The Curious Appeal of Phony Populism [Rudy retread troll - barf alert]

The New Republic ^ | 4/27/07 | Noam Schieber

[dirtboy]

Hi.

Bye.

[stockpirate]

How about the phony Democrat rich?

[SmithL]

Need some cheese with that whine?

[Moose4]

You forgot the barf alert.

Although there may be something to it, but not what this snide little weasel thinks. Bush, and Thompson, and many others like them, still come across as regular guys because they are grounded in the values that make regular guys...well...regular. Faith in God and country and hard work and individualism. Yeah, maybe the stunt with the truck is hokey, but it gets a valid point across—”I think the same way you do.”

Jean Francois Kerree couldn’t be a “regular guy” if he tried.

}:-)4

[Carry_Okie]

Might as well hear where the enemy is going attack him.

[dirtboy]

So far, they ain’t doing too good. They seem to forget Fred wasn’t born into wealth or position.

[Petronski]

He was about as close to being a salt-of-the-earth Southerner as Truman Capote...

Lost me right there.

This hit piece is not just a turd, it's a twin-coiled Cleveland steamer.

[Petronski]

A hit piece for the pinglist.

[Rocko]

Having sharpened their knives, the New Republic libs attempt to slice bits of hide from the GOP’s dark horse.

[Carry_Okie]

So far, they ain’t doing too good.

Correct. If this is where they have to go to have dirt to throw, it's a good sign.

[claudiustg]

It’s called immunization. We pre-trash our candidate to stymy the trash mongers.

[Minn]

Apparently Tom Frank never stopped to consider that the good voters of Kansas have morals and don’t necessarily vote for whichever politician promises to steal the most from their neighbors and deliver the booty to them. Or maybe they have brains and understand that egalitarian, redistributionist schemes make us all poorer in the not-to-long run. Or maybe they just don't like one of their main cities being the late-term abortion capital of the world.

There Mr. Frank. Answered your stupid question that took you a whole book to ask in one short paragraph.

[The Blitherer]

Wait, that's it?!? I was expecting something a little...I don't know...harsher? juicier? from the New Republic.

Common guys, I'm sure you can do better than that!

[redhead]

"Again, there is much to be said for this analysis. Had every story written about the 1994 Tennessee Senate race begun, "High-priced Washington bag-man Fred Thompson, speaking from the red pickup truck he rented to shore up his populist credentials, announced yesterday that ..." the outcome might have been different. On the other hand, it's hard to believe the average Tennessee voter didn't know Thompson had long since ditched his back-country lifestyle for the more cosmopolitan climes of Washington and Hollywood. (His opponent certainly didn't hesitate to remind them.) Likewise, it's hard to believe voters didn't make the connection between the ranch-dwelling George Bush who ran for president in 2000 and the preppie establishmentarian George Bush who'd occupied the White House eight years earlier."

And, it's just as hard to believe that the people who write this stuff actually BELIEVE we are too stoopid to pour p*ss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel.

I know some people who would fall for the "populism" front, but I know even MORE people who are quite familiar with the performance and history of the candidates, and who really pay attention. Slime pieces like this get lots of press, but don't have much credibility in the real world. But they make the True Believers simply salivate with glee.

[kjo]

I used to read the New Republic; don’t anymore. Not since Steven Glass and his fake articles were unmasked. Don’t believe anything you read in it. It’s nothing but a leftwing screed.

[Jim Robinson]

retread Rudy troll zotted

[FormerLib]

LOL! I LOVE articles like this that prove how absolutely clueless the Left really is!

But if the author wants to investiage some more “false populism,” I’d recommend he look into the Sen. and Mrs. Edwards eating their anniversary dinner at Wendy’s...with a photo crew in tow!

But I wonder if it’s cruel to laugh at Leftists considering how stupid they are and all.

[marron]

The difference between you and the first kind of rich person is a vast cultural chasm. The only difference between you and the second kind of rich person is a chunk of cash, albeit a hefty one... if you were rich, you'd want to be the same kind of phony

He almost gets it, but not quite.

He thinks that being rich and effete is authentic, and being rich and being me is phony. He thinks if you're rich and you're against abortion, you're clearly faking it. He thinks that a guy who is rich who espouses the same values I do is a fraud.

A guy like Kerry, there aren't many moments in the day when he isn't faking it. Most of us got his number right away. But of course our political opposition to him wasn't based on his phoniness, it was his sincere political convictions, few though they may be. Our lack or respect for him is rooted in his phoniness, but we vote against him because of what he does stand for.

It never occurs to someone like Schieber that if you believe in God, and if that belief actually affects the way you see the world, you aren't faking anything. Give a guy like that a ton of money, or rather, give a guy like that the opportunity to build a fortune, and though his toys get more expensive, he remains essentially the same man inside.

[rdb3]

This hit piece is not just a turd, it's a twin-coiled Cleveland steamer.

Hey! But I'll let it go for some spare change.