Just wondering; What the heck do the rw screamers mean by "Liberal Elite"?

[Bluzmann57]

I mean I'm a Liberal, and I have just a little bit of college education, due to some poor choices in the past. I am just a simple working stiff and there are many many more like me than there are "Liberal Elite". In fact, I believe that the core of the Democratic Party, and by extension Liberals, is made up of us working stiffs. Sure, it's nice to have academia and well known celebrities on board, but they are certainly a minority within not only the Democratic Party, but in society as a whole. There are very few of us who can sing and act, and be educators. There are also not many rich folks among Democrats. I am tired of generalizations. Just because I am a proud (and getting loud) Liberal doesn't make me an "elitist". Hell, I know that we Liberals are far more welcoming to all people than the republicans. So one would have to say that they are "elitists". Not many poor folks or minorities in their party. Sounds elitist to me. End of semi coherent rant.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. The REAL majority of this country that doesn't agree with them

This includes Democrats, Progressives, moderate Republicans, Independents and people with more than 2 brain cells.

[onehandle]

2. That used to mean Jews.

Nowadays, it's anyone holding a glass of Chardonnay who's smarter than Goober Pyle.

[tridim]

3. Shut up and sip your latte

and drive your Volvo.. Commie pinko Liberal man.

Seriously, there is nobody more elite than the Bush family. How's that for irony?

[wtbymark]

4. I dont even think they know

it's just a Rush talking point, a rouser, another divider

sure i struggled for 2 degrees, now owe my ass, declared ch7 last year, make under 25k and have a chevy pick up with 300k on it, yup, i'm an 'elite'

[Maple]

5. 'Elite' is supposed to be a bad thing

So you can put it in front of, or behind, anything, and make it sound nastier.

What would you understand Elite Republicans to be?

Or the Catholic Elite?

Or the Rightwing Elite?

[JAbuchan08]

6. Yeah, I'm always saying I'm an elite, sure I don't have an elite job or an

elite education, but hell, doesn't America want to be elite? You know have an elite education system, an elite scientific establishment, elite artistic contributions, etc.

I guess Republicans prefer mediocrity.

[Jade Fox]

7. Its a blatant attempt on the part of the Right....

to make working-class folks think the Democrats--traditionally the party of
Unions and the poor-- think all Democrats are rich snobs who don't care
about the working and poor. Its the Republicans who have proven their
indifference to those folks.

What gets me is that when, we are not being refered to as Elites, we are
characterized as bums who can't/won't get a job.

Hey, we can't be both, Rightwingers!

[Bouncy Ball]

8. They mean nothing.

It's all sound and fury signifying nothing.

[nebula]

9. To the Repubs,

Anyone that puts forth a sound argument using reasoning and logic based on the facts, anyone that doesn't tow their party line, is considered an 'elitist.'

[jayfish]

10. Anyone Who Makes Over 12K Per Year And....

votes Democrat.

Jay

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. It means that you have been able to get beyond the propaganda

and know what the hell is going on. As with Vietnam, the "elite" knew we were losing and had to get out.

[kiki]

12. They mean anyone who isn't willfully ignorant

and PROUD of it.

Like I've said before, to them, it's our fault that they're stupid.

[Arugula Latte]

13. Taps into the deep anti-intellectualism in this country.

Can't have any fancy book lernin' now, can we?

[nebula]

19. The whole country has been Southernized

so to speak, one step forwards and two steps backward.

The Southern gentry long to take us back to the good 'ol days of the pre-revolutionary South, and they've succeeded in many ways. We should have let them secede long ago.

[mitchum]

28. I agree with you completely about the whole country being Southernized

As a Southerner, I have long observed how the southern power elite have always maintained control over the proles. It has now become the national model. And, of course, there's the whole Jaysus thing. However, I can remember a time that even in the south, that rapture nonsense was marginalized. Now even that idiocy is mainstream throughout the country

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. "Liberal Elite" used to be known as the "Intelligentsia".

You know, those kind of folks who read books and think education is a good thing. AKA Commies, eggheads, socialists, intellectuals, thinkers, anarchists, one-worlders, etc.

A bad bunch out to grab guns, do away with traditional family values, and shut down NASCAR and wrestlin'.

[ret5hd]

15. you forgot jews...

'liberal elite' is codetalk for jews.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Quite right. Especially the Jews. Evil thinkers and artists.

Out to subvert America with books, music, education, and rational thinking.

[aeolian]

16. To paraphrase GYWO:

Elitist means "not the dumbest motherfucker in the room."

Seriously.

We're smarter. That scares them.

[Atman]

17. Trying to appeal to rural America

There is a vast population of under-educated, barely educated, and minimally educated people in America. You know the horrible "Jay Walking" thing Leno does (or did...I don't know, as I don't watch the show) where he asks the average Joe the most basic questions about history and science and civics? Average Joe doesn't know the name of the Vice President, for Christ's sake! "We," the Liberal Elite, laugh at them and hold them up for ridicule on The Tonight Show.

People who use the "Liberal Elite" mantra are just looking for another cop-out wedge issue, to try to say "Hey, look, the pointy-headed libruls are makin' fun o' you cuz you ain't got the book learnin' they do!"

I've never attended college (long story!) but consider myself reasonably well read and well spoken. At a cook-out last summer politics and Iraq came up in conversation. Somehow, after making a couple of arguments that you might expect to hear from the average DUer, I was called a "college boy," as a pejorative. Somehow it was perceived as BAD to have a college education, when in fact I did not even have one anyway! Whew.

So there you have it. Best to look at it this way..."if being labeled an elitist means I'm not the dumbest motherfucker in the room, that's just fine with me." (Can't remember who said that...maybe Carlin.)

[Cleita]

20. Nice post and very true.

Now watch out for the "you are picking on rural people" posts to start up. We, who have lived in these areas, know how politically unsophisticated rural people can be. It doesn't mean they are dumb. I have hung out in the woods with rurals who have an almost biologists knowledge of their surroundings, but unfortunately they are easily manipulated by unscrupulous politicians and too stubborn to admit when they are wrong.

[NewJeffCT]

26. It's not just the ridicule

They also call us elitists because they think we think we know what's best for them: i.e., vote for the Democrat because it will mean a higher minimum wage, a stronger job market, better healthcare for your family, a cleaner environment, better public education, etc, etc. However, voting Democrat means that they don't get to do the most important things like having organized Christian prayer in school, displaying the 10 Commandments on town property, banning gays from marrying - all the way back to keeping black folk in the back of the bus.

[Cleita]

18. I first ran into that phrase spit at my group as California

Birkenstock wearing, liberal elitists up in northern Idaho. We were with a group of ecologists who were trying to help the Salmon spawn by moving them by bucketloads up stream so they could finish the journey upstream and spawn.

Since it was during a time of drought, the lake they lived in and the stream they spawned in were lower in water than usual and the first ladder was too high for them to climb, so we gave them a helping hand. We had semi-blocked access to the road because we had to cross it to the next stage of the stream, which flowed in a tunnel under the road.

We blocked the progress of the logging trucks going as fast as they liked to go, slowing up the operations. Some guy came up cursing us out as getting in the way. Our spokesperson tried to explain that if the Salmon couldn't spawn in the stream they would at the mouth of it and there would be no salmon next year because the eggs and spawn would be eaten as fast as it would be deposited.

This is when we were called a bunch of California, Birkenstock wearing, elitist liberals. I guess our group was dumbfounded. None of us were wearing Birkenstocks to begin with. My husband and I were the only Californians in the group, which actually comprised more than fifty percent residents of the place who had put out a call for help so they could do this. All of us were retirees who were working class. The only thing he was right about was that we were liberals.

I'm going to assume that the same corporate propaganda machine we are up against right now started spreading this phrase or parts of it and it has taken over. Just more lies.

[NashVegas]

22. Anyone They're Jealous Of

..

[Kansas Wyatt]

23. Common right wing attack & smear job.

Right wingers follow this script:
Attack and smear your opponent of exactly what you are guilty of, in this case wealthy "elite", so your opponent ends up getting blamed for what you are guilty of. The actual "elite" (wealthy) is distorted into meaning "liberal elite," so people then perceive the liberals as being the wealthy elite. So instead of the masses standing against you, you now have them on your side because they believe that the "liberal elite" (really wealthy elite) are the ones harming them.

[marions ghost]

25. yes that's the way I see it too

I think it was around in the early 90's when the term "Liberal Elite" was so effectively inserted into the Sheeple brain. It was the period of Jesse Helms' campaign against those nasty artists and Liberal academics, being sheltered by those Latte-loving wealthy Liberal Elites doncha know. This propaganda sold very well in rural and working class areas, and was pushed through the churches. That it is a complete myth has not yet been proven to the masses who bought the lie. "Liberal Elite" = The Enemy --has been one of the most damaging and divisive tools ever used by the Right. It sure seems tired at this point...but brainwashing always depends on constant repetition of a theme.

[leftofthedial]

24. like everything else the RW professes, it's a conscious lie

intended to obfuscate, divide and to ridicule those who make it difficult for them to get away with their hatred, bigotry and greed.

[R. A. Fuqua]

27. generally that term is

used to refer to people like college professors and liberal commentators.

The "elite" are the people who shape the opinions of others.

I have never heard the term "liberal elite" used in reference to a working stiff Democrat.

[VOX]

29. It's a bogeyman designed to foment fear/anger that the few rule the many.

As in "The liberal elite are out of touch with mainstream America, and yet they are making decisions that dictate the laws governing all ordinary Americans." :grr:

The Chimp himself has publicly referred to "these professor-types." It is a must-have tool in the right-wing propaganda kit: Regardless of the fact that the right wing is in control of all three branches of government, it must keep pushing the idea that there is this (imaginary) "ruling class" of intellectuals that are truly running the show.

It's an out-and-out fabrication, but the idea resonates across the strata of right-wing supporters.

[ChickMagic]

30. It means

that only people who believe and vote the way we do can go to heaven. Oh. Wait.....