To the editor:

Richard Viguerie, long called the “funding father” of the New Right, says in a May 21 Washington Post op-ed piece that “65 months into Bush’s presidency, conservatives feel betrayed. After the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ transportation bill, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and the Dubai Ports World deal, the immigration crisis was the tipping point for us.”

Viguerie had his misgivings about Bush from the start and has accumulated a long list of complaints, but it seems he’s most troubled by fiscal irresponsibility and general incompetence (who isn’t?). Missing from this brand of outrage is actual humanity, or mention of most of the issues that put a pain in the gut of anyone with a shred of respect or empathy for their fellow human beings.

The Harriet Miers nomination, while frighteningly unbelievable, was a farce that pales in comparison to the large-scale death and destruction caused by an ill-conceived, optional war without end, systemic torture and black prisons, self-serving leaks of sensitive information, cover-ups and general disregard for human rights, civil liberties, and the law.

Bush joked about finding no weapons of mass destruction while people were dying. Funny thing is, it was only when he showed a rare, humane moment – pointing out that immigrants are, after all, human beings – that his hard-core base finally turned on him. While I disagree with their priorities, I’m glad they’re finally “fed up.” They’re only about 65 months too late.

Christy Kennedy,

Lawrence