The Republican National Committee's spies have been stalking Senator Obama and his family during their vacation in Hawai`i, looking for more signs of elitism.
And sure enough, after eating popcorn and watching the Dark Knight with another couple at the Ward 16 Theater, they headed off for what CBS News called "the posh Mariposa Restaurant. The restaurant is located on the third floor of the Neiman Marcus department store and has a view of the ocean."
Ritzy. How much more elitist can they be? Surely they could have found something more appropriate in Myrtle Beach. Something properly vetted by Cokie.
Our own spy at the RNC tells us that since John McCain has now gotten himself up to speed on the Google, we can expect him to start making inroads with the kid vote. He is, we're told, learning all about them at their Facespace and Mybook and Tweeter sites. Moreover (you heard it here exclusively), sometime in the next couple of days, McCain will turn his mediocre standing in the polls skyward with his first rap song. Sorry no visuals.
He's Not Like You and Me.
He's thin and fit and he doesn't bowl. He drinks orange juice and his church is strange, y'know. His flag pin is AWOL and his name is Hussein. He eats fancy food at fancy restaurants instead of instant chow mein. He was born of exotic parents in a land of coconuts and bamboo. His wife is mouthy and his hue is taboo. He ain't really 'murkan, Larry Johnson tells me, so it must be true.
I know that a lot of this has been in the news for a few weeks, but here is a prime example of how mainstream, corporate media is echoing Rovian tactics in its echoing of such talking points as "Obama the elitist" and "Obama the arrogant."
Of course, given his close and direct ties to the most smug, petulant elitist to ever hold the office of U.S. President, Karl Rove most certainly knows elitism and arrogance when he sees it.
- Refusing to spend a penny to help homeowners facing foreclosure because it would be rewarding their poor decisions. (John McCain's original foreclosure plan was to "do nothing"?) They made their bed, now they can lie in it.
- Spending billions to bail out banks and other investment houses for their bad, unwise and often dishonest mortgage investments and credit schemes. They're too big to fail, after all.
- Letting the poor die from neglect after a natural disaster like Katrina. It's their own fault for living in a flood plain.
Remember Neil Boortz's comment that if some kind of disaster was imminent that "we should save the rich people first" and that the poor are just a "drag on society"?
I was NOT a political junkie before the Democratic primary. I would have been happy with whatever Dem came out of the field and voted for them in the Fall. It would have been only the 2nd time I voted in a Presidental Campaign (I'm 31). However, something about the race, Hillary's meltdown, and Obama seeming like "the man," I got sucked in.
I started watching the primary coverage religiously. I would hear Chris Matthews and others refer to "The Politico" and "Daily Kos" and had no idea what they were talking about. So when I found the sites and realized that I could get my news fix during the work day, it was great.
However, the more resources I find online, the more I realize that network and even cable news is not "the news." I know this site has an obvious filter but at least they are up front about it. People are researching to arrive at their conclusions and deliver opinions based on facts.
You would think TV news would do the same. Yesterday's events really hammered this point home.
In the past, I've considered writing about what a lifeline KOS is for me because I often feel isolated in a rural area for a Red state, Texas. It is good to come here and read writings by like-minded people, to know that I'm not alone.
But, lately I've been concerned about the great disconnect I see between my online world and my "real" world. It was particularly brought to mind by comments to a recent diary. The commenters, almost universally, viewed the diarist's neighbor who had made a comment about hoping that Obama was killed if he was elected as just a fringe wingnut. There was no recognition that as many in the "real" world may agree with the neighbor. The commenters urged the diarist to make her Obama support even more public - with no recognition that in some areas, such as mine, such public support - while necessary - carries real risks not just of alienation, but of vandalism of your house, your vehicle, etc.
Sometimes, I think we are so comfortable among our like-minded associates that we forget about the "real" world on the other side of the looking glass.
Andrew Giuliani, the 22 year old son of disgraced former mayor Rudy a noun a verb 9/11 Giuliani, is suing Duke University. Giuliani, soon to be a senior at Duke, was dismissed by the school's golf team. Giuliani's lawsuit seeks access to Duke's state of the art facility and seeks damages because the new golf coach at Duke has allegedly hurt Giuliani's chances of becoming a professional golfer. Giuliani is also claiming "breach of contract" because Duke changed golf coaches after his sophomore year. If all you guys out there who are 5 foot 3 or under want to sue your parents for genetically hindering your aspirations to make the NBA, you may want to speak with Andrew Giuliani.
While I dont think McCain is as dumb as Bush, his technological illiteracy (Not Just A Technological Troglodyte But Too Dangerous Also) and the poor grades in college he proudly admits to in this video do not give me confidence that he's a competent learner able to quickly come up to speed on the many intellectually complex issues he would face as president.
And why in the world, after Mr. C student's disastrous tenure, would we still want someone who thinks its funny to admit he was fifth from the bottom? Why is such an admission politically wise? Why does this admission make him a "regular" guy, as if being smart makes you "irregular," or that dreaded word, elite.
As Fox News's liberal voice, Alan Colmes has taken a lot of abuse from liberals over the years for being a pushover for his partner/adversary in their prime-time "debate" show, Sean Hannity.
But just by stating his positions and maintaining his good cheer against the unprovoked insults and contempt that is directed at him, Colmes often succeeds in exposing Hannity for the classless bully--and elitist that he is.
I am one of the whiners. Phil Gramm was talking about me.
This past week brought out the story of Cindy McCain's credit card debt. The fact that Cindy has rung up almost three quarters of a million dollars in debt in a short period of time.
Their credit card bills peaked between January 2007 and May 2008, during which time Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another, while one of their two dependent children had an AmEx card with a monthly balance as large as $50,000.
How can anyone so disconnected with the reality of life for the majority of Americans hope to connect with me as a voter.
Obama needs to throw back at McCain the words McCain is throwing at him. This Phil Gramm statement that America "is a nation of whiners" because of the economic complaints, gives him the opportunity.
McCain has said that very thing is the past, about economic suffering being just a state of mind, and Gramm is just echoing what McCain has said. If this isn't "elitism" I don't know what is. It reflects a total lack of empathy (by a wealthy, powerful man) of what average Americans are going through.
Obama should immediately put out ads showing McCain and Gramm making these statements and specifically label them elitists. The ad should run over and over for many weeks in the key swing states.
McCain is also unable to lift his arms over his head because of injuries he suffered while a prisoner of North Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War. Eckstein told reporters that McCain also suffers from reduced range of motion in his knee as a result of improper healing after torture and maltreatment by his captors during the war.
Sorry everyone. I'm deleting the rest of the diary.
I’ve been sitting on this idea for a little while. I just really didn’t know where to start, but “luckily” the neo-cons came to the “rescue.” I was thinking about elitism and how to handle it, when Karl Rove pathetically attempted to paint Obama as an arrogant elitist (“You know, he’s that guy at the country club…” No Karl, we don’t know people at the country club, you do.). Ha! Karl Rove, the mind behind the permanent campaign and the worst presidency in history. Maybe Karl should remember the old saying, “when you point a finger at somebody, three more point back to you.” In his attempt to brand someone as elitist, Rove demonstrated just how arrogant and elite the right wing has become. But, when you get right down to it, the people running for president are elite. What we’re really talking about these days is what kind of elite we want in power.
Somewhere in the swirling whirlpool of pundit fantasy land, Obama walks into an Applebees, stairs dumbfounded at the salad bar with only romaine and iceberg lettuce and shouts
"Hey M@ther F-Fer Bring Me Some Arugula"
David Brooks and Bill O'Reilly need to get on the same page. Because on the one hand, Brooks says that Obama strikes him as the sort of guy who would be mystified by Applebees salad bar, apparently because he is hand fed by Nubian slaves and can't assemble his own appetizer. So Brooks is going with the "elitist" tag, pegging Obama as The Brother From Another Planet
Meanwhile O'Reilly sees all blacks as too savage to dine in public.
I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O’Reilly added: "There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’"
Indeed O'Reilly would probably expect Obama to try pulling weeds if he saw a salad bar.
And Glenn Beck also tackles the touchy race-class-and-arugula question....
He's such a big douchebag that he tries to criticize Barack Obama as not being an oh-so-regular guy (just like the tortoise shell spectacled and pink necktied drip Brooks is, of course) by saying:
[H]e doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee‘s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there.
Only problem? David Brooks has apparently never stepped out of the limo and actually gone into an Applebees. Because they don't have salad bars.
Dumbass.
Excuse me, you're out of Low Fat Ranch. Oh, I'm sorry,
I thought you worked here, Mr. Regular Fellow!
Oh, that Barack Obama! Why, he probably doesn't even know proper etiquette between chukkers at one of those "NASCAR" motoring exhibitions! (That's what the little people like these days, isn't it, Lovie?)
Seldom, if ever, does a progressive run for a prominent public office without being accused of being an elitist — a wind-surfing, arugula-munching snob who is out of touch with the ordinary Americans who stand to benefit most from his or her economic and social policies.
Maybe the accusation is true.
If so, my observation is that progressives are pretty crappy at it. Perhaps they don’t take their elitist responsibilities seriously enough. Perhaps they still see some vestige of humanity in those small people they see when they look down their noses. Whatever the reason, I think that the liberal elite need a few pointers on being better elitists. To that end:
Obama voted for the Webb-Hagel-Lautenberg-Warner GI Bill which revises the GI Bill to increase college aid to GI's who have served at least three years. Bush and McCain think college aid should be restricted only to GI's who serve many extra tours. Otherwise, they feel, GI's might simply leave the armed forces and go to college, rather than staying the course. (McCain opposed the bill, but did not show up for the vote. It passed 75-22.)
I think it's interesting that John McCain went to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, for free, before he ever served anywhere. So isn't it a bit rich for him to deny servicemen the same benefit after serving that he, as the son of a four-star Admiral of the Navy, got up front?
Should college benefits only be available to the elite members of the service academies, and not to ordinary servicemen?
Or to put it another way: what kind of elitist is John McCain that he thinks that people like him should get a free ride, but ordinary enlisted men shouldn't?
There seems to be a growing epidemic of drawing conclusions based only a small selected piece of data interpreted in a very narrow fashion. A great example of this was Geraldine Ferraro who has apparently reached the conclusion that Obama is sexist. How did she reach this conclusion? She reached it based almost entirely on Obama's brushing off his shoulder gesture and his comparison of Hillary to Annie Oakley. I happen to believe (and context of the speech suggests) that the 'dirt off your shoulder' gesture was brushing off the criticism he was receiving from the media as well as brushing off the attack ads Hillary was running and had nothing to do with sexism, BUT for the sake of argument I'll concede that if this was all the information we had to go on, it might be possible to come to the conclusion that Obama is sexist. However, this isn't all the information we have to go on.
