When conservatives finally come to grips with whatever the results of the election are, it’s not going to be pretty, regardless of the outcome. The memories of the rash of walk-outs that broke out in the waning weeks of the cycle will be fresh and the anger over the betrayal will only then begin to pour out. The recriminations will be bitter and long-lasting. And, sadly, most of those who find themselves the subject of the inevitable scorn likely won’t understand the real reason for it.
Most of them are salving their wounds by telling themselves that the accusations they’ve had leveled against them – that they’re cravenly making a play for inclusion in the Georgetown cocktail party circuit – are so far off-base that they need not take their critics seriously. But, they’re making the mistake of accepting the rationale put forth by angry readers caught up the passion that inevitably follows betrayal. And we all know that what is said in those white hot moments immediately following an act of betrayal is more often than not an attempt to wound the transgressor rather than make an honest appraisal of the transgression.
So, before the turncoat pundits settle into their smug postures and begin practicing the condescending sneers and sardonic repartee they’ll be exchanging with all those suddenly sensible writers from the other camp who have patented a Strange New Respect, they might want to sit down reassess. While it may be as soothing and convenient as a truck driver’s Preparation H travel pack, they’ll be severely misdiagnosing the ailment if they allow themselves to become convinced that the anger is nothing more than the hyperemotional outburst of a movement scorned.
First of all, this gaggle of scalawags needs to be made fully aware of just how stupid a thing they’ve done. But, as anyone knows, convincing any pundit – especially those who have gained Strange New Respect from their erstwhile foes – that they’ve said or done anything stupid is akin to convincing your vegan girlfriend to pick up some veal cutlets and goose liver pate for your best friend’s bachelor party. Nevertheless, a simple examination of their reasoning reveals the intellectual pestilence with which they’ve been afflicted.
The universal excuse – er, “reason” – given by this assemblage of defectors is that they simply couldn’t bring themselves to support John McCain after he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Citing inexperience and a lack of preparedness for the national political stage, they scowled at McCain and oh-so-regretfully expressed their sense of trepidation before slipping their polemical knives into his political ribcage. Once the act was finished, those who were troubled at all by what they had done pityingly declared it a painful necessity and headed for the doors.
After the initial barrage of richly deserved rebuke, some attempted to justify their perfidy by pleading that they were only saying what they thought needed to be said if there was to be any hope of salvaging the ticket. Supposedly, they had concluded that unless they voiced their criticisms of the vice presidential nominee, there simply was no way that McCain might reconsider his choice and drop her from the ticket in favor of another, more suitable one – perhaps the ones they supported over McCain in the primary, for example.
Problem is, they all knew full-well that the chances of that ever occurring were roughly equivalent to those of the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series, Stanley Cup, Super Bowl, and NBA championship. In fact, the only way it was ever going to happen would have been if the Strange New Respecter, Andrew Sullivan, had been right all along about Baby Trig’s parentage. But, that’s not the worst of it.
The fact is, even if they had managed to jawbone McCain into rescinding his selection and handing it over to Mitt Huckabee or Fred Giuliani or Rudy Tancredo, the very action would have doomed the ticket as surely as the proverbial dead girl or live boy in the bed. And there’s not a single political observer drawing breath with two firing synapses who would argue otherwise.
Yet, these vaunted vessels of electoral omniscience had somehow convinced themselves that if they didn’t express their reservations, and very earnestly, the campaign would inevitably suffer the fate of Old Yeller at the hands of the voters. And truth be told, it didn’t even occur to them to question whether or not it would have been fair – at least not to the extent that anything in American politics ever is. They had concluded that Sarah Palin is such an awful choice for a vice presidential candidate that they couldn’t support her and maintain the vast store of journalistic credibility they’d built up over the years.
And that’s precisely where they went wrong. You see, they’re operating under the silly assumption that the value of political pundits rests in their forthrightness and deep sense of personal honor – you know, all that stuff they railed against John McCain for displaying over the years at the expense of his party.
No, the job of political pundits – the measure of their worth – resides in their ability to advance the cause of whatever it is they believe in. For liberals and “objective” Washington correspondents, the cause is electing Barack Obama to the presidency and helping him to usher his agenda into being. Nothing more, nothing less. And they’ve displayed a remarkable level of discipline over the course of the last couple of years, overcoming truth at every turn, beating it back every time it showed the slightest sign of life.
You see, pundits, like politicians, have agendas. Without agendas they’re simply not pundits. They’re actually what folks back in the olden days called “reporters” or “objective journalists”. If you don’t want to advance a cause at the expense of your personal feelings, then you need to do yourself and your readership a favor and completely abandon the cause. And don’t pretend look back in regret. No one wants you to be anything other than what you are. They only wish you’d been more up-front about what you were all along.
Don’t keep calling to see how things are holding up. Don’t send cards to let us know you’ve been thinking about us. Don’t drunk dial us. Don’t drop by when you’re in the neighborhood. Just go. We’ve got lives to live and goals to accomplish. We don’t need any dead weight holding us back.
But, while you’re out yukking it up and basking in all your Strange New Respect, you might want to remember where you came from. You might want to think about all those deeply held principles you once had, and how great it felt to have them. Think about all those pats on the back you got when you “nailed it” on illegal immigration. Take a moment to reflect on all those cheering crowds you tipped your hat to when you “knocked it out of the park” on market-based healthcare solutions. Stop now and then and reminisce on all those atta-boys you got on tax policy or the war on terror.
You’ll soon find out that all the thought and labor you put into those fights is for nothing now. Thanks to your overweening need for the Strange New Respect of those who always hated you on principle, all your principles are now shot full of holes. If your new found friends succeed, no matter how much you profess to disagree with them on any issue, you will be remembered by those you shunned as “one of those” who helped bring it about.
And, if the ones you left behind somehow manage to succeed in spite of your treachery, they’re going to remember how much more difficult you made the task.
But, most of all, keep in mind that all that Strange New Respect you’re feeling right now is strange and new for a reason. And it’s only going to last as long as you’re willing to suppress your agenda in order to gain the approval of people who never had respect for you until you became the enemy of their enemy.
