Michelle Malkin » Snobs here, snobs there, snobs everywhere

Snobs here, snobs there, snobs everywhere

By Michelle Malkin • April 16, 2008 07:17 AM

We’ve all had fun with the Snob-ama story the past week (ARUGULA!). The thing is, my friends (as a certain McSnob likes to say), the GOP has a snob problem, too. When Obama derided small-town Pennsylvanians who oppose immigration enforcement, for example, it was nothing compared to the dripping condescension of open-borders Republicans. This is the subject of my latest column. Some of you will not like it.

I give you straight talk. That is my job.

***

Snob-ama is not alone
Michelle Malkin
Copyright Creators Syndicate 2008

The odor of elitism is like onion breath: It’s quick to acquire, hard to mask. Try as he might, Barack Obama cannot camouflage the political stink he exhaled when he dissed small-town Americans as “bitter” Neanderthals “clinging” to their guns, faith and belief in strict immigration enforcement. It wasn’t the first time the effete Snob-ama revealed himself.

In Philadelphia, he passed up the hometown cheesesteak—gloppy, artery clogging and blue-collar (yum!)—for a nibble of Spanish-imported, $100/pound ham. In Iowa, he moaned to voters about the price of arugula at Whole Foods market. (Fun fact: There aren’t any Whole Foods markets in Iowa.) And at an Altoona bowling alley, he couldn’t even score his age. Superficial but telling glimpses of a condescending core.

Obama is reportedly flummoxed that his remarks have been interpreted as arrogant. After all, he was a “community organizer” who came from a single-parent home! He is The Everyman. The Uniter. The Soul-Fixer. The Vessel of All Hopes and Dreams. How could he possibly be perceived as out of touch?

Well, Beltway elitism isn’t about biography. It’s a corrupted state of mind. Obama can at least console himself with the knowledge that he has plenty of out-of-touch company in both parties in Washington.

Let’s face it. Hundred-million-dollar Hillary “I’m not Tammy Wynette” Clinton, John “$400 Haircut” Edwards, John “French” Kerry and Al “$30,000 utility bill” Gore make Obama look like a peon of pretension. And it’s hard to top the imperiousness of Reps. Cynthia McKinney, Patrick Kennedy and Sheila Jackson-Lee, who all abused vlaw enforcement or service workers while demanding special privileges as “public servants.”

But Republicans are just as susceptible to the Democrats’ do-as-I-say virus.

Take Obama’s GOP presidential rival, John McCain. The New York Times-endorsed media darling got a standing ovation from the nation’s newspaper editors at a big journalism powwow in Washington this week. Some maverick. While McCain eagerly criticized Obama as an “elitist” for his derisive comments about small-town Pennsylvanians, Obama’s got nothing on McCain when it comes to insulting average Americans who oppose illegal immigration.

Pandering to the open-borders lobby as cozily as Obama panders to San Francisco billionaires, McCain has attacked grassroots enforcement activists as bitter racists and xenophobes, cursed his Senate opponents and mocked the “goddamned fence” in front of his deep-pocketed business supporters. And who can forget his disdainful admonition to conservatives, whom he berated to “calm down.”

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, McCain’s ally, infamously vowed to National Council of La Raza leaders, “We’re going to tell the bigots to shut up.” Retired GOP-Senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott moaned about populist conservative talk radio being a “problem” that Washington Republicans had to “deal with.”

Speaking of whom, what’s old vacant Lott up to now? The Washington Post reported last week that he’s “struggling” to adjust to life in the private sector. “I took the Metro for the first time,” he told the paper. It’s hard not having his own taxpayer-funded car and driver anymore. And this bozo bon mot: “I haven’t paid for lunch in 30 years,” he joked.

Memo to Beltway GOP: If you are looking to repair your image with your conservative base, this is not the kind of press you want. Makes for great cable TV greenroom small talk. Not so good for your beleaguered fundraising efforts.

And not so helpful if you plan to convince voters in the general election that you are materially different from Snob-ama and his Democratic colleagues who traffic in contempt for the common man.

It’s going to take more than rhetorical Altoids to dispel the smell.

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Posted in: Barack Obama,John McCain,Trent Lott

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#201

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:25 pm, TheOtherSide said:

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:11 pm, rooster said:

You are a first class knucklehead!

If Hussein Obama were a republican he would have been gone post haste after the Rev Wright issue.

Please get a clue.

Why am I a knucklehead? The polls seem to reflect what this reader was articulating. If he were Republican? Larry Craig is still in office. Geoff Davis is still in office. And I don’t have any problem with that. The point is political pundits have this tendency to hyperbolize these (non) issues which the majority of voters don’t care about.
#202

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm, Little Ma said:

luckybrand, the young used to be unreliable voters, but this year the liberal young have been mesmerized by BHO. They think he’s the personification of the socialistic ideals implanted in their immature brains by socialistic college professors. Therefore, these liberal young people will vote as a bloc for BHO, which vote will secure his election. This year they will have influence. It’s scary to think our next president might be put into office by children!

But not scary enough for me to vote for McCain.
#203

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm, luckybrand said:

All kidding aside, I have been to several univeristies in my travels across the country and world and the overwhelming majority of them I have had the (dis)pleasure of being taught under were of the variety you declare you could not find.

alaskangrizzly, I don’t doubt that, but I’d venture that there are some conservative professors who “warp” the minds of their young charges just as liberal professors do. I think it has more to do with the college-age mind as opposed to the philosophy. Too open or too closed, and little willingness to explore the shades of gray.
#204

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:44 pm, alaskangrizzly said:

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm, luckybrand said:

alaskangrizzly, I don’t doubt that, but I’d venture that there are some conservative professors who “warp” the minds of their young charges just as liberal professors do. I think it has more to do with the college-age mind as opposed to the philosophy. Too open or too closed, and little willingness to explore the shades of gray.

If you say so, I have yet to meet many “conservative professors” in public universities. As it seems by outward appearances that they are run out of public universities by their peers since they don’t blindly follow their views. The only one I can think of that even was remotely conservative in the last several years was my CCW instructor, and he wasn’t even a normal tenured professor. He taught gun safety 12 days a semseter (3 sets of 4 day classes) and was a veteran police officer who the other professors feared him so much since he had a loaded firearm on him at all times that they didn’t even trust him enough to give him keys to his own classroom. “Campus security” had to come open the room for him every morning, which happened to be an 18 year old kid in a golf cart. And this was in Arizona no less, land of the open carry law.

Anyhow, I’d be much happier if the universities were “fair and balanced” and allowed equal representation and time to both sides of the isle. But power corrupts, and since the liberals are in power at the moment in much greater numbers in public universities I doubt anytime soon they are going to give up such power in the name of fairness and equal time sharing.

My 2 coppers.
#205

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:44 pm, latinconservative said:

So lgm stands for littlegirlyman that is so funny…lol
#206

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm, Little Ma said:

#200 – Good answer, alaskangrizzly! You saved me the trouble and time (must fix dinner) of answering her. Thanks!
#207

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:51 pm, brooklyn red said:

It is not so much the not wearing of the pin but the reasons given as to why…

Oh, but lets put it back on when we get called out for it… ” Actually I am patriotic ~~before I voted against it~~ after I was ashamed of it… oh it’s my grandmothers fault! you stupid hick!”

que luckybrand, in 3… 2… 1…
#208

On April 16th, 2008 at 5:56 pm, luckybrand said:

brooklyn red, if the re-appearance of the flag pin gets your knickers in a twist, that’s your business.
#209

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:00 pm, brooklyn red said:

Me and 60 or 70 million other Americans… and what are nickers anyway?
#210

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm, luckybrand said:

I doubt that seriously, and knickers are panties.
#211

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:07 pm, Perk said:

Excellent post Michelle!
I am surprised that no-one has noted that the reordering of primaries placed no-party-declaration ahead of Republican-only states and therefore we were stuck with someone who does not truly represent Republicans.
We need to hold McCain to his earlier stands re immigration, after the outcry on his failed bill. We need to remind him that he needs our vote. We need to highlight his ‘Hispanic Counsel’ every opportunity.
This election is unusual in many respects. Hopefully our pressure will lead McCain to choose someone for VP who is unlike Colin Powell, unlike Shuckabee, and will add to his conservative creds.
#212

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:11 pm, brooklyn red said:

Well if you doubt I ask how many voted Bush last time? hmmm, over 60 million no?

Oh and in case you didn’t know the ICE can trace you through your post… buu bye mate.
#213

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm, brooklyn red said:

knickers, sheeesh…
#214

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:17 pm, luckybrand said:

A lot has changed since 2004, including how some of those 60 million feel about Bush. As for ICE, they have better things to worry about than me.
#215

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:18 pm, brooklyn red said:

do we?
#216

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:20 pm, undrseige247 said:

Politicians. Little Tin Gods on Wheels.
Rudyard Kipling
#217

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:20 pm, luckybrand said:

?
#218

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:23 pm, mockmook said:

“Larry Craig is still in office. Geoff Davis is still in office.”

Craig has been made a laughingstock. Are Republicans supporting his re-election?

Geoff Davis used an unfortunate word. He is guilty of what exactly?
#219

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:23 pm, CC said:

We still have to vote McCain in and then fight him on issues at the house and senate levels.

An Obama presidency would be beyond a disaster.
#220

On April 16th, 2008 at 6:42 pm, undrseige247 said:

The problem with O’bama is he makes an eel
look like sandpaper.

“The way to crush the ~~bourgeoisie~~ middle America is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”
~~Vladimir Lenin~~
Barack O’bama
#221

On April 16th, 2008 at 7:08 pm, terrig said:

CT Davis-we just moved to the surrounding area and plan on taking a lot of friends and relatives who visit into DC. Thanks for giving me a heads up for one of the eating joints to avoid. Seriously, I’m sure you can’t get away from the politicos but . . .
A pox on both their houses. I’m sure they all come to DC with nothing but the best of intentions but it doesn’t take long for them to start doing what they think they have to do to stay there.
#222

On April 17th, 2008 at 12:41 am, marcrunch said:

The funny thing about Michelle and the rest of you making such a big deal out of Obama’s arugula remark is how hypocritical the argument is. Obama is a snob because he spoke to farmers about arugula? Why? Because Iowans are all stupid and poor? You may want to reconsider who the real snobs are.