The traditional Republican platform, that of true conservatism, proposes a limited government with no involvement in the personal lives of its citizenry; a minimum of taxation; free markets; and the flow of intellectual discourse, among others. It's really hard to recognize the last one in the folks that have been in charge over the last 8 years, but this virulent strain of anti-intellectualism--which seems to go as far back as the Nixon administration, but has taken hold of the party ever since Ronald Reagan became president in 1980--is now threatening to tear the party apart. Especially if John McCain loses this election.
You see, while publicly the neocon-theocratic-grass roots alliance has been routinely attacking the so-called liberal and/or cultural elites, the same has been happening within the party, as we've witnessed the vitriol unleashed towards the various conservative pundits who have denounced McCain's campaign and/or the specific choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.
In his New York magazine piece, "The Right's Class War," John Heilemann includes a quote by one Victor Davis Hanson, a National Review contributor and Palin supporter, who had this to say about his intellectually-inclined GOPers:
“They … believe as intellectuals that the similarly astute Obamians may on occasion inspire, or admire them as the like-minded who cultivate the life of the mind—in contrast to the ‘cancer’ Sarah Palin, who, with her husband Todd, could hardly discuss Proust with them or could offer little if any sophisticated table talk other than the proper chokes on shotguns or optimum RPMs on snow-machines.”
Isn't this the kind of thing they're used to lobbing at Democrats and assorted liberals? Looks like it's gonna rain.
