Today's lesson in Republicanese: "Elitist."

[Jackpine Radical]

When a Republican calls someone an "elitist," what he really means to say is the other person is smarter than him, and he resents it.

Example--John McCain: "Obama is an elitist."

[mcctatas]

1. or....

if George Bush said "Barney the Dinosaur is an elitist"....

[mrs_p]

6. lol

:rofl:

[BOSSHOG]

2. Conundrum

That would make everyone of us an elitist. Strange that they would attempt to "talk down" to their opponents when ignorance is a conservative value to be cherished. Its something that dittheads are quite proud of.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Ignorance is a conservative value to be inculcated in the sheep,

not a value that applies to the wolves (e.g. Rove), who highly value low cunning, at least in themselves.

[phantom power]

3. Exactly, and liberals frequently misunderstand that.

Republicans use "elitist" to mean "cultural/educational" elite. When liberals use "elitist" we tend to mean "economic elite."

That's why GOP millionaires successfully get away with accusing Democrats as elitist.

[Nikki Stone1]

4. This is a good distinction.

And as much as I hate to say it, Obama needs to forget about arugula and tout iceberg lettuce.

[me b zola]

5. I agree and would add that it is not only a good distinction,

...it is the distinction.

Where I disagree with you, though, is how we should handle the situation. How about a 527 ad that goes something like this:

"The republican party would like you to believe that Obama is an elitist and McCain is a regular Joe." :cut to clip of Michelle mentioning how old Barack's shoes and belt are--then the photo of Barack's feet on the desk with the holes worn through the soles of his shoes: then on to McCain's fancy-schmancy $520 Italian loafers:

"Senator McCain has made fun of the greens that Senator Obama prefers in his salad, yet :pull up direct quote--or better yet, if there is audio of video of the remark, play that: John McCain said that Americans wouldn't pick lettuce if they were payed $50/hour to do so. Really Senator McCain, :cut to images of people working crap, back-breaking jobs that anyone would recognize doesn't even garner a living wage, let alone $50/hour: "do you really believe that there isn't a citizen or immigrant alike who would not line up at the opportunity to work for $50/hour?"

"Barack Obama may have went to Harvard, but he worked his through college--and he hasn't forgotten what it is like to struggle to make a better life for himself and his family. And Senator Obama hasn't forgotten you, :cue to certain economic policies that are designed to help people make it through this rotten economy:

Okay, not a perfect ad, but I believe one that hits this note would be a good thing.