Listen while the Man in the Grey Turtleneck plays some conceptual leitmotifs on the Mighty Casio (they're in bold):

We normally think of "High Broderism" as the worship of bipartisanship for its own sake, combined with a fake "pox on both their houses" attitude. But in reality this is just the cover Broder uses for his real agenda, the defense of what he perceives to be "the establishment" at all costs. The establishment is the permanent ruling class of Washington, our betters who know better. It is their rough agenda which is sold as "centrism" even when it has no actual relationship with the political center in a meaningful way. Democracy's messy, in Broder's world, and passionate voters are problematic. It is up to the Wise Old Men of Washington to implement the agenda, and the job of the voters to bless them for it. When the establishment fails, the most important issue is not their failure, but that the voters might begin to lose faith in and deference for their betters. Thus, people must always be allowed to save face, no matter what their transgressions, as long as they're a part of his permanent floating tea party.

"Our Betters..."

Our Betters [may well have] propagated from "Say Fuck Proudly!", no less! (The only thing that's missing is the Irony Caps.)

And we've been laboring in the vineyard on the "deference" meme, too (with others). Quoting Digby for credibility:

Lambert points out something important relating to my post yesterday on The Aristocrats:

When Bush got all snippy with Jim Webb, George Will distorted the quote precisely to highlight Webb’s supposed lack of deference.

All the Beltway 500 code words—Civil, Dignified, Ungracious—for trashing Democrats and preventing them from saying what needs to be said have to do with Republicans reinforcing this fundamental aristocratic value of deference.

It’s the same deal with Civil, Moderate, and Bipartisan: [they] are also code words for reinforcing deference.

That’s why it’s important to mock, belittle, insult, degrade and make Republicans laughable at all times and in all conditions. These are all tools for eliminating deference from our political discourse.

Naturally, when we do this, the Beltway 500 clutches its pearls and calls us Shrill or Rude. That’s a good sign: It means we’re displaying the lack of deference appropriate a Democracy.

Now, this is not not NOT a post whining that "I never get any links" or "I work my fingers to the bones, and what do I get" or anything like that. It's not about credit.

It's about getting stuff done, to win by turning words into edged weapons that can destroy the Republican brand, and destroy the authoritarian system that they have created. This is extremely hard work--which is why the VRWC spent hundreds of millions on it over the last generation--so it's great to see results.

Note well the critique that labeling the Beltway 500 "Our Betters" embodies:

The critique is values-based--the consultants are always telling the Dems they need one of those, but Heaven forfend their own values would be part of the problem--and makes the claim that Our Betters are being very well paid to work in a Versailles-like environment where aristocratic, anti-democratic, un-American values prevail: Deference, for one.

As Lizzy Bumiller, Girl Reporter, said, not knowing what she said:

ELIZABETH BUMILLER: I think we were very deferential, because in the East Room press conference, it's live. It’s very intense. It's frightening to stand up there. I mean, think about it. You are standing up on prime time live television, asking the president of the United States a question when the country is about to go to war. There was a very serious, somber tone that evening, and I think it made -- and you know, nobody wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very serious time. It had a very heavy feeling of history to it, that press conference.

"Heavy feeling." Sweet Lord. Fuck.

Our Betters' culture of deference has a lot to answer for, as Lizzie would admit explicitly, if she had an ounce of self-awareness or shame: Hundreds of thousands of dead and trillions of dollars lost in Iraq, for starters. The replacement of Constitutional government with authoritarian rule, to go on with.

Name it and claim it, baby.

And after we claim the beast, kill it, skin it, salt the hide, and nail the hide up on the side of the barn to dry.

We are in a culture war of our own. And we're going to win.