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The Elites and the More Elite
The more I've thought about it, the more I've come to accede that Obama is a cultural elitist. People have offered that he mistakenly phrased what he meant to say, but I believe his problem was he said precisely what he thought. He committed, in other words, a "Dean gaffe."
Not only that, but I think I am a cultural elitist as well. I think all of us here are. We discuss politics and segments of society with clinical detachment, like subjects in school. The topics of social problems and solutions interest us. It stands to reason, since demographic sampling reveals that both Dean and Obama supporters are a relatively well-educated, affluent group.
Of course the Bush base, the "haves and the have mores," aren't cultural elitists. They're just elites. They have no reservations about extolling the virtues of Christian worship, NASCAR, hunting and gun ownership, although these aren't their ordinary activities. They just appreciate their worth as reflections of values. Their activities tend more to be golf at the country club, yachting, and attending the opera, parties and galas: essentially, living like Bill Buckley because they're traditional and conservative.
It's rank insincerity, which is the delightfully ironic element of Obama's situation, because it's Democrats and Democratic candidates who get smeared with the insincerity epithet for their allegedly phony embrace of homey values like religious fervor; even a twenty year congregation member like Obama. It's a trap that all of us liberal elitists walk into blindly.
Howard Dean was absolutely correct when he said that Republicans always win when they talk about guns, God, gays and abortion, divisive cultural issues that bitter, downtrodden Americans cling to out of frustration born from the economic duress that prevents them from joining country clubs and owning yachts like the Republican ruling class.
Yet when Dean said Democrats deserved the votes of white people who drove pick up trucks with Confederate flag decals on them, he was attacked by a bunch of plaintive Democrats who accused him of being an elitist. Ha! What an outpouring of phony empathy from as elite a bunch as you could cobble together, blasting Dean because he spoke the truth about the distinction between smokescreen issues and issues of genuine importance. I can practically make out the image of Hillary Clinton in their midst.
11:49 AM EDT
a close second ? --
-- economically-challenged supporters of Obama who'd rather watch Masterpiece Theatre than WWF (World Wrestling Foundation) or MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
12:012 PM EDT
come on Straight Talk Express McCain campaign !
if you can't control what's your family's recipes and what aren't --
-- then, how can you be expected to control the Executive office and steward the nation as President ?:
http://www.startribune.com/nation/17809184.html
McCain campaign blames intern for plagiarized recipes linked to candidate's wifeAssociated Press
Last update: April 16, 2008 - 10:49 AM
...
Left behind on tail of PT:
I haven't seen much on this but Clinton's bar-whiskey-beer stint was really her own gaffe and may have turned off some men as well as women.
As I saw it, she was a woman in the middle of a group of all men in a bar which made her look more like a pickup than a presidential candidate. That may sound sexist but it's just the way things may have looked to some Pennsylvanians who are older voters. The stint was meant to impress blue collar workers by drinking down boilermakers with "the guys" but may have had the opposite effect.
Then too, it was a staged event, camera in tow, copying something Obama/Casey had done a week before, but this one was done all wrong. If they were trying to influence blue collar workers, the men should not have been dressed in suits and ties with everyone standing around like they were at an upscale cocktail party. Blue collar beer or whisley drinkers sit at the bar or play pool, or whatever, but they don't stand around chatting.
McCain has nothing but to blame surrogates even for his wife's mistakes.
Whoever believed Cindi McCain collected recipes in the first place. Like this multi-millionaire bakes her own bread every day:))
~~~~~~~~
This is the kind of thing that separates McCain and Clinton from Obama. Obama takes the blame for everything his surrogates do or say while the other two blame everyone but themselves. What kind of administration would theirs be!!
The hope and truthfulness of Obama will win in Nov.
12:30 PM EDT
Left behind on tail of PT:
I haven't seen much on this but Clinton's bar-whiskey-beer stint was really her own gaffe and may have turned off some men as well as women.
...
+++
Joan -
Maybe it will be Hillary's tank moment ? (ie. Army-helmeted Mike Dukakis standing in a tank turret in 1988 prez campaign http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Images/DukakisMikeInTank.gif )
http://www.animationlibrary.com/animation/29542/Beer_mugs_break/
Bryant Gumbel's interview with Barack. It also shows Obama can shoot some hoops. Pls pass this video on.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4...
mary vb
Wed, 04/16/08
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Crikey..next thing ya know we will see him in a NASCAR jacket...................
Two super d's in NC for Barack.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4...
Mike, bad analogy - Barack has been a basketball player for a long, long time. He isn't taking shots like Annie Oakley.
Crikey..next thing ya know we will see him in a NASCAR jacket...................
or ironman gear... ;)
Tom I like your diary but not the intimation that opera lovers are yacht sailors, golfers, and party goers. Opera lovers are music lovers and connoisseurs of extraordinary singing voices, stage set masterpieces, and operatic drama (not sure what I mean by that to tell you the truth lol). Most opera lovers have great gluteal stamina - we can sit for long, long hours - and exceptional bladders -never hit the ladies room at intermission at the Met. We can't afford parties or yachts b/c all our money goes toward following our singers around the world. I would rather hear Rene Pape sing Shubert or Wagner than - well, anything - even that :~).
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/16/...
Has everyone seen this KOS diary? Guess condimustgo.com is airing a 30 second ad on ABC tonight on the subject. I can't even view condimustgo.com - so many hits I guess we have crashed the site. DFA is sponsoring btw.
1:24 PM EDT
mary vb -
Obama indeed has pick-up bball game ( the dailykos thread and video you linked: His stat line: 5 Assists, 4 points, 3 Rebounds, 2 TOs, 1 steal, 1 block ).
Dukakis did not have army tank game; Clinton does not have bar-hopping/gun-shooting game; McCain does not have recipe game.
1:26 PM EDT
9.Jo*in*Vermont
Wed, 04/16/08
Reply to this
Crikey..next thing ya know we will see him in a NASCAR jacket...................
or ironman gear... ;)
+++
Jo -
Mike's just jealous --
-- jealous that he wasn't part of the Fort Bragg, North Carolina pick-up basketball game.
re: the KOS diary on condimustgo.com -- there are some comments that basically say "why Condi?" As much as I can't stand the woman -- they do have a point -- there is an element of witch hunt -- of making the woman take the fall. On the other hand, most of the others (Rummy et al) are out of power, with a couple of notable exceptions of course, but they will be out of power too (please God) in January. However, most of the US of A thinks Condi is just a wonderful role model -- and maybe this campaign will keep McCain from choosing her for his veep.
I'd love to get in a pickup game with Obama, I like the way he distributes. I'd set a pick for him anyday.
I hope you get in that pick up game in November, Phil.
Less than a week after coming under fire for saying small-town Pennsylvanians "cling to" gun rights, Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of a pro-gun association that has backed Democratic candidates in the past.
The American Hunters & Shooters Association said Obama's views of the 2nd Amendment have been unfairly criticized and its endorsement comes as Obama's opponents are characterizing him as an "elitist" and condescending towards gun-owners.
. . .
Schoenke said the group reached out to the Obama campaign several weeks ago, before the recent controversy surrounding his comments about small-town voters. In announcing their support in the midst of the controversy, though, the group hoped to "set the record straight," about Obama's support of an individual's right to gun ownership, he said.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Hunters_group_endorses_Obama_says_he_0416.html
Hey,
I was captain of our girls basketball team in high school. Do I qualify for a few shots with BO:))
Pickup the NC SD Obama endorsements mary sited above here, as the old link has timed out:
Michael wrote:
"Theres only one answer to our problems.........we need to ship in about 100 million Canadians and ship out that many of our own..............."
Problem is, there are only~30 million Canadians, and about 40 % of them were dumb enough to elect a Conservative government comprised mainly of Bush-lovin' prairie wingnuts.
I think we just need the majority of Americans to wake up to what Bushco have done to this country. That won't solve the problems these maniacs have created, but if we can toss the bums out of power, we can get started!
2:15pm
Printable version Steep rise in Chinese food prices Food prices have risen 21% in China so far this year, fuelling concerns about inflation in the economy and the affordability of basic staple goods.
Obama and basketball remind me of this...
[the Senior Staff are playing a pick-up basketball game with the President]
Josh Lyman: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who is this?
President Josiah Bartlet: I'm making a substitution.
Toby Ziegler: Who is this guy?
President Josiah Bartlet: Mr. Grant is a Federal employee.
[Mr. Grant is played by real life NBA Forward Juwan Howard]
Toby Ziegler: You know the thing about you, Mr. President? It isn't so much that you cheat. It's how brazenly bad you are at it.
President Josiah Bartlet: I beg your pardon?
Josh Lyman: Toby's got a point there, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: When have I ever cheated?
Toby Ziegler: Up in Florida, playing mixed doubles with me and C.J. You tried to tell us that your partner worked at the American Consulate in Vienna.
President Josiah Bartlet: And she did.
Toby Ziegler: It was Steffi Graf, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: Well, I will admit that the woman bore a striking resemblance...
Toby Ziegler: It was Steffi Graf, you lunatic. You think I'm not going to recognize Steffi Graf when she serves a tennis ball at me?
You and I suspected it. Now, ABC News confirms it.¹
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chaired repeated White House meetings approving specific torture techniques before they were used -- then lied about it to Congress.
Now Brave New Films put it all together in a "smoking gun" video. That's why, Democracy for America is partnering with True Majority and Brave New Films to launch an aggressive national campaign with a simple message: Condi Must Go.
Watch the video and sign the petition now.
By BILL KAUFFMAN
The last three major-party presidential candidates standing have this in common: the state abbreviations after their names--John McCain (AZ), Hillary Clinton (NY), and Barack Obama (IL)--are no more meaningful than the random pairings of letters in a spoonful of alphabet soup. These are the candidates from nowhere. Or in Obama's case, from everywhere. And this rootlessness has policy consequences.
Senator John McCain is a poster boy for the pathologies of the military brat. Born in the Panama Canal Zone, he attended twenty schools in his nomadic childhood.
"The place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi," is how he shuts up critics of his carpetbagging, but he is making their point: Senator McCain's loyalty is not to any particular American place but rather to a bureaucratic institution (the military) and an abstraction (the American Empire).
.....The Democrats are no more connected to particular places than is McCain. Hillary Clinton's rootlessness became a national joke in her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign to represent New York, a state in which she had never lived. Wearing a Yankees cap was about as far as she went to assert her ersatz New Yorkness.
Barack Obama, lauded as the "world candidate," was born in Hawaii, a state that is only in the union because of its military significance. Raised also in Indonesia and at various times resident in Los Angeles, New York City, and finally Chicago, Obama is a "cosmopolitan," which by some lights means a sophisticate but which a character in Henry James's Portrait of Lady defined as "a little of everything and not much of any. I must say I think patriotism is like charity-it begins at home."
....People with local attachments, by contrast, will ask the question that never quite gets injected into national debates over war and peace: What are the domestic costs of this crusade? Loving their block, they will not wish to bomb Iraq. Loyal to a neighborhood, they will not send its young men and women across the sea to kill and die for causes wholly unrelated to local life.
Obama is from Chicago seashell. Midwest, cold winters, hot summers, pretty dedicated to the place since he picked it decades ago, seashell
Phil, I'm the messenger. No need to pick on me. All 3 cands were discussed. I did not write the article.
So why aren't the critters at least starting impeachment?
Talk about an elitist attitude. Good grief, hasn't Reid kicked Lieberman off of any committees yet? Does he still caucus with the Democrats? If he does, they're making a HUGE mistake.
---
Lieberman willing to star at Republican convention By Manu Raju
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, is leaving open the possibility of giving a keynote address on behalf of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) at the Republican National Convention in September.
Republicans close to the McCain campaign say Lieberman’s appearance at the convention, possibly before a national primetime audience, could help make the case that the presumptive GOP nominee has a record of crossing the aisle. That could appeal to much-needed independent voters. ... http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/lieb...
DEMOCRATS AND IRAQ
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau04162008.html
Given the public skepticism about the war and the declining economy, the Democrats' November electoral task should be easy. But wait! They control both Houses and didn't cut off Iraq War funds. One agonizing anti-war Member said, "We don't have the votes to end it. The Joe Liebermans and Blue Dogs make it impossible," referring to the former Democrat--now Independent -- from Connecticut who echoes Bush by blaming the Iraqi insurgency on Al Qaeda. In 1994, conservative House Democrats formed The Blue Dog Coalition to represent more hawkish positions and stronger anti-tax stands.
The solution is obvious, yet arm chair pundits and Solons wring their hands. If the US pulls, civil war may erupt in Iraq. Hey, civil war broke out when Shia v. Shia fought each other in Basra. The clashes there should have forever exploded the myth that Iraq suffers only from a Shiite-Sunni or Kurd-Turkuman-Christian feud.
The White House mischaracterized al Maliki's attack as aimed at criminals and terrorists. The flimsy lie was exposed and even with US military help, government forces lost. Indeed, had not Sadr called a cease fire (purportedly, thanks to Iran), Maliki's humiliation would have been worse. The Basra conflagration dramatizes the lies that Bush and Cheney tell and the media repeats about the value of the surge and progress in Iraq. It also underlined the main fact of US occupation: it has destroyed the integrity of Iraqi society. The longer we remain, the more difficult it will become to re-glue the elements of that country into some cohesive mass.
Al Qaeda has not sponsored the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq. The US presence has brought death, destruction and misery to Iraqis. That's why we're hated.
The Dems could use facts to show flaws in Bush argument for staying his bloody course. They could posit withdrawal afrom Iraq as a stabilizing move--a change from threatening war and demanding US-style democratization. (Recall the January 2006 Palestinian elections in Gaza; free and fair and under Israeli occupation. Hamas won. Since the wrong Party won, Bush said the elections didn't count. Such behavior doesn't auger well for the US as broker for an Israeli-Palestinian peace.)
"To leave Iraq," said my colleague, "just go." He forgot that such a bold move might require the invention of the spinal transplant.
Didn't the putzco overthrow the leader who then when into exile?
HAITI: Food Crisis Sparks Anger and Despair
Nick Whalen
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A green, red and yellow-striped umbrella is all that keeps Hernite Joseph from the searing sun as she takes apart a frozen chicken with a screwdriver and places the small pieces into neat piles stacked three high.
POLITICS: U.N. Jolted by Attacks on Peacekeepers in Haiti HAITI: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits Haiti – Which Way Forward?
If Lieberman caucuses with the Republicans, they control the Senate (with Cheney providing the tiebreaker). This is one of many reasons winning a greater control of the Senate is important. With 55 or 56 votes, Lieberman can be left to stew.
A new report by the Geneva-based Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) has shown that women are changing the priorities and sometimes the tone of legislatures around the world. But, it also highlights the slow pace at which the number of parliamentary seats held by women is increasing.
NEW YORK - Steve Tarpin can bake a graham cracker crust in his sleep, but explaining why the price for his Key lime pies went from $20 to $25 required mastering a thornier topic: global economics.
He recently wrote a letter to his customers and posted it near the cash register listing the factors — dairy prices driven higher by conglomerates buying up milk supplies, heat waves in Europe and California, demand from emerging markets and the weak dollar.
I've posted about this before and find it very hopeful.
What they always fail to acknowledge is that the budget deficit that is causing the weak dollar is fueled by Bush's trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich, and the weak dollar has lead to therecord energy costs which is the main driver in higher costs.
IT'S THE TAX CUTS/ DEFICIT/WEAK DOLLAR
I've had a better return from my milk checks 90% of the time compared to now because my rise in costs has outstripped the rise in the price of milk.
Know where and how your food is grown.
---
Farm labor bus overturns, workers injured
By Louis Galvan/The Fresno Bee
04/16/08
A farm labor bus with 36 workers aboard overturned Tuesday afternoon on Highway 33 south of Mendota, resulting in minor injuries to four of the passengers, the California Highway Patrol reported this morning. ...
...Four workers, one each from Mendota, Firebaugh, Huron and Avenal, were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno and Madera Community Hospital in Madera with minor injuries. Other passengers complained of pain, but were not transported to hospitals. ... http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/5...
Printable version India inflation nears 4 year high By Sunil Raman BBC News
Inflation in India climbed to its highest level in March for almost four years driven by rising metal, food and oil prices, official figures show.
The annual rate of consumer price growth was 7.4% last month, the highest rate since November 2004.
Concerned by rising food prices, India last week announced a ban on exports of non-basmati rice and removed duties on imports of crude edible oils.
Building more new homes creates the need for more schools, parks and hospitals. I hope they 'planned' for those too instead of building more prisons.
----
Lemoore planners craft compromise in development near base
By Susie Pakoua Vang / The Fresno Bee
04/15/08
LEMOORE -- The Lemoore Planning Commission voted Monday to send two key recommendations on the city's proposed 2030 general plan to the City Council.
The proposed plan has prompted the Navy and dozens of people to attend several public hearings in recent months because it calls for new homes west of Highway 41 to sit directly beneath an established flight path near Lemoore Naval Air Station.
... recommendation asked the City Council to direct the city and Navy to enter into a joint land-use study. This would allow the two groups to work together and possibly find alternative land uses.
The joint study, which could last up to a year, would be mostly funded by the Department of Defense.
Capt. Ronald Townsend, commanding officer of the Lemoore air station, said the recommendations weren't exactly what the Navy requested -- which is no housing west of Highway 41.
They contend that if residential areas are built under existing flight paths, the Navy could face lawsuits or be forced to make changes to current operations because of complaints about noise levels from future residents. ...full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/local/sv/story/...
If Lieberman caucuses with the Republicans, they control the Senate (with Cheney providing the tiebreaker). This is one of many reasons winning a greater control of the Senate is important. With 55 or 56 votes, Lieberman can be left to stew.
We should have learned by now that a Congress controlled by Dems who collaborate with the GOP is as bad as one controlled by the GOP itself.
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By * rdorgan on Apr 16, 2008 11:44 AM EDT11:45 PM EDT
Howard is first.