” began.