Three Cheers for the Snobs!!!

An article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal by Peggy Noonan was forwarded to me a few days ago. It dealt with the same issue that my previous blog post addressed: the harm Sarah Palin does for conservatism. Once a powerful, respected voice by the conservative mainstream, Peggy Noonan has been cast as a traitor to the cause. Why? Because she dared to show the fallacy that was Sarah Palin. She immediately saw that Sarah Palin was all narrative and no substance. Noonan dismisses her critics in a firery Wall Street Journal article entitled "A Farewell to Harms." In it, Noonan writes that

"She [Palin] went on the trail a sensation but demonstrated in the ensuing months that she was not ready to go national and in fact never would be. She was hungry, loved politics, had charm and energy, loved walking onto the stage, waving and doing the stump speech. All good. But she was not thoughtful....America doesn't need Sarah Palin to prove it was, and is, a nation of unprecedented fluidity. Her rise and seeming fall do nothing to prove or refute this...She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated...The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can. And so the Republican Party should get serious, as serious as the age, because that is what a grown-up, responsible party—a party that deserves to lead—would do...We are going to need the best."

Well said Peggy Noonan. It is too bad the conservative movement has cast you aside. Blogger Michelle Malkin was one of those who have dismissed Noonan from the conservative movement. Malking responds to Noonan by lamenting that she belongs to the snob, tea-wing of the Republican Party. I am so sick of the class warfare that has taken over the discussion within the Republican Party. That's why I hated Mike Huckabee's campaign for President last fall. He always tried to play the "I've been poorer than you are" card against rich, highly succesful people like Mitt Romney. Conservatives used to detest "populist" movements because they are just that, "popular." It is easy to pander to peoples emotions. It's harder to convince them about policy. There was a time when conservatives, of all classes, would tune in and cheer William F. Buckley Jr as he devoured a liberal opponent. And my friends, there is no bigger snob than WFB. What has happened to conservatism? Does have to have been poor and disadvantaged to lead? As Peggy said, we need serious policies put forth by serious leaders. We don't need any more Palin's and Huckabee's.