I Called It

Rarely do I brag about my political prowess, or aptitude at predeliction - I'm generally a student of news after it's already passed me by. But in this case, I'm feeling a certain sort of glee that my long-winded theory about the implosion of the Republican blok actually has some traction. Other folks are seeing things in the same light, such as in this interesting article from The New Republic or this dissention by the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan. Hell, even Charles Freid, super-conservative Soliciter General to Reagan, voted for Obama and had his name pulled from McCain campaign literature.

The New Republic's take on the situation is one I agree with most: the rift developing shows a dangerous sign for the Republican party in that dissention is towards the President or VP candidate on the ticket rather than both:

Conservatives are at each other's throats, and here's what's revealing about how divided they are: The critics of John McCain and the critics of Sarah Palin represent entirely different camps...what we see here is a deep split between parts of the conservative elite and much of the rank and file.

Perhaps we are seeing the formation of a motley alliance of the traditional "conservative elite" and Democrats in a "flight to quality." Maybe this is the natural result of the conservative movement's exploitation of populist/social conservatives to garner votes, as TNR points out:

For years, many of the elite conservatives were happy to harvest the votes of devout Christians and gun owners by waging a phony class war against "liberal elitists" and "leftist intellectuals." Suddenly, the conservative writers are discovering that the very anti-intellectualism their side courted and encouraged has begun to consume their movement.

Hmm. Sounds like one of our favorite amateur pundits, doesn't it? I like The Daily Show's take, myself: