New York Times political analyst Matt Bai writes in a post-election piece (11/4/10):
A powerful force in the party, Ms. [Sarah] Palin represents an aggrieved, anti-elitist strain of conservatism that goes back to Richard M. Nixonâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s Silent Majority. It is a rural conservative impulse, rooted most firmly in the South and West, that equates liberal government with tyranny and anti-Americanism.
Matt Bai was born in 1968–perhaps not coincidentally, the year Nixon was elected president, and a year before he gave his "Silent Majority" speech that Palin's politics "go back to." But angry right-wing populism has been a major strand in American politics even before Bai was born–or before Nixon was born, for that matter–linking together the Know Nothings of the pre-Civil War era and the Ku Klux Klan in the war's aftermath, the followers of Father Coughlin in the Great Depression, Joe McCarthy in the era that bears his name and the John Birch Society soon after.
Not that all of this needs to be mentioned in an article speculating about Sarah Palin's response to the '10 midterms–but it would be nice if you got the sense that New York Times political analysts understood that history started before they were born.
About Jim Naureckas
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matthew Elliot, FAIR. FAIR said: Yes, @MattBai, there were angry right-wing populists before you were born. http://bit.ly/aHnTSW [...]
[...] A Short History of Right-Wing Populism Until the Birth of Matt Bai [...]
" It is a rural conservative impulse, rooted most firmly in the South and West, that equates liberal government with tyranny and anti-Americanism."
uhhhh, matt….does the name barry goldwater ring a bell?
Read the essay 'American Politics and the Paranoid Style' by Richard Hofstadter and his follow up essays. i kept reading references to this piece for awhile and finally found a copy at a library book sale in Belfast Maine. Hofstadter ties the Bircher right-wing to 19th century anti-catholic, anti-mormanism,anti-mason and the Free Silver movement amoung others. For some reason the McCarthy/Goldwater era seems kinda prescient. Wonder Why? The Birchers said Eisenhower was a communist agent. Just replace Commie with Muslim. Hofstadtler called the Goldwater Crowd 'Pseudo-Conservatives' since they really don't want to conserve anything, especially the New Deal reforms. i found Hofstadters work really helpful this election. Try and find it. Not sure if it is still in print but i think it's a classic.
following on from jeff…. here's a link to that essay for any interested parties…
"American Politics and the Paranoid Style" by Richard Hofstadter:
http://neuralgourmet.com/2008/05/09/paranoidstyle/
I'm reading American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips – AND I lived in AZ during the Birch Society and Goldwater era. They were investigating really good governmnt high school teachers. Teachers whose students couldn't figure out what party they supported. The Tea Party is the John Birch Society in the age of the internet and total corporate ownership of media.
Right you are about Hofstadter, Jeff. I bought that book years ago, and it's quite good. I'm guessing it's out of print, but perhaps a reader here knows differently, and will inform us as to it's status. Oh, and Palin? She's not a "powerful force in the party." She thinks she is, and that's what counts. She's on the money caboose of the GOP crazy train, along with Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, etc. This Bai fellow, I'm afraid, is going to be around pontificating for a long time. He fits right in, doesn't he?
I find it scary that my fellow progressives at FAIR, and on this blog, equate populism with right wing views. Populism means favoring the little guy against the vested interests. Yes, it's often right-wing, but the Populist Party was for national ownership of the railroads, direct election of senators, etc., etc. To cede populism to the GOP is just what Rove wants — not to mention just what corporate types in both parties want…
Well, Julie, I'm ceding nothing to nobody. There's Progressive Populism, and then there's the new, Right-wing phony populism. One of the Democrats' biggest mistakes is always letting bagmen like Karl Rove determine who controls the language. Just as the "populism" that Rove talks of is phony, so is "The Death Tax" and "Death Panels" and "Big Government." Remember, as has been pointed out in FAIR, that the major media too often go along for the ride and accept at face value such terms as "The Death Tax," and don't bother to look into the falseness of these memes and phrases. Corporate control of the media is a tough thing to get around; Rove's advantage is that he's working for the people who very often utterly control the message. I've never heard anyone call him (or others like him) out on his bullshit and lies (anyone in the major media, that is). Until this changes, Rove will do as he pleases, the Law and Democracy be damned.
Sorry Tim …nobody calls him out cause he is usually right!He would annialate any of these yokels in a debate.Progressive?????Can't slip that word by anymore pal.It is and rightfully so a dirty word around these here parts. Anthem to American values.I have seen commercials lately for the communist party .The socialist party.The progressives and George Soros.They sound like cereal commercials they are so happy dappy.To quote a horror movie…"WE SEE YOU".America sees you.And has transcended you.