What "elitist" means to me.

[The Backlash Cometh]

It's a class that has distinguished itself in some way. Some elitist groups will be good, and some will be bad. To assume they're all bad is to get hung up on the word. It reminds me of what a politician could do decades ago when the population wasn't as educated as it is today. He could stand up on a soapbox and claim his opponent's sister is a thespian and his opponent exhibits pedagogist behavior, and that alone would win him some votes.

So why are people now recoiling at the word, "elitist?" You know the Clintons were called elitist by the Republicans in the 90s. And when the Republicans came into power, they had no trouble passing themselves off as a superior, elite group that knew how to cut through the red tape to get things done, and of course, deserved rich rewards for their management accomplishments. They acted like bosshogs, which, by definition, are elitist. It means a socially superior group or a powerful minority group. That defines Bush's inner circle.

I understood what Obama was saying about small town America, because something has happened to small town America in the last fifteen to twenty years. Obama's observations are timely, yet his remarks are years ahead of their time. Someone had to say it to open a discussion in an area that many would prefer to be left alone because it helps maintain the status quo. However, no one could say it without receiving a backlash for it. Thus, "elitist" would do as good as any other criticism.

But when he said it, Obama showed his leadership in a way that no Clinton could. I don't think Bill would have said it if he thought the polls were not there to support the comment and they never will be. There is a lot of duplicity in this country, duplicity which most people will not look at and examine until they're forced to. If Obama wins the primary, he will open discussion in areas that will make many people feel uncomfortable at first. It will be like seeing the first interracial kiss on t.v. and that scares people. But if Obama is the candidate for change, it means that he will force this country to take a good, long, hard look at itself and that is timely because we are almost through the first decade of the 21st Century and we are already handicapped because the last president took the traditional, conservative approach to its fullest berth and the results have made us more stagnant than ever.

[Warpy]

1. Smug conservatives are the worst elitists of all

because they've been going around for so many years with that "family values" crap and beating us over the head with their bibles when they couldn't define the former or tell us what's actually in the latter.

We're about to find out they're as empty and vapid as any other elitist group has ever been, people who look like they're living the good life because they're up to their earlobes in debt, basically parasiting off a bad system and incapable of living within their means.

If pride goeth before a fall, theirs is going to be a dilly.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. That's what I call the phony elitists.

Of which there are plenty in Florida. They try to dumb down the system so they can circumvent a fair and honest process, and then when they have accumulated enough money to qualify as community leaders or pillars of the community, they look down their noses at everyone else who didn't game the system the way they did. As if the shortcuts they took make them an authority on anything, least of all, family values.

[cynatnite]

3. To me elitist means...

Buffy and Trevor sipping champagne on a yacht lamenting about the sub-par caviar the butler brought them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Yet, Al Gore was called an elitist, and you know what they meant was that

his level of education and intelligence made him stand out above the common man. Which, as Jon Stewart mentioned on his show, is just the kind of person we should want as president to represent us in the world arena.

There's no question that the word "elite" triggers different images in different people. Al Gore is far removed from Buffy and Scooter. So, in that way, it's a very clever word to use against an opponent, because everybody has their own idea of what it means.

[zbdent]

5. do you mean, like, a guy who does 3 hours of work a day and has

a ten year, $25,000,000 a year salary?

Oh, and he gets a tap on the wrist for violating the drug laws that his party championed?