Paul Waldman has a very nice column on the bizarre spectacle of multimillionaire television journalists adopting faux working-class personae.
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Keeping It Real
15 Apr 2008 04:36 pm
Comments (14)
Seems like as good a place as any to offer my favorite quotation from Eugene V. Debs:
"If you go to the city of Washington, and you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of Congress, and misrepresentatives of the masses — you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks."
Wow, also check out the deeply stupid batch of comments which that column has generated.
Just as a gag, Obama should immediately purchase a Texas ranch and start spending his weekends clearing brush and smoking gophers dressed as Al Qaeda out of their holes.
Matthews, Russert, et. al., use their dopey, outdated, Northeastern/blue-collar/white-ethnic stereotypes to heap more condescension on the "middle class" in a single afternoon than an platoon of mis-speaking Obamas could in a lifetime.
Steven Colbert's grandfather was a goat ball licker.
Just saying.
That Russert and Matthews and their ilk feel the need to pretend they are at heart members and therefore on the side of the working class is at least encouraging. We have conspicuous consumption, but we also have elites masquerading as regular folk so as not to offend, and incur the political wrath, of such folk.
Of course, Russert's and Matthews' posturing is either patronizing or self-deluded (and maybe these guys are weird enough to pull off both at the same time), but they're both also balls-out stupid, and you can't list all their faults everytime you talk about them.
That Russert and Matthews and their ilk feel the need to pretend they are at heart members and therefore on the side of the working class is at least encouraging. We have conspicuous consumption, but we also have elites masquerading as regular folk so as not to offend, and incur the political wrath, of such folk.
Of course, Russert's and Matthews' posturing is either patronizing or self-deluded (and maybe these guys are weird enough to pull off both at the same time), but they're both also balls-out stupid, and you can't list all their faults everytime you talk about them.
That Russert and Matthews and their ilk feel the need to pretend they are at heart members and therefore on the side of the working class is at least encouraging. We have conspicuous consumption, but we also have elites masquerading as regular folk so as not to offend, and incur the political wrath, of such folk.
Of course, Russert's and Matthews' posturing is either patronizing or self-deluded (and maybe these guys are weird enough to pull off both at the same time), but they're both also balls-out stupid, and you can't list all their faults everytime you talk about them.
Why are there so many idiots commenting over there?
Somebody found a Bill Clinton statement from back in 1991 that is eerily similar to Obama's "bitter" statement.
Compare the two statements.
Bill Clinton Flashback: "All These Economically Insecure White People...Are Scared To Death"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/13/bill-clinton-flashback-al_n_96433.html
What does a trust-fund scumbag like Matt know about the difference between authentic working class values and so-called "blue-collar chic?"
Just kidding.
Both the article and the inevitable comments underscore what a deeply insecure country we live in. Or maybe the whole world is like that. Everyone eying everyone else's status, and wondering how they'll be perceived.
"Chris Matthews is, to use a precise, clinical, term, a loon.
Posted by Will Allen | April 15, 2008 4:55 PM"
I prefer to call Matthews nucking futs, but that's just me. Anyone who screams at a subordinate "I'm not just some rape victim that will just sit here and take it" has a few issues he needs working out.
Comments closed April 29, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Chris Matthews is, to use a precise, clinical, term, a loon.
Posted by Will Allen | April 15, 2008 4:55 PM