6373

That’s BS. Wisconsin has elected exactly the same number of women to the Senate as Massachusetts. Both state legislatures are one quarter female.

So if Wisconsin voters are sexist, then so is the state that elected Elizabeth Warren.

And of course all all three top candidates are white. If that makes Wisconsin racist, then so is every Warren, Sanders, and Biden supporter.

6374

Exactly.

And frankly, it doesn’t even matter whether that’s “expected” or not.

It’s what’s out there.

And when I read “Well, that’s Wisconsin for you” sentiments from the Left, I feel like I’m hearing Spinal Tap’s manager dismissing Boston because it isn’t much of a college town.

6375

What I think a lot of folks are not fully grasping is that the very presence and nature of the Trump Presidency and its outrages create an enormous well of nostalgia for the Obama years with a huge swath of Democratic voters and potential Democratic voters. Grampy Joe reminds people of Obama’s presidency. And they dismiss lots of other considerations in service to that.

6376

No, not just a woman. A gay woman.

But this is exactly why midwesterners also vote for Trump. Because they are genuinely antagonistic toward the sneering elitists who just think they are all backward bumpkins (when they really have no idea what the fuck midwesterners are actually like). A lot of which sneering elitists are coastal liberals.

6377

Reminds me of my evangelical upbringing, with its siege mentality–the sense that the whole world was against us, to the point that we’d use the term “the world” to refer to the secular society that was trying to persecute us for our beliefs and make up stories about the coming apocalypse, when we’d get the chance to be martyred.

I think there’s far more perception of sneering than there is actual sneering, and Fox News and other right-wing media certainly has made every attempt to further than perception. Also, I’m not sure what the “arugula chomping, latte-sipping, bearded hipster, effeminate, Dijon mustard using, degree in women’s studies, straw banning, Prius driving, etc” talk is but sneering at coastal elites. And if your reason for voting for Trump is to say “fuck you” to coastal elites, you truly are an idiot.

6378

Something’s broken in political discourse.

6379

There’s a hole in that argument a mile wide.

6380

Yeah. My family is from West Virginia, and I’ve never lived on the northeast coast or the west coast, but other than that, I’m your stereotypical New York elite liberal snob.

(What sort of cognitive dissonance does it take to tar liberals with the generic elitist put-down that they are elites who put other people down? That’s the real question.)

Yes, exactly.

6381

I’m not sure if you don’t see it, but this forum is really, really fulll of that sneering. Hell, some of it comes from me.

But it’s not imagined.

6382

And in politics, quite often perception = reality.

6383

It bears repeating that this kind of sneering ‘us against them’ mentality is coming from our President and encouraged by news and social media that profits on conflict and outrage. One might argue that it’s less than ideal.

6384

That same poll shows Warren in the lead among Democrats. I’d be interested to see what else it says that might qualify that graph (like what does it say when Democrats are polled rather than all voters), but it’s paywalled.

6385

Hell, on CNN last night, the talking heads were in Iowa, and talking about the state, and in wrapping up, knee of the Democratic folks says, “we’d really like Iowa to just go away!” and folks laugh, and then Bakari Sellers says, “hey, we need to get out of here first!” to more laughing.

There are folks who live in those regions, who see that kind of stuff, and it’s natural that it works make them angry, or at least, feel separated from those voicing those opinions.

6386

Fox News loves spitting out perpetual victims of anything and everything while calling everyone else snowflakes.

6387

Can you find examples here of sneering specifically at midwestern voters or rural voters as distinct from Republican voters?

So in this case, I suppose we coastal elites should do less of the sneering that we’re already not doing?

6388

I’m not going to bother. If you’ve never noticed it, that’s on you.

I just gave you an example from national television, last night. If you go back and read through this forum, you’ll find the same stuff. Or just wait, because you’ll see it again.

6389

We do sneer at sexist, racist, bigots, misogynists, Nazis, and white supremacist (assuming they somehow get through those other labels) and generally vile people. It’s a real crime. I’ll find my violin.

6390

Thank you for letting me know that the patronizing and condescending attitudes are just all in my head. It works so well on women and minorities, might as well extend it to others too.

6391

You often make rhetorical points through insinuation and assertion. I can’t find any CNN clip online like what you describe, and you didn’t provide any context or tone for it. Assertion is effective because it’s hard to refute a point that is unsourced. Suffice to say, I don’t accept your premises. I think “coastal elites” are themselves a chimera–a creation of right wing media–and that those of us who live in cities and/or in coastal states do not have any special disdain for middle America. That’s a narrative that serves Republican interests and is pushed by Republican propaganda outlets.

6392

I watched it myself, on TV, last night. It happened. If you don’t believe me, I don’t care.