Can TV bridge political divide?

This fall, ABC is unveiling a new sitcom starring Calista Flockhart as a conservative television pundit. Now, when I read that the fair-haired, frighteningly undernourished actress was cast in this role, I immediately assumed that she was going to be modeled after a certain fair-haired, frighteningly undernourished right-wing pundit. Apparently I'm not the only one who had that reaction, because the show's producer assured the public: "She's not Ann Coulter. She's not insane."

Indeed, the point of the show seems to be casting conservatives in a sympathetic and understanding light. As Jon Robin Baitz, a writer for the show, explained: "It's very, very interesting and compelling to us to try and understand this, to leave behind some of the smug presuppositions of the two coasts . . . to look at evolving patriotism and evolving traditionalism."

Ever since President Bush won re-election almost two years ago, liberals have been on the cultural defensive. We're all a bunch of latte sippers; we don't understand Real Americans; we should feel guilty for not caring about stock car racing, etc. Because we are but a tiny, alien coastal minority, representing an insignificant 49 percent of the public, the burden of bridging the divide apparently rests with us. Flockhart's character, according to the show's staff, represents a small effort to bridge this gap — Hollywood liberals seeking to present conservative beliefs in all their true complexity.

Well, God bless them. Unfortunately, I think they have a ways to go before they understand conservatism.

Flockhart's character is not merely non-insane, she's thoughtful, Baitz explained. "She's ideologically, in some respects, very much in mind with the older parts of the party, the sort of Eisenhower Republican, the William Buckley conservative."

If you didn't smack your forehead with the palm of your hand when you read that sentence, let me explain why you should have. Buckley was a staunch critic of Eisenhower. Indeed, he founded National Review in no small part to organize conservatives in opposition to Ike. As he wrote at one point: "It has been the dominating ambition of Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism to govern in such a fashion as to more or less please everybody. Such governments must shrink from principle."

Eisenhower was a moderate who made his peace with the New Deal and accommodated labor unions. Buckley, on the other hand, was the definitive conservative hard-liner. In the 1950s, he defended Joe McCarthy. In the 1960s, he spoke up for segregation.