Free Republic

The headline on Democratic strategist Paul Begala’s recent Newsweek essay dodged subtlety: “The Stupid Party.” “Republicans used to admire intelligence. But now they’re dumbing themselves down,” was the subhead. Democrats couldn’t agree more. And quietly, many Republicans share the sentiment. They just can’t seem to stop themselves. [Snip] Scientific skepticism, the engine that propels intellectual inquiry, has morphed into skepticism of science fueled by religious certitude. In this strange world, it is heresy to express concern about, for example, climate change — or even to suggest that human behavior may be a contributing factor. Jon Huntsman committed blasphemy when he...

Such rabble, all those grassroots conservatives that have infested the Republican Party. It's all that Sarah Palin's fault. She's so... common... so dumb. Well, we can't say "dumb," so let's say not very smart, not like Bill Buckley. All those flyover country conservatives aren't very smart, either. Paul Begala says so, and Paul shows up at the right parties, so... Read Kathleen Parker's latest in the Washington Post: "The Palinization of the GOP." Parker used to write for National Review. Then she graduated to the Washington Post. Going there, Parker's worldview gloriously expanded. Parker's opinions are just so sophisticated now,...

It is hard to imagine that anything has gone unsaid about the so-called Ground Zero mosque, but we seem to be missing an important point. The mosque should be built precisely because we don't like the idea very much. We don't need constitutional protections to be agreeable, after all. This point surpasses even all the obvious reasons for allowing the mosque, principally that there's no law against it. Precluding any such law, we let people worship when and where they please. That it hurts some people's feelings is, well, irrelevant in a nation of laws. And don't we, really, want...