It never fails: Democrat elitism always boomerangs back on itself.

If, as is being reported, President Barack Obama is prepared to pull the plug on his previously vigorous support for a government-run public healthcare option, the president’s stinging policy defeat will have come as the result of his Administration’s mendacious policy rhetoric marked by its snobbish dismissal of critiques from concerned townhall participants and, most notably, former Governor Sarah Palin.

What Democrats seem unwilling to grasp is that there is an inverse relationship between how harshly Democrats demonize their opponents and how devastatingly silly they subsequently appear when those same conservative “simpletons” triumph over them in the policy arena.

Take, for example, the unrelenting personal attacks from Democrats on Gov. Palin’s intellectual and political heft. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former Clinton strategist Paul Begala called Sarah Palin a “half a whack job” who is “flaky” and an “intellectual lightweight.” Joining Mr. Begala in the verbal tirade is the always interminable Maureen Dowd of the New York Times who, continuing with her increasingly eerie fixation with all-things Sarah Palin, dubbed the Governor “dizzy” and, previously, “batty” and “one nutty puppy.”

And yet. Saturday, lamenting the unraveling of Mr. Obama’s healthcare message, Maureen Dowd made a startling if unintended concession about the influence and power of a conservative “dim-wit” like Sarah Palin. “She [Palin] took a forum, Facebook, more commonly used by kids hooking up and cyberstalking, and with one catchy phrase, several footnotes and a zesty disregard for facts, managed to hijack the health care debate from Mr. Obama.”

Now ask yourself this question: If conservatives like Gov. Sarah Palin are such vaporous fools, then how can they “hijack” a national debate from the most powerful man on the planet…and all with a simple Facebook posting no less?

Indeed, if Sarah Palin is the “whack job” and “intellectual lightweight” Mr. Begala claims her to be, then what does that make Mr. Obama who, according to Ms. Dowd, just got his clock cleaned by a Facebook message written by the unserious likes of a “nutty puppy” like Ms. Palin?

And therein lies the rub: Democratic elitism never ceases to backfire. The worse liberals trash Sarah Palin and all those insurance company shills (a.k.a. everyday Americans) showing up at townhall meetings across America, the more devastating Mr. Obama’s defeat will be if and when he officially reneges on his much-touted support for a government takeover of healthcare.

Still, none of this should come as a surprise. After all, the history of imploding liberal snobbery is long and telling. Continued...