Garrison Keillor: It's an amazing country where an Arizona millionaire…

[kskiska]

(snip)

And it's an amazing country where an Arizona multimillionaire can attack a Chicago South Sider as an elitist and hope to make it stick. The Chicagoan was brought up by a single mom who had big ambitions for him, and he got scholarshipped into Harvard Law and was made president of the law review, all of it on his own hook, whereas the Arizonan is the son of an admiral and was ushered into Annapolis though an indifferent student, much like the Current Occupant, both of them men who are very lucky that their fathers were born before they were. The Chicagoan, who grew up without a father, wrote a book on his own, using a computer. The Arizonan hired people to write his for him. But because the Chicagoan can say what he thinks and make sense and the Arizonan cannot do that for more than 30 seconds at a time, the old guy is hoping to portray the skinny guy as arrogant.

Good luck with that, sir.

Meanwhile, the casual revelation last month that Mr. McCain has never figured out how to use a computer and has never sent e-mail or Googled is rather startling. It's like admitting that you've never clipped your own toenails or that you didn't know that toothpaste comes out of a tube because your valet always did that for you. It's like being amazed at the sight of a supermarket scanner. What world does Mr. McCain live in? Where does he keep his sense of curiosity? My 94-year-old mother has sent e-mail. Does somebody plan to show him how it's done and will they explain to him what "LOL" means?

more…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/08/06/mccain/

[Muttocracy]

1. "My 94-year-old mother has sent e-mail." Bravo. No more uncurious brains in the WH! nt

[Kire]

26. My 87 year old grandmother has a lot of trouble with the internet

but she loves to email


Garrison Keillor is great

[EFerrari]

28. My 75 year old mom built her own machine

and she puts it in my face at every opportunity. :)

[ekwhite]

102. Good for your mom

Building your own machine is fairly easy, and it almost guarantees you will have a better quality machine than you can get off the shelf at Best Buy. Plus, when it comes time to upgrade, you can re-use a lot of the components.

[DangerDave921]

76. my grandmom was never modern

She died a few years ago at age 89. She could never comprehend video games. She just thought it was TV shows. She couldn't understand that we were making the figures on the TV do what we wanted via our controls. She never used a computer in her life and had no interest.

Then again, she was losing it the last few years. She told amazing stories how she dined with Castro, and played professional tennis, and even did ski-jumping in the Olympics.

[Raster]

40. My 92 year old grannie owns her own porn site.

[Jackpine Radical]

55. My 104 year-old granny

stars in her own pornsite.

[Raster]

56. you win!

[Jackpine Radical]

59. Ya gotta understand Republicanese.

"He's an elitist"= "He's smarter than me, and I resent it."

[Jackpine Radical]

61. Damn. That isn't where I intended to post.

Guess I'll have to get Granny to give me a few lessons on this stuff when she gets the time.

Right now she's taking a break from her pornsite and sailing around the world solo in a small boat.

[Jester Messiah]

68. Dead on!

:rofl:

[AlbertCat]

104. "He's an elitist"= "He's smarter than me, and I resent it."

In this case it's more like:

"he's a black man....in a SUIT!" (as opposed to some kind of uniform)

[Bobbie Jo]

64. !!

:spray: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MilesColtrane]

71. My 126 grandma smelts her own polycrystalline silicon to make her own...

...processors, and she coined the term "porn".

[nvme]

82. my grandmother

started her own crystal-meth lab at 83. now she uses quick books to track her sales force and texts them with how much "Tina" they have to sell in order to meet their quota. She is on her way to major bling.

[wildbilln864]

2. Great stuff! Thanks. nt

[eleny]

3. kr!

[davidnc76]

4. Great post!

[lpbk2713]

5. McLame and Shit-for-Brains .... both born on third base.

WTG Garrison.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[fla nocount]

48. ......and trying to convince the world they just hit a triple." -Gov. Anne Richards- n/t

[electropop]

50. McCain doesn't know Shiite from Shinola.

My mom wrote FORTRAN back in the 70's. She is now in HER late 70's and still a computer whiz.

[ekwhite]

103. Good old Fortran

I haven't used that in a dog's age. I learned to program using Fortran, back in the 1970's. Did your mom ever tell you tales about what happens when you drop a box of Hollerith cards?

[electropop]

109. Amazingly, I had to use Hollerith cards in the early 80's

My schools were kinda behind the technology curve, though both are respected engineering schools. I have written FORTRAN, PASCAL, C, FORTH, APL, various assemblers, PERL, and probably a few I'm forgetting.

[ekwhite]

110. You remember APL?

That was a weird programming language. I remember my professor telling me the goal was to get the entire program on one line. I took computer science in the early 70's, before Pascal was common. I learned to program using Fortran and PL-1, a Pascal-like language. The machine was an IBM 360.

[AndyTiedye]

6. This is SOOOOOOO Kicked and Recommended!!

:kick:

[beac]

7. Bravo Garrison! n/t

[Mind_your_head]

8. McSame is an incurious dinosaur....

....and we all know what became of the dinosaurs.

K & R'd

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Keillor is nothing but a toe-nail-clipping elitist! n/t

[Canuckistanian]

10. The man has a way with words

K&R!

[Lex]

15. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

nt

[mzmolly]

11. Pardon my reply but

"LOL"

I do love Mr. Keillor.

[speedoo]

12. "Where does he keep his sense of curiosity?"

Probably in the same place as the Current Occupant.

Up his ass.

Uh no, actually, it must be somewhere else, because that's where they both have their brains.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. mcwhoever is shit. He stands up for shit, talks shit & should eat shit.

[fishwax]

14. and another k/r

:applause:

:kick:

[Historic NY]

16. an Az. millionare collecting a disgraced SS check and disability pension.

[TahitiNut]

17. Garrison Keillor ... where all of his columns are "above average."

:rofl:

[Elwood P Dowd]

19. And all his men are "good looking" and all his women "are strong".

:beer:

[JanusAscending]

18. Gotta LOVE this guy.....!!

He really needs his own T.V. show, and NOT on Cable news !!! Wouldn't it be great if he, rather than the "talking heads" had a chance to open up the blind eyes, and ears that will not hear, of the "average American"???:applause:

[fortyfeetunder]

20. Goddamn right, Garrison.

I have relatives older than McLame who are rabid about e-mailing!
And he is obviously pandering to the lowest common denominator of ignoramuses....

[jazzjunkysue]

21. Keillor classic: "President Ex-o-Sketch."

For George. (The old timers know what an Ex-O-Sketch is. Funny little drawing box with 2 knobs. Wouldn't keep a 4 year old occupied for 2 minutes.

[XemaSab]

29. Don't hate

[jazzjunkysue]

42. Funny!

[rebel with a cause]

51. I hate anyone who can draw on a etch-a-sketch!

:sarcasm:

Okay, I don't hate them, but I sure envy them to death. Years ago, I tried so hard to just get something recognizable drawn on one of them but was never able to do so.

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. Of course. But Obama has to say this *himself*.

>>>>And it's an amazing country where an Arizona multimillionaire can attack a Chicago South Sider as an elitist and hope to make it stick. The Chicagoan was brought up by a single mom who had big ambitions for him, and he got scholarshipped into Harvard Law and was made president of the law review, all of it on his own hook, whereas the Arizonan is the son of an admiral and was ushered into Annapolis though an indifferent student, much like the Current Occupant, both of them men who are very lucky that their fathers were born before they were.>>>>

Keillor will be ignored by msm. Obama CANNOT be. He has the floor. Now.

Why do I keep thinking of Dukakis and his 17 point lead going on a fact finding tour of western Massachusetts? To look presidential... or something... his high priced braintrust said. "Staying above the fray".


WRONG ! ( Sound of frying pan banging high-priced thick-headed political consultant craniums.)


A much more iconic and pivotal and lasting image of '88 than the tank thing or Willie Horton. The Duke trekking amiably around Amherst and environs while Atwater was defining him nationally.

Obama and Co. should be blasting this silly MFer out of the water.

[eppur_se_muova]

23. LOL & thanks! Copies already in the outgoing tubes. nt

[Ian_rd]

32. :)

IT'S A SERIES OF TUBES!

[Divernan]

33. Are you series ? ? ?

[Vickers]

37. It's a series of aqueducts!

:crazy:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

24. He makes me proud to be a Minnesotan

:patriot:

[road2000]

44. He makes me wish

I were a Minnesotan.

[Jackpine Radical]

57. Hey, but he lives in Wisconsin & commutes.

We claim him.

[pengillian101]

95. We claim him.

Hey, but he lives in Wisconsin & commutes.
***
I didn't know that he lives in WI.

I saw him many years ago doing the PHC live in-theater. I laughed my butt off. I'll never forget the rolled up, too-short khaki pants with bright red socks!

I thought the PHC movie was pretty good which also had Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep and Lindsey Lohan in it.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

101. Don't know about that.

In his column in the Star Tribune he often speaks of the friendly confines of his neighborhood. In St. Paul MN. :P

[L. Coyote]

25. Yes, this floats. K & R.

[PatSeg]

27. Well said

Some people have a way of summing up the obvious with clarity and wit.

[DemoTex]

30. LOL!

ROFLMAO!

[ellie]

31. My 77-year-old mom

is very Internet and computer savvy. And she's a Mac lover!

[Olney Blue]

99. But not a MacCain lover!

[mopinko]

34. 2 books.

barack wrote 2 books, garrison. just sayin'.

[Supersedeas]

35. it doesn't have to make rational/common sense for the Media Establishment to care GoP waist water

[willing dwarf]

36. Yeah my 92 yr old dad just wrote his WWII memoirs on computer

McCain is another in the mold of over-priveleged elitist hard-core wannabe! Going to Sturges offering up his trophy wife as Miss Buffalo Chip. The man has no couth. He is arrogant and he is addled in the wits.

Obama is young, nimble witted and as Keillor points out, has gotten where he is thanks to his own steam. The choice is obvious -- but then I thought it was obvious in '04 and what happened?

[happygoluckytoyou]

38. while explaining LOL... please also explain GFY, IFUEE, TSWC, MILF, HLVB, which he will see often

*<):o)

CLOWN!!!!

[rniel]

39. That part is disturbing

I cannot have a president who can't use a computer without help.

[beltanefauve]

77. A President who

can't use a computer in the 21st century has no business leading in the 21st century, period. Technophobia in today's times is simply unacceptable.

[OwnedByFerrets]

41. I LOVE Garrison!!

[stark6935]

43. Nothing new to me.

[bagrman]

45. Why have the Repukes put up such a paper tiger, I mean...

think about it. He was no-place at the beginning of the primaries and then he streaked ahead of much more qualified candidates. He was and is a bumbling dolt that has a tough time keeping his thoughts straight, he really makes no sense at all. He couldn't do more to loose this election. Then we think back to the 00 and 04 elections and there was so much fraud that it was quit clear it was stolen, so why would they steal an election and hand it to this fool. The question might be, is why do the want Obama to be president.

Latr

[radonc]

46. My 91 yo grandmother

just killed a man, with her bare hands.


:)

[1776Forever]

47. I was just thinking these same thoughts this morning - Why would anyone want another idiot like W?

How could anyone that has an iota of brain power want McCan't in the White House? Haven't we had enough of an ignorant low IQ type of puppet "leader" who has lead this country to the brink of destruction? What the H are people thinking when they say they will vote for McCan't? The only thing I see is a constant message from these greedy mindless people - Don't raise my taxes - right - there isn't going to be anyone left in the middle class to pay any damn taxes so guess what that is going to leave them? Worse infrastructure - more crime - run down neighborhoods - less Starbucks (lol) and I am sure many many more things that are going to go down the tube because of the Repub's! Just where I want to live - yeah boy!

:hide: Scary!!

[rebel with a cause]

60. there is a theory that members of an underclass group

want/need another group to look down on so they will feel better about themselves. Thus, they say, the poor white look down on African Americans, and African Americans look down on Latino immigrants, and so on. Could this theory explain why people would want to have a president that they consider dumber than they are. Because if the guy who is president is dumber than them, that makes them feel better about themselves. :shrug:

Before you flame me, I am poor white and I don't look down on any group so this is just a 'sociological theory' on groups and group think/identity. I do however look down on all humans in general. Just joking there, but I am considered a Misanthrope!

[1776Forever]

69. Thanks for the reply - I think you are on to something - R's are selfish in my mind

They do seem to need something to make them feel important - and most say they are religious too! I hope we have enough to open up their minds to the future of all our children and what is best for America in general!

[sandnsea]

81. Or just not challenge them to improve

Maybe that is why so many white men vote Republican. Democrats are always wanting them to read and stuff. Republicans tell them they're still #1, just the way they are. Not all white men, just the 60-70% who vote Republican.

[jwirr]

89. IMO they have read the handwriting on the wall and KNOW how bad

it is going to be. Thus they hand it over to the Democratic Party who they think will fail to stop it and thus take the blame. I suspect that things are much worse than we know and the only ones who really know this are the higher level of pugs. Even the poor old man does not know he has been set up to take a dive.

I only hope that Obama is aware that he is also being set up - not given full details of our problems. He needs to be working on uniting our party for the big fight and selecting some of the greatest minds around for advisers, cabinet posts and other leadership posts.

[Kaleko]

106. So true. Presidents are also kept out of the loop

on certain highly classified black projects. Obama surely knows that he will have to break up some inner circles that run shows like the clandestine weaponization of space at enormous taxpayer expense - not to mention the Fed's banking cartel. It's a daunting task. But we will all pitch in and help :) , won't we?

[RedLetterRev]

49. K&R again :)

[SteelPenguin]

52. I hate Garrison Keillor

He says what I want to say so much better than I can. Bastard.

[RayOfHope]

53. "It's like being amazed at the sight of a supermarket scanner." great slam towards GHWB! lol

this piece is great. Sending it off now.

[MillieJo]

54. I really like Garrison Keillor...

We know get his radio show in BBC Radio 7, he has a really fab voice and funny too.

[Elwood P Dowd]

65. You can hear all his shows here

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

Use this site for his weekly Saturday show, or click on archives for past shows.

[DS1]

58. Of course, what everyone railing on McCain and his lack of Internet is missing is

that he's never been goatse'd

Or two girls one cupped.


Get busy, people. Bring laptops to his appearances.

[ekwhite]

105. I don't believe I have been two girls one cupped

But if it was anything like Goatse, I don't want to be :scared:

[rebel with a cause]

62. Love Keillor!!!

Home spun humor and wit, with an intelligence that makes me respect him. And a victim of "social anxiety" to boot. What's not to love.

[Tab]

63. My Favorite Keillor line...

(originally I didn't like him, but somewhere when I grew up I grew to love him - he is a wonderful writer0

Anyway, he was making reference to the Bush administration and the Rove influence and said something along the lines of "lies (falsities) on the ground, gleaming like cat turds in the moonlight".

A Karl Rove lie, gleaming like a cat turd im the moonlight, is the best visual I have ever had of what Rove produces.

[Dangerously Amused]

66. Bravo!

K&R

[driver8]

67. It's like being amazed that gas is $4.00/gallon. The reason McCain

can make this stick is that Americans are gullible and will believe what they want to believe, regardless of the truth.

Kind of like the idiots who thought that Little Lord Pissy Pants was "one of them" -- the kind of guy they could sit down and have a beer with.

[Wednesdays]

73. Yeah, he's the type to sit down and have a beer...

and another, and another, and another...

[driver8]

79. ...and a few lines of coke, while you're at it!

How in the hell did this idiot get elected TWICE??!!

[Coexist]

70. .

[DeeDeeNY]

72. It's the same country where a Vietnam War hero (John Kerry)

gets attacked as unpatriotic while running against someone who was AWOL from the Texas National Guard during that same war. Unfortunately, we can't underestimate the intelligence and judgment of the low information voters (better known as Republicans), not to mention how the mainstream press plays into this.

[malaise]

74. Super article

K & R

[DangerDave921]

75. Nice essay

But I will quibble with the term "elitist." That phrase does not mean rich, or privileged, or anything having to do with finances. Elitism means believing that you are smarter than everyone else, and that you know what's best for everyone else, even going so far as to believe that the common folk don't know what's best for them. So I cringe when I see people saying Obama is not elitist because he grew up poor, or worked hard thru his life. That doesn't mean he's not elitist. He's not elitist because he's not elitist. Period.

Hey, I've known poor people who believe they are the smartest one around and that if only they were in charge . . . . They were elitists.

[sciouscience]

94. elitist or elitest?

come on, let's embrace this champ. i want the elitest QB to bring home the lombardi trophy. i want the elitest center to snatch up the stanley cup. i want the elitest swimmer to stand half-naked with the shining gold. why come we caint have the elitest senator taking the oath of office? even honda used to make a scooter they called elite. yo i sure wish they had made a model called the elite ST!

[DangerDave921]

107. Hey

I want smart as heck and talented. But elitist has a tone of condescension about it, like I know better than you what you need in your life. That's a turn-off.

[City Lights]

78. K&R

Great piece. :applause:

[factcheckr]

80. Garrison Keillor is a national treasure

Thank God for public radio.

[Strawman]

111. Agreed

[Pierre.Suave]

83. Once again

he is spot on.

[disndat]

84. Doessn't matter

how out of touch or dim the Republican candidate is, they're good at stealing elections for the WH.

[katty]

85. thank you Garrison

[redqueen]

86. "Arizona multimillionaire can attack a Chicago South Sider as an elitist and hope to make it stick"

Wouldn't have a chance in hell of working if the corporate media wasn't propping him up at nearly every available opportunity.

[BrklynLiberal]

87. Garrison Keilor is one of my heroes....

and if he hadn't been before, he would be now..

[katty]

88. Everytime I hear McPain I LOL heartily

[valerief]

90. Excellent. nt

[ulysses]

91. excellent.

:thumbsup:

[Swamp Rat]

92. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

:rofl:

[bronxiteforever]

93. Kick & R-so great

[liberal N proud]

96. Once again Garrison Keillor nails it n/t

[galledgoblin]

97. I love Keillor so much (n/t)

[pansypoo53219]

98. well, mcPOW

has the press on his side.

[goclark]

100. My 90 yr,old Mom says "There is no fool like an old fool

and McCain is a finished fool.

[hootinholler]

108. Bravo! Garrison! n/t