The Paglia Interview

She thinks the Foley trick was a disaster; she listens to talk radio; and she thinks the Republican Party is the party of “small businessmen” and “practical people,” rather than Brahmins and fat cats.

She is Camille Paglia, conservatives’ favorite Democrat. Salon recently interviewed her and put the interview online.

But make no mistake, she carries no brief for President Bush:

I'm not a Bush hater. I've always viewed him as a decent fellow who was pushed into the presidency because he was his father's son. But he's been out of his depth in foreign affairs from the start.

And the mess in Iraq reflects that.

When Salon prefaces a question with Republicans as “Brahmins, to be self-interested and not affected necessarily by the decisions they make,” she sets ’em straight.

The Democrats' portrayal of Republicans as fat cats out of touch with ordinary Americans just doesn't fly anymore, and they should drop it. I think the center of the Republican Party really is small-businessmen and very practical people who correctly see that it's job creation and wealth creation that sustain an economy -- not government intervention and government control, that suffocating nanny-state mentality.

The trouble is that the Democrats can’t “drop it.” Their party is built upon the conceit that they are disinterested experts and activists protecting the people from the fat cats. The taxes and the programs are all designed to help the helpless people, and have nothing to do with tenure, sinecures, and pensions for the experts and the activists. If they dropped that, what would be the point of the Democratic Party?

It’s good to hear Paglia’s voice again. She ought to be the current holder of the Howard Cosell Memorial Chair of Telling It Like It Is. Ought to be? She is.