Elitism

The Right will never stop thinking that all of life is a battle of the Orthogonians versus the Franklins.

Why elide the fact that Sarah Palin is a darling of Fox News, the highest-rated cable-news network in America? Or that she is regularly defended by Mr. Limbaugh, famous television personality Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, a nationally syndicated radio host whose latest book just ended a run atop the New York Times bestseller list? Or again, surely these savvy Sarah Palin defenders know that the editors of National Review and The Weekly Standard, tenured members of the political establishment, lined up behind her candidacy, and that Gov. Palin herself is a millionaire who enjoyed a six-figure family income before she ever took the statehouse—never mind the lucrative book contract and pricey speaking fees now available to her.

Isn’t it actually the case that a good chunk of elite America loves Sarah Palin, or at least is willing to lend rhetorical and financial support to her? Why pretend otherwise? The cynical view is that elite conservatives benefit by hiding this fact from their audiences. Better to convince them that America’s cultural and political tastemakers are as thoroughly liberal today as was the case a generation ago. In that bygone era, The New York Times and the Big Three networks determined the news cycle, the Fairness Doctrine constrained the market for conservative radio, and the post-World War II democratic coalition dominated two-thirds of the federal government.

Way back in the year 2000, I can still remember where I was when I heard the news that one George W. Bush had launched an "exploratory committee" to determine whether he would run for president. I laughed ruefully, thinking, fucking GOP really is a cynical bunch. They'll hitch their wagon to that nasty, vicious incompetent all on account of his name recognition and connections with the christianists. They know he's not qualified to run a shoe store, let alone the country, but governing doesn't really matter to them. Winning does, and whipping up the base is their strategy to do just that.

I am not surprised that many in the Republican "elite" are using Saint Sarah in the same way and she's returning the favor. It's a grifter's party and she's the grifter queen.