The Republican establishment elites continue their assault on Sarah Palin, with rocket fire coming from Joe Scarborough, Peggy Noonan, and Charles Krauthammer. And Palin’s response, that she is as gifted as Ronald Reagan, who after all was only an actor, drew a stern rebuke from Noonan.

Conservatives talked a lot about Ronald Reagan this year, but they have to take him more to heart, because his example here is a guide. All this seemed lost last week on Sarah Palin, who called him, on Fox, “an actor.” She was defending her form of political celebrity—reality show, “Dancing With the Stars,” etc. This is how she did it: “Wasn’t Ronald Reagan an actor? Wasn’t he in ‘Bedtime for Bonzo,’ Bozo, something? Ronald Reagan was an actor.” Excuse me, but this was ignorant even for Mrs. Palin.

Ouch! But that was not all.

The point is not “He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,” though that is true.

A nincompoop? Peggy that may be true but people like yourself, from polite society, generally do not use terms like that.

Now Joe Scarborough does not come from as polite a society as Noonan, but his column in today’s Politico used some pretty harsh language as well.

Still, Palin is undeterred, charging ahead maniacally while declaring her intention to run for the top office in the land if “nobody else will.” Adding audacity to this dopey dream is that Palin can’t stop herself from taking swings at Republican giants. In the past month alone, she has mocked Ronald Reagan’s credentials, dismissed George H.W. and Barbara Bush as arrogant “blue bloods” and blamed George W. Bush for wrecking the economy.

Dopey dream? Maybe not so dopey Joe. The Republican establishment is afraid of Palin, and terrified that she may in fact have the horses to win the Republican nomination. But Palinism is a logical extension of what the Republican Party has become today. And that anti-intellectual, anti-credential strain of politics, which has been very successful for the mainstream Republican Party, has now mutated. The Republican Party is Dr. Frankenstein, and Sarah Palin is their creation. Best of luck to the Republicans in 2012.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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