Rod Dreher appears to be taking upon himself the mantle of the voice of reason on the conservative side, disassociating himself and true conservatives from the irrational, angry mob to be found at Tea Parties and criticizing mainstream conservative media personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. (See also here, here, here, here., here, and here, here, here, here, here.)

I sympathize with his criticism of mainstream conservative pundits, which isn't new, and he may be correct in his assessment of average members of the American right, the extremes that the polarization of America may be reaching, and emotional partisanship that scorns anything "intellectual" as "elitist." Some have claimed that Mr. Dreher is just trying to please his "liberal" readers. I just don't understand why he would focus on this topic at his blog. Whom is he trying to convince? How many Americans who consider themselves conservative even know who Rod Dreher is? It seems to me that these examples underscore the problems associated with being a professional pundit--having an opinion and expressing it, whether it be in a newspaper or on a blog.


(An opposing view that sees something positive in the taxpayer protests -- VFR: The return of Sam Francis: MARs rising?)

Edit 9/28. His most recent post on the topic: Dreher vs. Glenn Beck.