Religion and Guns in small-town America

[DanS]

That's pretty funny.

It's one thing to actually be smarter than everybody else (Clinton). It's quite another to be a C student, but to think you're a world-beater (Gore, Kerry).

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Dude, have you seen how fast NASCAR is gaining in popularity in the US?

Edit: Cross-post

My grandfather once told me that NASCAR is for the people who can't follow the storylines in professional wrestling.

[Ramo]

Having a father who was Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command (and a grandfather who was also an Admiral), and being married to a rich heiress means that you're not part of the elite. Not bothering to pretend that you don't like wine and brie means that you're part of the elite. It's pretty simple...

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I could and should have simply eliminate the word politically. But since I didn't a little explanation is in order. Politics is all about presentation and this gets to the heart of the elitism question. Bush and Kerry are of similar intellectual capacity (IQ's within spitting distance of each other. Bush actually outperforming Kerry in college. I would venture that both are similarly well read) yet Bush comes off/is portrayed as a semi-literate moron. Bush on the other hand relates well on personal levels while Kerry comes off as aloof, out of touch, and more to the point most interested in maintaining power/status within a circle of like minded elites for example see Thomas Wolfe re: the radical chic.

The point being aloofness destroys any chance of empathy and as such destroys any chance of being seen as a representative of the people.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Are you telling me that you don't want a president who is elite?

I am not a majority of the electorate. They do want someone smarter than them, but also someone who they believe represents them and understands them and their concerns.

Ie, someone like Bill Clinton.

However, when faced with someone who is smarter, but doesn't seem like he understands them going against someone who understands them, but isn't smarter... it becomes a difficult choice, and hence the close last two elections.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by DanS
That's pretty funny.

It's one thing to actually be smarter than everybody else (Clinton). It's quite another to be a C student, but to think you're a world-beater (Gore, Kerry).

Their relative intellect was not my point. My point is that the word "elite" was used as a weapon against them.

(And to your point... you really think Bush is smarter than Gore and Kerry?)

[asleepathewheel]

arugula=elite
crown royal=woman of the people

[DanS]

Originally posted by Guynemer
(And to your point... you really think Bush is smarter than Gore and Kerry?)

That wasn't my point. But to be sure, Bush is among the most highly educated of the three. My sense is that they are all of similar caliber in the classroom.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Guynemer


Their relative intellect was not my point. My point is that the word "elite" was used as a weapon against them.

Elite not intellectual elite. If anything poser was bandied about more often than not when speaking about Gore/Kerry intellectual capabilities.

[Guynemer]

That wasn't my point. But to be sure, Bush is among the most highly educated of the three. My sense is that they are all of similar caliber in the classroom.

Fair enough.

But what does it say about us that Bush succeeds by embracing his "dumb" image by denigrating "intellectuals"?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oh, and to make this a non-partisan thing (ie, Democrats aren't just the elite ones), remember when George H.W. Bush had issues at the supermarket (remarking on a scanner... though IIRC, that wasn't actually what he said). He was seen as out of touch with ordinary Americans and "elite". Clinton rode that impression of President Bush I, to advance the fact that he was one of the common people ("I feel your pain"... for all its been mocked was very, very successful).

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

That we in the US romanticize the likes of Lincoln with earthy charm and home spun wit realizing that their is a hope that maybe there might just be a diamond in the rough.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Guynemer
But what does it say about us that Bush succeeds by embracing his "dumb" image by denigrating "intellectuals"?

By and large, intellectuals don't know **** about being president. And it's especially grating when an intellectual thinks he knows better than you do.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Fair enough.

But what does it say about us that Bush succeeds by embracing his "dumb" image by denigrating "intellectuals"?

Nothing good . But this is not a NEW thing. Remember Eisenhower denegrated Stevenson by calling him an "egghead", as that was a big insult.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Guynemer
But what does it say about us that Bush succeeds by embracing his "dumb" image by denigrating "intellectuals"?

Bush won by painting his opponents as being arrogant and out of touch with the common man not by denigrating intellectuals. Exactly what this threatens to do to Obama if it sticks.