Krauthammer: The Quotes That Should Be Noted

Most important socio-demographic trend. The rise of the conservative woman. Sarah Palin's influence is the most obvious manifestation of the trend. But the bigger story is the coming of age of a whole generation of smart, aggressive Republican women, from the staunchly conservative Nikki Haley (now leading the South Carolina governor's race) and the stauncher-still Sharron Angle (neck-and-neck with Harry Reid in Nevada) to the more moderate California variety, where both Carly Fiorina (for Senate) and Meg Whitman (for governor) are within striking distance in a state highly blue and deeply green. And they are not only a force in themselves; they represent an immense constituency that establishment feminism forgot -- or disdained.

Most misrepresented socio-demographic trend. Conventional wisdom is that the election is being driven by anger and blind anti-incumbent fervor. Nonsense. Overwhelmingly, it is Democratic incumbents, not Republicans, who are under siege. This is a national revolt against the Democratic governance of the past two years. One must understand that "anger" is the explanation du jour when Republicans win big. The last wave election (1994), for example, was dubbed the Year of the Angry White Male -- despite the fact that there was not a scintilla of polling evidence supporting that characterization. Of course the electorate is angry this time around. But it is not inchoate irrational anger -- a "temper tantrum," as ABC News anchor Peter Jennings called the 1994 Republican sweep -- but a highly pointed, perfectly rational anger at the ideological overreach and incompetence of the governing Democrats. ~ Charles Krauthammer, writing a post-election-column-in-advance in The Washington Post

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