Posted on 07/01/2004 7:42:13 AM PDT by Phlap
ou can call Michael Moore all kinds of things — loudmouthed, obnoxious and self-promoting, for example. The anorexic Ralph Nader, in what must be an all-time low for left-wing invective, has even called him fat. The one thing you cannot call him, though, is a member of the "liberal elite."
Sure, he's made a ton of money from his best sellers and award-winning documentaries. But no one can miss the fact that he's a genuine son of the U.S. working class — of a Flint autoworker, in fact — because it's built right into his "branding," along with flannel shirts and baseball caps.
My point is not to defend Moore, who — with a platoon of bodyguards and a legal team starring Mario Cuomo — hardly needs any muscle from me. I just think it's time to retire the "liberal elite" label, which, for the past 25 years, has been deployed to denounce anyone to the left of Colin Powell. Thus, last winter, the ultra-elite right-wing Club for Growth dismissed followers of Howard Dean as a "tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show." I've experienced it myself: speak up for the downtrodden, and someone is sure to accuse you of being a member of the class that's doing the trodding.
The notion of a sinister, pseudocompassionate liberal elite has been rebutted, most recently in Thomas Frank's brilliant new book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?," which says the aim is "to cast the Democrats as the party of a wealthy, pampered, arrogant elite that lives as far as it can from real Americans, and to represent Republicanism as the faith of the hard-working common people of the heartland, an expression of their unpretentious, all-American ways, just like country music and Nascar."
Like the notion of social class itself, the idea of a liberal elite originated on the left, among early 20th-century anarchists and Trotskyites who noted, correctly, that the Soviet Union was spawning a "new class" of power-mad bureaucrats. The Trotskyites brought this theory along with them when they mutated into neocons in the 60's, and it was perhaps their most precious contribution to the emerging American right. Backed up by the concept of a "liberal elite," right-wingers could crony around with their corporate patrons in luxuriously appointed think tanks and boardrooms — all the while purporting to represent the average overworked Joe.
Beyond that, the idea of a liberal elite nourishes the right's perpetual delusion that it is a tiny band of patriots bravely battling an evil power structure. Note how richly the E-word embellishes the screeds of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and their co-ideologues, as in books subtitled "Rescuing American from the Media Elite," "How Elites from Hollywood, Politics and the U.N. Are Subverting America," and so on. Republican right-wingers may control the White House, both houses of Congress and a good chunk of the Supreme Court, but they still enjoy portraying themselves as Davids up against a cosmopolitan-swilling, corgi-owning Goliath.
Yes, there are some genuinely rich folks on the left — Barbra Streisand, Arianna Huffington, George Soros — and for all I know, some of them are secret consumers of French chardonnays and loathers of televised wrestling. But the left I encounter on my treks across the nation is heavy on hotel housekeepers, community college students, laid-off steelworkers and underpaid schoolteachers. Even many liberal celebrities — like Jesse Jackson and Gloria Steinem — hail from decidedly modest circumstances. David Cobb, the Green Party's presidential candidate, is another proud product of poverty.
It's true that there are plenty of working-class people — though far from a majority — who will vote for Bush and the white-tie crowd that he has affectionately referred to as his "base." But it would be redundant to speak of a "conservative elite" when the ranks of our corporate rulers are packed tight with the kind of Republicans who routinely avoid the humiliating discomforts of first class for travel by private jet.
So liberals can take comfort from the fact that our most visible spokesman is, despite his considerable girth, an invulnerable target for the customary assault weapon of the right. I meant to comment on his movie, too, but the lines at my local theater are still prohibitively long.
Barbara Ehrenreich will be a guest columnist for the Op-Ed page through July. Thomas L. Friedman is on book leave for three months.
Moore is clearly a member of the elite given rent utilities and groceries are not consederations of his everyday life. Is he a liberal? So much for her lies.
This comment is funny on so many levels.
Why don't we give Ms. Ehrenrich a bus ticket to Tupelo, MS where I can assure you there are no lines to watch this movie?
Sure, he has tens of millions of dollars and a corps of bodyguards and lawyers, but does that make him elite? After all, he wears a baseball cap. And his dad was an autoworker.
So instead of goofy Friedman, who at least shows signs of being able to think for himself, the Times will feature a dyed-in-the-wool socialist. Big surprise.
Liberally Eat
There is no liberal elite because Barbara Ehrenreich doesn't want one. She's an advocate for her issues and is too dishonest to admit it.
Nothing like having her f bomb the unfortunate in the name of "good reporting" and "humanity" to really bleep the poor and have her feel good about the experience.
Hammer, hammer, hammer the unfortunate. That is what she and her buddies do.
The prototypical Dim response to claims of elitism.
"We're not the elite - YOU'RE the elite! And I have one quote to back it up! THPTHTPHBTPHBTPHTTPBH!"
I used to read her columns on the back page of Time magazine. For my blood pressure check.
Nicely parsed. Clintonian, even. Moore didn't grow up in Flint but in an adjacent, more afluent, suburb. So if you read it carefully you see she doesn't repeat the usual lie but gives the impression that he grew up in a working class town.
As for his costume, it's called "dressing down," something that was practically invented by the hippie generation. A man with real working class attitudes would dress for the occasion, and put on a suit and tie where they are called for.
It just pains this snob that a fat slob like Michael Moore should be admitted to her exclusive club of elite left-wing intellectuals.
There is more nuance to the word 'elite' that just meaning one has money.
What a defensive article! I could go into major rebuttal mode, but will just point out that any author who will take President Bush's obviously joking reference to "my base" and mischaracterize it as "affectionate" rather than "humorous" isn't worth any more of my time.
Moore is Joe Six-Pack like Julia Robert is a Soccer Mom. They are both acting (and none too well, if I do say so).
Yeah. . . he's the son of an autoworker. If you call an automobile company manager an "autoworker". Generally, the UAW refers to such as "management" or "shirts".
His "legend" is every bit as false and misleading as his films. . .
This faux intellectual is in deep denial.
No liberal elite? Oh please.
This is hilarous.
Ehrenreich obtained a PhD in biology, but decided not to become a research scientist. She became involved in politics as an activist for social change.
From 1991 to 1997, she was a regular columnist of Time. Currently, Ehrenrei
ch is regular columnist with The Progressive. Ehrenreich has also written for the New York Times, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly, Ms, New Republic, Z Magazine, In These Times, Salon.com, and other publications.
She is the vice chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Barbara Ehrenreich
Born: 8/26/41
Birthplace: Butte, Montana
A social activist and a feminist, Ehrenreich has written on the subjects of healthcare, class, families, and sex. Among her most well-respected—and controversial—books are The American Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics (1970), For Her Own Good: One Hundred Fifty Years of the Experts' Advice to Women (1978), and The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (1983). Originally a biologist who earned her Ph.D. from Rockefeller University (1968), Ehrenreich became involved in political activism during the Vietnam War and has written professionally ever since. Her first novel was Kipper's Game (1993).
"Moore is Joe Six-Pack..."
Joe Pony-keg, maybe.
"A social activist and a feminist, Ehrenreich has written on the subjects of...sex."
After a look at that kisser, well, I don't even want to go there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.