Posted on 11/23/2004 6:08:23 PM PST by CHARLITE
In the chic salons of Manhattan and the trendy bistros of Los Angeles they are saying they same thing. "How could Bush have won?" ponder the elitist vanguard of the left-wing status quo. "I don't know a single person who voted for him."
On the networks -- 12 hours after the rest of us realized that John Kerry had fallen -- Dan Rather scribbles permutations on colored Post-It notes in an attempt to prove to himself that his chosen man could still take the day.
Surfing about, I noted talking heads all agog over how they missed it. In the aftermath of the election, they behave with professorial demeanor, wondering how their certainty of a Democratic victory went up in flames.
"What we don't realize is that there's a huge segment of the country that doesn't think like us," states one well-coifed anchor, his voice dripping with derision and condescension. "We can never understand the people who like their guns and their pick-up trucks and their NASCAR."
That comment, as much as anything else, explains why George Bush was re-elected with the largest percentage of the popular vote since 1968.
The pretty TV man was stating that those such as he - the elites, the sophisticates -- can never comprehend the lowly mental horsepower of folk who shop at Wal-Mart, belong to a bowling league, sometimes attend church and still believe that the United States is far superior to the socialist enclaves of Europe.
To the TV anchor, working stiffs and Joe Six-Packs are the "great unwashed." They don't read the New York Times, utter sly chuckles at the cartoons in the New Yorker or spend $400 bucks on a pair of shoes. They like a beer and a steak, read the funny pages on Sunday morning and think a day of chips and NFL is a dandy ol' time.
Such being the case, they are not worthy of respect.
The election of 2004 was not just a case of Bush versus Kerry. It was a contest of city versus country, blue collar versus white collar, arrogant elitist versus good ol' boy.
It was class warfare in the deepest of trenches, but even after being whipped, dipped and hung out to dry, the high and mighty of the left STILL don't get it. They cannot comprehend how and why they were whomped by a bunch of hicks.
Thus, allow me to enlighten. You see, the people whom America's Brahmins view as yokels and slack-jaws didn't just vote against Kerry the man. They voted against what Kerry stood for.
They voted against arrogant, pseudo-intellectuals who try and mandate how the imbecilic members of the middle-class caste should live, act and think. They voted against pompous, urban know-it-alls who feel they have carte blanche to halt farming, ranching, logging and mining in an attempt to save an endangered species of toad.
They voted against those who want to take their guns...and not just the ones they hunt with. They voted against the snobs, the egocentric, the self-righteous.
They voted against the jerks...and they did it brilliantly.
The "average" citizen of American voted against those whom John Kerry labeled the "heart and soul" of America. They voted against the traitorous pig Michael Moore and that Whoopity Goldberg woman. They voted against Bill Maher, Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Cher, Rosie O'Donnell and the whole damn cast of "Friends."
They voted against "celebrities" who were rude and crude, those who profaned George Bush and his family with the most foul of commentary at each and every opportunity.
The election wasn't just Bush versus Kerry. It was "Us versus Them."
Oh...there were issues aplenty. And on each one the families from Flyover Country took a stance diametrically opposed to the upper crust.
The latter view Europe as a Socialist utopia which all should strive to emulate. The former view it as a place with bad plumbing and body odor. The latter are enamored with, and a desire to appease, anyone who claims a lineage harboring at least one duke, baron or Third World, French-speaking exporter of bat guano. The former couldn't give a damn what Europe thinks, wouldn't trust Kofi Annan to wash their truck.
Hell, they want to resign from the U.N., boot out the tenants and convert the real estate into a Bass Pro Shop.
When it comes to war, the "normal" American believes in big bombs, not big words. They want country music and armor piercing bullets, whereas the intelligentsia wants to practice diplomacy, hum Kumbaya and surrender.
The NASCAR crowd intrinsically realizes Saddam was a terrorist, understands Iraq is part of the bigger war on terror. In case you forgot (and judging by the voting totals, many in the Northeast did just that) they'll remind you the radical Muslims attacked us...not vice versa.
The residents of our two distinct Americas reside within the confines of different economies and social strata. It's not that Flyover Folk disagree with the values of the hoity-toity, it's more that they believe the pampered and feckless are bereft of values, their ethical compass spinning like a narcissistic top.
They see the elites as merely paying lip service to that which is convenient and faddish, proving to the neighbors they sup heartily on the ideological flavor of the week, feeling nothing but a need to impress.
The commoners? They are more traditional. Quite a lot are religious, but many are content to make a living, watch the tube and catch a long nap on Saturday. The "God, guns and guts" contingent is often poor but happy. The cocktail, Commies and Cadillac club is often rich and in therapy.
And the Limousine Liberals STILL don't get it. They think the Bush victory is an anomaly, even though they've been humiliated twice in four years.
They will lose again and again, firm in the resolve that good breeding always wins the day. The clay-eaters, rubes and mouth-breathers of "Flyover Country" will never surpass them, they think, for they lack class, culture and social contacts.
As for the aforementioned po' white trash...they are laughing. They don't have much cash. They don't have health insurance. They don't take cruises. They don't have designer labels.
All they've got is the Senate, the House, the Oval Office and a grin that spreads from ear to ear.
Can I get a, "Hell, yeah!"
(From a university prof/stay-at-home during the day mommy!)
As a Libertarian, I frequently find myself voting for a mix of "blue" and "red", and am often invited to circles of friends on both sides.. I've found during this election that the author's description of my liberal "comerades" is pretty spot on. There is a feeling of "how could this have happened?? I've never even SEEN a conservative before, how could there be so many of them??"
When pressed for how they plan on winning next time, they invariably decide it's best to go even more extremely liberal, in an attempt to reach out to that 0 to 1% who still went for Nader. It's beyond them to try to re-capture the center by dropping a few extreme views (which I argue to them would be a better plan).
I think it's good to have a balance, and while I don't agree 100% (or even 50%) with either side, I'm afraid of what is going to happen during the next four years with basically no cohesive organized voice on the blue side.
Just my opinion. Cheers!
No matter your degrees or the color of your collar a great segment of the effete elite consider you a rube just by the fact that you are from Sugarland, Texas. Just as a certain segment of society considers anyone from New York City a hopeless, hapless, unrepentant yankee.
I lived a number of years in the North. Born and raised in the south and now am smack in central Illinois and it is the same everywhere I've been. A great number of people have an image in their mind of what "others" are and nothing changes ever.
Oh, I'd rather see a Home Depot, but... okay.
We did more than that. We told them that welfare would destroy the family unit and breed crime; we told them the sexual revolution would result in bitterness and disease. We told them that abortion would cheapen life and that easily-available birth control would promote sexual license. And we were right.
We were right about every bright idea these morons have come up with for the last forty years, and they still have the ass to claim we're stupid, uneducated boobs.
No. We're hardly the "stupid" ones. And we're tired of being talked down to when we understand the very real consequences of their brainless ideas better than they ever will.
Muleteam1
Muleteam1
Count me in your group too.
As a "party" they have no willingness or ability to doubt their philosophy. To acknowledge that they have a "worthy" adversary would obligate them to make coherent arguments for their positions that are realistic, based on some values, have some ethical basis and a moral code.
Several factors contribute to their inability and/or unwillingness to engage in a true "battle of ideas".
- Most of their "political philosophy" is grounded in intellectually clever, but fatally flawed premises. Their Leftist emphasis on psuedo-diversity, egalitarianism, moral relativism, various forms of collectivism, post-modernism, deconstructionism, rule by the cultural and intellectual elite, et al are derivatives of Kantian philosophy, which have failed (or are failing) in every case where they have been tried.
-These base philosophies are (like their party) an incoherent collection of narrow interests, some of which are in conflict (e.g. who is the most important, worthy minority group) Their only cohesion is the strength of their collective numbers, and there is little synergy.
-The Democratic party itself has shifted left, since the New Left went underground in the early 70's, and captured the party (e.g. McGovern). There is no "visible" left wing. They genuinely believe (or wish to appear) that the party is slightly Left-Center or Centrist. The 1960's Liberals (e.g. Humphrey) are "their" extremists, but they don't consider them extreme, but instead, "the mainstream".
Consequently, everyone to the "right" of their center position is right-wing or extreme right-wing, and "out-of-the mainstream". A classic centerist Democrat (e.g. Scoop Jackson) looks to them to be a right-winger. -They have grown intellectually lazy and feel no need to "make the case" intellectually. Instead, they have had power (by default) for so long that they consider that to be the norm. The Republican control must be an abberration, since it is not "mainstream".
-Being intellectually lazy they resort to imagery and propaganda, assuming (incorrectly) that their philosophies are "self-evident" and need no explanation, but just better advertising. Since they believe they have the best "product", and consider that to be self-evident, it becomes simply a marketing problem.
-Their assortment of minority groups has one thing in common. They are all victims of "the majority", They are all approaching government for redress of their grievances from a position of helplessness. However, the solutions they seek aren't limited to "fainess", they want retribution and punitive damages (e.g. affirmative action, speech codes, et al).
-The cumulative effect of these things encourages them to create caricatures of their adversaries, cast themselves in the best light, and adversaries in their worst light. Hence, the racist, homophobic, uneducated, redneck, religious zealot caricature of their adversaries, overshadows any deficiencies they may have. Relativism allows them to recast even their shortcomings as morally superior (e.g. Clinton lied, but not about anything important). Their certainty of the superiority of their "morals" and positions on the issues, creates a delusional, artificial world. When it collided with reality in 2000, they could still rationalize their fantasy, by assuming it was an error; they were cheated.
As the reality therapy of 2004 continued, the delusion became harder to maintain, and they went into shock. I believe what we are witnessing, is the collapse of their delusion.
At this point, they can either continue the reality therapy, or retreat deeper into their delusion.
They seem to be at the tipping point; "living on the edge of chaos"
Time will tell which choice they make. It could be quite a show
Al Beril - Liberal Times, Greenwich VillageLines were around the corner at the Mac Dougal Diner in Greenwich Village yesterday to witness what has been labeled a “Democrat Miracle”. To the amazement of Mick Thwaite, who ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, he got much more than he bargained for. “At first I thought it was like a mirage or something. You know, like when you’ve been going without something for so long, and then you think you finally see it – which is how I felt since Kerry lost. That’s why when I saw the face of Kerry there looking back up at me from the plate – I just couldn’t believe my eyes! I had to ask the guy next to me if I was really seeing what I was seeing.”
The waitress on duty at the time was less impressed: “Listen, Elvis eats here every third Wednesday at 3 O’clock. This doesn’t surprise me in the least.”
Others who have seen the miraculous apparition have also expressed disbelief citing that the republican chef may have just etched Kerry’s image into the sandwich with a butter knife.
“I don’t care what people say,” remarked Thwaite, “I bought this sandwich and am a believer. This is a clear message from a higher power that Kerry should have won the election. I voted for Kerry – and I think this is just his way or reassuring me that there’s still hope.”
Initially, Thwaite had planned on selling the item on E-bay, sure that he would get at least five figures. However, after dropping the sandwich on the floor, the image more resembled Al Gore, at which the sandwich was promptly discarded.
The writer certainly isn't describing the base of the Democrat party. The problem with the Democrats is the plantation mentality of their leaders and their previous success in keeping the downtrodden on the plantation. P.S. I'm sure it's killing my liberal Austin family to be labeled red-staters :)
Feeling misunderestimated? :)
They can't get the NASCAR, guns and pickups? Well, I can't understand people who enjoy $30 hamburgers, $200 haircuts, maniacal cabdrivers and living stacked on top of each other in 700-foot piles
We understand when you look at this clown: !!!
"For a guy who's been known derisively to the Bush crowd as the Breck girl," observes Shearer, vice presidential candidate John Edwards seems "way too interested in his hair." He tries to straighten it with his fingers. A makeup technician approaches with a comb, but the senator likes it just so and does the combing himself. He signals he's ready for hair spray by closing his eyes expectantly, like a child. Then Edwards and the technician straighten a little more with their fingers. Please don't tell me that thing in his hand is a compact. Oh, dear. It is.
Click here to return to:
Election or Art?
http://slate.msn.com/id/2108216/slideshow/2108085/entry/2108087/speed/100
He is wrong about that; it simply means Kerry is toast
Boy, isn't that the fact.
We must have went to different schools together. :)
But I don't see the media ever changing until and unless they literally go bankrupt.
I agree. NASCAR bores me (except the crashes and I can catch them on the 11:00 news). This idea that somehow the "intellectuals" have staked out the blue states is just wrong.
If you want to see erudite, just look at FreeRepublic. Want to find out if something is true or not? Post it here. Your facts, argumentation, spelling, punctuation and supporting materials will be subject to scrutiny that a Doctoral Thesis could not survive.
FreeRepublic represents true intellectualism in the USA (and beyond). Because our system of government was established by geniuses, it takes very intelligent people to comprehend it well enough to support it. I think more people in the US are intelligent than not. This is not about a small cadre of self-appointed intellegencia who wish to act as caretakers. This is about the USA as a whole being much, much smarter than the anti-American, pro-Socialist Left will admit to themselves. For if they admit to themselves that most people are as intelligent as them, they have no reason to live (thus the suicide talk we have heard about).
You have but to hear the average Leftist "intellectual" pout about "that's not democratic" to realize they don't even understand the first thing about our representative system and the checks and balances therein.
</rant>
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