Mika Brzezinski's "real Americans" elitism

[babylonsister]

Mika Brzezinski's "real Americans" elitism
Jamison Foser
26 minutes ago



Even after landslide victories for the Democrats in the 2008 and 2006 elections (not to mention the fact that a Democrat has won the popular vote in four of the past five presidential elections), MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski still insists that "real Americans" are conservative. Brzezinski says the fact that she is (nominally) progressive and works in New York makes her claim more credible. In fact, it may explain why she is so wrong. She claims to identify elitism, but she actually displays it.

During Monday's Morning Joe -- where, according to Howard Kurtz, Brzezinski provides liberal balance to former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough -- Brzezinski said of Sarah Palin:

BRZEZINSKI: People were coming to those rallies because they agree with her. Look at the polls out there. Look where people stand on life. Look where real Americans think and you will find -- no -- you will find that in the, you know, god I hate to say it, but in the cities where there are a little bit more liberal elite populations, you are not going to find what is representative of America. And there was a lot more to her than fascination.

That comment prompted a great deal of criticism of Brzezinski, which she dismissed on Wednesday: "If you guys don't understand what I'm saying ... please."

The first problem is that Brzezinski apparently doesn't understand what she was saying. Describing rural conservatives who agree with Palin as the "real Americans" quite obviously implies that progressives, city-dwellers, and those who don't care for Palin are not real Americans. That isn't simply a random, inconsequential poor choice of words. For decades, liberals have been smeared and marginalized by conservatives -- and many journalists -- as insufficiently American, insufficiently patriotic, and insufficiently "normal." Whether or not it was her intention, Brzezinski's comment played into longstanding stereotypes that are as inaccurate as they are mean-spirited.

Even if Brzezinski is somehow unaware of that history -- and it's hard to believe someone who hosts a three-hour television show about politics every day could possibly be unaware of it -- she certainly must be able to understand the problem with suggesting that urban liberals are not "real Americans." After all, it's safe to assume she would never dare say that rural evangelical conservatives are not "real Americans."

But Brzezinski repeatedly defended her comments by asserting that Palin's views are shared by many Americans. Of course they are. Nobody doubts that. Brzezinski wasn't criticized for saying many people agree with Palin; she was criticized for saying real Americans agree with Palin -- and thus implying that if you don't agree with Palin, you aren't a real American. Is it even possible that Brzezinski doesn't understand this?

more...

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200907100029

[polichick]

1. In spite of good genes, Mika B is a pinhead. Even after reading this article...

...she wouldn't get it.

[depakid]

2. Sometimes, the fruit does fall far from the tree

[glowing]

3. Mika makes me ashamed to be a woman sometimes. Maybe they can

just shove her and Palin and that one from the view on some coffee clatch show on Fox.

[earthboundmisfit]

4. Mika is beginning to remind me of

Elizabeth Hasselhoff.

[babylonsister]

5. Would that be David's wife? Daughter? Or this

whackadoo? Hasselbeck? :)

[earthboundmisfit]

7. Oh hell! Of course Hasselbeck fer cryin' out loud!

Thanks, Babylonsister.
Senile-ly yours,
earthboundmisfit

:P

[burning rain]

8. Nice pic of Lis with her dad.

.

[Dr.Phool]

6. Apparently, Mika's only purpose is to serve as eye candy for an idiot.

Who would watch Morning Joe by himself? She rarely gets to talk, and when she does, she's talked over.

And her pappy was pretty conservative, himself. Although smarter than anybody else that succeeded him as National Security Adviser, The whole Afghanistan debacle started with him. And he's proud of it.

[Kahuna]

9. That was the final nail in the MJ coffin for me. It seems Mika has a bunch

of redneck relatives in PA, and she bases her whole "real American" belief on what her redneck relatives believe. No more MJ for me.