It seems that Dean is trying to have it both ways, i.e., he is saying conservatives ARE authoritarian personalities AND - simultaneously - hapless, obedient FOLLOWERS of authoritarian personalities. But one of the overwhelming impressions I have of Freepers is that they QUESTION authority, even the authority of so-called conservatives like Bush, Rush, Hannity, and O'Reilly.
That's pretty obvious to anyone who reads this site with any degree of care or listens to those shows rather than just to what's said about them in the New York Times...
But the analysis of the likes of Hofstadter and especially the likes of Adorno (who wrote the Authoritarian Personality) and Marcuse has one big advantage--- it makes those who agree with it and use it feel superior. Plus, anytime someone uses logic against it, they can say "Aha! So you're duped too!" Pathetic, but that's the state of the academic left these days--- Adorno and Marcuse might even be a step up from the some of the Post-Colonial nonsense that's propagated in university English departments these days.