Posted on 09/10/2008 4:36:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
"Bring em' on" vs. "Do Tell"
With the nomination of one Sarah Palin, presidential politics is no longer a battle of economic policies and national security; it's a Saturday night brawl between the Rednecks and the Elites.
On the left, we have the smugly smiling, smarter-than-thou, Ivy Leaguers. On the right, we have the gun-clinging, God-toting, cowboys.
Make that cowgirls.
The two parties are both more and less than that reduction, of course, but this is approximately how each side now views the other.
Barack Obama is an elitist who doesn't understand small-town, traditional America no matter how many times he cites his Kansas roots. And John McCain is, well, who knows?
McCain isn't a redneck, but his running mate meets most of the criteria from the elitist's perspective. She hunts, fishes, loves driving four-wheelers, making babies and beating up the boys.
She gets small-town America because she is small-town America. The question is, does she get the Great Big World? And can she lead it, if necessary?
McCain seems to think so. Or does he? Whatever the case, his political judgment in selecting the Alaska governor was keen. With that singular flourish, he signaled the Republican base that he isn't a RINO (Republican In Name Only) after all. And, he co-opted the Democrats' claim to represent women's interests by picking a woman who makes feminists look like sissy-girls.
Both a frontier woman and beauty queen, the square-jawed Palin not only neutralized the sisterhood, but she animated the brotherhood. Men are suddenly riveted as never before by the frontal lobes of the vice presidential candidates.
Like all caricatures, the elitist and the redneck are based on partial truths, but there's enough substance to justify some of the contempt from both sides. Obama does have that little chin-lifted, smile-down-his-nose, teacher-pet look that says, "I know better than you." Palin does exude the kind of biblical certitude last observed in a president by the name of George W. Bush.
It was Obama who said that small-town Americans, embittered by a lack of jobs and government accountability, "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
A big game hunter like Palin couldn't ask for better ammo. She knows that her neighbors don't cling to guns or religion because there's nothing left on which to hang their hopes. They cling to guns to hunt and to protect their families; and they cling to religion because they believe in a power higher than themselves.
It was also Obama who, in trying to commiserate with Iowa farmers about low crop prices, said: "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?"
I confess to arugula fatigue at this point. Arugula may be a funny name for lettuce. (Hey, Solzhenitsyn was a funny name for a writer!) But arugula has been on American plates for a couple of decades now. It isn't the symbol of nouvelle cuisine that it once was.
That said, Obama's lament before a crowd of soy and corn growers was so out of tune, he made Hillary Clinton sound like Sarah Brightman.
To sway voters, it isn't necessary to agree on every issue, but it is helpful to share a worldview. From that perspective, Palin is a perfect storm of God, Mom and apple pie: a pro-life, pro-gun, career woman, happily married to a snowmobiling -- not a windsurfing -- guy.
Jeff Foxworthy is undoubtedly revising his blockbuster book: "You Might Be a Redneck if ..." to include a chapter on Palin. Note that being a redneck is not considered a negative in the Foxworthy franchise, nor is it in most places where elites fear to tread.
On the other hand, another confession: Palin is so comfortable in that whompum-stompum, good ol' girl way that one really wouldn't mind catching her doodling in her journal, "Madame Bovary, c'est moi."
The truth is that both elites and rednecks could use a little more of each other. If some rednecks are a little too proud of selective ignorance, elites are too confident that rednecks know nothing useful. A little less smugness on the left and little less righteousness on the right would be refreshing about now.
Breath-holding and farm-betting are not recommended.
Who won two Presidential elections, Kathleen. The mushy middle is smelling more and more like a hog wallow. Kathleen might want to get out while she can.
All in all, I thought that this was pretty well written.
The only reason I know what arugula even is is because my wife looked it up to see what our neighbor was using as ground cover in her flowerbed to keep down the other weeds. The lady’s lawn service recommended it. I guess eating the stuff is like pulling up dandelions to eat the leaves. There are folks who do that, too.
Our dragons like arugula, although they prefer turnip greens.
On the other hand, another confession: Palin is so comfortable in that whompum-stompum, good ol' girl way that one really wouldn't mind catching her doodling in her journal, "Madame Bovary, c'est moi."
Translation, "I'm a jealous cat, and pretentious, too." Much better to reveal this to one's friends or pastor, rather than the Public at Large.
Every time I hear the word arugula, I think of Steve Martin in the movie My Blue Heaven. He’s asked what arugula is and he answers, in a NY mobster accent, “It’s a vegetable.”
Kathleen, you need to get out more. It most certainly still IS (and so is Whole Foods) . . . unless you're in the inner circle of self-appointed Dem "elites" (or wish you were).
I like what the immortal Julia Child said about 'nouvelle' -- "It's so perfectly arranged, you just know somebody's fingers have been all over it!"
A little feline dig for those that the author supposes are "in the know"?
Oh, but of course! Kathleen's looking like Peggy Noonan, Part Deux, without the writing talent.
She IS a jealous cat!
We are using pachysandra because of all the shade. It's tough and it spreads by runners.
“Things Better Left Unsaid”. “What do you mean, you’re married? His wife isn’t even COLD yet!” (My grandmother, upon the marriage of her 80-year-old sister to a 90-year-old sheep farmer.)
They’re all jealous. “Why does SHE get to be Vice President?!?”
Well, John McCain did invite us to "fight for AMerica".
Well, John McCain did invite us to "fight for AMerica".
You're right. And the spectacle of supposed 'feminists' gnawing their claws publicly in a jealous frenzy is NOT a pretty sight!
“I confess to arugula fatigue at this point. Arugula may be a funny name for lettuce. (Hey, Solzhenitsyn was a funny name for a writer!) But arugula has been on American plates for a couple of decades now. It isn’t the symbol of nouvelle cuisine that it once was. “
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I NEVER heard the word argula before the firestorm. This is the first time I’ve heard it’s been around for decades. I’ve never nibbled it. This is the first time it I heard it was a lettuce - heretofore I thought it was some grain like rice.
These elitists are SO out of touch with Americans that they can’t even get close to understanding how I live and the values I live by!
I meant to ping you to #18
But it makes normal women look better :-).
They make an excellent salad with arugula, pickled walnuts, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette (and fresh raspberries on top).
But that's very much a special occasion thing, and if we hadn't wandered in because it's around the corner we would never have known arugula from barracuda.
(and I'm still not sure how to pronounce it.)
(I've never field dressed a moose, don't have too many of those around here. But I've field dressed a whitetail deer all by myself (funny how quickly everybody in deer camp finds they have business elsewhere when you haul in a deer.))
Editors often change titles. It’s one of the prerogatives. :-)
Kinda makes searching for articles by title difficult though.
My father and brother mentioned that problem about deer hunting, too. I don’t even cut up chicken. If they put whole chicken on sale at an irresistable price, Anoreth dismembers them for me.
However, I do not, because of this, feel inferior to Sarah Palin and need to run her down.
Maybe some day we’ll get the “Search by Author” function we’ve been asking for all these years.
I don't mind getting up to my elbows in a deer, but I cannot, simply cannot clean fish.
It's the coldness and sliminess that gets to me, once their insides are out I can scale and fillet them. My husband cleans them. He doesn't seem to mind, but he can't even watch me dress out a deer.
How he managed in the delivery room without tossing his cookies is a great mystery - but he did.
I don’t even calculate. I’m different, and that’s fine. I’m where God put me ... and if all these other people would leave for a while, I could clean the place up :-).
I happen to like arugula, though I prefer the British name for the green: rocket. It sounds less hoitie-toitie somehow.
Of course, if the Obamas bought their food at Kroger or Trader Joe’s instead of Whole Foods, Michelle might not have to lament how hard it is to live on their mid-to-high six figure income.
And even when the people leave, the dogs are dragging stuff around and the cat is tracking litter all over the laundry room floor . . . .
Overpriced. Produce was no better than Publix but far more expensive. Meat however was excellent (again, wildly overpriced). Exotic stuff like lemon grass and black mustard seed MUCH cheaper at the local oriental market.
I’ve heard the word arugula when I used to watch Food Network. Rachael Ray uses it a lot
Yup. We don’t have them out here in Kansas, but when when my wife was on a postdoc in Santa Barbara, and when I was on sabbatical in Philly (actually living in Media, PA) the only time we darkened the door of Whole Foods was when Trader Joe’s (or Albertsons) didn’t have something we *really* wanted. (Funny thing in the Philly suburbs, Trader Joe’s not only undercut Whole Foods, whose product line they parallel, but the local big-box groceries like IGA and Gennardi’s.)
"Two Buck Chuck" a/k/a really cheap wine is a big draw. It's always passable, and sometimes it's quite good.
“Two Buck Chuck” was introduced to me a few weeks ago. A good table wine that is cheap enough to drink at every dinner. Nothing special, but surprisingly good.
I'll place my bets on the rednecks any day.
They do have a basic minimum standard, but if you're lucky you get something FAR better than basic! You just have to keep rolling the dice . . . .
Well said. I've encountered both types- the good old boy who thinks anyone who reads too much and is educated ain't a real 'Merican and the effete urbanite who thinks everyone outside the Beltway wears sheets and hoods.
Provincialism and ignorance is common throughout the all types of people.
When did knowing about different types of food make one an "elitist?" Most farmers could probably tell you what arugula is.
It's sad that Americans are still so ignorant about food.
THIS >>>>It's sad that Americans are still so ignorant about food.<<<< represents an elitist attitude about food.
It demonstrates that you are out of touch with how I live, for sure - I don't know how nearly you understand the values I live by from this single post. But from the thousands of articles that the Dinosaur Elites have written, I have plenty of data to evaluate them.
Being knowledgeable about something doesn't make a person an elitist. I'm sure you know about some things that I do not- does that make you an elitist? I know what arugula is, but I also can appreciate a good burder at a Nats game.
It demonstrates that you are out of touch with how I live, for sure
How does your lack of knowledge about a certain type of food define your life? Like I said above, knowing about different types of foods doesn't make one an elitist- farmers have this knowledge. Go to the countryside in France and the peasant locals will know the ins and outs of different types of produce, cheeses, wine, meat etc.
I stand by the posts I made.
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