Bliz
June-5th-2008, 12:32 PM
"Ripping a presidential candidate for being elitist to me is like ripping your heart surgeon for being a perfectionist."
Best line of the article
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/ (http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/)
The media. Ugh.
Jump to Comments (http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/#comments) We do try to keep political talk to minimum here, but I think in honor of Barack Obama’s historic “Yes I can declare victory and isn’t Hill a peach” Confettisburg Address on Tuesday, in honor of Hillary Clinton’s fun and delusional “I don’t care about math and stats, I’m not going anywhere,” speech, in honor of John McCain’s surprisingly grumpy (and lime green), “Hey you kids get out of my yard,” Louisiana chat … in honor of all that, I do want to make one point about us mainstream media types.
Sometimes, we really do say incredibly, incredibly stupid things.
I know, that’s a pretty controversial statement — specifically the word “Sometimes.” But …
Take David Brooks. Please. He is a columnist at the New York Times and free agent TV guy who, best I can tell, is all about real folk, authentic folk, middle class folk, red state folk, NASCAR folk, minivan folk, factory folk, American Idol voting folk, July 4th barbecue in the backyard folk and so on. There are things I like about Brooks, including his willingness to be somewhat unpredictable and take stands on both sides. Those are generally the political people I like, the ones who refuse to be shoved to one side or the other.
Brooks does generally lean right, and he like many commentators has bought into the concept that Barack Obama is too elitist and not at all like the real and authentic folk. I have to say up front that I find this whole elitist talk sickeningly absurd. The man is RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. Of course he thinks he’s elite. He’s not trying to become captain of our bowling team. Of course he thinks he’s elite, and so does McCain, Hill, Bob Barr*, Lyndon LaRouche, Ross Perot, Dennis Kucinich, Tracy Flick and anyone else who has the audacity to believe that he/she should be the President. Please. How in the hell can someone raise hundreds of millions of dollars and travel non-stop around the country to tell people again and again why he is the right choice — the only choice — to become the world’s most powerful person and NOT BE ELITIST? Ripping a presidential candidate for being elitist to me is like ripping your heart surgeon for being a perfectionist.
*Bob is the Libertarian candidate, of course, and in addition to the many talents I’m certain he has, his name sounds like Babar when you say it quickly. I love Babar.
But, I suspect, that by “elitist,” Brooks and others mean that Obama is out of touch and cannot appreciate the problems, concerns and state of real Americans. It’s a tag — that sadly is more or less what Presidential Politics have become. Tags. Obama is elitist. McCain is old (and grumpy … see above). Hill is, well, you know. W is a nincompoop. Al invented the Internet. Bill is, you know, it depends on what is is. I believe with all my heart that there really are many, many hard-working, thoughtful, brilliant, impassioned, meticulous and exact reporters and commentators in the mainstream media, but somehow with all the noise, the ones we hear are the ones shouting “elitist” in crowded movie theaters.
Back to Brooks. He went on TV the other day to continue explaining why he thinks those authentic folk from all over America just won’t connect with Obama. And here’s what Brooks said: “Obama’s problem is he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee’s salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there.”
Um. Yeah. Look, anyone can make a mistake. But I’m pretty sure that if you are bringing up an Applebee’s salad bar to make a point about someone being elitist, you should find out from one of your authentic friends that Applebee’s doesn’t have a salad bar. That’s Ruby Tuesday’s. Or Sizzler. Or Ponderosa (all you can eat — beef and chicken in the buffet too). Nice effort, though. Make us all look good.
But it goes beyond that. Applebee’s represents precisely the opposite of what Brooks is talking about. Like, Applebee’s used to have this really good salad with apples in it. They took it off the menu. Why? So they could bring in that stinking “name chef” Tyler Florence. Then suddenly they put all these Florence-infused, elitist things on the menu — Penne Rosa with sweet Italian Sausage, crispy brick chicken with warm spinach salad, bruschetta burgers — dammit! And, oh yeah, Applebee’s ain’t cheap. And the brick chicken sucked, by the way.
Sometimes the media really ticks me off.
Best line of the article
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/ (http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/)
The media. Ugh.
Jump to Comments (http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/06/04/the-media-ugh/#comments) We do try to keep political talk to minimum here, but I think in honor of Barack Obama’s historic “Yes I can declare victory and isn’t Hill a peach” Confettisburg Address on Tuesday, in honor of Hillary Clinton’s fun and delusional “I don’t care about math and stats, I’m not going anywhere,” speech, in honor of John McCain’s surprisingly grumpy (and lime green), “Hey you kids get out of my yard,” Louisiana chat … in honor of all that, I do want to make one point about us mainstream media types.
Sometimes, we really do say incredibly, incredibly stupid things.
I know, that’s a pretty controversial statement — specifically the word “Sometimes.” But …
Take David Brooks. Please. He is a columnist at the New York Times and free agent TV guy who, best I can tell, is all about real folk, authentic folk, middle class folk, red state folk, NASCAR folk, minivan folk, factory folk, American Idol voting folk, July 4th barbecue in the backyard folk and so on. There are things I like about Brooks, including his willingness to be somewhat unpredictable and take stands on both sides. Those are generally the political people I like, the ones who refuse to be shoved to one side or the other.
Brooks does generally lean right, and he like many commentators has bought into the concept that Barack Obama is too elitist and not at all like the real and authentic folk. I have to say up front that I find this whole elitist talk sickeningly absurd. The man is RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. Of course he thinks he’s elite. He’s not trying to become captain of our bowling team. Of course he thinks he’s elite, and so does McCain, Hill, Bob Barr*, Lyndon LaRouche, Ross Perot, Dennis Kucinich, Tracy Flick and anyone else who has the audacity to believe that he/she should be the President. Please. How in the hell can someone raise hundreds of millions of dollars and travel non-stop around the country to tell people again and again why he is the right choice — the only choice — to become the world’s most powerful person and NOT BE ELITIST? Ripping a presidential candidate for being elitist to me is like ripping your heart surgeon for being a perfectionist.
*Bob is the Libertarian candidate, of course, and in addition to the many talents I’m certain he has, his name sounds like Babar when you say it quickly. I love Babar.
But, I suspect, that by “elitist,” Brooks and others mean that Obama is out of touch and cannot appreciate the problems, concerns and state of real Americans. It’s a tag — that sadly is more or less what Presidential Politics have become. Tags. Obama is elitist. McCain is old (and grumpy … see above). Hill is, well, you know. W is a nincompoop. Al invented the Internet. Bill is, you know, it depends on what is is. I believe with all my heart that there really are many, many hard-working, thoughtful, brilliant, impassioned, meticulous and exact reporters and commentators in the mainstream media, but somehow with all the noise, the ones we hear are the ones shouting “elitist” in crowded movie theaters.
Back to Brooks. He went on TV the other day to continue explaining why he thinks those authentic folk from all over America just won’t connect with Obama. And here’s what Brooks said: “Obama’s problem is he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee’s salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there.”
Um. Yeah. Look, anyone can make a mistake. But I’m pretty sure that if you are bringing up an Applebee’s salad bar to make a point about someone being elitist, you should find out from one of your authentic friends that Applebee’s doesn’t have a salad bar. That’s Ruby Tuesday’s. Or Sizzler. Or Ponderosa (all you can eat — beef and chicken in the buffet too). Nice effort, though. Make us all look good.
But it goes beyond that. Applebee’s represents precisely the opposite of what Brooks is talking about. Like, Applebee’s used to have this really good salad with apples in it. They took it off the menu. Why? So they could bring in that stinking “name chef” Tyler Florence. Then suddenly they put all these Florence-infused, elitist things on the menu — Penne Rosa with sweet Italian Sausage, crispy brick chicken with warm spinach salad, bruschetta burgers — dammit! And, oh yeah, Applebee’s ain’t cheap. And the brick chicken sucked, by the way.
Sometimes the media really ticks me off.