Roundup: 10/23/2008

Peggy Noonan hasn’t gone quite so far as Christopher Buckley, who has explicitly endorsed Barack Obama, but she has certainly aimed a withering criticism at the Palin half of the Republican ticket:

You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don’t, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It’s no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

Noonan is one of my favorite conservative writers–What I Saw at the Revolution is one of the most insightful inside-the-Oval-Office books I’ve read–and it’s interesting to see that the “smart set” on the Right (Noonan, Buckley, Will) is not enamored of McCain’s vice presidential pick.

Speaking of vulgar: the National Republican Congressional Committee has pulled its funding from Michele Bachmann’s ads in Minnesota’s 6th District, following her “anti-American” statements on Hardball. Perhaps this is a sign that neo-McCarthyism is no longer acceptable.

I don’t live in the 6th District, so I don’t get to vote against Michele Bachmann. But I do live in the 5th, where two years ago I got to vote for Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress. This morning, Rep. Ellison was in line ahead of me at the Blue Moon cafe; I like seeing my representatives in the neighborhood, and this sighting just put a little sparkle in the day.

Former Governor Arne Carlson has endorsed Barack Obama. More evidence that the civil, moderate wing of the GOP has defected from the mean and vicious Right.