GOP Intellectuals Jump Mac's Ship, Leaving Wingnuts

Columnist's schadenfreude turns to dread over the new face of the party

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

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GOP Intellectuals Jump Mac's Ship, Leaving Wingnuts — John McCain, R-Ariz., accompanied by his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaks to supporters during a rally at the Center Court Sports Complex in Waukesha, Wis., Thursday Oct. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

It’s been a fun time for liberals, writes Rosa Brooks in the LA Times. Though initially worried about the boost Sarah Palin gave to John McCain’s polling numbers, Dems were then treated to the defections of some of the GOP’s brightest thinkers. Columnists David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, and former Bush speechwriter David Frum all backed away from McCain, charging that the Alaska governor was out of her league.

Then conservative dissatisfaction boiled over—Christopher Hitchens, former National Review editor Wick Allison, and even Christopher Buckley, heir to the conservative legacy of William F., actually endorsed Obama. But wait, these intelligent defectors were the reason Brooks respected, if disagreed with the GOP, and their absence means the party is fully in the grips of “rage-driven, xenophobic nuts”—and that’s a scary thought.
(More Election 2008 stories.)

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