Roger Ebert is the New Pauline Kael
I’m not talking about movies. I’m talking about politics. Here’s Roger Ebert, writing about Sarah Palin for some reason.[1]:
And how can you be her age and never have gone to Europe? … What kind of a person (who has the money) arrives at the age of 44 and has only been out of the country once, on an official tour to Iraq? Sarah Palin’s travel record is that of a hopeless provincial.
What kind of person? A typical person:
According to the State Department, an estimated 27 percent of Americans currently carry a valid passport[.]
Most Americans have never been to Europe. Just like most Americans voted for Nixon.[2]
Ebert also writes:
Palin is a shallow, chirpy person with those vaguely alarming eyeglasses. Now her fans all want a pair. Remember back when women wore glasses that departed their ears in plastic swoops and swirls? My theory is, anyone who wears glasses that look weird is telling me something I don’t want to know.
Seriously, does Ebert think he’s helping Obama here? Does he think he’s persuading anyone?
The Democratic party has long solicited the wealth and fame of Hollywood. But the cost of this is enormous—because of this long affiliation, tv and film stars are seen as part of the Democratic party, spokesmen for the party even, and their inanities are held against the party. When Matt Damon and Roger Ebert and Joy Behar (who recently appeared on Larry King to spend a half hour lambasting Palin) do their thing, they look silly and hyperbolic and ridiculous and people hold it against Obama. It’s not necessarily right that they do, but they do. And it hurts Obama. I don’t think Obama is an elitist, but Roger Ebert comes off as an elitist when he attacks Palin, and to the average American, it looks like condescension, and it’s associated with Obama.
Obama’s allies are not helping him. And the louder they become, the more they drown out Obama.
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1. Probably the same reason that Matt Damon was talking about her. Because he thinks we care what he thinks.
2. To be fair to Kael, it appears that she might not have said her famous quote about Nixon.
