Conservation and conservatives

Great column from Bob Herbert today re: McCain's assertion he is a "Teddy Roosevelt Republican". It included a paragraph about one of my biggest pet peeves of late:

We’re now in a ridiculous period in which politicians are concerned about appearing too well-spoken and too intellectual — elitist — as if mangling the language while downing a shot and slurping from a mug of beer were sure signs of fitness for high office. So it might come as a surprise to some that Senator McCain’s macho hero happened to have been among the first naturalists at Harvard, an inveterate bird-watcher, and a prolific and sensitive writer.


Here, here!