Jonah Goldberg, insisting on The Corner that conservatives have little presence among the wealthy elite:
There was a time when there really was a rightwing cultural elite that could be described as "the rich." The old money crowd of blue bloods, fat cats and the like had a powerful cultural presence, often fueled by anti-British sentiment. But those days are largely over, thanks largely to the democraticization of wealth and also in part to the cultural implosion of the old aristocracy of wealth. Old money foundations – and lots of old money rich people – are culturally liberal today. The remaining nominally conservative old guard has no real presence in the culture save perhaps as clichés in novels, TV shows and, of course, in the liberal press. So when liberal politicians attack “the rich” as culturally alien, it really doesn’t work the way they think it should. Which rich? The Kennedys? The Kerrys? George Soros? Warren Buffet? Hollywood producers and directors? Manhattanites?
Mark Hemmingway, writing on the same blog, posting three minutes earlier:
McCain Captures Oenophile Vote [Mark Hemingway]
I'm told this is good wine by a friend; however, the marketing is most interesting: "2008 National Convention Celebration Reserve" to be "enjoyed for the ultimate celebration — or collected in honor of — the nomination of the 44th President of the United States." What really got me was the description of the wine on the back of the label:
The grapes were some of the finest in Sonoma — grown in the turbulent summer of 2007 — crushed in the fall as a phoenix rose from the desert and a path to victory was established.
Our wine aged in oak, amidst surprise in New England, victory in the sunshine state, a toast in the promised land, and February presumption with old, yet distant, friends.
Though his name is nowhere on the bottle, somebody thinks McCain's unlikely campaign trajectory is inspiring enough to sell fine wine.
--Jonathan Chait