Elephant Dung #5: Palin attacks elitist Bush "blue-bloods"

Tracking the GOP Civil War

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(For an explanation of this ongoing series, see here. For previous entries, see here.)

It's one thing to go after those Times-readin', Volvo-drivin', latte-sippin' liberal Democratic coastal elites, whether they exist or not, quite another to go after the plutocratic Republican elite, whether coastal or Texan, and, say what you will about the Bushes, they're a veritable Republican dynasty with two ex-presidents, a pile of up-and-coming relatives, and Jeb waiting in the wings for the right time to run. 

That's an awful lot more than you can say about the Palins.

So it doesn't make much sense for less-then-one-term-governor Sarah Palin to target the Bushes, however much she may object to Barbara's suggestion that she "stay in Alaska." As she told Laura Ingraham in another friendly interview that allowed her to avoid having to face anything resembling a tough question that might require her to think (and fail):

I don't want to concede that we have to get used to this kind of thing, because I don't think the majority of Americans want to put up with the blue-bloods -- and I want to say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes -- the blue-bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition.

Right, with all due respect.

Now, to be fair (and balanced), there's certainly something to be said for an anti-establishmentarian approach to party politics, and, here, Palin is merely expressing the view of much of the grassroots Tea Party base of the GOP. Obviously, it's not necessarily for the best when a party adopts a next-in-line approach to selecting nominees, or when a few dynasties dominate.

But one imagines that many in the pro-Bush Republican establishment are none too pleased than an upstart with little experience and a whole lotta ignorance, even a star like Palin, is challenging their authority. 

Look for the establishment, such as it is, to continue to do everything it can to block Palin's ascendancy. Much of the country finds her repugnant, but it's the "blue-bloods" in her own party who really have it in for her.