After all that history of abuse directed toward Americans who stood up for the truth, the Post's neocon editors now have opened up a new line of attack against liberals and progressives, accusing them of "condescension" for having the audacity to assert that their arguments are based on fact.
Alexander's article in the Post is, in essence, a fancily written version of the Right's "populist" anti-intellectualism. Anyone who insists on checking out facts and applying reason must be an "elitist."
That this "condescending" attack line against the Left is being trumpeted by the supposedly "liberal" Washington Post makes it all the more powerful to many Americans.
Reagan's Heir
Now, with the emergence of Sarah Palin as the latest heir to Ronald Reagan's legacy and as a potential next President of the United States it is clear that empiricism will be snowed under again by a blizzard of half-truths, emotional appeals, historical myths and nasty zingers.
Anyone who dares speak up for facts and reason will be portrayed as a pointy-headed intellectual out of touch with "real Americans."
It wasn't an accident that Palin opened her speech to a Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee, on Feb. 6, by noting Reagan's 99th birthday. Amid the sustained applause that greeted her, Palin said, "I am so proud to be American. Thank you. Gosh. Thank you. Happy birthday, Ronald Reagan."
Beyond positioning herself as Reagan's ideological descendant, Palin put herself on the side of "real people, not politicos." She spoke up for "commonsense, conservative principles" and put the blame for all that was wrong in America on Obama and the Democrats, while accusing them of falsely blaming George W. Bush for the mess.
In hailing Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts as a "shout-out revolution," she drew laughter by claiming that "yet again, President Obama found some way to make this all about George Bush," adding:
"The only place that the Left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda. So some advice for our friends on that side of the aisle. That's where you've got to look because that's what got you into this mess. The Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda will leave us less secure, more in debt and under the thumb of Big Government. That is out of touch and is out of date. And if Scott Brown is any indication, it is running out of time."
[To read a transcript of Palin's entire speech, click here. To watch it, click here]
The American Right again has taken on the "populist" mantle of the plucky underdog facing down the "elitist" Obama and his arrogant entourage of House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, defenders of Big Government, not to mention the "liberal" news media.
In this narrative, Palin, the Fox News personalities and poor Rush Limbaugh are the real victims who must face the cruelty and condescension of an all-powerful, arrogant Left.
Whether or not Edward Lansdale would be proud that his psy-war theories are coming back to America to roost isn't clear, but he would have recognized what the neocons and the Palinistas are up to.
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