Morning Rant

Being a rebellious Tea Party type, I'm getting really sick of The Ruling Class telling me what's what.  First it was Trump, and now Cain.  One more, and there will be a verifiable pattern in which whoever piques the interest of The People is automatically disqualified by our "superior thinkers" (emphasis on superior).

The FOX/Luntz focus group came to the Republican debate last night with only one person supporting Herman Cain.  By the end, all 29 unanimously declared him the winner.  But hold on, it is not to be.  John Podhoretz, writing at contentions, makes the superior declaration: Cain is nothing but "a novelty act."  

He then proceeds to shove Pawlenty down our throats:

The real question is whether Tim Pawlenty did well enough to interest the big-dollar givers and bundlers he needs to help his campaign start to build momentum.

 

The only problem, John, is that no one likes Pawlenty! 

Now I don't mind the difference of opinion.  What I mind is the punditry's apparent utter lack of curiosity about the voters, the heartland, the actual people who make this country work -- the ones who drive trucks, fix fences, nurse the sick, grow and sell vegetables, deliver the mail, dig coal, put out fires, devote themselves to improving their county's water pipes and sidewalks, go to church on Sundays, feel obliged and proud to serve in the military, know their U.S. history (and expect you to know it as well) and in all good humor, live and preserve the values that once distinguished America.  I mind that a unanimous focus group can be so easily and summarily dismissed.

I should admit that when I lived in New York my "community" was a mix of artists and academics, and in Boulder I knew mostly lefty loafers, dilletantes, dabblers and exercise aficionados. These were both valuable life experiences and I don't regret them in the least, but I feel like I didn't know much about America until I moved back to West Virginia -- where I was born and from which I fled at first chance, in search of something I assumed would be "more and better."

It's surely not anyone's "fault" if they haven't had such an experience, if they're unfamiliar with the heart[hinter]land. However at a time like this, when the country faces enormous threats from within and without, you would think that our thinkers would be curious, would look deep, would feel less than secure at the "top" of a society that is convulsing, topsy turvy. But they seem so convinced of themselves that they feel no need to stop, look or listen before expounding the Same Old politics that got us into this mess in the first place. They seem not to have learned anything... lately.

The People are fed up, beyond belief.  They will not be handed another McCain, nor simply delivered to the Next Loser in Line. We are not Big-D Democrats who placidly accept annointments by a bunch of self-determined "Super Delegates" and we are not content to march in lock-step over the nearest cliff.  In my limited experience, conservatives are not top-down kind of folks. Nor should we be.

The conservative elite will have to approach its grassroots with a greater measure of interest and respect or risk being left behind, as we are just about out of patience.  

As for Pawlenty, he is milquetoast and The People are not of an appetite for it.  If you want us to do the legwork, to make the phone calls and shlep door-to-door for the Republican nominee, then you'd better get with the program... or all will be lost. Again.

 

 

:-? x 0.5

 

West-Cain or Cain-West? That is the question. Because burning the race card once and for all would leave the Left speechless. Then, and maybe only then, could we talk about JOBS, the Economy, winning wars... and the content of one's character.

 

NOTE: Interaction and conversation online is often done without being able to see the faces of the other parties. By using Emoticons one can convey a humorous slant to an otherwise serious statement. A smiley such as :P may be used to signal jocularity and has been called the tongue-in-cheek symbol.The expression may be denoted more graphically with forms such as :-? or :-J.

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Yael -- absolutely wonderful post. I wish I had something intelligent to add to it, but you've said everything that can be said. I'll contribute only two notes: (1) I'm a sucker for alliteration, so I fervently wish I had written the "dilettantes, dabblers" pairing; (2) As I watched last night's debate, it occurred to me -- since I'm also a sucker for puns -- that we may yet see this GOP bumper-sticker: CAIN IS ABLE!

[Rick Richman]

I can't improve the post or the comment; I would just note that Sarah Palin was subjected to similar treatment by both the Democratic and Republican elite, and but for her connection to the heartland it is unlikely the Republicans would have done as well as they did in 2010.

[scp]

I draw no conclusions, and neither should you--at least not yet. But this situation may be worth watching (as exacerbating other inflationary pressures)-- TEXAS: "On an average year, Texas farmers will produce 100 million bushels of wheat, but this year it looks like it's going to be a third of that, he said." Read more at http://agfax.com/Content/texas-agrilife-today-crop-weather-report-wildfires-still-spreading-and-wheat-still-deteriorating-04192011.aspx OKLAHOMA: "The sixty seven million bushel wheat crop is a major reduction from the 126 million bushel crop of a year ago in Oklahoma, although wheat prices that could be double that of wheat harvest of 2010 could ease the pain as long as you have at least some wheat to sell." Read more at http://www.oklahomafarmreport.com/wire/news/2011/05/00484_OkWheatCropEstimate05042011_132118.php KANSAS: "Participants on the annual Wheat Quality Council’s hard winter wheat tour forecast Kansas production at 256.7 million bus in 2011, down 23% from 333.5 million bus forecast by tour members in 2010. . . The low estimate for 2011 was the result of drought in southwestern portions of Kansas. Dry conditions also have reduced production prospects in nearby states. Tour participants forecast winter wheat production in Texas between 40 million and 50 million bus (U.S.D.A. 127.5 million bus in 2010), Oklahoma around 67.7 million bus (U.S.D.A. 120.9 million), Colorado 73 million to 79 million bus (U.S.D.A. 105.75 million) and Nebraska 63 million to 64 million bus (U.S.D.A. 64.1 million)." Read more at: http://www.blackseagrain.net/about-ukragroconsult/news-bsg/u.s.-wheat-tour-forecasts-kansas-crop-at-256.7-million-bus MINNESOTA: "Production of corn in the U.S., the world's largest grain exporter, dropped 4.9 percent last year and will leave supply before the 2011 harvest at the lowest in 15 years, the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday." Read more at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/01/12/crop-outlook/

[scp]

PSALM 127:1-2 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh /but/ in vain. /It is/ vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: /for/ so he giveth his beloved sleep.