Kristol responds to former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan's claim that "the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics" by saying that vulgar refers to the common people, and that there's nothing wrong with the common people, particularly in a democracy. This is like responding to charges of racial discrimination by saying that discrimination also means "wise judgment." Look, I don't know how Noonan feels about the people, but the reason why vulgar has negative connotations is that traditionally the people were treated like dirt—the word common has actually pretty much lost its negative connotations in the U.S., but vulgar is (a) sorry, just negative at this point, and (b) no longer tied to the vulgus.
Nor am I picking nits. Because what's so incredible about Kristol's column is that part of what is actually vulgar about the Palin candidacy, in the current sense of the word vulgar, is the brazen exploitation and misuse of the "common people," the amazing false populism that the G.O.P. has had so much success with for so many years and that is finally, finally starting to crumble. Kristol writes, "But is the ignorant crowd really our problem today? Are populism and anti-intellectualism rampant in the land?"—as if this is the Democratic Party's fear. And it is the Democratic Party's fear if by populism you're referring to what the Nobel Prize–winning Paul Krugman identifies on the same page as Richard Nixon's "remarkable marketing discovery," wherein "The party of plutocrats was repackaged as the party of the 'silent majority,' the regular guys—white guys, it went without saying—who didn't like the social changes taking place," such that "the G.O.P. was able to keep winning elections even as its policies became more pro-plutocrat, and less favorable to working Americans, than ever."
Part of the reason why McCain is getting creamed right now—part of the reason why he stuck to the attacks in the third debate even though polls that morning said clearly that Americans didn't like the attacks and that they (the attacks, not the Americans) were backfiring*—is that his policies, particularly his economic policies, simply don't fly in America right now: he's better off hurting himself with negative campaigning than he is coming straight out and talking about the issues, because on the issues he loses, case closed: as Krugman puts it, "Mr. McCain proposes continuing Mr. Bush's policies in all essential respects"; as Frank Rich put it two days ago, "What [McCain] has offered his country this year is an older, crankier, more unsteady version of Bush."
Desperation, or, Insane in the Membrane
So what's so beautiful about Kristol's column is that, in the name of populism, he's holding up Sen. McCain's "Joe the Plumber" tack as an example of the G.O.P.'s advantage with the common folk, when in fact "Joe" would have lower taxes under Obama than under McCain unless he's making $200,000/year—i.e., unless he's not "the common man":
Average annual income of "plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters" in Ohio:
$47,930
McCain's definition of rich:
$5 million
Seeing the Republican–Plutocrat cloaking device begin to falter and fail:
priceless
In other words, the only substance or content of Kristol's column is a desperate attempt to claim the non-"elite" for the G.O.P. when it's becoming clearer and clearer that the G.O.P. is glad to use those people as cannon-fodder (and then maybe as fuel).** The truest thing Kristol says is at the beginning of the piece: "Many conservatives have never been entirely comfortable with this rather important characteristic of democracy [the common people]. Conservatives' hearts have always beaten a little faster when they read Horace's famous line: 'Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.' 'I hate the ignorant crowd and I keep them at a distance." Both parties can be accused of elitism, but the Republicans stand out for their condescending manipulation of the people they despise. Good going, guys!
Kristol closes by uniting with McCain, Palin, and Joe the Plumber "in defiance of Horace the Poet"; O.K., fine. Either you're conning old Joe, or he isn't what you say he is (see above); in both cases you're using him, and you're using him because you're losing, and you're losing because your policies are bad for America and Americans are starting to see that. As Election Day approaches, we're going to see even more doublespeak and hypocrisy, more fumbling like we've seen from McCain and Palin as they try simultaneously to ally themselves with the poor and to accuse Obama of being a socialist. It's going to be a little funny, and it's going to be very, very infuriating.
I, for one, am going to try to turn my attention elsewhere, or at least not to go off about it every day on Alt85. No more politics! Let's see how that turns out.
[One last thing: Kristol sets the "media elites" against the common man (and tries to downplay the polls that show Obama winning) by saying, "Pundits spent all spring telling Hillary Clinton to give up in her contest against Obama—and the public kept on ignoring them and keeping her hopes alive." Um... (1) First the pundits said she was a sure thing. (2) She lost.
You've gotta love this guy!]
* Sure enough, polls confirmed that Americans thought Obama wiped the floor with McCain in the debate.
** A way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Paging Mr. Swift...
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