[TeNuaTe]

There has been a rather silly conflation in the media of "neocon" with "bush-republicans". Bush gained much of his support FROM the neocons, and shares some ideals with them, but he more closely associates with southern and midwestern social conservatives rather than the actual 'neocons' who are largely urban, north midwest or northeast (or California, of course). Well, erm... He's most closely associated with people who were born into millionaire families owning a lot in the stock market, like he did. He doesn't really care what happens to neoconservatives or "midwestern social conservatives" as long as they'll vote for him. Bush has done a lot of 360 degree (example: immigration) and 180 degree (example: terrorism) turns by now in a lot issues, but he has solidly continued to ensure that the good times roll for those who own a lot in the stock market. His greatest asset is that the working people won't have any time or interest to check how the image of the republican party they once absorbed is correlating with reality -- "I voted for Bush because I'm a republican" will probably translate into "I'll vote for my congressman because I'm a republican", no matter how big-government they are or will be.

I'm not really sure neoconservatives only live in "liberal" regions of the US, considering lotm lives in VA and Imran in urban GA...