They Know Better Than The Rest Of Us...

Courtesy The Tennessee Valley Angler.

Being a frequent traveler to the East Coast -- NY and DC in particular -- I'm always struck by the parochial views held by our fellow Americans...specifically those in power.

Among the more prevalent provincial notions: If you didn't attend one of the Ivys (and God help you if it wasn't one of the elite Ivys), your ideas are worth a little less, your politics are a bit less important, and your experiences are not quite as valid as someone who exists in the upper strata.

A league of their own.

So when an ordinary folk like a Reagan or Palin comes along -- someone who wasn't tapped at birth for Skull & Bones or doesn't stop for drinks at the Hawk 'n' Dove after a floor vote -- there's a resentment among the elite...even if they're on the same side.

I'm not saying Gov. Sarah Palin is the best there is...heck, like everyone else I'm still trying to figure her out. But when David Brooks writes about how much better it would be if the rubes went back to Backwater, Alaska, and leave the governing to The Smart Guys, it makes me cringe.

If you haven't noticed, Brooks and a host of other well-educated and well-heeled sophisticates haven't exactly taken us to the Promised Land. Sure, the last eight years have been a disaster due to some incompetent leadership, but there's a lot of blame to be shared all around. The politicians, the pundits, the policy wonks...the list goes on. It's a list, by the way, heavily populated with The Smart Guys.

This isn't a screed calling for the total abandonment of the East Coast Establishment. I'm just wondering if The Smart Guys back east might consider the fact that people who graduated from state schools, whose parents aren't in the social register, or who aren't fixated on rubbing elbows with other elites might have something to say -- something good -- about how this nation should be governed.

Extra: The current financial crisis...? Hmm, let's see...created by boring, naive folks from Flyover Country who "cling to their guns, religion and xenophobia," or The Smart Guys who know better than the rest of us bumpkins?

Sharpening Their Claws

Just a couple days after John McCain made history by naming Sarah Palin to be his running mate, the long knives came out.

Or should I say, the claws came out?

On Saturday, the New York Times' Gail Collins got, well, snippy (and snarky...like only a media blueblood can) in her sniping at Palin.

Gail Collins -- a woman's best friend

Likewise, the eternally bitter Maureen Dowd took her shots at Palin and showed (again) why she has become irrelevant. Once upon a time, MoDo was The Read inside the Beltway, but no more. Sure, some of the oldtimers still chortle at her little digs and puns, but she stopped being funny -- and interesting -- around the time of the Louisiana Purchase.

Maureen Dowd -- If looks could kill, we'd all be dead.

It's perfectly understandable and respectable to disagree with candidates, policies and parties...but for Susan B. Anthony's sake you'd think some people would take a minute and appreciate the fact that a woman -- for whatever reason -- has made it onto a presidential-VP ticket. Why just a few days ago we were all being told that even if we didn't agree with Barack Obama, we should all revel in the fact that a black man finally made it to the presidential slot on one of the parties' tickets (I agreed...check out the first blog below). So where's the love for Gov. Palin?

Hugh Hewitt, in addressing the early excoriations of Palin, writes, "Scan the lefty blogs and you will see furious, even unhinged, attacks on Governor Palin. Which has to mean that the Obamians are unsettled."

Unsettled, indeed.

And like cats backed into a corner, they've got their claws at the ready.

The sign reads, "Columnist will write diatribes for food."