The Captain Queeg of contemporary conservatism

Rightwing money groups are demanding that anyone who wants their future support must commit themselves to stand by Tom Delay. Money:

Conservatives say the attacks against Mr. DeLay are against the broader conservative movement, and many of them met last week in Washington to plot a defense.

"I think in the last couple of weeks, it's become apparent to many conservative groups in Washington that this is really, in many ways, an attack on them and their ideas, using Mr. DeLay as the surrogate target," said Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, a political action committee.

Instinctive obedience to hierarchy is of course part of the psychological profile of rightwingers. But still, I wonder how conservatives of conscience feel about DeLay's effort to fix the fortunes of their entire movement to his own personal fate. Looks like desperation to me.