THERE THEY GO AGAIN - AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  You may remember the story of Pauline Kael, the prominent movie critic, who, after the 1972 election, expressed amazement that Nixon won, because no one she knew voted for him.

Stories about the insularity of our elites are legendary, but they keep proving it, over and over.  Consider, for example, the sneering review of Sarah Palin's new book in The New York Times.  Now, no one expected The Times to give Sarah a good review.  I'm amazed they reviewed her at all, given their history of ignoring books by those who don't take the correct line on key issues like abortion.  But the review is there, and contains this comment:

Yet Mr. McCain’s astonishing decision to pick someone with so little experience (less than two years as the governor of Alaska, and before that, two terms as mayor of Wasilla, an Alaskan town with fewer than 7,000 residents) as his running mate underscores just how alarmingly expertise is discounted — or equated with elitism — in our increasingly democratized era, and just how thoroughly colorful personal narratives overshadow policy arguments and actual knowledge.

Wait a second, wait a second.  As the TV guy used to say, "Stop the music!"  Is the reviewer talking about Sarah Palin?  Wasn't there another candidate last year who fit that description?  A kid from Chicago with a funny name?  Some time as a community organizer, a bit more time in the Illinois State Senate, and some months as an absentee U.S. senator before declaring himself ready to lead the world?  That one?

Isn't it remarkable that liberal journalists, when rapping Sarah Palin for lack of experience, are actually describing Barack Obama...and they don't realize it?  What a mindset!  What minds!  What lack of minds!

You'd think an editor would pick up the contradiction.  Not these days.

Another day in the life of a once-great newspaper. 

November 16,  2009