When “The Stupid Party” Had Brains

By Scott Horton

This weekend I was plowing through a series of speeches and presentations from Robert Taft and Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1950-54 and marveling over how intelligent, even eloquent, they were—especially compared to what passes for thinking in today’s G.O.P. And of course there was also William F. Buckley, Jr., a man who had a limitless capacity to enrage liberals–many of whom would nevertheless concede his wit and erudition. A remembrance of W.F.B. appears today at the Daily Beast by his son, Chris. Reading it, one is reminded–there was a time when the G.O.P., and even National Review, had brains. What happened?