Say it loud, I'm elite and I'm proud.. Bill Maher on elitism

[Jonathan50]

Bill Maher has a really nice rant up on Salon about the conservative disdain for "elites" and where it has taken us as a nation.


http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/04/13/pat_robertson/

April 13, 2007 | Say it loud: I'm elite and proud! The right-wing crusade to demonize elites has paid off. Now the country's run by incompetents who make mediocrity a job requirement and recruit from Pat Robertson's law school. New rule: Now that liberals have taken back the word liberal, they also have to take back the word "elite." By now you've heard the constant right-wing attacks on the "elite," or as it's otherwise known, "hating." They've had it up to their red necks with the "elite media." The "liberal elite." Who may or may not be part of the "Washington elite." A subset of the "East Coast elite." Which is influenced by "the Hollywood elite." So basically, unless you're a shitkicker from Kansas, you're with the terrorists. If you played a drinking game in which you did a shot every time Rush Limbaugh attacked someone for being "elite" you'd almost be as wasted as Rush Limbaugh.

I don't get it: In other fields -- outside of government -- elite is a good thing, like an elite fighting force. Tiger Woods is an elite golfer. If I need brain surgery, I'd like an elite doctor. But in politics, elite is bad -- the elite aren't down-to-earth and accessible like you and me and President Shit-for-Brains. But when the anti-elite crowd demonizes the elite, what they're actually doing is embracing incompetence. Now, I know what you're thinking: That doesn't sound like our president -- ignoring intelligence.

You know how whenever there's a major Bush administration scandal it always traces back to some incompetent political hack appointment and you think to yourself, "Where are they getting these screw-ups from?" Well, now we know: from Pat Robertson. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. Take Monica Goodling, who before she resigned last week because of the U.S. attorneys scandal, was the third most powerful official in the Justice Department of the United States. Thirty-three, and though she had never even worked as a prosecutor, she was tasked with overseeing the job performance of all 95 U.S. attorneys. How do you get to be such a top dog at 33? By acing Harvard, or winning scholarship prizes? No, Goodling did her undergraduate work at Messiah College -- home of the "Fighting Christies," who wait-listed me, the bastards -- and then went on to attend Pat Robertson's law school.

More:

[angstlessk]

1. Loved his last line..." And by the way, the lawyer Monica Goodling just hired

to keep her ass out of jail went to a real law school." :rofl:

[valerief]

2. Mediocrity would be a step up for this bunch in the WH.

<<Now the country's run by incompetents who make mediocrity a job requirement >>

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. "President Shit-for-Brains" - not pulling his punches, is he?

I'm not kidding, Pat Robertson, the man who said gay people at DisneyWorld would cause "earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor," has a law school. It's called Regent. Regent University School of Law, and it shares a campus with Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network studios. It's the first time ever that a TV network spun off a law school. And that's all America needs -- more Christians and more lawyers. You see, years ago Pat became concerned that our legal system was coddling criminals, forgiving them instead of meting out that Old Testament "eye for an eye" justice Jesus Christ never shuts up about. So Pat did what any red-blooded, Hindu-hating, gay-baiting, glue-sniffing Christian would do: He started his own law school. And what kid wouldn't want to attend? It's three years and you only have to read one book. The school says its mission is to create an army of evangelical lawyers, integrating the Bible and public policy, and producing graduates that provide "Christian leadership to change the world." Presumably from round back to flat.

:rofl:

[riverdeep]

4. I've been using that brain surgeon line for a while myself.

Elitism is good in the context mentioned. It's bad when it's used as a class system.

I watch King of the Hill, the only Republican show I've ever found funny, and there elites are portrayed as part of an ineffectual beaurocracy who don't connect to the real world. They're portrayed as effeminate when they're men. Not like Hank, who's pragmatic and more or less masculine. This is how the right wants the country to view elites.

[GreenTea]

5. Bill is always so quint...but he never quites gets to the fucking depths of

it all...he's still, as much as I like him ...full of complete Hollywood bullshit...he really doesn't see the pain and struggles and true everyday fights...it's all Hollywood and slogans to Bill, ...they are more than cute slogans to be used for effect...ah and that's enough...this is really not Hollywood Bill though we do appreciate the help however insincere or duplicit ...Though, there's real pain and real hurt among families...I know you think you know and think you even think you care.