Intelligentsia?

What does that word mean when applied to Republicans? See below from this morning's Times:

“Among the intelligentsia of the party, there is definitely a deep concern about Huckabee getting the nomination because a lot of them think he can’t win,” said John Feehery, a former senior House Republican aide and party operative. “Part of it is self-interested panic since they have their own horses in the race, and none of them are riding Huckabee.”

Certainly John Feehery is smart at re-labeling but otherwise.... As usual, I don't get it when these people try to make their cohort sound thoughtful or smart or even, well, rational.

As in the Greenfield (?), S.C. woman at a Huckabee tea party describing her crowd. "Well, we're pro-life." Is she against the war which is killing people every day? Apparently not. Why do we let these people get away with such unvarnished nonsense? Let's work on getting rid of "pro=life" as a label. "You mean you're against choice," should be the standard rejoinder. Only endless repetition gets this kind of thing into people's minds. They do it? Why don't we?