For the past 20 years, it has been a given that many conservatives are deeply embedded in Reagan Nostalgia, longing for a return in new guise of their erstwhile leader, the unassailable image of noble perfection, against whom all other men must fall short. But the revolt of a coterie on the right against Sarah Palin–who has the audacity to wink, to hunt moose, and to come from Alaska–suggests that these conservatives at least have a whole other model in mind.

They are the Fastidiocons–a small but vocal party of pundits and writers–who recoil in dismay from Alaska’s tough governor, intellectually and socially fastidious to a fault. They prize courage and leadership less than nuance and subtlety. They love Ron, it seems, less than Adlai E. Stevenson, the mid-20th-century heartthrob of liberal Democrats, famous for inspiring millions and failing to win elections, the very model of eloquent loserdom. As time went on, and Democrats drifted closer to pacifism, conservatives have paid nostalgic tribute to the foreign policy toughness of FDR, Truman, and Kennedy. But Adlai Stevenson? Who ever dreamed they’d be madly for him?