Thomas Sowell writes:
Barack Obama is today’s most prominent example of the power of words. Conversely, the understated patrician style of country club Republicans is no small part of their many problems.
It is no accident that by far the most successful Republican politician of our lifetime– Ronald Reagan– was a man who did not come from that country club background but someone who was born among the people and who knew how to communicate with the people.
I submit to you the reason that Joe the Plumber is elevated by conservatives to the degree that he has been is because the rank and file of the party have been ignored for too long by the leadership. The base is latching on to Joe as a drowning man does to a life preserver. Joe’s instant celebrity should have been a red flag waving in the face of the Republican leadership, warning them that something was seriously wrong with the direction of the party. Alas, that warning has been ignored thus far. And at CPAC, we saw people reacting negatively to those waving that flag.
