Since Hillary Clinton is now the anti-intellectual candidate, it is not entirely surprising that her husband has taken up a similar pointy-heads-hate-regular-folks line. Apprently, though, the elites are now so invested in tearing down the Clintons that they are... quoting Clinton campaign advisers (imagine that). So, in The New Yorker last week, former TNR writer Ryan Lizza quoted someone as follows:
When I asked what he was doing on Election Day, a Clinton campaign adviser said, “I think he’s leading a caravan of Wal-Mart greeters to the polls.”
And here is Bill Clinton, as quoted by The Baltimore Sun this morning:
He skewered a recent New Yorker magazine article...Only in Clinton's retelling, it was the article's author, not his wife's adviser, who was laughing at him.
"You know, there was an article in one of the publications the other day making fun of me for being Hillary's ambassador to rural America. 'They sent that ol' boy out there running around these little towns. What in the world's he doing?' And this guy ended by - he thought he was insulting me - he said, 'Next thing you know, Bill Clinton will be taking Wal-Mart greeters to the polls,'" he said, prompting squeals of delight from an actual Wal-Mart greeter in the crowd and her friends.
"That's the kind of thing those people that aren't for us say. You know, they think we're dumber'n we are. I know, cuz I grew up in a place like this, and I figured out that people are just as smart here as anywhere else. But they ain't figured it out yet."
Charming.
P.S. As a side note, there is some humor to be found in Rhodes Cook's New York Times op-ed on how Senator Clinton can win the popular vote:
That’s a daunting challenge, but she could do it. Here’s how. First, she needs a very high turnout in the remaining states. Second, she would have to maximize her vote in the states where she is positioned to do well. Third, she would need to run close to even with Mr. Obama in states where the terrain is less favorable.
You don't say...
--Isaac Chotiner