…pimp-smacking Larry Jacobs – U of M professor and apparently the only “political expert” on any Twin Cities reporter’s rolodex – like fisking Lori Sturdevant, is sort of like doing finger exercises on the guitar, mandolin and cello; they’re things you do over and over again because it keeps you limber for the real fun stuff.

Eric Black – one of this city’s best reporters, and I mean that sincerely and with no hidden joke in the background – went to Jacobs to wonder why Rudy Giuliani is doing so well among conservatives.  Jacobs’ answer – the same one he gives for every surprising result from the GOP – “conservatism is dead!”

Gary Miller at TvM punts the old guy about 90 yards:

Republicans have known for years that the liberal bugaboo Ms. Rodham would be the Democratic nominee in 2008 so that does not suffice as the reason Republicans are turning to the “electable” Giuliani.  Few could mistake the fact that the Mayor is personally in favor of abortion rights and other socially liberal positions.  But what Jacobs apparently does mistake is the fact that by pledging to appoint judges in the mold of “Roberts, Alito and Thomas”, Giuliani has merited the mantle “functionally pro-life”.  In other words, a president can have his own policy preferences, but if his fidelity to the text of the constitution is paramount, he will pledge to allow such decisions to be decided by people in those laboratories of democracy we call “states”. 

Does the Mayor still have obstacles in his quest for the nomination in this regard?  Absolutely.  But for an observer of Jacobs’ supposed pedigree to miss this obvious explanation for Mayor Giuliani’s meteoric rise is an important case study on how conventional wisdom is regurgitated among the chattering class. 

To be fair, I don’t think Jacobs has done anything but regurgitate conventional wisdom in 20 years.  Why he’s still the official go-to-guy for the entire Twin Cities media is way beyond me.

As I explained last week (and was seconded by James Taranto), far from seeing a diminution of their influence, social conservatives are displaying their sophistication. 

The notion that social conservatives are mindless crowd-followers seems to enthrall the left. 

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 4:55 am and is filed under Big Alt-Media, Campaign '08, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.