Suckers for Jesus

Let me first say that I am a Christian. Sadly, I must go on to descry the utter naivete of the conservative Christian community in America that has supported George W. Bush despite a left-leaning agenda merely because he speaks in superficially Christian terms. I knew Bush was a liberal in conservative clothing long before he became president. His term of preference when running for his first term made his ideology clear: "compassionate conservatism". This of course implies that standard conservatism is somehow lacking in compassion and needs to be mitigated by "compassionate" governmental programs. Pseudo-conservative ideology mixed with religious language was used as a marketing tactic and it worked and continues to work. Is Bush a Christian? I don't know. I have my doubts about anyone who was (is?) a member of a secretive society (a no-no for a Christian). And his description of Jesus as a "philosopher" leaves one wondering what his Christology actually is. But his spiritual state aside, in what way is he "conservative"? Okay, he is for cutting taxation, I'll give you that, but is that necessarily conservative when combined with fiscal abandon? The man has never seen a spending bill he didn't like. He is a war-hawk, but the idea that being hawkish is conservative is a slander on conservatives. Conservatism is strong on national defense, not enthusiastic about war. Regarding national defense I think Bush has had a mixed record at best. Does anyone really think our ports or borders are secure? Taking the fight to the terrorists is a good idea, but trying to finesse a war rather than overwhelming the enemy is not a sign of strength in my view. On spending Bush is liberal. On domestic policy he is liberal. On growth of government he is liberal. On immigration he is liberal. In many ways he is liberal in his foreign policy. So why do conservative Christians support Bush? Merely because they think he is one of them and they think that only because he makes references to prayer, god, faith, etc. Whatever happened to discernment?