While touting his book, Buchanan’s been rehashing the same silly talking point that the GOP’s been “hijacked” by neocons (ominously, if variously, defined). One of the things which bothers me the most about this formulation is that it suggests the party’s rank-and-file have gone along unwittingly with what Buchanan describes as a neocon hostile takeover. Buchanan’s use of this formulation, I think, stems from his need to remain populist and placating to the base of the party because he’s become such a politician. “My quarrel isn’t with the good people who make up the Republican Party,” Buchanan seems to be saying “it’s with this alien and hostile force which has taken over the GOP and Bush’s brain.”

The problem with this — as I’ve written many times — is that it’s nonsense. That NYT poll of convention delegates, for example, found that 96% of them agreed with President Bush (and disagreed with Buchanan) that “the United States did the right thing in taking military action.” How exactly is this a hijacked party?