George W. Bush is a "Red Tory"

Posting at The Corner Jonah Goldberg wonders why he's never seen Bushism "described with the simple and direct 'Socially Conservative but Fiscally Liberal' tag," adding that it "seems to capture it perfectly, no?"

ME: Yes. But if we haven't seen it used, it might be because a) it's hard to fathom anyone in contemporary American politics wanting to be so designated, in the way that "social liberal but fiscal conservative" is worn like a badge of honor by many, quite prominently in the blogosphere by Andrew Sullivan among others, and b) it's also kind of clunky.

Both obstacles, however, seem to have been happily overcome in any earlier era with the coinage of "Red Tory."

Here's a definition from the AllExperts encyclopedia:

The notion of Red Toryism was developed by George Grant in the 1950s and 1960s who argued that Canadian conservatism was strongly influenced by ideals such as collectivism and community responsibility.... Red Tories were thus socially conservative supporting traditional institutions like religion and the monarchy but fiscally liberal with a strong belief in the welfare state.