Our Ms. Brooks: What's Left Of The GOP
Rosa Brooks' column in today's Los Angeles Times points to a rather stunning bit of defection from the rolls of conservatism in this country and what that means not only for this election, but potentially for a long time to come.
Liberals haven't had so much fun in decades. ...
Maybe most fun of all, we're getting to watch a steady procession of rats leaving the sinking GOP ship.
One by one, the nation's more reputable conservatives have been edging away from the Republican presidential ticket. It started with John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Thinking conservatives -- as of a couple of months ago, there were still a few left -- were distinctly underwhelmed.
She then proceeds to tick off the pundits from the right who've expressed their displeasure: David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum, Kathleen Parker, George Will, Peggy Noonan, Wick Allison, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Buckley. That list, if you think about it, is really quite amazing. These folks had no trouble backing such GOP luminaries as the dithering Reagan, the bombastic Gingrich, the stupid, yet insolent George W. Bush, yet they've decided they cannot stomach McCain/Palin. What finally led to their decision to jump from the mother ship?
But enjoyable as it's been to watch conservatives flee from the GOP, something about all this leaves me feeling a little down. Because as the more respectable, literate conservatives distance themselves from the GOP, increasingly, the only ones left on the right are paranoid, rage-driven, xenophobic nuts. Bitter? You betcha! Twisted too!
Even for a liberal, it's painful to watch. Once, the GOP proudly claimed to be the "party of ideas." They weren't generally good ideas, it's true -- but they were ideas eloquently defended by men and women who believed it was their duty to study history, philosophy, science, economics and international relations and to do the intellectual heavy lifting needed to try to persuade smart people with different views to come around to their way of thinking. That was the GOP nurtured by conservative intellectuals such as William Buckley. Buckley was many things liberals didn't admire, but he wasn't ignorant, savage or stupid by choice.
But today, as the last few sober grown-ups leave the party, the visible face of the GOP increasingly looks like that of the people who shout "kill him!" when Obama's name comes up, who speak of black men they don't like as "uppity" or as "boys," who think you can't trust a Muslim or an Arab, who think talking about "Barack Hussein Osama" is witty and (I'm talking to you, Sarah Palin and John McCain) who claim Obama "pals around with terrorists."
This isn't really that funny anymore.
The irony of the defections is that these "thinking conservatives" had no problems with the development of the "Southern Strategy" which swept Reagan into office, nor did they have any problems with the fundagelicals asserting control of the GOP's platforms for the past twenty years. It was only when the obvious outcome of these tactics, a party containing only "paranoid, rage-driven, xenophobic nuts," that the "reputable" conservatives began to get nervous. And that nervousness evolved into sheer panic once it became clear that the GOP might very well suffer its worst defeat since FDR came on the national stage.
"Stupid by choice" might be forgivable, but losing isn't.
Liberals haven't had so much fun in decades. ...
Maybe most fun of all, we're getting to watch a steady procession of rats leaving the sinking GOP ship.
One by one, the nation's more reputable conservatives have been edging away from the Republican presidential ticket. It started with John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Thinking conservatives -- as of a couple of months ago, there were still a few left -- were distinctly underwhelmed.
She then proceeds to tick off the pundits from the right who've expressed their displeasure: David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum, Kathleen Parker, George Will, Peggy Noonan, Wick Allison, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Buckley. That list, if you think about it, is really quite amazing. These folks had no trouble backing such GOP luminaries as the dithering Reagan, the bombastic Gingrich, the stupid, yet insolent George W. Bush, yet they've decided they cannot stomach McCain/Palin. What finally led to their decision to jump from the mother ship?
But enjoyable as it's been to watch conservatives flee from the GOP, something about all this leaves me feeling a little down. Because as the more respectable, literate conservatives distance themselves from the GOP, increasingly, the only ones left on the right are paranoid, rage-driven, xenophobic nuts. Bitter? You betcha! Twisted too!
Even for a liberal, it's painful to watch. Once, the GOP proudly claimed to be the "party of ideas." They weren't generally good ideas, it's true -- but they were ideas eloquently defended by men and women who believed it was their duty to study history, philosophy, science, economics and international relations and to do the intellectual heavy lifting needed to try to persuade smart people with different views to come around to their way of thinking. That was the GOP nurtured by conservative intellectuals such as William Buckley. Buckley was many things liberals didn't admire, but he wasn't ignorant, savage or stupid by choice.
But today, as the last few sober grown-ups leave the party, the visible face of the GOP increasingly looks like that of the people who shout "kill him!" when Obama's name comes up, who speak of black men they don't like as "uppity" or as "boys," who think you can't trust a Muslim or an Arab, who think talking about "Barack Hussein Osama" is witty and (I'm talking to you, Sarah Palin and John McCain) who claim Obama "pals around with terrorists."
This isn't really that funny anymore.
The irony of the defections is that these "thinking conservatives" had no problems with the development of the "Southern Strategy" which swept Reagan into office, nor did they have any problems with the fundagelicals asserting control of the GOP's platforms for the past twenty years. It was only when the obvious outcome of these tactics, a party containing only "paranoid, rage-driven, xenophobic nuts," that the "reputable" conservatives began to get nervous. And that nervousness evolved into sheer panic once it became clear that the GOP might very well suffer its worst defeat since FDR came on the national stage.
"Stupid by choice" might be forgivable, but losing isn't.
Labels: Election 2008
posted by Diane at 4:13 AM
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