Have Rove/Bush written off the real conservatives?

Now this is interesting:
At Conservative Forum on Bush, Everybody's a Critic

If the ancient political wisdom is correct that a charge unanswered is a charge agreed to, the Bush White House pleaded guilty yesterday at the Cato Institute to some extraordinary allegations.

"We did ask a few members of the Bush economic team to come," explained David Boaz, the think tank's executive vice president, as he moderated a discussion between two prominent conservatives about President Bush. "We didn't get that."

Now why would the administration pass up such an invitation?

Well, it could have been because of the first speaker, former Reagan aide Bruce Bartlett. Author of the new book "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy," Bartlett called the administration "unconscionable," "irresponsible," "vindictive" and "inept."

It might also have had something to do with speaker No. 2, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan. Author of the forthcoming "The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How to Get It Back," Sullivan called Bush "reckless" and "a socialist," and accused him of betraying "almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for."

It would seem the CATO Institute has joined the Libertarians at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and LewRockwell.com in proclaiming that Bush that there is nothing conservative about George W. Bush and his administration. And the Bush administration didn't even send anyone to defend their policies to the CATO forum. At the moment the Rovians still have the TV news. Bartlett has been forced to go on liberal Air America to push his book.