U.S. politics isolation tank

[midwestyankee]

http://nymag.com/news/politics/69130/

There's an story arc the media won't be able to resist: from "The candidate Dems were praying for because she's supposedly unelectable" to "They Said The Same Thing About Reagan".

I stand by my prediction.

I agree that she poses a formidable challenge - but I'm also certain that the big-money people will be backing candidates who they can turn into puppets. She seems to draw most of her energy from small money (small, by comparison to money like you find at the board of the Carlyle Group, for example). The big-money guys have not lost in that party in the last century.

 

[Netzach]

From the linked article:

There so many quintessentially American things that few members of the New Elite have experienced. They probably haven't ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club or Rotary Club, or lived for at least a year in a small town (college doesn't count) or in an urban neighborhood in which most of their neighbors did not have college degrees (gentrifying neighborhoods don't count). They are unlikely to have spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line (graduate school doesn't count) or to have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian. They are unlikely to have even visited a factory floor, let alone worked on one.​

Attended Kiwanis or Rotary? Yes
Lived in a small town? Yes
Spent at least a year with a family income less than 2X poverty line? No.
Have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? Yes
Worked on a factory floor? Yes

Guess I'm not one of the New Elite, either.Where's that Tea Party application? Yee Haw!

The post can suck my white trash tit.

"have a close friend who is a muslim" check
"lived with a family income twice the poverty level in the most expensive city in the country" check
"worked in a mailroom" check

The fact that you only escape being an elite if you have this rural white bread experience is exactly what I mean.

 

[rosco rathbone]

That's the Bell Curve dude.

He's a scummer.

 

[midwestyankee]

The post can suck my white trash tit.

"have a close friend who is a muslim" check
"lived with a family income twice the poverty level in the most expensive city in the country" check
"worked in a mailroom" check

The fact that you only escape being an elite if you have this rural white bread experience is exactly what I mean.

That's the Bell Curve dude.

He's a scummer.

Exactly. How many millions of people are there who worked their way through City College or University of Midwest Footballland who mostly share the political and social values of the so-called New Elite? My guess is many.

When the Yale-educated guy (and his mostly Ivy-or-similar-educated Cabinet) was in the White House promulgating his wars and torture, the tea-party types were not rousing rabble in the streets decrying the New Elite.

When Glenn Beck bitches about the elite, I hear Sarah Palin claiming that her supporters come from "real America." Which, when I hear it from them, seems to mean "anyone who likes me."

 

[rosco rathbone]

Frum's got a good takedown of that doofy-ass Murray piece.

 

[midwestyankee]

Frum's got a good takedown of that doofy-ass Murray piece.

Link, or it didn't happen.

 

[intothewoods]

That's the Bell Curve dude.

He's a scummer.

Yeah, I know, I remember having to read that one in college.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like it had the Washington Post stamp of approval or anything!

 

[intothewoods]

Frum's got a good takedown of that doofy-ass Murray piece.

Well of course Frummy hates it!

 

[rosco rathbone]

Link, or it didn't happen.

I've been making shit too easy on yall with the links.

 

[rosco rathbone]

This Jerry Brown ad is funny:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/jerry-brown-hes-still-got-it.html

 

[intothewoods]

I agree that she poses a formidable challenge - but I'm also certain that the big-money people will be backing candidates who they can turn into puppets. She seems to draw most of her energy from small money (small, by comparison to money like you find at the board of the Carlyle Group, for example). The big-money guys have not lost in that party in the last century.

Did anyone watch Bill Maher on Friday? That show is really funny this season. Anyway, Nicole Wallace and Levi Johnston were both on. I guess no one gives a shit that Sarah Palin is a liar. Funniest line from Bill Maher was something like - whatever, she gets crowds, Yanni gets crowds too. Ha ha haha!

 

[midwestyankee]

I've been making shit too easy on yall with the links.

Fair enough. I found the Frum piece all by my little non-elite lonesome. And I agree with him entirely.

 

[midwestyankee]

This Jerry Brown ad is funny:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/jerry-brown-hes-still-got-it.html

I believe the technical term for this is pwned.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I believe the technical term for this is pwned.

That's like stepping on the end of a rake and having it pop up and hit you in the nose.

 

[midwestyankee]

That's like stepping on the end of a rake and having it pop up and hit you in the nose.

Intentionally stepping on it, too.

I can see the tee-shirt now: "I spent 1.3 gazillion dollars and all I got was this loser's tee shirt and a tennis date with Carly Fiorina."

 

[WriterDom]

Pretty funny.

 

[midwestyankee]

Pretty funny.

Only if you don't like profits or like to deny reality.

Taxpayers could profit on GM Bailout

 

[WriterDom]

Only if you don't like profits or like to deny reality.

Taxpayers could profit on GM Bailout

Yeah, saved jobs, profits, blah blah blah. But don't you believe in the long run that Ford and GM would have been better companies if that shit car builder, Chrysler had been allowed to fail the first time it went belly up? I know capitalism with liberals rates about as high as Satan does with Christians , but isn't that the general theory? If you really suck at something you should be forced out of business? Theoretically speaking that is.

We're so broke now it doesn't matter. We might as well stick with the democratics. What comes after a trillion for the next budget? A quadrillion? That's what America needs. A quadrillion in new government spending and we need to do it by midnight tonight or the unemployment rate will go to 12%. I guess that would be 17% in Nevada since it's 15% there now.

If we have any left over we can bail the UK out. The EU socialism experiment is working out so well.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Yeah, saved jobs, profits, blah blah blah. But don't you believe in the long run that Ford and GM would have been better companies if that shit car builder, Chrysler had been allowed to fail the first time it went belly up? I know capitalism with liberals rates about as high as Satan does with Christians , but isn't that the general theory? If you really suck at something you should be forced out of business? Theoretically speaking that is.

We're so broke now it doesn't matter. We might as well stick with the democratics. What comes after a trillion for the next budget? A quadrillion? That's what America needs. A quadrillion in new government spending and we need to do it by midnight tonight or the unemployment rate will go to 12%. I guess that would be 17% in Nevada since it's 15% there now.

If we have any left over we can bail the UK out. The EU socialism experiment is working out so well.

So when bailouts like the TARP happen under Republican presidents...those presidents just aren't conservative.

How convenient.

 

[WriterDom]

So when bailouts like the TARP happen under Republican presidents...those presidents just aren't conservative.

How convenient.

That's a little different. The country could survive losing all the auto industry. A catastrophic banking collapse could leave us all camping in the woods. Thank god we had Barney and the rest of those clowns doing vigorous oversight on baseball players.

 

[sb2009]

good lord, I just typed a completely rabid rant because I'm enraged that anyone would think that I think and feel the way I do because of some "elite" heritage.

And yanno know fucking what? I do have *some* friends who were raised very privileged, and they aren't aliens who don't speak the native tongue.

To me, this is all just claptrap and smoke and mirrors to hide what they are really saying: If you look beyond the color of someone's skin or the religion they practice, and see a human, you must have something pretty bad to hide as well. Beware the different one.

 

[sb2009]

(I ate dinner am no longer rabid)

I just wish I didn't have to watch Oprah to be "everyman."

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

(I ate dinner am no longer rabid)

I just wish I didn't have to watch Oprah to be "everyman."

Did you have the Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burger?

 

[rosco rathbone]

good lord, I just typed a completely rabid rant because I'm enraged that anyone would think that I think and feel the way I do because of some "elite" heritage.

And yanno know fucking what? I do have *some* friends who were raised very privileged, and they aren't aliens who don't speak the native tongue.

To me, this is all just claptrap and smoke and mirrors to hide what they are really saying: If you look beyond the color of someone's skin or the religion they practice, and see a human, you must have something pretty bad to hide as well. Beware the different one.

Don't hold back! Rants are entertaining.

 

[intothewoods]

(I ate dinner am no longer rabid)

I just wish I didn't have to watch Oprah to be "everyman."

This incessant Oprah-bashing must stop!


Anyone have any thoughts about NPR firing Juan Williams? He was fired for comments made during an appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show where he said that he becomes nervous on an airplane when he sees someone wearing Muslim garb. Later he did prod O'Reilly to say that not all Muslims are, you know, terrorists. NPR has had issues with his appearances on Fox for years, and after this appearance, they fired him.

I thought NPR's ombudsman's blog (here) was pretty good on this. It's not a free speech issue. NPR can fire whomever they wish, and I think it's legit to have objections to what your analyst says on another network. But it was poorly handled. And I personally don't like it when someone is fired for what they've said, no matter how terrible it is. Ok, not quite. A call to kill puppies would probably cross the line. But I think there needs to be space for dialogue when someone says something offensive. Williams says he was just being honest, and I'm sure he was. Guess what? That doesn't make it less racist. And stupid - the 9/11 terrorists weren't wearing traditional "Muslim garb." But really -- it's not necessarily a good thing to say out loud every nutty thing that runs across your brain. What happened to self-reflection? Maybe worse than the loss of privacy these days is the way we now glorify every nutter without a filter. Hello, Glen Beck!

Oh, and speaking of Republicans and TARP: http://www.salon.com/news/tea_parti...htww/2010/10/26/wall_street_and_the_tea_party