Last December I asked a question that seems increasingly pertinent with each new administration scandal: How Far Will Bush Supporters Go? When I asked the question the first time, the NSA story had just broken and I watched in amazement as a number of rightwing bloggers and pundits and politicians lined up behind the White House in support of a clear circumvention of the law.

This time it's the Dubai port deal. Once again, despite cracks in the pro-Bush edifice, several bloggers are embracing their cognitive dissonance and supporting Bush. (link, link.) The fealty is incredible. Here we have a 'leader' on whose watch America suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history saying, 'no need to worry about port security,' and his blog followers do what they do best: follow.

Which raises the issue of Bush cultism, a hot blog topic thanks in part to Glenn Greenwald. I wrote this in response to a blogger who rejects Glenn's premise: 'I am sympathetic to bloggers like Tom Maguire, under whose skin Glenn's post is lodged and stinging. Nobody wants to be seen as an intellectually dishonest sycophant. But that's exactly where many rightwing bloggers find themselves, apologists for a White House that treats the Constitution as a burden rather than a beacon, as a pest rather than a paradigm.'

Speaking of intellectual dishonesty, the ostrich-like response to the ominous turn of events in Iraq is another perfect example of how far blind allegiance to Bush will go. I know it's difficult to admit error, but isn't it about time to fess up that this whole (mis)adventure has been a disaster of epic proportions?

So again I ask, how far will Bush supporters go?"