Rebuttal

So on Dartlog you'll find a response to the op-ed in the D about Howard Dean and conservative reaction to Dean. Nathaniel Ward cites an editorial from the National Review that stated: 'For that reason, contemplating the possibility of Dean as DNC chairman makes part of us want to beg, "Please, please, please, select this man."'

He accuses the D (and, implicitly, me) of needing to fact-check better before claiming that 'that the bastion of conservative journalism had ceased mocking [Dean].'

Well, the existence of the Nat'l Review editorial he cites doesn't negate the existence of the article I found on the Review's website which I originally cited in my op-ed. In fact, I believe my last sentence in the op-ed, 'The right can now begin scrambling,' thus kind of accurately sums up some conflicting reactions to Dean by conservatives.

Notice you'll find the same old (though, granted, subtle) BS in that 'please elect Dean' editorial Ward cites:

Freud could get an entire monograph on his theory of the "death drive" out of observing contemporary Democrats. The party is displaying an unquenchable thirst for irrelevance. Several theories have been advanced in the wake of Bush's reelection for the Democrats' troubles: a lack of seriousness on national security; an out-of-touch liberalism on social issues; an inability to sell its message in terms that connect with "red state" voters. The DNC is about to reject all these theories in favor of one of its own — all that ails the Democratic can be fixed by more of the same, only more so.

This is conservative strategy at its best and most insidious. Sure, Bush just won an election with 51 % of the vote. Does that mean Republican values, positions, and policies best represent the values of this country? At the risk of sounding like an elitist and of sounding overly optimistic at a time when the theory of evolution itself seems genuinely threatened by a not-so-Great Awakening, I'm going to say no, Republicans don't stand for what most Americans stand for. This is just the Republican rhetoric machine reinforcing itself as the will and party of the people while it fucks them over economically, brainwashes them morally, deprives them of their civil liberties, etc.

So what we have in this exemplary piece of conservative thinktankery in action -- and, really, in that stupid old candlelight vigil, too -- is conservative intellectuals curiously going out of their way over Dean, trying to persuade Democrats that what they have represented for most of the past century -- social security, broad prosperity, equal rights -- is no longer American. It is. Don't be fooled.

EDIT: Here's a nice story on Daily Kos supporting my sentiment. Americans want a party that stands up to Bush. As Dean likes to say, being 'Republican lite' won't get us anywhere; it'll only help Republicans and hurt the country. And as that particular author on Daily Kos says, 'maybe some of us Lefty bloggers weren't so crazy after all.'