Posted on 11/23/2004 6:08:23 PM PST by CHARLITE
In the chic salons of Manhattan and the trendy bistros of Los Angeles they are saying they same thing. "How could Bush have won?" ponder the elitist vanguard of the left-wing status quo. "I don't know a single person who voted for him."
On the networks -- 12 hours after the rest of us realized that John Kerry had fallen -- Dan Rather scribbles permutations on colored Post-It notes in an attempt to prove to himself that his chosen man could still take the day.
Surfing about, I noted talking heads all agog over how they missed it. In the aftermath of the election, they behave with professorial demeanor, wondering how their certainty of a Democratic victory went up in flames.
"What we don't realize is that there's a huge segment of the country that doesn't think like us," states one well-coifed anchor, his voice dripping with derision and condescension. "We can never understand the people who like their guns and their pick-up trucks and their NASCAR."
That comment, as much as anything else, explains why George Bush was re-elected with the largest percentage of the popular vote since 1968.
The pretty TV man was stating that those such as he - the elites, the sophisticates -- can never comprehend the lowly mental horsepower of folk who shop at Wal-Mart, belong to a bowling league, sometimes attend church and still believe that the United States is far superior to the socialist enclaves of Europe.
To the TV anchor, working stiffs and Joe Six-Packs are the "great unwashed." They don't read the New York Times, utter sly chuckles at the cartoons in the New Yorker or spend $400 bucks on a pair of shoes. They like a beer and a steak, read the funny pages on Sunday morning and think a day of chips and NFL is a dandy ol' time.
Such being the case, they are not worthy of respect.
The election of 2004 was not just a case of Bush versus Kerry. It was a contest of city versus country, blue collar versus white collar, arrogant elitist versus good ol' boy.
It was class warfare in the deepest of trenches, but even after being whipped, dipped and hung out to dry, the high and mighty of the left STILL don't get it. They cannot comprehend how and why they were whomped by a bunch of hicks.
Thus, allow me to enlighten. You see, the people whom America's Brahmins view as yokels and slack-jaws didn't just vote against Kerry the man. They voted against what Kerry stood for.
They voted against arrogant, pseudo-intellectuals who try and mandate how the imbecilic members of the middle-class caste should live, act and think. They voted against pompous, urban know-it-alls who feel they have carte blanche to halt farming, ranching, logging and mining in an attempt to save an endangered species of toad.
They voted against those who want to take their guns...and not just the ones they hunt with. They voted against the snobs, the egocentric, the self-righteous.
They voted against the jerks...and they did it brilliantly.
The "average" citizen of American voted against those whom John Kerry labeled the "heart and soul" of America. They voted against the traitorous pig Michael Moore and that Whoopity Goldberg woman. They voted against Bill Maher, Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Cher, Rosie O'Donnell and the whole damn cast of "Friends."
They voted against "celebrities" who were rude and crude, those who profaned George Bush and his family with the most foul of commentary at each and every opportunity.
The election wasn't just Bush versus Kerry. It was "Us versus Them."
Oh...there were issues aplenty. And on each one the families from Flyover Country took a stance diametrically opposed to the upper crust.
The latter view Europe as a Socialist utopia which all should strive to emulate. The former view it as a place with bad plumbing and body odor. The latter are enamored with, and a desire to appease, anyone who claims a lineage harboring at least one duke, baron or Third World, French-speaking exporter of bat guano. The former couldn't give a damn what Europe thinks, wouldn't trust Kofi Annan to wash their truck.
Hell, they want to resign from the U.N., boot out the tenants and convert the real estate into a Bass Pro Shop.
When it comes to war, the "normal" American believes in big bombs, not big words. They want country music and armor piercing bullets, whereas the intelligentsia wants to practice diplomacy, hum Kumbaya and surrender.
The NASCAR crowd intrinsically realizes Saddam was a terrorist, understands Iraq is part of the bigger war on terror. In case you forgot (and judging by the voting totals, many in the Northeast did just that) they'll remind you the radical Muslims attacked us...not vice versa.
The residents of our two distinct Americas reside within the confines of different economies and social strata. It's not that Flyover Folk disagree with the values of the hoity-toity, it's more that they believe the pampered and feckless are bereft of values, their ethical compass spinning like a narcissistic top.
They see the elites as merely paying lip service to that which is convenient and faddish, proving to the neighbors they sup heartily on the ideological flavor of the week, feeling nothing but a need to impress.
The commoners? They are more traditional. Quite a lot are religious, but many are content to make a living, watch the tube and catch a long nap on Saturday. The "God, guns and guts" contingent is often poor but happy. The cocktail, Commies and Cadillac club is often rich and in therapy.
And the Limousine Liberals STILL don't get it. They think the Bush victory is an anomaly, even though they've been humiliated twice in four years.
They will lose again and again, firm in the resolve that good breeding always wins the day. The clay-eaters, rubes and mouth-breathers of "Flyover Country" will never surpass them, they think, for they lack class, culture and social contacts.
As for the aforementioned po' white trash...they are laughing. They don't have much cash. They don't have health insurance. They don't take cruises. They don't have designer labels.
All they've got is the Senate, the House, the Oval Office and a grin that spreads from ear to ear.
As much as I agree with the "they still don't get it" rant... I'm a little tired myself of everybody - including people who are supposedly defending the red states - lumping us all together as good ol' unsophisticated folk. Yes, many of us are. But I wear a white collar. I have an MBA. I'm not a big fan of NASCAR. I do go to church, but could care less if anyone else does or not. Just as the "NASCAR Nation" stereotype misses 95% of "Red Staters", I believe the "Elitist Liberal" stereotype misses most "Blue Staters." We just get to see much, much more of their more vocal, obnoxious idiots. Much of this is getting a bit tiresome already.
But that's DIVERSITY!! Isn't it great? Aren't you glad there's DIFFERENCES OF OPINION and aren't you TOLERANT of those DIFFERENCES?
I guess not, you freakin' liberal hypocrite.
They can't get the NASCAR, guns and pickups? Well, I can't understand people who enjoy $30 hamburgers, $200 haircuts, maniacal cabdrivers and living stacked on top of each other in 700-foot piles;)
LOL cute. No they don't get it, but hey lets not let them in on all of it! We don't want them to get it, the more they don't the longer we have control. And let's face it, they aren't fit to be in control!
Some of make a decent wage, and aren't the rubes they think we are, heck some of us even live in blue states (though we have nothing in common with elites) Wherever we live, whatever kind of money we have, manners, character, morals, yes, even values, basic knowing right from wrong separates us.
The Blue State sterotype is also overplayed, since there is a wide variety of lunatics who make up the left from conspiracy minded idiots who think secret societies are in charge to people who have inferiority complexes and owerwhelming envy at everyone who has a nickle more then them, to elitists at universities.
A warning for conservatives, let the left become a carnicture of itself and show its true colors so that it repulses America more and more, but lets not follow there example, as Napolean once said...
"When your enemy is making a mistake, do not be impolite and interrupt them".
It's only diversity if the left says it's diversity. If you don't think the same way they do, you are a redneck hick living in Jesus Land, and a minority person is only a good kind of minority person when they follow the party line and are NOT conservative and DON'T support Republicans.
Hypocrisy indeed! Large font, triple bold, flashing red hypocrisy.
Well said. I don't have an MBA but a decent education and a rewarding job. I live in a bluest of the blue state. It's not easy, and it does emphasize the differnces big time. I don't think there is any danger of the elites getting it, they don't want to get it. It's easier to say they don't than to admit that what they are selling, so many aren't buying.
Agreed! I'm highly edumacated myself and I'm also wondering where the simple conservative educated/intelligent movers and shakers are that simply understand reality, politics, and have values, ethics, and a solid moral background. It's as if they/we don't exist.
This guy really gets it.
They see the elites as merely paying lip service to that which is convenient and faddish, proving to the neighbors they sup heartily on the ideological flavor of the week, feeling nothing but a need to impress.
Isn't this the definition of John Kerry?
If you count the 2002 midterm congressional election (I do), they've been humiliated thrice. That was the year we took back the Senate and consigned Jim Jeffords, the opportunist weasel, to the back bench where he belongs.
(I never thought I'd ever use "paradigm" in a sentence without laughing!)
They wouldn't be listening anyway. Besides, I love hearing know-it-alls admit they're clueless over and over for weeks on end.
I agree. Let the left-wing continue to "not get it" on their own time, thank you very much.
I agree with the poster on above you. This is getting out of hand. Sometimes I get a haircut that may cost me $200 and sometimes I go to an overpriced trendy restaurant. These labels are truly getting out of hand.
Hi Sugarland, Memorial here. I will never get tired of hearing the elites say that President Bush was elected by mouth breathing, booger picking morons in flyover country because as long as they are saying that, it means they haven't figured it out yet. That's great!
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