Let’s face what’s behind it all: the wealthy Left in this country absolutely despises lower middle-class white people. Paula Jones and Sarah Palin get trashed relentlessly, but Kathleen Willey (with the high cheekbones and good breeding) and Caroline Kennedy are spared.
It’s hard to admit when you pose as defenders of the working class. But that’s reality.
**in what parallel universe would Sarah Palin be considered lower middle class? **
You are correct, of course, that Sarah Palin is not lower middle class. However, if I had to I know I can dredge up several posts from this forum where she was referred to as “white trash” and was made up to sound as if she were lower middle class. At that time it was a pretty good idea to make her out to be an incapable hick.
I want to be sure that you understand that I am not accusing you, personally, of having called Sarah Palin white trash or compared her to lower middle class. I am only saying that some of OUR fellow LR posters have done that. If you need me to pull them out and reference them, let me know.
Class is about a lot more than income – particularly recent income. It’s more about what you were raised with, whether you went to fancy colleges, etc. Upper middle class and upper class people in this country rarely have strong regional accents (New York and Boston being the most common exceptions).
I want to throw a really crazy idea out there. It’s not ideological (I think the right has done it with Hillary Clinton too), but I think it’s worth pondering…
I seriously wonder if there isn’t something hard-coded into primate behavior about outgroup (particularly low-status) women. One of the things Jane Goodall observed was that chimps would viciously attack outgroup females that wandered into their territory. In fact these were some of the most brutal attacks she ever observed. They were far more vicious than attacks on any other category, even outgroup males.
Now look at humans. Many of the most notorious serial murders have been on outgroup or low status (prostitute) women. Just something to think about…
To make this bipartisan, I would note the Republicans’ irrational obsession with Hillary Clinton. From an objective comparison of ideology and behavior, someone like Joe Biden or John Edwards should earn a lot more scorn than Hillary, but for some reason they don’t.
Yeah, i can see that now that I think about it more. Old money is more “posh” than new money. I thought maybe it had more to do with which state she was coming from than anything else. People seem to have a very skewed view of people from certain parts of the country/other countries.
Heck, we can even go international with this: the Left in England was totally obsessed with Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a grocer, even though posh figures like Michael Heseltine were much more ideological.
having called Sarah Palin white trash or compared her to lower middle class
The only people I can recall (outside of ST) who did this were McCain’s own campaign staff when they referred to her and her husband as being “Wasilla hillbillies”. Not sure how the Left is responsible for this perception.
having called Sarah Palin white trash or compared her to lower middle class
The only people I can recall (outside of ST) who did this were McCain’s own campaign staff when they referred to her and her husband as being “Wasilla hillbillies”. Not sure how the Left is responsible for this perception.
Try Heather Malick of the CBC, who actually used those words.
Most American rich liberals, like NYT columnists, Dowd, Warner et al, are discreet enough to avoid the actual words. They saw the reaction to James Carville referring to Paula Jones that way. So instead they employ a little more artifice: they run columns like Warner’s where she attends a Palin rally and accounts for it like it’s an anthropological expedition among uncivilized barbarians. Warner, BTW, who epitomizes the rich liberal, drove her $90,000 imported SUV to the rally.
having called Sarah Palin white trash or compared her to lower middle class
The only people I can recall (outside of ST) who did this were McCain’s own campaign staff when they referred to her and her husband as being “Wasilla hillbillies”. Not sure how the Left is responsible for this perception.
Try Heather Malick of the CBC, who actually used those words.
Who is Heather Malick? How many people listen to and/or watch the CBC? Is it part of the “liberal media”? I did read several reports from various sources (not all of them “liberal media”) of people on Senator McCain’s staff making the “Wasilla Hillbillies” reference.
Who is Heather Malick? How many people listen to and/or watch the CBC? Is it part of the “liberal media”? I did read several reports from various sources (not all of them “liberal media”) of people on Senator McCain’s staff making the “Wasilla Hillbillies” reference.
Funny. My computer has google. Doesn’t yours? While you’re at it, try some of these others:
Katha Pollitt of the “Nation”
Sandra Bernhard - who likes to think Palin will be gang-raped (I’m serious, this is how weird the Left has gotten about her). Her show plays to adoring audiences from wealthy Georgetown and the upper East-side. A lot of the Liberal press loves her – calls her act “enraged optimism”
What I like about McCain is that to the left he is right and the right he is left. Makes me giggle. The only thing I will say in his defense is that all this talk about his houses are shitty. We can make a long list of Democrats with tons oh cash.
rich liberal, drove her $90,000 imported SUV to the rally.
Similar to the rich conservative who has so many homes he can’t remember.
The difference is, he doesn’t go around belittling servicemen and people who have less wealth than he does.
Wealth has nothing to do with it. Idiocy does. Paris Hilton has more money than anyone in politics, and she gets belittled just as much (to counter your “only white trash gets criticised” argument). And rightly so, because she, too, is an idiot. The whole wealth, gender, accent, upbringing and whatever nonsense is a red herring to distract from the fact that Sarah Palin was and remains unqualified to be VP.
Plenty of people go to six colleges before settling on a journalism major. Plenty of people don’t know about Supreme Court rulings. Plenty of people don’t show an interest in foreign affairs. They just don’t claim to be qualified to be Vice President or higher.
The whole wealth, gender, accent, upbringing and whatever nonsense is a red herring to distract from the fact that Sarah Palin was and remains unqualified to be VP.
Not at all. I started out by agreeing to her being a poor choice. It’s now a completely pointless and uninteresting issue, since the American electorate has already spoken decisively on the subject, and she is no longer running for VP.
What is interesting is the pathology of the Left’s obsession with her. And why they apply a very different standard to, like, you know, um Caroline Kennedy.
The whole wealth, gender, accent, upbringing and whatever nonsense is a red herring to distract from the fact that Sarah Palin was and remains unqualified to be VP.
Not at all. I started out by agreeing to her being a poor choice. It’s now a completely pointless and uninteresting issue, since the American electorate has already spoken decisively on the subject, and she is no longer running for VP.
What is interesting is the pathology of the Left’s obsession with her. And why they apply a very different standard to, like, you know, um Caroline Kennedy.
It’s not an obsession. Like I said, if she went away, nobody on the left would say a word about her. She just won’t go away, and she deserves a slap-down every time she rears her dirty-librarian head. Unfortunately, her ego and ambition demands that she listen to the far-right fringe who think she is competent. Caroline Kennedy? She’s an empty suit. One big difference between the two is that one of them hasn’t ad nauseum claimed to be something she is not.
