Right. A snowbilly reindeer breeder with a doublewide stuffed full of moose antlers and Jaqueline Smith K-Mart collection clothing. A religious zealot who speaks in tongues and is anti-woman to the point of shaping her coif like the head of a menacing penis bent on forcible procreation. A dundering political toy to be fondled by NASCAR aficionados while their fat, bleach blond wives are busy in the kitchen throwing together a canned tuna and pea casserole.
I know this. Because beltway insiders who once saw pictures of caribou and own the first two seasons of “Northern Exposure” on DVD assure me it is so.
Well, Dm would that be the same experts and advisers that have done such a bang up job creating and solving this financial mess.
BTW, having worked with graduates from BSc to Engineers with Masters degrees to PhD chemists, I can tell you that there is great variability in quality. In the end it all comes down to the person not the education. “Expert” is a poorly defined term and rarely encompasses expertise in more than one narrow area. They also tend not to be big picture people and are often useless at making good decisions at the critical times, preferring committee based decisions.
As for elitism vs. non elitism, it is those who self identify as elite that have proved the point. Their attacks on Palin were not grounded in policy and politics but sneering, innuendo, rumors and condescension. This is merely my observation based on available material. Your opinion may differ but in the absence of proof, it is no more valid than mine.
dm – well, we’ll have to continue to disagree. I think you have transformed your opinions into ‘truths’. However, I think they remain just your opinions.
Networked alliances are the basis of human societies, even in our modern era of the middle class and the notion of achievement by merit. These networks are found in all areas, from gangs, taxi drivers, blue collar workers, academics, the legal, medical professions and the political realm.
I’ve seen too many appointments made on the basis of ‘maybe some merit’ but ‘more networks’ and ‘the potentiality to be part of the network’ to discount networking.
Your binarisms of ‘growing up with the ingrained belief that you are going to lead’ vs ‘just living a comfortable life’ has nothing to do with monied or ‘old family’ background. Or education. Growing up with the belief that you are going to lead doesn’t mean that you have any such capacities.
I don’t know what you mean by the ‘questionable mannerisms’ of the ‘nouveau riche’. Heh. You sound rather like Lady Whoever of the 18th c, who considered that it was beneath her dignity to take tea with the daughters of a wealthy tradesman. Nouveau riche means what it says: newly rich, and doesn’t imply any less capacity in any way than ‘old money’.
Indeed, the industrial revolution wouldn’t have gotten anywhere if it had relied on the sons of the old money to do the thinking of that revolution.
The fact that now, just about all jobs ‘require’ a college education doesn’t mean that those jobs require any of the so-called skills supposedly learned in college. Except for trades colleges, most jobs don’t require anything learned in college. I don’t agree that a college education does anything that an intelligent and curious individual can’t achieve on their own.
As for getting such a degree from a ‘good school’ that’s nonsense. There’s no evidence that any of the ‘ivy league’ schools offer a better grounding than any non-elitist college. Not only that, but not everyone can afford to leave and go to those places. Are you seriously suggesting that the only people to be allowed to be President or VP or other top positions, must be graduates of this set of colleges? So much for the ‘all men are created free and equal’.
Heh – I’ve seen plenty of academics who are utter and total snobs, lacking all humility, arrogant, self-absorbed..and also quite frankly, ignorant.
Your example of a ‘high school nerd who has been forced to reinvent herself’ is specious. The nerd can remain a nerd all through university. (hmm, why do you use the feminine rather than the neutral pronoun of ‘him, himself? Are you trapped in the ‘affirmative action’ mentality?)
Do I think Palin has humility and lacks arrogance? Yes, very much so. Just from watching how she interacts with others, how she talks about others and herself.
I don’t know what you mean by McCain getting stabbed in the back. By whom? I also find it rather arrogant of you that you claim to know what I am thinking and can tell me that I ‘choose to ignore it’.
By the way, the notion of a class-based society is hardly Maoist. It’s a basic infrastructure of no-growth societies that keep most of the capital and wealth in the hands of a small elite, and view the others (who don’t go to the ‘right schools’) as peasants.
You are quite wrong when you say that ‘average joes’ aren’t experts because they don’t try. What an arrogant thing to say. They can be experts in their fields. You see, when the plane breaks down, I don’t go to a lawyer, I go to an engineer.
The ‘elite’ are not made up of experts, and to be an expert doesn’t mean that you are automatically part of the elite. That’s your basic erroneous assumption.
You seem to think that the ‘elite’ are some kind of genetic clan, ‘old money’, who are somehow born with a ‘noblesse oblige’, and who go to the ‘right schools’ which further educate them in this ‘noblesse oblige’. This is totally false. This is actually a very tribal way of thinking. Tribalism assumes that some clans/tribes have a hereditary right to rule over others who are just peasants so to speak.
What you are ignoring, for some odd reason, is the development of the middle class, a class that rejects the tribal view of ‘old money’ and ‘old power’ and instead assumes that all humans have the capacity to think. Some can be more critical and logical than others; these are leaders. They move up the ladder by their own merits, by hard work. Not by being ‘born to the task’ and going to the ‘right schools’.
Your view, which rejects the very essence of what made America great, ie, that freedom to advance, freedom to become anything, freedom to be ‘the best you can be’ – is a very, very sad view of America and a total rejection of the human spirit.
what the hell is wrong with a normal person running for office?
Posted by: old white guy
I’m with him. Wasn’t America founded on the principal that every Man or Women can make a difference to there Nation as well as themselves?
It why Europe hates America . They have never forgiven the fact common men created a free Republic of Humans beings. Europe is still in thrall to Monarchial impulses (As is most of the Planet) with an Elitist class structure. Something America broke. They will never forgive them for beating there so called betters.
I would trust Joe the Plummer any day over either candidate. He at least lives in the real world of mortgages, bills .He actually sounds like a human being. Sarah Palin has proven her credentials already as a governor. Obama has just spent tax payer money towards Marxist organizations. That she is a “Normal”, American ought to make North Americans proud. I am tired of the “Champagne Journalists” with their incestuous ties with power. The snobbery fortified in venial condensation. It boils down to the feminists scared spitless over the fact she is becoming an icon to young females while there Legacy of Marxist feminism dies. We have seen enough “beer & Popcorn” put down comments towards the average public in Canada, to know these weasels for what they are. Autocrats.
Palin will be the 2012 POTUS.
Cal2, she has MORE experience than teh Ubermessiah. The Ubermessiah has done nothing, absolutely zilch. Even his action-packled biography was ghost-written.
Palin is a Joke you wrong wingers are fools to think that she is valid candidate. Just ask Powell.
Her and Mcain were setup by the repugs to take one for the team this time. they are gonna get an ass whipping
It will be President Obama live with it.
Ask what you can do for your country, not what your country can do for you.
– Democratic president John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The US Constitution is a negative document, about what the government cannot do to you. It says nothing about what the government can do for you.
–Barrack Hussein Obama, Public Radio interview, 2001.
Ask what you can do for your contry, not what your country can do for you.
– Democratic president John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Country first
– Republican election motto, 2008
Which candidate best carries out the spirit of JFK?
Who are these 2008 Democrats and what have they done to the JFK’s vision of 40 years ago?
expert = some one who is more than 50 feet from their own front door
George Bush is often called stupid…. and the things cited to prove this are those things caused by his dyslexia
college degrees and buttwipe have a lot in common
I can’t believe anyone still believes McCain will lose because of Palin, if anything she makes the this race much closer than it should have been. This was pretty much always the Democrats election. The Republicans wrote it off during the primaries, there wasn’t a credible candidate in the bunch … WHY … because the GWB will go down in History as the worst president EVER … and is reviled by everything but the religious right, who incidently were against McCain until Palin was brought on board.
Love her or hate her, she brings the religious right back to the table and McCain’s reasons for bringing her on board were sound. She’s a neophyte when up against the big boys … but this is definately not the last we’ve seen of her. She won’t be a heart beat away from the presidency, but she’s not done …
ET, I am not transforming my opinions into truths. Certainly no more than you are.
Networked alliances exist, no doubt, but they only get you so far. After a certain point, it is all merit. You cannot become a CEO of any large firm based purely on networked alliances. It helps to know the right people, but I think you know as well as I do, that when you excel in a certain field, people will want to get to know you. That has been my experience anyway.
The term nouveau riche means different things to different people I suppose. It is often used as a derogatory term for an upstart. Nothing wrong with being an upstart mind you, but their judgement on certain issues is always questionable. Purely in the context of money, the nouveau riche are known for their flashiness, poor judgment on how to use money, and some kind of bizzare inferiority complex that forces them to match car for car, if you will, those who are rich. Flashy imitators who lack substance, much like Ms Palin. Is she experienced? Sure. Will she listen to elites around her? No idea.
Elites- we differ on the definition. Yours seems to be grounded in a blueblooded super rich vein. I see the elite as the best in their fields. Literally what the term elite means. There are elite plumbers and carwashers too. Palin is driving a wedge in the context of politics insofar as she wants to remove the elite from the process – which is okay if she knows everything inside out, but she doesn’t. Becoming a member of the elite isn’t that hard. If you make the effort and do your job well, people will seek you out, find out who you are, and solicit your advice. If you are not, you can continue to wallow in comfortable mediocrity.
I am not limiting myself to Ivy league colleges. There are only a handful of those. There are tonnes of good schools -College of William and Mary, Babson etc. These schools have entrance requirements. The schools Ms Palin chose, don’t. She has got a degree for a degree’s sake. So that she can say she has a degree. Yes I am suggesting that a college with a compettitive entrance policy is better than one without these.
All men are created equal. Some just make more of an effort. If you really want to go to an Ivy league school, and don’t have the money, you will find a way. I have seen people do it. In fact, if I am not mistaken, Obama has done it. No that is not an endorsement – merely a pertinent example. You severely underestimate willpower, ET. If Palin really wanted to go to an Ivy League school, nothing in the world could have stopped her. Loans, scholarships – there is plenty of opportunity in the land of opportunity. The point is that she didn’t.
“Just from watching how she interacts with others, how she talks about others and herself.”
She says what you want to hear and you lap it up. The McCain camp has turned on her and called her a Diva who doesn’t listen to anyone. They work with her. They don’ rely on the few tv snippets you have seen.
“I don’t know what you mean by McCain getting stabbed in the back. By whom?”
By Palin. The McCain camp has said so itself. And its gotten plenty of coverage – I found out about it from Karl Rove on Fox News Sunday. I erred in assuming that you knew about this and chose to ignore it. Apparently you didn’t. Life must be fun in Palin’s platonic cave.
“You are quite wrong when you say that ‘average joes’ aren’t experts because they don’t try. What an arrogant thing to say. They can be experts in their fields.’
Then they are the elite. Experts in a field are the elite – everyoen will know them. Everyone will seek their advice. Money has precious little to do with it. My big beef with Palin is her apparent disdain for the political elite in particular, and other sets of elite involved in the political sphere – academics, think tanks etc.
“By the way, the notion of a class-based society is hardly Maoist.”
Class-based? Elite vs Average is not entirely class-based. Besides, who did Mao go after during his cultural revolution? Who did he demonize? The elite – in virtually every sphere of life. Not just the political or academic elite. Palins limitign herself to the latter two, but the line of argument is the same.
I have no clue where you conjured the rest of your argument from. My words ostensibly, but I never said or implied any of that. Far too many liberties on your part. What I am saying is that Palin says it is okay to be average and not strive to be elite. My definition of elite has nothing to do with money and everything to do with expertise. Palin is against them because they “complicate” things, and don’t use “common sense”. I disagree. If there is a plumber who is good. his services are sought by everyone from the super-rich to the super-power. He would then be a part of the elite.
Palin wants to take the experts out of politics – might work for one or two things, but it would be a nightmare in foreign policy etc.
If she acts like an idiot and talks like an idiot then geuss what she’s probably an idiot.