Hard to tell who is snarkier or more condescending: Koch Industries and their accomplices at American Crossroads for reheating John Birch Society conspiracy leftovers as soylent green for their Tea Party minions? Or self-styled Champion of the Working Class, Kathleen Parker, for bestowing the title of Ordinary American upon the self-proclaimed witch and anti-masturbation crusader?
I suppose it would take one to know one, so I decided to send Ms. Parker a letter to ask how she - a simple columnist moonlighting with a teevee show - could help us elites "keep it real" for the upcoming mid-terms. I have a lot to learn.
Dear Kathleen,
Your underlying premise that Chris Coons' "bearded Marxist" past and Christine O'Donnell's journey from witchcraft to the extremes of Christianity "cancel out" is without merit. Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but you are not entitled to your own facts.
You wrote:
Coons's insistence that he wrote the op-ed as a joke simply isn't credible, if you read it. It was sincere and thoughtful. He clearly was transformed by his experience, which included living with a poor Kenyan family and studying under a Marxist professor, but this doesn't have much bearing on who he is today.
Had you truly read his essay you would cipher out that the the op-ed wasn't the joke, but the "bearded Marxist" moniker was. And I am mystified how anyone could not read his essay and -- once you get past the "tricky" title, conclude that here's a guy who experienced trickle down economics at it's Third World worst as a student in Kenya and is a better American for it today?
But to Parker, steeped in the rituals of the Church of American Exceptionalism, has "miraculously" evolved (is that Constitutional?) from being a fuzzy-headed Democrat to a self-satisfied Smug Capitalist:
I can't speak for an entire generation, but I had plenty of Marxist professors and was deeply moved by the economic disparities in the world, which is why I was a Democrat back in the day. But I grew up to be a happy capitalist.
It's wonderful that you consider yourself a capitalist. "Mazeltov," as they say in the south. I trust that you came to it honestly after lots of soul-searching - and you gave up having found no soul - et voila! You're a capitalist! "Life is Good" your t-shirt proclaims!
Some people may never roll around in their pile of money with that sense of self-certainty and smugness. Some may see capitalist systems --driven by the profit motive -- as great for building industries, but notice they're lousy at cleaning up the waste and pollution by-products of that system unless government steps in. Yes, the market doesn't have a great record with externalities.
Yes, I made a shallow judgment of your path from college-level "Democrat" navel gazer to self-styled "capitalist/Republican columnist, but I assume you don't give your opinion freely. In fact, you may even be considered something of an elite for it.
So it was surprising when you - the Elitist - wrote of the Coons-O'Donnell debate:
Coons's palpable uneasiness doubtless was owing equally to his contempt for her shallow knowledge and to his inability to challenge her without seeming like a bully. Instead, he seemed merely condescending and snarky. If the witch and the Marxist were a wash, the Everyday American triumphed over the elite.
Are you bestowing O'Donnell with the title of "Everyday American?" Is that so? And he was "condescending and snarky" how? For explaining to O'Donnell how Delaware's AAA bond rating was earned after having been attacked (falsely) by the "snarky" know-nothing "Everyday American" for having undermined said AAA bond rating? As we say in my neighborhood "WTF?"
If I could leave you with one thought to meditate on as you re-read Chris's essay, it is this: what he wrote, he wrote honestly. I don't believe he holds contempt for O'Donnell, but based on what I saw in the debate it was clear O'Donnell holds a certain contempt for accomplishment - never mind education or experience - and this is the tragic flaw in her candidacy and the so-called Tea Party movement. They can never accept defeat in much the same way they can never accept victory, for they will then have nothing to fight against. And that seems to be all they really have.
Respectfully,
Poi Dog
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