They Just Don't Get It

This election cycle has given us glimpses of how those in our ruling elites really feel about the "little people." Apparently in their rarefied circles, they have not only forgotten homely values, but find them quaint, humorous.

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them...And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

First there was the implied superiority apparent in these rather injudicious comments on Obama's part, which at least were uttered with some expectation of privacy. But the reaction to the Palin nomination on the part of the Doyennes of the Liberal Media is not only cynical itself, but vitriolic.

Try this from Sally Quinn for cynicism:

McCain claims he knew about the pregnancy, and was not at all concerned. Why not? Not only do we have a woman with five children, including an infant with special needs, but a woman whose 17-year-old child will need her even more in the coming months. Not to mention the grandchild. This would inevitably be an enormous distraction for a new vice president (or president) in a time of global turmoil. Not only in terms of her job, but from a media standpoint as well.

Holy double standard, Batman! If such is the case, JFK's ailments, drug use, philandering and loss of a child would have precluded his candidacy. I suppose running for office should be limited to men and post menopausal liberal women. I had to read it twice to make sure it wasn't irony.

But even Quinn's blogpost pales in comparison to the Dowd column, which demonstrates all the cattiness which, I confess, the female of the species is sometimes heir to, and which should never, ever, be demonstrated in a national news venue. Imagine if a male pundit of any persuasion had written the following:

The movie ends with the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it's close to Alaska. "Back off, Commie dude," she says. "I'm a much better shot than Cheney"...

..."The PTA is great preparation for dealing with the KGB," President Palin murmurs to Todd, as they kiss in the final scene while she changes Trig's diaper. "Now that Georgia's safe, how 'bout I cook you up some caribou hot dogs and moose stew for dinner, babe?"

It never occurs to them that there could be legitimate values other than their own, because as Bernie Goldberg has pointed out, they only socialize with their own. Consequently, like Obama, they have a tin ear when it comes to real people and the values they hold dear. You know, things like family, religion, guns, stew.