For five long years, the various elements of the conservative movement swallowed hard and overlooked their differences in hope's that the election and re-election of George W. Bush would bring their various and sometimes competing views of a conservative Utopia into being.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

Now the arguments are moving beyond the simple question of whether or not to support the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and has begun to reveal the deep underlying fissures within the movement.

In this piece by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, ironically titled, "Taxing Our Tolerance," Perkins shreds Grover Norquist for his appearance before the Log Cabin Republicans.

That's one unhappy family.

And that's not to mention the direct shots at Bush.  Here's an example from David Keene of the American Conservative Union:

Most conservatives have stood with Bush from the beginning. Those of us who know him like him. We’ve swallowed policies we might otherwise have objected to because we’ve believed that he and those around him are themselves conservatives trying to do the right thing against sometimes terrible odds. We’ve been there for him because we’ve considered ourselves part of his team.

No more.

But by far the most fascinating part of all of this internal feuding has absolutely nothing to do with how the Miers nomination turns out.

The real impact of all this will show up in the primaries for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination.  It will be fascinating to watch the blood oaths that the right wing of the party will require for their support in the nomination process.

By the time they are done, the GOP will have chosen an unelectable nominee.  Regardless of how the nomination of Harriet Miers turns out, that's the most likely legacy of the attempt.

So, I offer a special thanks to Harriet Miers, and an even bigger thanks to President Bush.