Maybe they really mean 'snob'

Rocky Mountain News

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Since when did "elite" become a pejorative word? Hillary Rodham Clinton says she won't be swayed from her idea of a summer gasoline-tax holiday by "elite opinion," meaning the opinion of every serious economist who's looked at the proposal.

Liberal gadfly Michael Moore chides the Democrats for "doing the bidding of the corporate elite in this country." The Democratic superdelegates are said to be reluctant to intervene in the Democratic presidential race - or at least were until the primaries in Indiana and North Carolina last week - for fear of being perceived as "elite insiders."

Conservative radio talkers rattle endlessly about the depredations of the "media elite." Over the past several elections it has been a popular campaign tactic to portray an opponent as an elitist.

But as Paul Farhi of The Washington Post observed, with only slight exaggeration, in an essay on the subject, " . . . those who run for president are almost always better educated, better dressed, more telegenic, far wealthier and more articulate - all in all, drawn from an elite class - than just about every voter in the country."

The three presidential candidates are all wealthy, graduates of top colleges and members of an elite club, the U.S. Senate, limited to 100 members. Yet the Democratic race has been marked by Hillary Clinton (Yale Law) trying to portray Barack Obama (Harvard Law) as an elitist, rarefied and out of touch - she being, by implication, just simple, common folk.

The Oxford English Dictionary, the elite arbiter of the matter, defines "elite" as: "The choice part or flower (of society, or of any body or class of persons)." That would seem to be a good thing.

What is really being implied in the political context is that the targeted person is not an elitist but a snob.

"Elitist" is a weasel word, seeming to say more that it does, but there's no mistaking the meaning of "snob." The word is there for the taking. No charge.

• May 12, 2008

  7:25 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spencer writes:

  Even better, why not a "smarty-pants"?

• May 12, 2008

  7:27 a.m.

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  Froward69 writes:

  "John Sydney McCain III" says snob/elitist to me.

• May 12, 2008

  7:52 a.m.

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  Oh_Wise_One writes:

  Froward69- Then what does "Barrack Hussein Obama" say to you? The SOB went to a private HS and then Ivy league schools, he's only a candidate because he is half white.

• May 12, 2008

  8:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Tbone writes:

  Not So Wise One-

  Damn! SOB? Is that really necessary?

  Bush went to elite east-coast private high schools, then yale, then harvard.

  J. W. Sydney McCain III owns 8 houses.

• May 12, 2008

  8:46 a.m.

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  malis writes:

  hmmm...and my middle name is Lloyd (after my Grandfather, same as Obama) so, Fro and O_W_O, I suppose you both think I must be somehow involved in the design of houses in the Prairie Style?

  Somehow, I just don't see how "but the uneducated are attracted to me!" is viewed as a convincing argument.

• May 12, 2008

  9:05 a.m.

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  blacksho89 writes:

  O_W_W:

  One drop of white blood means he is white.

• May 12, 2008

  9:50 a.m.

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  airbornebigfoot writes:

  I guess that elite thing didnt mean as much to Senator McCain as he sat in the Hanoi Hilton for all those years, did it?
  At least that Senator served his country with honor.

  Did Sen.Barack Hussein Obama serve in the Military?
  Did Sen. HillBillary Clinton serve in the Military?

  I dont know how many millions Obama is worth, but
  for the clintons, 107 million dollars in income in 7 years?
  thats seams pretty elite to me.

• May 12, 2008

  10:02 a.m.

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  peterpi writes:

  What the Rocky writes about is nothing new. When Adlai Stevenson ran for president a couple of times, his opponents accused him of being an egghead, that era's term for elitist, preppie, snob. Al Gore and George HW Bush were accused of being elitist, something HW tred to resolve by eating fried pork rinds and pretending he enjoyed them.
  I know that Abraham Lincoln has been portrayed as walking 10 miles uphill each way to and from school through 10 feet of snow in July. but he was actually well educated.
  I want someone who is well-educated, has experience, is a proven leader running for president, and those people aren't going to be found bagging groceries for Wal-Mart or attaching door knobs at an auto plant for GM or Ford.

• May 12, 2008

  11:16 a.m.

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  seeingeyeseesall writes:

  AS IF - the elite haven't been running the world since time began?

  I think I'd prefer the "elite" to the mentally retarded SOB and associated crooks we've had for the past few years - and anyone who supported them.

• May 12, 2008

  11:25 a.m.

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  SASQUATCH writes:

  WHERE CAN I GET ME A HUNTIN' LICENSE?

  Elite? Snob? or Asswhole?

• May 13, 2008

  7:41 a.m.

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  jacka writes:

  Democrats, restricting oil and gas supply to the consumer for decades. Driving oil profits and bio fuel subsidies since 1992.

• May 13, 2008

  9:47 a.m.

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  outrider writes:

  I don't even know you people except from posts but I'd trust you farther than any of these cronies.

• May 13, 2008

  9:59 a.m.

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  anarchist writes:

  Sasquatch, wal-mart used to sell them, and guns, but the new PC wal-mart might no longer sell them, they did remove guns from colorado stores, but they are now elite

• May 14, 2008

  7:47 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  anarchist writes:

  bropous, sorry,I thought the subtext was towards elitists,and snobs falling into a category of disfavor with Sas, and I would add most PC politicians for My own list, the suggestion of wal-mart was an ill-fated attempt at levity.