Snobs here, snobs there, snobs everywhere
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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Categories: Barack Obama, John McCain, Trent Lott
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I’ve never been able to measure the integrity of a person by his/her diet.
Imagine how the rest of us have felt for the last seven and a half years.
Perhaps Obama’s comments did strike a chord with Democrats who found truth in them. But I think Democrats are also reacting (negatively) to Hillary’s overt pandering in Philadelphia and ongoing win-at-any-cost campaigning.
Thanks for railing on the Republicans Michelle, they deserve nothing but contempt. One thing I think we need to keep in mind when watching this political season is that politicians in general are inherently elitist. They care only about votes and will do whatever they can to get them. Obama gets low marks only because he’s not very good at masking his elitism – but focusing on his eating habits or bowling scores is silly.
Honestly these people all hate the common man, which will be painfully obvious with the new taxes, gun control, and inflation that’s going to come with the next president. Left/Right is dead – we have no choice.
…”beltway elitism isn’t about biography. It’s a corrupted state of mind”. Brilliant as usual Michelle. My sentiments exactly. But it goes beyond the beltway, here in the “Peoples Republic of NJ” we have elitist Jonny Corzine attempting to destroy what is left of our sad state.
As to “Bitterness”, well Barry HO, I’ll tell what I am bitter! I’m bitter about elitist career polititians who cave to every special interest activist group who knocks on their door and throws middle America under the bus.
Pay no mind to LGM..
he also believes the BOOOSH brought down the towers
And that the world leaders are under the influence of 12 lizards from another world..
An intentional, thought-out decision to not vote counts at least as much as placing a vote.
All 3 candidates are less than ideal choices (to put it mildly).
As a republican, if I vote for McCain, would I not be casting a vote in favor of open-borders and socialism and against my core conservative beliefs?
I believe there is a lot to be learned from the Carter, Reagan transition.
The problem here is the insularity of the Washington culture. Like a college campus, it has become a state within a state walled off from the realities of American life. Term limits would help, but there is too much loose money floating around.
Multiple Meanings in America Today.
When the American experiment first began, some reluctantly accepted the responsibility foisted on them…now they spend hundreds of millions to buy the chairs.
Flenser said:
While this is true Flenser; all politicians hunger for the power of the post. Vote one out, and it doesnt take long for the successor to get good and comfy on his high horse. The fact is that while people on this blog and many others are “interested” enough to try to effect a change through the vote, the vast majority of people in this country just are not involved in politics enough to care. One way that I think would be best to combat the entrenchment problem is term limits. Enough of career Senators and Congressmen.
IMHO, I have a problem with the federal level of politicians for the most part with very few exceptions(cough) Mike Pence , Jim Bunning(cough). Term limits were what our Founding Federal Legislators( how’s that for accuracy)were hoping for , you know, the Cincinnatus types. Michelle hits the nail on the head and makes it known that we have a responsibility to call these arrogant people to account.
bet he would do a better job than any of the 3 stooges that are running…..
but comparing barack, hillary, and john, to the stooges is an insult to the stooges…
Michelle, one of your best qualities is your straight talk. “Snob-ama is not alone” is right on target.
McCain, Lott, and Graham are among the most elite in DC. My Georgia senators were in the McCain/Kennedy/Bush “Shamnesty” club until we bombarded them with faxes, phone calls, and emails. One of them was even booed at a Town Hall meeting. It didn’t take long for them to get the message!
Someone said of McCain that we should “dance with the one what brung us.” Well, you wouldn’t catch me going to a dance with John McCain, let alone voting for him!
Setting term limits is an idea whose time has come, but I would add to that (#56) single stack’s solution – “outlaw pensions for anyone elected to federal office.”
This is a great article Michelle. Watching the republicans in the house (not all of them, but many) has been embarrassing the last few years. Trent Lott, one of the worst, thank goodness he’s gone, now he needs to fade into oblivion so we can forget he ever had an (R) after his name.
I think the most telling of Obama’s remarks were not the ones the media is ‘clinging’ to about guns & religion but that small town folk object to people ‘different’ than they are in their bitterness, and cling to their anti-immigrant hatred etc. Again, accusing us of ‘anti-immigrant’ sentiment, ignoring that little word “illegal” that is the only objection.
The hell with them, on a related but different note, for those of you that don’t also read http://www.powerlineblog.com the tribute to Lt. Blue is a must read. You have to page down to get to it, and then click on the link and read the entire article, you will read how these Marine Corps officers in a small Indiana town had come to pay their respects to the parents of a fallen comrade. You’ll read how Obama’s “bitter” people treated them and restored their faith in America’s belief in them & their mission.
Then the fault lies not in the politicians, but in ourselves. And I doubt things like term limits can solve THAT problem. I’m willing to give it a shot though.
I don’t remember him asking me. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s bringing a fat hairy liberal to the big dance… and he’s d@mn near telling me I better drive them or else.
Sorry, I don’t play that way.
Right on, emjem24! I am impressed with the clarity of your comments. Anyone who has had to deal with liberals at work and at home can attest to their condescending, patronizing, elitist communication. I have had direct dealings with someone who will not even engage someone in any conversation if they are not educated at least at the grad school level. This is just another brick in the foundation for term limits!
This is very hard for me to type, but that was a good post soap. I’m a McCain guy, but you’re spot on with respect to taxes and the IRS.
John McCain is unpatriotic and unAmerican.
Really? Because I when I get into conversations with Hardcore Conservatives at work or family reunions, all I get is put down and when I try to bring up something of importance all I get is Coultered.
Not partisan much, are we? So you didn’t like the tax cuts, right? Did you vote? Stop with the sour grapes already… your guy(s) didn’t win. It’s okay, lgm will understand.
Perhaps, if Obummer wins and we become a full liberal socialist state your options will open up and hope will return to your life.
I’m guessing…. not likely with any of these nincompoops running for President.
Really? You poor victim. Did you stand up to those mean, bad Conservatives?
I guess you wouldn’t sympathize with somebody like me who has a majority of liberals inhabiting my husband’s family, making snide comments about Pres. Bush, the war, or anything related to Republicans.
Did you say something useful during this conversation or did you use the typical, liberal, Bush is bad because I say so, talking points that many liberals I listen to in my family use constantly? If you did, well, let’s just say you’ll be challenged.
Way to go, Michelle! You’re only 3% EVIL according to The Village Voice. They aren’t elitists… no.
Wear it as a badge of honor.
No, that’s just stupid. I didn’t go down the line with Bush is all for war and destruction, and its his fault our economy is screwed up and we cut 30 of the 10,000 social programs.Damn him, What an evil man. What I brought up was how Welfare needs to be changed and not be a lifetime program, how abortion is not entirely evil if the girl was raped, or would cause the death of the girl, and how our government needs to stand up to Islamic Radicals and not hide from CAIR. Also in the last week or so I think I am having an identity crisis.
Great column. It’s true that we can’t forget how utterly out of touch many supposed conservatives are in addition to the liberals. It’s rather depressing, but important to remember.
maine yankee: LOL Good one!
Michelle, you’re absolutely right! I’m considering a write-in. None of these bozo’s are worth consideration.
I’m in full agreement with the above poster calling for term limits!
#114 emjem24 wrote:
Not partisan much, are we?
So you didn’t like the tax cuts, right?
Did you vote?
The debate over snobs isn’t about how rich someone is. You can be plenty rich and be normal. And you can piss and moan about your Harvard loans and be a complete and utter snob.
Half of the Democrat party is elitist. Another half is infected with socialists and poverty pimps. They both want the same thing.
YOUR MONEY.
Keep it up Michelle! We are nothing if we do not hold ourselves to the same standard we hold others too!
That’d be me.
I think, you’re playing a really dangerous game, here.
Seriously
Some good points, particularly since the GOP could easily position itself as the new party of the Regular Guy. The paradigm of the past (working joes voted Democratic, management and executives voted Republican) is gone. The GOP needs to take advantage of it.
Silky, I’m surprised you didn’t pee your pants when those mean Republicans laughed in your face. Get a grip junior. You sound like an old woman.
Great opinion piece Michelle. The truth hurts, but as luck would have it and you have pointed out, our choices are: bad, worse or disaster.
I would rank them:
McCain = Bad
Klinton = Worse
Obama = Disaster
It’s like clockwork: McCain does something to endear himself to conservatives, and Michelle rehashes old controversies.
Sit-it-out ‘08!: Because McCain got angry one time about the fence and called it the “g-ddamn fence” and and and.
SilkyInfamous – love the handle, by the way!! I’m surprised by your response, frankly, since I am not even allowed to voice any opinion (mostly due to being shouted down) when speaking with yes, liberals. I am having difficulty with your term, “Coultered”. Please explain where my observation is faulty, and keep in mind I am referring to my own personal experience just in case I wasn’t clear on that point.
What? What from my statement did you get that?
Yeh,
Nevermind, it was a preponderance of REPUBLICANS who stopped immigration “reform”
Oh, wait…I’m sittin’ on my dead ass at election time, and let Donks walk in the back door, ’cause I KNOW “reform” won’t come up again…nevermind
Silky, you sound exactly like most deluded libs. Are you an old woman? The pap about abortion not being evil if the “girl” or if carrying the child would cause the death of the “girl”, shows me, you are living on fantasy island. (near the Kennedy compound).
Abortion is basically retroactive birth control for immoral women, and mindless liberals who pretend it’s a civil right.
You are deluded.
Thanks for the straight talk Michelle! A very good read. The one thing I take away from it is all of our representatives at the national level now feel they are an entitled class that looks down their noises at the very people they are supposed to work for. How quickly they forget the good people that pay their salary, sweet retirement system, and other perks while they show how fiscally irresponsible they are with out of control pork-barrel spending. Since the disaster of the 17th Amendment our Senators now work only for the population centers of their state and ignore the rest of us in flyover country. Our Representative Republic has been quietly usurped turned into a Democracy ruled by few trying to buy our votes with our own stolen money. It really is time for term limits and to throw the bums out. If we can’t do it through the ballot box we just might have remember the words of a document drafted in 1776:
The founding fathers did it once and it just might be our generation’s duty to do it again!
Hi all, been reading MM for years but followed Ed M. to Hot Air and just registered to comment here.
Overall, Michelle makes a good point in this article. It’s not news to anyone that those with wealth and/or power tend to lose touch with the “common man”.
Losing touch and being a snob are not exactly the same thing. Every generation loses touch with the technologies of the next, for example.
While some of the examples Michelle uses here to demonstrate “snobbery” are successful, most only demonstrate differences of opinion or experience. A guy not being able to bowl doesn’t show he’s a snob. I bowled a 223 a few weeks ago, but I’ve seen Obama play basketball and he could easily take me. We have different experience and ability at different sports, so what? Shopping at Whole Foods doesn’t make you a snob, but the arugula comment demonstrated he’s less “in touch” with a farmer in Iowa than most. The “bitter speech”, however, did demonstrate a condescension to an entire group of people that I think correctly fits the definition of snobbery.
I take exception, however, at labeling McCain a “snob” for disagreeing with several red meat conservative issues. I understand immigration is the red meat of choice on this blog, as Michelle has researched, spoken, and published on this issue more than just about anyone on the Right. I’m personally anti-amnesty, and believe successful border enforcement, along with enforcement of current employment and immigration law, should precede any discussion of what to do about illegals already here. I’m an Arizona resident, and see first hand the changes occuring since Sheriff Joe started enforcing laws the Feds have failed to, and more importantly the changes occuring due to the laws requiring employers to check residency status.
However, McCain has an opinion, as strong and honest as Michelle’s, about immigration. It’s informed by a long life, filled with more struggles and successes than Michelle or myself or the vast majority of us readers have had. Informed by being a Senator of a border state. If McCain is a snob because he has a strong opinion that is different than yours and expresses that opinion in strong terms, then Michelle and the commenters on this blog are snobs as well for every strongly felt difference of opinion and Mc-fill in the blank joke they can think up.
I for one get a sick feeling when a 30-something sitting at her laptop labels a guy who lived through years of torture and confinement in the Hanoi Hilton, only to emerge a State Senator and Presidential nominee a snob.
State your opinions, back them up with facts and reason and win the debate on issues. Save the name calling for Kos and Dem Underground.
LOL!
You have spent the past 8 years defending an administration that has admitted it doesn’t care what the American people think, and now Obama is an elitist because he eats arugula?
You lavish praise on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” — the manifesto of intellectual snobbery — and you have the nerve to call somebody an elitist?
That’s rich.
The replies to Silky’s post validate his point perfectly:
I was near the Kennedy Compound, then I moved to Houston. So what would happen if your daughter was told if she had the baby she would die? Would you tell your daughter its immoral to have the abortion? Just a question, because it is always easier to judge other people when they don’t have the same issues as you. What do I think of abortion? Sometimes its plain just selfishness, other times its medically necessary. Though economically it does affect the amount of taxpayers, but socially, you should check out a paper called, “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime” by Steven D. Levitt and John Donohue.
“We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed significantly to recent crime reductions. Crime began to fall roughly 18 years after abortion legalization. The 5 states that allowed abortion in 1970 experienced declines earlier than the rest of the nation, which legalized in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States with high abortion rates in the 1970s and 1980s experienced greater crime reductions in the 1990s. In high abortion states, only arrests of those born after abortion legalization fall relative to low abortion states. Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.”
DaveC said (#99):
That’s not what I say. It’s not what I think. It’s all in your head, just like the things you say about Obama.
So, lemme’ see if I got this straight…
It’s the Donks, isn’t it, who resist electronic eavesdropping on suspected terrorists?
So, when there’s a smoking crater, where St. Louis used to be, Michelle Malkin won’t be responsible, ’cause she sat on her dead ass, and suggested everyone else to do the same, at election time.
“Don’t hold ME responsible…I didn’t vote for ‘em.”
“Oh look!!…There’s an illegal alien !!!…nevermind the crater.”
I believe it is the power that intoxicates our so-called “representatives” not necessarily money, although that is a big part of it and they believe they are then entitled. Thus, they develop an elitist complex. This is evidenced by the “difficulty” Trent Lott is experiencing as a private citizen. We, as Americans, have allowed them to become elitists by continually voting for incumbents, including RINOs, because we are too lazy to do our homework and do the grassroots work it takes to change the current sytem.
Inside the beltway types become elitist merely by being there. Anyone who has had the fortune to be in the Capital Grille in DC and watch the reaction when anyone with a “pin” walks in will understand what I mean. You be the person who controls the purse strings for the free world and see if it doesn’t get to your head. This isn’t an excuse, it’s an explanation.
The difference between Repubs and Democrats is that, while they all see the rest of America as “fly over country”, Republicans know that thier votes come from everywhere in the middle of the US. To Democrats, “fly over country” is a place to pander to people who are “undecided”. Then, once the election is over, it is a place to visit after the natural disaster and say , “tisk tisk.. These poor people REALLY need me now.”
Regardless of which of these three is elected, I bet none visit Pittsburgh while in office(with the exception of election years is a local politician needs an endorsement). Just a guess but I would be willing to ager a $20 on it.
The only decent Democrat President of the 20th Century was Truman. That’s because he was never a Member of Congress or Senator. He was a shoe salesman who was politically expedient for FDR.
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
#137 SilkyInfamous,
The correlation between abortions and crime I presume is because those unwanted children that would have been aborted are now criminals? Doesn’t that say more about encouraging a strong family? For years, the “experts” said it was best to end an unhappy marriage because single parenthood was better for the kids’ happiness. You can’t raise happy kids if you’re not happy, so do whatever you want and your kids will be fine. Now we’ve got this “my baby’s daddy” bunch and there’s no stigma at all for having kids and not being married.
How about encouraging personal and parental responsibility instead of making up a very sketchy connection between abortion and crime.
SilkyInfamous:
Could it be less gun control was a large factor in the reduced crime rate cited in the study?
The only affect abortion would have on the crime rate is reducing the number of people available to commit the crime. You also reduce the number of automobiles purchased because the aborted fetus isn’t around to buy one. What an argument!
The liberal canard that abortion is justified in the cases of rape or to save the life of the woman is so statistically small compared to the overall number of abortions carried out each year as to not even be worth mentioning.
You might want to ask those who survived an abortion because of a rape how they feel about the subject.
From your comments, when it comes down to two choices, you chose death — forget choice, they messed up the first choice by deciding to have unprotected sex. The only choice remaining is the choice to accept or reject the consequences of the first choice.
I didn’t make the information up. It was conducted by a Professor from Yale and one from the University of Chicago. You got it.That’s the point. Instead of spending all this time and resources into being Anti- Abortion, why not pour all those resources into being Pro-Family.
I dunno. I read and re-read Michelle’s column, and what comes across to me is something I ordinarily find to be the province of lefties: the lazy resort to moral equivalence. Alan Colmes could’ve ghost-written that column for her.
Others have already pointed out the obvious: most politicians tend toward elitism, and the longer they’re in office the stronger that tendency becomes.
The distinction with a difference, though, is that McCain isn’t running his whole campaign based on holding himself out as some kind of New Age alternative to politics-as-usual.
Obama is.
As an example of how this is significant, look back to 2004: John Kerry could have based his campaign on any number of themes, but the one he chose was “I’m a war hero!” So it became highly relevant when others pointed out just what a phony he was in that regard, because those observations stabbed right at the heart of Kerry’s own self-definition – and thus to his electability.
Bush, on the other hand, never made an issue out of his or his opponent’s military service. Which is one reason (aside from the fact that there was no “there” there) why “gotcha” attacks on his own military service didn’t have the same impact.
Jump forward to today, and consider “Mr. Hopenchange:” his central definition of himself, and his main appeal to his supporters, is as a “man of the people” who will magically transform Washington’s politics-as-usual. He himself has made it highly relevant when he reveals himself as not being what he says he is, because it strikes directly at the key rationale of his run for the presidency.
McCain isn’t running on the same kind of populist platform. So sure, one can point to examples of elitist or arrogant statements or behavior on his part, but the impact isn’t the same because such observations hit at the periphery of his campaign instead of the core of it.
If McCain were running on a Pat Buchanon-like theme of “America for Americans!” then his inconsistencies on immigration would carry great weight – would probably even destroy him. But he’s not. And merely pointing out that “Hey, McCain’s an elitist, too!” is an apples-to-oranges comparison when juxtaposed to Mr. Hopenchange’s revealed snobbery, because the latter has made being an antidote to elitism one of the most important reasons to vote for him.
There is a difference. And Michelle missed it.
Spot on post MostlyRight.
umm.Brady Bill. Assault Weapons Ban.NICS
Silky,
I wasn’t suggesting you made the data up, I’m suggesting that the correlation is suspect. That would be like saying most serial killers drink orange juice, so orange juice turns people into serial killers.
What other facts occurred over that time frame? Cable TV? Maybe crime is reduced because cable tv became more widespread.
Troll disclaimer:
It’s an example. I’m not crediting cable tv for a reduction in crime.
John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott. I’m not mad that you mentioned them, Michelle. It’s true. They all have one thing in common…they are (or were) long-term senators, which lends itself to absolute, total elitism. I’d suggest it’s pretty hard to find a senator who isn’t a bit of a snob.
These senators seem to live in a dream land where they are allowed to chastize and demean the public all they want without fear of repercussion. The most disheartening aspect of this whole article is Mrs. Malkin is right on the button, McCain’s snobbery is just as bad. It still disgusts me that he got the nomination of the GOP.
Well I accept that.If you do have time though, you should see the study and see what they have to say. Like when people try to rip apart Mrs. Malkin without actually reading her books. If you only look at one side of the fence, you’re missing the whole picture.
SilkyInfamous:
Sorry. I should have said hand guns (don’t need a permit for a rifle) for clarification. Where gun control has been lifted and legal carry permits granted the crime rate has gone down drastically. Notice I don’t mention liberal denizens like DC or NYC where the crime rate soars when strict gun control is in place.
My question was to question whether other extraneous factors were considered in their statistical analysis.
Brady Bill: 1993
Assault Weapon ban: 1994
NICS: 1998
These are all 20 – 25 years after Roe v Wade, making the 18 year argument invalid, especially from 5 1970 states.
Well, there is one thing going for the GOP. At least they are already perceived as being “Fabulously Wealthy” and out of touch with the “Common man”
It is the Dems themselves who have marketed themselves as being “One with the poor” and “Down with the Impoverished”.
the simple fact of the matter is, the ten richest members of Congress are all Democrats. I have always been amazed at how, not only the Dems can go around talking about how they know what it is like ot be poor or Middle-class, and yet not a single person in the Press or even the renk-and-file Dems and Libs on the street never once question or point out the lavishness of their lifestyles, the wealth that comes out of their butts, the amount of money they have that they spend like it grows on trees…
Then again, they also market themselves as the ones that are for tolerance, who are against bigotry and racism, etc., yet they are the worst offenders of racism, bigotry and all anyone has to do is be at a Liberal rally, visit a Liberal Website or listen to any one of their campaign speeches to hear all the hate, violence and just plain mean-spiritedness that oozes from every pore of their being.
eck…just look at our own personal Liberal trolls here…they will be your tour guides into the hate and racist filled minds of the Liberal Democrats and those that vote for them.
There is that old saying:
If the GOP is the party of the Rich, and the Dems are the party of the Poor, then it only stands to reason that it is in the best interest of the GOP to create more rich people…and for the Liberals and Dems to keep people and create more Poor.
Concerned Citizen:
There was no major Gun Law Changes since the 1930’s and The Gun Control Act of 1968 was a forerunner to the Brady Bill. Your argument was their was a lessening of gun control, but that’s simply not the case.
their-there
And i am going to come forward and publicly say it. Lindsey Graham has dratically disappointed me over the last few years.
During the Clinton Impeachments, I thought he was “Da Bomb!”, the guy to watch, possibly run for President in the upcoming years. However I have NO idea what happened to the little guy, but he has turned into some hybrid version of a Liberal/Moderate Republican who defines everything that has become wrong with the GOP in Washington.
Yup, very, very disappointed in what happened to him. Maybe someday he will have some sort of “Coming to Jesus” experience and return to the fold…but until then, he will continue to be nothing but an embarrassment to the Party as far as I am concerned.
I hate snobs. I don’t care who they are.
Since this thread is about elitism, one area that I feel is worthy of investigation is the influence that foundations, “nongovernmental organizations” and other interest groups, especially those on file with the IRS as not for profit, have on our politics and political agendas. What I find most disturbing about them is that they appear to carry enormous clout even though they pay no taxes and consciously position themselves to operate outside our system of checks and balances.
RetFireman – loved your post! The bottom line is this: there has to be gobs of money and lots of ego inflating activity going on. I know of one person who was a small time lawyer in a very small town who ran for Senate and got elected (a Democrat). In LESS THAN ONE TERM, he was a multi-millionaire owning two homes! I know that job doesn’t pay more than $165K, right? ALL of them are bought and paid for and we shouldn’t allow it–after all, they work for us.
Silky,
I said nothing about the lessening of gun control, that was another poster. You posted those three items as a response. I was just showing that they didn’t meet the 18 year time frame.
As a matter of fact, the other poster was just pointing out that there could be other reasons as well.
I suppose it’s possible that there is a link, I just think there are too many other variables to be definitive.
Besides, reduced crime is no excuse to end an innocent childs life.
I can’t speak with authority on Atlas Shrugged having never read it, though based on the link with commentary from those who have, they apparently got a completely different message than the one you purport the book to have delivered.
As for the Bush administration’s supposed indifference to public opinion… If one were to submit military strategy to the public opinion polling, there’d be no coherent strategy, as it would fluctuate with changes in morale, and nothing would get done.
It’s not Bush’s job to stick his finger up in the air and change his mind based on polls. The only poll that mattered on that score was the Presidential Election.
Concerned Citizen:
My apologies.
Is it me??? Maybe Im being silly.
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How did this thread get off on abortion, while I was away from the computer?
Silky,
No apologies necessary in a civil discussion.
Regarding the analysis that Regulus offers in comment #147……You bring up a cogent point as to Obama’s appeal as an outsider being central to his campaign. I must confess that I found that appealing when he first came on the political scene but as his gaffes reveal he is no different than the most firmly entrenched Washington “insider”. He will not get my vote.
However, as the MSM has reported during the primary coverage, new voter registration for the Democratic Party is double or triple the registration of Republicans.
I believe that this is the result of the appeal that his “hope and change” persona has for younger voters. I also believe that with the influx of these new voters we are just about garenteed a democratic oval office with Obama at the helm.
I don’t want to come across as one of those crotchety old men who are always screamiing at the young “whippersnappers” who are in his front yard. But I do wonder just how many younger citizens will actually take a hard look at all of the candidates. It seems to me that it’s very possible that they will vote with their hearts rather than their heads.
Michelle Obama, in the Colbert video clip, states that her husband is “special”. And I’m sure the Obama political machine is taking great care to make sure that it’s younger cogs feel “special” too.
And it’s not too far a jump from feeling “special” to being an “insider”.
And it’s a very small step from “insider” to a member of the “elite”
So even though the Onion Breath pervades all three candidates and their respective parties……I reckon I’m gonna vote anyway…..JMO
Hey, libocrat! I’m an old woman (75). Twice on this thread you’ve insulted me, and countless numbers of my peers. You’ve implied that we can be frightened enough to pee our pants, and that we are deluded libs. Is it really possible that you don’t know any Conservative Old Women?
Besides being a Conservative Old Woman, I’m a gun-totin’ Christian; I drink Jack Daniel’s; I cuss when it’s called for; I think for myself; and, to use the vernacular, “I ain’t intimidated by nobody, ’specially no damn liberal!”
Mind your manners in the future, honey. Don’t make me have to take you to the woodshed! LOL
Oh…as an aside…I have read Atlas Shrugged and as I remember it…it was about a self-made man who rose through society on merit and merit alone, not(unlike so many politicians)as a result of the “elite” status conveyed by elected office.
Independent Tom
I actually think most people vote with their hearts and not their heads. Otherwise we’d have better elected officials on both sides.
Lets try this again…is it me?
MO
Yep.
Why not wait till they are 18, then kill them?
The problem is that they represent a political party and not the people who voted for them. I think if we banned parties, then this statement would start holding true.
#169 IndependentTom wrote:
Even as a member of the 18-34 “youth” demographic/voting block, I totally understand this fear. But I really think that there was greater danger of this sort of “emotional voting” — or at the very least, “uninformed voting” — before this election. Granted, most of my friends have always been politically minded, but this election has genuinely rejuvenated their energies and lessened any rising apathy. Most people my age I know and talk to are more politically informed than they were even a few years ago — they know the issues, the candidates’ positions on them and why those issues matter (and even if you might disagree with their stances, at least they know why they’re choosing any particular candidate). I know — this is anecdotal, so it might not be fully representative of the way young people will vote, but I think (hope) it bodes well.
Thank you, NYK….
Your posting goes a long way towards easing my concerns.
Thanks for posting this it has been a long time since I have heard it and it says it all about the class struggle constantly being pushed by the Democrats.
I think it’s fair to say that our Government is out of control on both sides of the isle unfortunately.
To me I see little difference between McCain & the DemoRats on most issues.
Some people won’t like that as a Conservative, I put on my website that “we specifically do NOT endorse his Campaign.”
Some will accuse me of being stupid & losing on purpose. Here’s the thing though, I’m not recommending that no Conservative or Republican vote for him. As a political website with increasing popularity, (increases about 10,000 page views per month over the last couple) I can’t bring myself to vote for him, because this is my only chance this election year to fire a shot across the bow of the Republican Party, about the quality of future candidates.
Not that my blog is anywhere near as popular as some others, but I hope it embarrasses at least some of those Republicans who still have a conscience when I write Michelle Malkin in for President, in protest of the fact that she as a political analyst knows more about our Government & history than most of the candidates do.
The simple fact is that she’s more qualified to lead the country than any of these clowns, & that’s a sad fact, since she’s not even trying! She’s just being an intelligent US citizen who loves her country! I cannot in good conscience contribute to the delinquency of the party I once highly respected, & fully supported, by being an enabler. ~Dan Lee
So much anti republican words.
Whats with the bad vibs? I could have sworn I joined into Michelle Malkin! I’m starting to see very little seperation between those that comprise the two parties. Both groups “whin” alot about their leaders. I’m getting a very negative feeling about being a Republican. Where’s the difference? Bottom line: We will get the leader WE DESERVE. None are perfect.
Must be a lite news day.
I think “Bitter Bama” is a better name than snob-bama. Barrack looked into a mirror and saw was his own bitterness – not the bitterness of the American people. His entire life is one of playing the victim even though every one of his successes occurred because of very country he despises. He is what “the pursuit of happiness’ is all about, but he doesn’t have a clue.
nyk, (#177)
I don’t think young liberals do know why “they’re choosing any particular candidate.” My fear is that they’ve been influenced (read brainwashed) by elitist, socialistic professors, and their thoughts are not their own.
MM and Rush Limbaugh are the last two conservative Alamos out there. I’m sure Rush will be folding under the pressure by November. Keep it up Michelle! The future of our republic depends on you.
I repectfully disagree Fester. With Reagan this country got the leadership it deserved. Unfortunately it was like being fed Sushi for 8 years, & then going to Sardines or something, then Bush was like those little red swedish fish candies that make you sick after you’ve had too many.
Now with McCain? As far as his policy is concerned, He’s like rotten old fish that even my cat wouldn’t eat… ~ Dan Lee
Little Ma, since the young, for better or for worse, are unreliable voters, I’m not sure what influence they generally have.
OK… Wooohooo he’s got the flag pin back on!
and THAT offends me.
The fact that wearing or not wearing the flag pin is such a big deal is what offends me.
Excellent point luckybrand!
Some food for thought – a reader on another blog submitted this:
Dan Lee #185: Thanks for great posts. Can you give a link to your website – would like to go visit if okay with you.
Not as much as AFTER he God forbid wins the election & then pins on the Mexican flag to promote “inclusion & diversity”.
~Dan Lee
Obama’s statements are a reflection of his own thinking and his own life. To think that religion is about bitterness is confirmation of what 20 years with Rev Wright have done to him. To think that hunting is a substitute for bitterness is just ignorant. To think that the American people are bitter about illegal aliens misses the point that the American people don’t like lawbreakers in general. And, finally, to think that Americans resent people who are not like them completely misses the point that the American people are all of them.
Obama has so benefitted from his victim status and the goodies that it brings that he is still being a victim even though running for President. Obama is the bitter one, not the people in middle America he hopes to govern.