Hard Habit to Break

The Salt Lake Tribune editorial is becoming a hard habit for me to break, and yes, I am humming the Chicago song. A recent editorial claims the Republicans are using a "resentment strategy" for this election. It is based on the idea that Gov. Romney, Mayor Giuliani, and Gov. Palin should not be able to claim they are against elitism because of their own elitist characteristics, and that the right is angry. And why is the right so angry? Some of it is because of Roe v. Wade and evolution being taught in schools, but most of the anger is based on the perception that Democrats are elitist, for which "no evidence" exists.

Personally, whether some Democrats are elitist makes no difference to me because I am sure there are plenty of Republicans that are elitist, and I do not care what most Democrats or Republicans think of me. I do care about Roe v. Wade, abortion, national security and Supreme Court judge appointments. So I would be inclined to be much more exercised about those things than any claims of elitism. I think it is quite a stretch to say that most, or even a part, of conservative "anger" comes from the elitist claims.

I also love it when people say there is "no evidence" for an assertion. Usually, there is some evidence. It just depends on how much influence or weight you give that evidence. For example, some people look at the order of the universe and the complexity of the human body and see the hand of God. Others see the Big Bang and evolution. I can see "evidence" of both, so the question becomes how do you interpret that evidence. Now on to the editorial's claim that "no evidence" exists to suggest that Sen. Obama and the Democrats do not think much of Wasilla, Alaska or small-town mayors. I can see how statements made by the Obama campaign can be interpreted that way, i.e., Gov. Palin does not have enough experience to be the VP. Claiming such lack of experience does imply her previous experience is not sufficient. That is the point of the statement from the Obama campaign. Accordingly, the Obama campaign statement does imply that Sen. Obama and/or some Democrats do not consider small-town mayor a very notable experience.

All in all, the SLTrib editorials have provided me a good laugh because of the strained and unfounded arguments, and that good laugh does make it a hard habit to break.