I am not ordinarily an admirer of Jonathan Chait’s. To put it mildly. But I have to say his big article in the New Republic on the Dem-left “netroots” is an exceptional piece of explanatory and analytical journalism that everyone interested in politics should read.

I think, however, that Chait misunderstands the Right’s relation to the Republican party, especially in the 1990s. The Right cleaved to the GOP’s bosom because it was the one major institution in the United States over which conservatives had any serious say. The academy was beyond reach and so was popular culture. The mainstream media offered token attention, which was more than you could say for the academy and the culture, but its attitude was deeply hostile.

Liberals do not believe the nation’s major institutions are hostile to them and the ideas they hold dear. Oh, they whine about corporate control and wussiness on the part of politicians and the like, but they do not feel that they are unde attack. As a result, they have had more breathing room.

I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.