Seriously, you are all elitists right?

[Wetzelbill]

I mean, I just splurged and bought myself 8 bucks worth of food at Sonic. Couple breakfast sandwiches, tater tots, diet pepsi and a chocolate milkshake for tonight. As you can tell I am flush with cash and out of touch with the common man. I sit around and revel in my superiority. Really, I do. It's great.

So I was kind of curious. How can fat guys in expensive suits who inherited their wealth, sold out or depended on others to get where they are get away with calling people like myself and other Dems elitists?

When did this strategy come about? Moreover, how and why is it so effective? When you have a son of privelege like The Chimp, who used influence to get into the National Guard and didn't fulfill his obligations once he was there, who also went to an expensive Northeastern private school, plus Harvard and Yale and pretends to be some sort of a common man, I have to wonder how people can fall for that phony shit. Bush is a failed businessman, who traded off of his father's name and was bailed out time and time again, until he parlayed the family name into an opportunity with the Texas Rangers. A venture in which Bush was the public face of the ownership and was given a huge bonus upon leaving the franchise, millions and millions more than what his stock was worth. So, basically, he made his fortune on the charity of others.

Now after all of this, and his governorship etc, Bush decides to run for president. So he creates an image. He has a big ranch built in Crawford, TX and he all of a sudden becomes some kind of macho cowboy. Ok, anybody who believes Bush is a downhome cowboy who works hard on his ranch is an idiot. He doesn't even own horses. He's scared of them. What kind of cowboy is scared of horses? He's little more than a dress up doll. So because a spoiled rich pep school grad and Ivy League frat boy, who has never done anything in his life on his own, besides fail, puts on a cowboy hat and boots that makes him in touch with the common man? He's an elitist posing as a populist. That pretty much sums up the Republican party. Elitists posing as populists. Go ahead and insert the word "Crook" in there too.

So where do they get off calling Dems elitists and how does this work? Just how dumb can people be to fall for this stuff?

It's absurd.

[trotsky]

1. When you figure it out,

please let me know. Because I am as perplexed as you are how the "liberal elitists" meme took off the way it did, and remains so very strong to this day.

[EFerrari]

11. It's always straight PROJECTION.

What they fear and what they are doing.

Turn their denials inside out.

And notice, the correlation.

That's the whole code.

[Wetzelbill]

18. do you think that it's also creating a straw man too, in a way?

Make up a fake Democrat image and tear it down. The Elitist Straw Man is an easy image to beat up. Whether it exists or not.

[EFerrari]

19. Oh, of course! We're being hated for what they are doing.

What could be more convenient?!

[...of J.Temperance]

20. I love chocolate milk

So I do. Hate regular white milk...but ah love chocolate milk.

[Wetzelbill]

25. same here

:)

[...of J.Temperance]

26. Mr. Bill...Borden's Dutch Brand Chocolate Milk

Oh yes indeedy! :)

[Wetzelbill]

31. well, sugah, ah may have to try that

:)

[...of J.Temperance]

38. Darlin' ah do declare that's it's divine

It sure is :)

[BjohnsonMN]

100. It is because the corporations that run the media allow them to do it

If we call them elitists then we are engaging in "class warfare" yet they are free to call us elitist all they want. The media has set up a system in which they can lie about us all they want, but if we tell the truth about them then we are "out of touch with the common American" and the millionaire frat school cowboy who got a free baseball team and lots of oil money perfectly represents the average American.

[phantom power]

2. Part of the answer is which kind of elitism...

I think that when the GOP refers to us as "elitists" they are really talking about intellectual/educational elitism. I may not be rich, but I am more or less at the top of the educational heap.

And I think educational/intellectual inferiority is what the conservatives are truly defensive about. They all *want* to be rich. They just want to be rich without any effort at education or other kinds of learning. In that sense, Bush is their ultimate idol: he's rich and powerful, but at the same time he's just as uneducated, and unsophisticated as they are.

[azmouse]

5. Isn't there a study that shows

the more education you have, the more likely you are to be a Democrat?
No wonder the Reps are constantly trying to destroy the educational system.

[EFerrari]

84. Welcome to DU, azmouse.

Yes, I remember seeing that somewhere but have no idea where.

[amitten]

12. Yes, 'elitism' really means 'smarter than me'.

The apes on the right don't like them high-falootin' bookworms tellin' 'em howta live!

On the flip side, as a Democrat I hope wish and PRAY that my leaders are indeed a good deal smarter than I am. If they're running the show, in my opinion they ought to be nothing less than brilliant.

[stanwyck]

77. yeah, amitten

what you said.
Totally agree.

[Der Blaue Engel]

13. Or more to the point, by "elitists" they really mean smart people

It doesn't take much looking around to notice that the IQs are higher over here than on Enslaved Theocracy. (And my guess is it'll take them all day to figure out what I just said.)

"The Republican Party: We're for the common moran!"

[MadHound]

14. I think that you're on to something here

Something that I've thought for a long, long time. It isn't that Democrats are richer than 'Pugs, hell, the 'Pugs have always been the party of the rich man and the corporate entities.

But intellectually, artistically, and culturally Democrats tend to be far superior to 'Pugs hands down, study after study has proven that. And there has been a serious bias against intellectuals in this country for decades. Eggheads, nerds, geeks, etc. etc., all those names we heard back in school, well the people who were yelling them out then are in the 'Pugs now, and they haven't softened their dislike of us one bit. We're still eggheads and pointdexters to them and always will be.

And they resent us for our intellect in a major way. And in many ways, I think that their hatred is so intense, so bone deep with these people is because deep down, they really, really want to be smart, artistic, and culturally hip, and not having the brain cells to do so simply infuriates them. Thus, they turn to people who validate them, Rush, Hannity, fundy religions. And they hate is amped up to the nth degree, and voila, here we are in the mess we're in.

And what is seriously sad is that if these people would stop hating for just one minute they would realize that yes, we will accept them just as they are, lack of intelligence and all. Because we are tolerant and accepting people. But their hate blinds them and goads them, and they just rage away.

Sad, really, really sad.

[amitten]

16. Very true, all of it. Envy is a poisonous, dangerous thing. n/t

[Wetzelbill]

23. although, many Republicans who perpetuate this argument

are often highly educated and intelligent themselves. I think they often aim this strategy at people who are anti-intellectual, fomenting that, even though they may be intellectual themselves. It's really an interesting phenomenon.

[RandomKoolzip]

35. There are lots of incredibly intelligent people on the right.

William F. Buckley used to be their most visible figurehead. If anybody could be labelled an elitist, it was THAT asshole.

The smartest move the right ever made was to replace their most public members of the "counter-intelligentsia," the stuffy, blueblooded Buckley types, with supposed "straight-shooter" types like Bill O'Reilly and Limbaugh. Of course, it's just a different shade of lipstick on the same filthy pig, but that's neither here nor there.

A lot of the intellectauls on the right come from old money, they're inheritance-rich, guys like Norquist, Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, etc.But there's a substrata of dudes like O'Reilly, who come from less hallowed blood. O'Reilly even exaggerates the "poor" surroundings of his New York upbringing to make himself look like a "regular" guy....it's these middle-class conservative pundits, who carry increbidle, forever-burning hatred of the liberal "smart guys" who they had to compete against in school and in their social life, around with them forever. They carry grudges, however imagined the slights against them were, longer than elephants do.

It's like they're in the public eye to be living examples of how resentment and jealousy can pay off if you just stay pissed-off long enough.

[JerseygirlCT]

37. There's this weird movement on the right for "diversity" at

universities now. They feel under-represented. And most likely they are. Because people who've given any serious thought to things often arrive at a fairly open-minded, or liberal, position.

[Wetzelbill]

15. yes, that's the other aspect I didn't touch on here

I find some Republicans that I know are dismissive of my intellectual views, even though they do not know anything about the topic we may be talking about. For example, I am a Political Science/Creative Writing major. My strengths in Political Science are Tribal Government and Foreign Policy, which I probably will go to grad school for International Relations. I have a good friend who was in the military, served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, but doesn't know anything about international relations or foreign policy. But, when we talk about Bosnia, he gets pissed off and just dismisses my opinion on the situation. Now I don't mean my opinion on day to day on the ground military stuff. I have no knowledge of that. He does because he lived it. He tries to argue with me about policy stuff. How we got into Bosnia, etc. The ramifications of the policy, where it goes from there and so on. Ok, that's my field, not his. He can't even tell me who the leaders of Croatia and Bosnia were. Nor can he tell me how troops actually got into Iraq. So when I explain Congressional votes and how it came about to him, he explodes. "I was there, I was there, I was there! All you do is read!!!" He just goes off. Sometimes he gets mad too because he thinks I am trying to make him feel stupid. He's defensive about it and once bragged to me about about not having an "education" meaning a higher education degree. Which I have one and will have two more pretty soon. So I definitely agree with what you said 100 percent.

[RandomKoolzip]

21. And that guy will probably identify more with "economic" elitists.

Who, for whatever reason, he doesn't view as being "stuck up." Weird, isn't it?

[Wetzelbill]

27. he loves AZ Reps like JD Hayworth, John Shadegg

and probably would marry John McCain, if it were not for his staunch personal support of family values, lol.

Yeah in a way he identifies with them. Money is important to him somewhat, but his idea of being rich is making 50 thousand a year. He and I are both from the same Indian reservation in MT. His biggest problem is spin. He eats up propaganda, has no ability to think critically and does not know how to form his own opinion. For example, if John McCain said something then he would accept that a fact, without ever looking further into it. John McCain could say the color red was actually blue and he'd believe it. He also watches Fox constantly and would reiterate the old Sean Hannity lines that the AEI got from Khidir Hamza that Saddam nearly had a nuke etc. He was floored when I said in May 2003 that we would not find a single WMD of any kind in Iraq. He thought I was nuts, because Sean Hannity, McCain and everybody else said we'd find them. Well, by that summer, he started apologizing to me about how he was wrong and the war was going badly. Of and on he flip flops on whether he's pro-war or not, depending on what he hears on the news. Mainly I find his views to be simplistically black and white in an incredibly complex and grey world.

[Broken_Hero]

72. rez?...man...:)

have you heard of Haskell Indian Nations University before? i'm haida, se alaska...:)

[Wetzelbill]

78. yes I have

My grandfather went to school there. :) Oki Naskuni :)

[phantom power]

42. While we're on this theme...

Has anybody else noticed the strong under-current of defensiveness in modern country music?

I never wrote them down, so I've got to paraphrase, but there are several songs with lyrics like "Mississippi girl don't change her ways" or "I'm not a real political man."

I should really have catalogued them, but there's quite a common theme of "I'm a redneck and I'm proud of it."

Now, the funny thing is: I can't think of any other music genre where so much material is spent on declaring how self-validated their audience is. Like they need constant reassurance.

[Wetzelbill]

46. yes, they appeal to nationalistic pride

or to regional pride. Even old school stuff does. "I'm just an Okie From Muscogee"

I grew up listening to country music. Lots of good folks like to be reassured that others identify with them. Or have the same pride that they have etc. Sex sells to most of the country, but with Country Music pride sells. Whether you are taking pride in Redneck roots or singing "Sweet Home Alabama" or hitting a jingoistic hyperpatriot theme.

[TalkingDog]

62. Rap Music is all about bragging rights. Same idea, different music. n/t

[Broken_Hero]

68. Tribal law?

Like American Indian Law? My wife is working towards her BA in Tribal law, whiich is American Indian Law...just wondering...:)

[Wetzelbill]

83. tribal government

like policy and so forth. Studying how the current governments came about. Going back through different treaties, to the Indian Reorganization Act, etc. I guess we look a little bit at law but mainly Supreme Court cases such as Pueblo v. Martinez and so on.

[Broken_Hero]

86. Right on!...:)

Thats what my wife is working on. We both met at Haskell Indian Nations university, she got her liberal arts there, and got 95% of her BA at Kansas University. Now, she is working with University of Arkansas online...:)

[Wetzelbill]

87. awesome

I'm a Blackfeet, from Montana. I got a Video Production Degree from the Art Institute Of Seattle. Now I'm a Political Science/Creative Writing double major at the University of Arizona.

[Broken_Hero]

96. do you know a

E. Ray Calf Looking?....I think he's the only damn blackfoot i remember from my haskell years. My wife is keetowah band cherokee and i'm haida from se Alaska. Its always nice running into other indians...:)

[Wetzelbill]

104. that sounds really familiar

I bet I do. I'm sure my parents will. They know some Calf Lookings. Yeah, it is always nice to run into other Indians. I always find it's a small world, you run into Indians everywhere you go and it's always inevitable that somebody knows somebody who somebody knows. :)

[tavalon]

63. I think you just nailed it

Comparing the level of discourse here versus the level over at FreeRepublic, it is clear who are the intellectual winners and that's what pisses off the "common man".

[Lorien]

101. Perfectly stated. I'm always taken a bit aback by RW hostility toward the

well educated. They seem to believe that America rose to power based solely on "hard work" (by their definition manual labor-not long hours at a typewriter, in a laboratory,or sitting at a drafting board), dumb luck and salesmanship. Plentiful resources, the ugly reliance on slavery, a "pioneer spirit" and probably most of all; innovation (which requires an education) brought America to superpower status. Under-educating our population won't allow us to maintain that status for long. The repugs I've worked with show nothing less than seething hatred towards intellectuals, calling the "the dumbest people on earth-they got no common sense". They pretend to champion the blue collar worker while shunning white collared, degreed professionals-when their entire party is controlled by white collared professionals working as reverse Robin Hoods.

Once again, I think the key here is how the parties frame themselves and the issues. The GOP is very successful at promoting themselves as the party of the honest working class when nothing could be further from the truth. They've convinced many Americans to be distrustful of intellectualism and the well educated, which has lead to a rejection of higher education by a growing number of young people, which will in turn weaken our country. It's up to our party to frame education for what it is; power, and the way to a successful career that will help keep America's status intact.

[ixion]

3. right... we're the 'elitists' but rethugs drive around in Hummers, etc

flaunting their wealth at every turn.

Really, the hypocrisy is staggering.

[meow2u3]

4. K & R

:kick:

[Ezlivin]

6. Elite = Think for yourself

If you are "elite" you think for yourself. This threatens the hell out of the reich-wingers, who wish for everyone to march in blissful lockstep.

You are "privileged" with a free mind.

You are "wealthy" with common sense.

They don't like this one bit. You should surrender your mind to their memes and get the fuck into line with the rest of the voidoids.

[RandomKoolzip]

They make a tacit distinction bewteen "cultural elitism" and the real one.

To them, the typical liberal's interest in things cultural and intellectual (y'know, book learnin') separates them from the more "common" pursuits of the supposed "regular" folk, like working with one's hands, and being interested in business over art.

It's a very skillful mnemonic trick.

[Wetzelbill]

28. right it also creates a situation where people vote against their own

economic interests. Which is really skillful. The poorer people will vote for Republicans while a wealthier constituency like say in New Jersey will vote for Dems.

[RandomKoolzip]

39. Did you hear Rick Santorum's answer to a journalist who asked

him about Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter With Kansas?"

Our buddy Rick talked about how despicable it was that people should value "being rich" over the plasures of going to church and being "godly."


Which is, like, so eneveloped in so many layers of irony and projection it's truly nutball. First off, Santorum himself is insanely rich. He receives backing and funding from sooo many lobbyists it ain't even funny. Second, how does ensuring that your job pay you enough to pay your bills and asking for health insurance and joining a union make you "greedy?" It just made so fucking sense.

Of course, he ended the topic by saying, "Thank god for Kansas."

Asshole.

Here's a blog post, from attywood.com, about this exchange:

During the reporting for the article, I spoke with Roger Robins, a political scientist from California's Marymount College, who steered me to an obscure quote from Santorum in an interview earlier this year in a magazine called Christianity Today. Apparently no one in the blogosphere reads the magazine -- and as a result, we all missed a doozy. The interviewer, Stan Guthrie, apparently asked tougher questions than Santorum expected:

The book by Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas?, says that many people vote against their own economic interests when they vote for Republicans on the basis of social issues.


Thank God for Kansas.

Wow. The Kansans that Frank wrote about are factory workers, farmers, truck drivers -- the salt-of-the-earth types who are getting chump change from the GOP's tax cuts for the rich and won't see a dime from the repeal of the "death tax" that Santorum so fervently has been seeking.

They are restaurant workers seeking a higher wage -- something that Santorum has actively sought on Capital Hill to prevent. The senator talks about "worry," and there are a lot of working folks in Kansas and -- more importantly, in his "home" state of Pennsylvania -- who worry about whether they or their kids will have health insurance, or how they will pay for the soaring cost of a college education.

Those are the types of worries that Santorum believes are the concern of folks who, in his words, are "all about how much I can get now for me." Simply put, people who want a decent wage AND eliminating smut on TV, who worry about a terrorist attack but also about unemployment, are just plain greedy...if they're not brainwashed by "Greenwich Village."

If that's how he feels, he should be saying, "Thank God for Kansas." He may need to move there if he ever wants to serve in the U.S. Senate after January 2007.

[Wetzelbill]

41. thanks for that

oh wow, I guess that was a doozy!

You know, I am from MT, I know lots of people who are naturally conservative, farmers and ranchers etc. I am naturally conservative myself. Personally I am pretty Conservative, politically actually I am not. Meaning that I am celibate, I don't personally believe someone should have an abortion, etc. Politically I believe in choice and so on. Anyway, before I go ramble on, I'll get to my point. I know people who tend to be Conservative, and they are good, hard working people. They in no way resemble a clown like Rick Santorum who is a hypocrite and exploits the natural tendencies of good hearted Americans. That Santorum and his ilk spin these people while fattening their own wallets is a grave sin in my view. I'm a religious, spiritual person and I see no way that Jesus Christ would advocate what these guys do. It's shameful and a tragedy.

[Neil Lisst]

7. Image is everything.

Truth is anything repeated enough.

Those are their guiding lights.

[Zensea]

8. Big difference between elite and elitist

If you're talking about being an intelligentsia for example you can be in the elite and not be an elitist.
What happens is that you get perceived as being an elitist though.
Then it is very easy to be defensive about it.
Just takes an awareness that this is what is happening to work on avoiding it happening.
Simple maybe. That is simple to figure out, harder to practice.

[newscott]

9. The only elitists are the politicians of high standing and other "landed"

folks in both parties.

Do the math.

They sometimes work very closely together to keep the rest of us in our place.

That's the American Way.

[MemphisTiger]

10. I agree 110% with you

the rednecks around here voted for him because he's an ordinary guy. When I tell them he's actually from New England, they say but he sounds southern.

I still don't get the liberal elite thing. That's one insult that was cast our way but we never fought back and now it's stuck.

[EstimatedProphet]

17. Actually, I think I am an elitist, depending on how you look at it.

Byu no means do I think I'm better than the average person, or that I deserve better than people, or anything like that - except in one case: Free Republic.

Yeah, I'm an elitist in that respect. I am better than those six-toed inbred proud-to-be-stupid fucktard genetic flubs. I am, along with the other 95% of humanity.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. You're All Intellectual Elitists

You think you're so smart, don't ya?

That's what they mean. We're elitists because we think we know better, and that's probably true because we are generally more intelligent, more thoughtful, more analytical, and better educated.

The "elite" tag is being applied to the thought process, not to any lifestyle or luxuries.
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

29. That's it....I remember being called an "elitist" by a conservative

co-worker who made more money than me per hour. It just made me laugh then, but now it makes me sad, how people can just allow themselves to be manipulated like that.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Dumbasses Are Everywhere

You just happened to work with one of them! This joint is loaded with them. Bunches and bunches of degreed professionals who think they're the only with one with a good education.

Occasionally, i get called into a meeting for the express purpose of stomping on a two other technical people who are butting heads. See, NOBODY out technicals The Professor, 'round these parts!

Since most of these people are liberterian leaning Repubs, i relish the opportunity to stomp them intellecually. And, the cool part of it is that everyone knows i'm a liberal through and through. And, they can't do a thing about it! Fun stuff.
The Professor

[ret5hd]

24. it's codespeak for jews...

don't you get it?

[Wetzelbill]

30. nuh-uh, I heard David Brooks say that Neo-Con was

code speak for Jews. :)

[lakemonster11]

70. I think David Brooks is crazy.

I think he has absolutely no ability for analysis. I can sit there and watch the same speech that he's watching and have no idea what he's talking about when he gives his opinion on it.

:crazy:

[ProfessorGAC]

33. I'm Not Jewish. . .

. . .but when they talk about academic elites, i think they mean me!
The Professor

[bluedawg12]

56. it's code for left wing intellectuals, not so much religious or ethnic

goes back to student being political..once upon a time....in the 20th century...LOL.

[rucky]

80. You're right on that one.

we control the banks and the media, dontcha know.

When I moved to LA and started looking for work, my grandmother, God bless her, told me to look up Speilberg and tell him I'm Jewish. I still don't understand why that didn't work out.

:shrug:

[MisterP]

106. I think that's "Hollywood producers, trial lawyers, and university

professors" who are "corrupting our children"

[sendero]

32. It's a lot easier to manipulate folks..

... with emotion than it is to change their minds with logic.

[JerseygirlCT]

34. It's the kid in HS who couldn't be bothered to study

calling the kids working hard and getting good grades "nerds".

We're "elitists" because we have the unmitigated gall to think. And then, worse, to talk or write.

And we can usually string a decent, coherent thought together.

[Syncronaut Seven]

40. Give me total control of the media for a year and I can convince you that

Your a kangaroo, born of panda parents and persecuted by the unicorns.

In comparison, the Nazi's were amateurs at this stuff.

[Wetzelbill]

43. I do have tremendous leaping ability now that you mention it

not to mention a nice fur coat and a gnarly horn growing out of my head.

Hey, Karl Rove and Roger Ailes would have fit in well in 1930s Germany. Tactically they are very similar.

[dogday]

44. I don't mind that someone has money

I just don't like it when that money entitles him to rights that I am not entitled to. In this country the rich and the poor are supposed to have the same rights by law but we all know it is a big joke when it comes to the legal system, the rich pay the dime and the poor do the time....for the same crime..... Very sad

[Horse with no Name]

45. My 17-hr old carhops at Sonic

Hope you left a good tip for that elitest meal.;)

[Wetzelbill]

47. alas I did not

I used my debit card and forgot to add a tip on to the slip. The guy grabbed it an whizzed away. Funny, he was probably in his 50s too. Must be one of those good jobs created by the Bush economy, you know? He probably used to actually have one. :)

[wryter2000]

48. I'm an elitist

Pardon me. Have we been introduced? :evilgrin:

[Wetzelbill]

51. well yes, most writers are

you haven't read my book have you? :)

http://acorngathering.gq.nu/

Like your website, btw. :)

[wryter2000]

66. Thanks

My website is out-of-date. I have to get back with my webmistress. I've had two more stories published at www.changelingpress.com. I'm Alice Gaines, as you may have noticed. :)

Is your story in that book any particular genre?

[Wetzelbill]

71. yes I have two in there

one is a little love story, and the other that gets more recognition is about American Indians. It's about a young man on an Indian reservation. I am Blackfeet, btw.

49. It takes a lot of golfing to learn to be the Pres

I made it Daddy, I'm President!

[Wetzelbill]

52. unfortunately I don't golf

I also don't like cocktail parties and refuse to meet with lobbyists. I am such a snob, I know. :)

[librechik]

50. we're intellectual elitists, i. e., we have brains

that's what differntiates us from Freeper ilk who sometimes pretend to have them, but selfdom actually do.

[OnionPatch]

53. Well, I actually grew up

on a farm and I live on a small one now. I spend my days working in the garden, feeding kids, chickens, dogs and cats and cleaning up after them all. I can't remember the last time I wore anything other than jeans or sweat pants. I drive a 12-year-old car and I prefer wine coolers to wine. My husband and I went camping on our honeymoon.

I guess I must be one of those "liberal elites." :eyes:

[Wetzelbill]

55. I grew up on one too

I used to rodeo and everything. (rode bulls, once upon a time I was completely crazy) My parent's still live in the same house out in the country, have for nearly 30 years.

[Kansas Wyatt]

54. Republicans Hi-Jacked the word Liberal, and attached it to Elite.

Which now is the "Liberal Elite" talking point that Republicans cannot keep from spewing every time they get on tv.

However, it is really only a distraction from the fact that Republicans are the "Have Mores" (Elites), who sit upon their positions of wealth and paid for representation. But, there is a sliver of truth, being that Republicans have become Goobers who do not know their ass from a hole in the ground, except when it comes to representing the Elite Class only.

And, when was the last time a Democrat stood up and declared to the American people that they actually support, claim, and encourage the 'Liberal Ideals' that made the country great during the last century (Social Security, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, work comp, health coverage, etc. etc. etc.)?

Hint for Democratic candidates: Focus and CLAIM the Liberal Ideals that a vast majority of Americans support, need, and want more of, instead of being forced into a losing vote battle over divisive issues, that only serves votes to Republicans. Evade the subject and refuse to address the bait from the Republicans and their Corporate MSM, and Republicans have given you clinics on exactly how to accomplish this over the last 5 years.

[LeftNYC]

57. I personally own 4 media conglomerates...

i staffed them with left wing know it alls.

[Wetzelbill]

58. you are one fine Merckan

:)

[progressoid]

59. It was a very successful tactic regardless of how inaccurate.

I just saw a bumper sticker today from the 04 election. It said something like "Bush & Cheney - Rancher & Farmer". I mean how fucking ridiculous is that? The beat up car it was on was being driven by (pardon my stereotyping) middle aged white trash. This guy hasn't a clue that he was totally bait and switched.

The RW sold middle and lower class Americans elitism, gay marriage, terrorism, etc and those morans bought it.

[Wetzelbill]

60. I heard of a bumper sticker that said " My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

" and had pictures of Reagan and Dubya on it. Hahahahaha

What bullshit that is, lol.

[progressoid]

65. Gah. Sadly, Ronnie and W actually think they "are" cowboys.

Of course, Ronnie thought he was in WWII and W thinks God is giving him military advice too. :crazy:

[NMDemDist2]

79. OMG I say that one on the Phoenix freeway yesterday! my DH made

sure to speed up so they could read our "Proud Arizona Democrat" and "DemocraticUnderground.com" bumperstickers

:rofl:

[Broken_Hero]

98. My wife has a tshirt

that says "My heroes have always killed Cowboys"....it has pictures of geronimo, sitting bull on the tshirt, faded, with cowboys falling off their horses with a few arrows stuck in them...:) She also has the FBI tshirt, FBI=Flat Broke Indian....:)

[Wetzelbill]

105. I have one that has this on it

lol


I also have a "Fighting Whities" athletic shirt, haha.

[BJW]

61. my two cents as to how it works

is that "elitist" is code for "smart" (also for "Yankee") and the repugs use this code word to invoke the shame felt by people who lack self-awareness of their shame, but predictably do have a chip on their shoulder and are resentful when the "smart" people show them up (intentionally or not).

[mbee]

64. You're elitist if you are not a

sheeple! Thinking is a problem for the sheeple.

[Swamp Rat]

67. Look, if one of those feudal lords was actually stabbing you with a knife,

he'd be screaming in your face "how dare you get blood on my knife, you elitist." I don't listen nor accept what they say, but instead concern myself with what they are actually doing.

[stevedeshazer]

69. Awesome post. I'm dying here.

:rofl:

My only wish is that I'd seen your post sooner. I couldn't, because I was at my temporary job, making less than half what I made three years ago with no benefits.

Thanks for cheering me up. Dammit. :)

[Wetzelbill]

73. Well Steve, if you like that...

This might cheer you up too. :)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4387267

[stevedeshazer]

74. VROOM VROOM

:cheers:

[dusmcj]

75. you betcha. we know stupid when we see it

and the thing with determining whether someone's behavior is dumb or not is, it's not about you, it's about reality. If you weren't there to point it out, it would still be dumb. This of course is a painful message to receive, and when put up against conditioning from the recipient's background, the easy choice is to go with the conditioning and proclaim that the sender is a nasty know-it-all. That of course is an ad hominem attack, and doesn't address the question of stupidity.

So let's be as sure as we can of our evaluations, and then head out there with grace but without hesitation and proclaim, "you, poor fool, are being stupid. Here, I your fellow man can help you to evolve." That's not elitist, that's being Christian, no ?

[B Calm]

76. Great rant! Kicked and recomended..

[MountainLaurel]

81. Get Your War On's view on liberal elitists

[kliljedahl]

82. Love Get Your War On

They're always spot on. especially the series after Katrina.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[MountainLaurel]

102. Full of righteous anger

Their 'toons on the invasion of Iraq, corporate influence on U.S. human rights, and the inanitity of the Bush administration are incredible.

[kineneb]

85. just had my bowl of noodles & cheese (from box),

live on under 200% of the "poverty rate", but I have a BA and am working on my MA. So I guess that makes me an elitist.

And having worked as manager of a farmers' market for 12 years, I can definitively say that the majority of people are dumber than a box of rocks. Nothing like working in retail to convince one that the world is filled with idiots.

So, if the mouthbreathing Repugs view me as an elitist, I will wear my label proudly. We elitists need a new motto: "I am an elitist. I have a brain in my head and I can use it for more than a hatrack."

[Chicago Democrat]

88. Sometimes I think I'm better than they are... Is that "elitist"?

For example, I think many Neocons are selfish, but I'm quite the opposite. Does that make me an "elitist"?


I also think many Neocons like the fact the US is killing thousands of Arab peoples.. they think that is cool. I think it is immoral. Anyone who contributes to this holocaust will pay for it, in this life or the next. We activists against this war will be spared the worst of this Karma. Does that make me an "elitist"? It certainly makes me happy.


Neocons surround themselves with sychophants and luxury to hide the ugliness of their lives. My life is filled with ugliness and struggle and suffering as for most the have-nots in this world, yet I find dignity and grace amoung in least amoung us. Does that make us better than they are? I think so.


I think we are elitists. If Elite means 'better morally'. Yes we're better than they are. And we need to teach them how to behave like compassionate truly civilized people.

[JackBeck]

89. Yes. Such an elitist that I work in not-for-profit.

No, seriously. Love it for now. The money sucks. But how many neo-cons/non-churchy conservatives do you know who work with the community?

I'm sure the churchies have some representation, but not as much as progs.

How many of them actually go out into the community and figure out what the needs are, while not judging or trying to convert?

They don't. They already go out into the community with a biblical agenda. But "elitist liberals" like myself (who is almost about to make my 30-something age in salary) go out every day without an agenda.

Newsflash...and I don't drink Merlot.

[Liberal In Texas]

90. Oh yes. Quite so. And I do not apologize for it. Nor should you.

I wear it like a badge of honor.

What exactly is wrong with being intelligent?
What exactly is wrong with being artistic?
What exactly is wrong with being cool?
What exactly is wrong with being ahead of the curve?
What exactly is wrong with being trendy/or not trendy?
What exactly is wrong with being a dilettante?
What exactly is wrong with being smart?

They hate us for being smart.

DUH!

We always throw things like FACTS in their faces. When I'm accused of being elitist, I say,

"Yes I am."

[Festivito]

91. You get a mind; all they got is money. They're mad at you.

They don't feel appreciated for being who they are.

Ridiculously, they shoot into their own foot. But, they are serious. They see the lucky people as trampling their personal sovereignty. And, they truly wish to help those who have less, less brain and less money, while remaining callous to lucky minded who they deem as having been callous first.

[mmonk]

92. You're "elitist" when they know you are smarter than they are

[Nikki Stone 1]

93. Oh, bravo, mmonk!

Exact hit!

[Boudica]

94. Almost mmonk

AND you don't agrre with them

[xchrom]

95. ''elitist'' is the word they use to attack academia, and

academics to be exact.

people who think -- who spend years at hard research -- study their whole lives -- teach children that the world is not black and white -- people who labour incredibly hard their whole lives just so they can think about, talk about, research about, the world, society, how we got here, the stars, the planet.

the problem is century after century -- academics hardly ever find that backwards looking, money grubbing corporatists, are ever right about anything.

i.e. for all that william f. buckley SOUNDED smart -- there's little difference between him and pat robertson.

[ulysses]

97. be a simple....kiiiiind of man...

:eyes:

We think. That's the problem.

[lonestarnot]

99. Another so damn recommended!

[Giant Robot]

103. Wow you can afford to spend $8 on a meal???

Damn liberal elitist!!

But seriously folks, tip your waitress. Anyway I hate to point this out, another poster already did, but this is schoolyard stuff just repeating itself on a grown up scale. This is about bullying the smart kid for making them look bad, or for ruining the grading curve, or just being different by being smart. This is 6th grade all over again folks. I don't have any good answers for it, but I wanted to call it for what it is: bullying.

[lwbaby]

107. Of course we are. Why do you ask? nt.