The A-Team

What kind of name for a band of supervillians, or even heroes, is “The Arlington Group“? More dowdy than terrifying. But then, we didn’t get their calmly-worded letter of disappointment. Bush did. The coalition of Christian conservatives, which includes James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Paul Weyrich, the Family Reseach Council, the American Family Association and the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote a confidential letter to Karl Rove last week, expressing their disappointment that the administration was pushing Social Security and other economic issues ahead of a same-sex marriage ban, and threatening outrage on behalf of black, Latino and Catholic voters who had broken with tradition to vote for Bush over gay marriage. Not so long ago, the letter warned, many of these supporters were working or middle class, and felt more loyalty towards Democrats and their support of Social Security programs. Something for Dems to get excited about? Probably not, but it’s always fun to see a number put to a person’s discontent: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the point of disowning one’s son) the Family Research Council gave the White House an “8.”