July 31, 2006
Alien Life Forms
Two points of micro-agreement between me and Jonathan Chait: good for leftists who try to reach out and understand that peculiar breed of American who doesn't vote for progressives. And, no, it's not working.
Chait's LAT columns are reprinted in TNR Online, presumably so they can annoy more people. Today he discusses a new TV show to sympathetically portray Calista Flockhart as a conservative television pundit.
Indeed, the point of the show seems to be casting conservatives in a sympathetic and understanding light. As Jon Robin Baitz, a writer for the show, explained: "It's very, very interesting and compelling to us to try and understand this, to leave behind some of the smug presuppositions of the two coasts ... to look at evolving patriotism and evolving traditionalism."
Patronize much? "It's interesting to try to understand these inferior people and a real testament to our writing skill that we can do it." I'm sure they would have hired a real conservative but they don't know any.
Chait and I both think this will end badly, but for different reasons. He doesn't think they need to reach out and he wonders "[W]here are the right's efforts at outreach? You don't hear conservatives mourning their lack of common ground with the English department at Columbia University. In fact, it's incredibly rare to find a conservative who understands liberalism as anything other than hatred for the rich and a desire to hand over our foreign policy to the United Nations."
I think it will fail because the writers see it as an outreach project. The show's producer "assured the public 'She's not Ann Coulter. She's not insane.'" Whew. Because, y'know, hiring a thin blonde actress ...
I don't spend a lot of time defending Ms. Coulter around here, but if you think she is insane, you are not qualified to write about a conservative. Ms. Coulter is bombastic and frequently offensive, but she is quite rational and cogent.
Our "outreach," Mr. Chait? We read the New York Times, watch CNN at the airport, listen to NPR, watch Hollywood movies and TV shows like "The West Wing." We know you're there.
If you want a flicker of hope, I heard from many conservatives that Alan Alda's character on "The West Wing" expressed conservative views more eloquently and clearly than do any of our politicians.