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Palin, Plumbers, and Polarization (Interesting Lefty piece)
Atlantic ^ | 11/4/08 | Ross Douthat

Posted on 11/04/2008 1:23:03 PM PST by pissant

Chris Caldwell, on class and the election:

--------------------------------

... the Palin pick was the electoral equivalent of an atomic bomb. It was one of those tactics that turns into a strategy. What the Palin pick did was to unleash a latent class tension in American life and turn the two parties, previously somewhat socially mixed, into vehicles of social classes. Prominent intellectuals who once leaned rightward sorted themselves into the Obama camp. So did most north-eastern Republicans. The party has focused on its proletarian rump. Rallies have grown more strident, with howls of 'Communist!' when Obama's name is mentioned. McCain singled out an Ohio man -- 'Joe the Plumber' -- who had buttonholed Obama as he canvassed his neighbourhood. Soon McCain and Palin were building a following of tradesmen with sobriquets out of children's books: Tito the Builder, Suzanne the Sandwich-Maker. There have been a lot of books lately urging Republicans to think more about the interests of their lower-middle-class base. That is a problem that is going to take care of itself.

The Democrats are now the partisan home of the upper crust of the American meritocracy, of the credentialled classes, the classes that believe every endeavour is some variety of IQ test.

(Excerpt) Read more at rossdouthat.theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: badanalysis; gop; palin
Douthat: "It certainly didn't take care of itself in this election: Instead, you had a lot of posturing from the Republican ticket about how the GOP is the more proletarian party, joined to very little substance addressed to the actual interests of lower-middle-class voters."

What Mr. Douthat does not grasp is that conservatives, whether they are rich, or "lower middle class" DO NOT WANT ANYTHING FROM the government. They want, just as wealthy conservatives do, the following:

1) Stay the F*** out of our hair
2) Stay within the bounds of the constitution
3) Take less of our hard earned money
4) Respect tradition and history
5) Keep out of the political correctness business
6) Win our wars
7) Quit social engineering
8) Cut spending and slash the size of government
9) Do what is required, but do it WELL
10)Quit catering to no citizens
11)No wasting money on global warming and other enviro-nazi wetdreams.

1 posted on 11/04/2008 1:23:04 PM PST by pissant
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To: pissant

Interesting that they blame Palin and Joe for Obama outing himself as a socialist. And that they don’t think Obama and his minions constant reference to race was a divide. Democrats just can’t get near the truth.


2 posted on 11/04/2008 1:26:51 PM PST by nclaurel
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To: pissant

Oh really! I think not!


3 posted on 11/04/2008 1:31:28 PM PST by mtnwmn (mtnwmn)
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To: nclaurel

And Democrats never mention Obama’s friend and mentor, Ayers the Bomber.


4 posted on 11/04/2008 1:35:24 PM PST by TAdams8591 (McCain/Palin ' 08 (Obama IS a socialist!))
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To: pissant

Love the list——it’s right on target. If any political party actually lived by those points, they’d stay in office forever.


5 posted on 11/04/2008 1:37:29 PM PST by Wonder Warthog ( The Hog of Steel)
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To: mtnwmn

Well Chris Caldwell I’m see you class tension ain’t latent “The party has focused on its proletarian rump.” Best watch who you’re calling a rump, boy.


6 posted on 11/04/2008 1:37:48 PM PST by dblshot
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To: mtnwmn

Well Chris Caldwell I’m see your class tension ain’t latent “The party has focused on its proletarian rump.” Best watch who you’re calling a rump, boy.


7 posted on 11/04/2008 1:39:54 PM PST by dblshot
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To: pissant

“Prominent intellectuals who once leaned rightward”

Where did most “prominent intellectuals” “once” lean “rightward”?????

I am 60 years old and that never existed in my lifetime.

The vast majority of all “prominent intellectuals” has always been lefties!!!!


8 posted on 11/04/2008 1:43:24 PM PST by Wuli
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To: pissant
"The party has focused on its proletarian rump. Rallies have grown more strident, with howls of 'Communist!'"

That's socialist you pompous ass, or better yet, Marxist. Nothing worse that someone too stupid to see that they're not in the least bit clever.

9 posted on 11/04/2008 2:01:20 PM PST by cake_crumb (Obama paid ACORN to steal the election for him)
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To: Wuli

The “intellectual” as a concept is an artifact of the enlightenment project attempting to separate public affairs from metaphysics. It goes without saying that people dedicated to excluding consideration of morality from the public square have an a priori agenda.

One need only examine the careers of academic churchmen like Mendel or Lemaître to see how that agenda trumps pretensions of academic neutrality.


10 posted on 11/04/2008 3:07:20 PM PST by Philo-Junius (One precedent creates another. They soon accumulate and constitute law.)
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To: Philo-Junius

You are soooo right, and thanks for the “enlightenment” /humor not sarcasm


11 posted on 11/04/2008 3:21:30 PM PST by Wuli
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