If we don't increase federal spending by record amounts, then the terrorists have already won. ;^)
Jim, I think it's obvious from the posts of many people that you know to be firm Conservatives, that Bush has a serious problem with his base. Now, maybe Rove and he have done the calculus: For every conservative vote they lose, they gain 3 'Day In The Life'-mom votes. That's fine; heck, if I were a politician, I might do the same thing. But I can't vote for it.
I sincerely doubt he has a real problem with his base. It's obvious that a lot of conservatives are ticked off (and for good reason), but I don't think it will equate to "millions" of conservatives voting Democrat or third party or not voting at all. When push comes to shove there will be very few in the conservative "base" who will actually reject Bush (or the Republicans) in favor of returning power to the Democrats. That'd be political suicide.