ROGER STONE.

Jeffrey Toobin has a great profile of Roger Stone, the GOP's consummate master of the dark arts and the man who might have passed on the tip that ended Eliot Spitzer's career. It's really a fantastic read. I was struck, in particular, about this passage tracing Stone's connection with Nixon:

It was Stone’s preoccupation with toughness that led to his enduring affection for Nixon. “The reason I’m a Nixonite is because of his indestructibility and resilience,” Stone said. “He never quit. His whole career was all built around his personal resentment of élitism. It was the poor-me syndrome. John F. Kennedy’s father bought him his House seat, his Senate seat, and the Presidency. No one bought Nixon anything. Nixon resented that. He was very class-conscious. He identified with the people who ate TV dinners, watched Lawrence Welk, and loved their country.” (Rule: “When I hear the word ‘culture,’ I reach for my revolver.”)

Remember that next time you hear Republicans accuse Democrats of "class warfare." Republicans have been adroitly exploiting class divisions since the 1960s. They just happened to define class through race, culture, and geography, rather than income.