John Kerry once again lashes out at the hoi polloi: “It’s absurd. We’ve lost our minds. We’re in a period of know-nothingism in the country, where truth and science and facts don’t weigh in. It’s all short-order, lowest-common-denominator, cheap-seat politics.”
This comes after earlier John Kerry comments that “we have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on, so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening” — and reminds us of the 2004 blurt about George W. Bush, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this idiot,” which was itself a bookend to the later 2006 put-down, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Here we have a synopsis of the modern technocratic mindset, oozing with condescension and petulant about the inability of the masses to appreciate their genius. The rejoinder from the despised Tea Party would, of course, be something like, “Hmmm, we may not be zillionaire U.S. senators, but none of us would be stupid enough to buy a $7 million play yacht in the midst of a recession and then try to avoid paying the government $500,000 in excise and property taxes on the sale — while calling for higher taxes on others.”
What the Tea Party is about, among many things, is a fury at political elites who talk down to taxpayers and fail to abide by the rules and protocols they think others must embrace. In that context, Kerryism is simply a convenient window into the world of a tax-dodging Treasury Secretary Geithner; the contorted sermons by Obama about a frightened electorate, captive to its emotions and lashing out against his agenda in irrational ways; the constant refrains against the “rich” juxtaposed with the serial golf outings and Michelle’s Costa del Sol/Martha’s Vineyard vacationing; and the disconnect between, say, Al Gore’s green world for us, and Al Gore’s own world of mansions and private jetting, or John Edwards’s mansion playroom set against John’s two nations of rich against poor.
Only a head injury sustained while wind surfing can explain John Kerry's spectacular disconnect wit the American populace.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnother of Kerry's points was Republican obstructionism - the vastly higher number of filibusters in the Senate in recent years. At first glance that seems like a reasonable criticism. But what it really illustrates is the almost pathological determination of the President and the democratic Congress to not do the compromise and horse trading that is necessary to move their agenda forward in steps that can peel off enough minority party votes to pass. That's Politics 101. They are failing and the report card will be issued on November 2.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseProbably not all that different from the attitude that Thomas Hutchinson, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, might have displayed upon hearing about the original Tea Party!
These colonists are so . . . gauche!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseKnow what's great about the great unwashed? They know how to pronounce "corpsman".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSigh. It was so easy being a leftist political pharisee 30 to 40 years ago. Used to be the newspapers and the 3 networks were in their pockets. As well as that "Public" (haha) TV network. After all, "limousine liberals" were effectively a rumor - rarely were you allowed to actually see the limousines.
These days with talk radio, the internet, and scatey-eight hundred cable channels, it's a free market free-for-all. It's like living under a microscope 365 x 24 x 7. People have access to an overwhelming amount of information and you know what? Their just not buying what the Democrats are selling. Demagogy, hypocrisy and cynicism as political tactics are just not as effective as they used to be.
Normal people using common sense make good decisions. I can get on the internet and do very effective research on what car is best for my family, the best way to grow tomatoes, what college to send my child to, which toothpaste to buy, how to reduce my expenses, how to improve my job prospects... Think I can research which political candidate to vote for? Think I can form an opinion as to which political philosophy aligns most closely with common sense?
You betcha!!
I LOVE that phrase - it sends Leftists into a frothing, apoplectic fit! Thank you, Sarah Palin!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseKerry's remarks apply perfectly to what the President is doing, with his encouragement of identity-based politics (Latinos voting to punish their enemies, etc.). Ditto the remarks about slogans; "Yes We Can" is another perfect example.
As far as not looking to science for answers, they aren't bringing science to the table. The global climate change alarmism is fueled by conclusions reached after cherry-picking data (overlooking the Medieval Warm Period, for instance) and massaging the non-conforming data points to fit a preconceived notion. They show no math for how many solar panels and wind farms it will take to convert the country to renewable sources, nor a plan for how to deal with the batteries when they are no longer usable. Let them convert a high-rise slum in New York, as a pilot project, then we'll talk.
Are they disappointed that the people are not samrt enough or wise enough to appreciate them? The mission of government is nowhere defined as perfecting the populace. It was stated, in the Constitution, to "form a more perfect union". (Not a labor union, by the way.) A union between people has to cope with the flaws of each person and make allowances, not insist that each participant become flawless.
So when the ruling class complains about people not getting with the program, and sounding rather petulant that we hoi polloi fail to bestow them with adequate lauds and honors for investing their precious time in improving our lives, I say: stop trying to help. Kerry should go take his yacht for a spin with a bunch of his pals, maybe look for a place where the natives are primitive enough to think them godlike, and give them the blind obedience they apparently crave.
Most of us in the USA aren't looking for government to save us, on their terms. We just want them to stop restricting and regulating us to the point where we have no choices anymore. The smug air of superiority doesn't go over well, either.
But if the goal is to have the government done by the intelligentsia, tell the President and Congress to start packing. I, for one, have a rated IQ higher than Obama's, and I am willing to move to DC. And yes, I am a conservative. After four years, I would leave.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePutting aside the whole 'elitisim' argument for a second, the issue is really very simple.
Sen. Kerry and his ilk choose to ignore the fact that WE the American people are the boss around here.
It is NOT the other way around.
As Lincoln said "Government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people"
Mr. Kerry does NOT meet any of those criteria...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd surprise, surprise; according to Slate, John Kerry has the single biggest ego in Congress. External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePotshots?
Isn't this the same Senator Kerry that would close stump speeches back in 2004 with: "We're coming, you're going, and don't let the door hit you on the way out".
How nuanced.
How parenthetical.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAl Gore left his limousine runnning for an hour while he was speaking in Sweden this week. According to the news source, leaving an auto running for more than 60 seconds is a crime in that country. As you say Doctor, the rules, and apparently protecting the environment, are for the little people.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what's happening..."
You mean like "hope and change?"
Kerry's right about an "electorate that doesn't pay much attention to what's going on," he's just 180 degrees off-base as to which side of the aisle they vote for.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what's happening..."
You mean like "hope and change?"
Kerry's right about an "electorate that doesn't pay much attention to what's going on," he's just 180 degrees off-base as to which side of the aisle they vote for.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseClueless. What a dinosaur! This must be what French aristocrats were telling each other just before the Bastille fell. Dems can't answer the Tea Party arguments so they pretend there aren't any.
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