Economist: The Grand Ole' Party of Rubes

Bobby Jindal Shaking Hands With Bubba Joe

Calling all Republicans a bunch of brain-dead hicks from flyover country is about as fair as dubbing Democrats a pack of anti-American twits from Park Avenue, but the Economist writes some decent criticism of the anti-intellectual malaise that has gripped the GOP:

The Republican Party’s divorce from the intelligentsia has been a while in the making. The born-again Mr Bush preferred listening to his “heart” rather than his “head”. He also filled the government with incompetent toadies like Michael “heck-of-a-job” Brown, who bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina. Mr McCain, once the chattering classes’ favourite Republican, refused to grapple with the intricacies of the financial meltdown, preferring instead to look for cartoonish villains. And in a desperate attempt to serve boob bait to Bubba, he appointed Sarah Palin to his ticket, a woman who took five years to get a degree in journalism, and who was apparently unaware of some of the most rudimentary facts about international politics.

Indeed, politically toxic issues such as views on abortion, xenophobia, and being a dunce on foreign policy caused the downfall of Sarah Palin. But, a crafty, libertarian message of being anti-government waste and anti-"Do what we tell you, citizen" could help bolster the "individual rights/fiscal conservatism" principles that supposedly govern the GOP. That could resonate with all Americans, regardless of their cultural demographic.