Hillary Clinton: All Economists' Opinions Irrelevant, "Elitist"

[Frank Booth]

INDIANAPOLIS — This morning, George Stephanopoulos began his televised interview with Senator Hillary Clinton by asking if she could name a single economist who supports her plan for a gas tax suspension.

She did not. “I’m not going to put in my lot with economists,” she said on ABC’s “This Week” program. A few moments later, she added, “Elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantages the vast majority of Americans.”

--------

Senator Barack Obama has derided the gas-tax suspension as a gimmick that would save consumers little and cost thousands of jobs, and Kara Glennon, a member of the audience at a town-hall meeting, seemed to agree. Gas prices are “not academic” for her, she told Mrs. Clinton, because she makes less than $25,000 a year—and then she accused Mrs. Clinton of pandering. “Call me crazy, but I listen to economists because I think I know what they studied,” she said.

However, in an interview afterward, Mark Moorman, another audience member and a firefighter, said he shared Mrs. Clinton’s mistrust of experts.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/there-goes-the-economists-vote/


Great. Just another presidential candidate who pays more attention to her "gut" than to reality.

[mdmc]

1. it is elitist

elitist in that it thinks toward the future, and is not pandering to the "you don't need to conserve and reduce energy usage" crowd.

[roguevalley]

29. what a dipshit she has become, her education in the Daisy Chain

isn't elitist? I hope her sorry ass gets a down ticket doctor next time she gets a wart removed and not an elitist who might actually know what they are truly doing. This anti-intellectual, anti-educated person bullshit is bullshit. She has no bottom to her shamelessness. She would no more hang out with people who are the 'real' non-elitist people than she would fly. All her friends are rich, elitist bullshiters. she has no shame.

Yeah, hilbilly, don't let people who might actually know what they are talking about making policy, etc. Bush/Clinton: same thing.

[mdmc]

31. All those 1000 $ plate fundraisers ain't' for the working class

How many non-elitist were at her Rupert Murdock fundraiser?

It is almost like we have gone through the looking glass....

[catgirl]

2. "Elitist". Sure Hillary

[dkf]

3. She doesn't believe in economics? She's a joke.

And she's encouraging people to not believe in economists?

She just made Paul Krugman completely irrelevant.

[Cha]

49. HaHa! How does that feel,

paul krugman? Got any comments on that?

Edit~ Is it evil yet?

[stray cat]

4. Elitist clearly means informed, thoughtful, knowledgeable, in the Clinton Dictionary

[saltpoint]

5. She forgot 'bitter.'

[MadBadger]

6. You're actually Misrepresenting what she Said. She said "elite opinion" not elitist

There is a difference. However, she would have done herself a lot more favors had she said elitist. The way she phrased, it using the word elite, means the best of the best. Elitist is somebody who thinks they are the best of the best. The way she worded her answers, elite means "smart people"

[tridim]

21. That's certainly the Republican, news-speak definition.

[livetohike]

7. Very sad. She needs Father Guido Sarducci's Econ 101

Supply. Demand. - even the most uneducated should be able to understand that.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. "Elite Opinion"

Ugh.

[Liberal Veteran]

9. Logic is elitist! Sort of like math.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Just what the country needs - another "by the gut" President. NOT.

[slick8790]

11. This absolutely boggles my mind. n/t

[dkf]

12. She is a female George Bush...anything that isn't convenient to her world view is irrelevant.

Expert opinion means nothing.

Now we know how she came to her decision to vote for the IWR.

[Triana]

17. Damn right. And if THIS isn't a prime example of that, nothing is. n/t

[DeSwiss]

13. Well geeze Hillary....

...you sure as hell "put in your lot with the economists" when you were pushing NAFTA. You remember? The one where you were for it, before you were against it?

- And that worked out so well....

K&R

[TahitiNut]

14. Anti-intellectualism is a conservative, right-wing theme. She's GOP, through and through.

At the same time she sneers at academic achievement, she dismisses and demeans American workers, repeatedly claiming that "training and education" are the 'cures' for unemployment. Exfuckingcuse ME???

College graduates are asking "Do you want fries with that?"

A recent college graduate in education, unable to find a teaching job, is mowing my lawn!

Fuck Hillary and the whores she rides in on!

:grr:

[Triana]

15. Hillary W. bu$h. HA! n/t

[KaptBunnyPants]

16. I wonder what Krugman will make of this.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Apparently he'll be lotless.

:cry:

[bridgit]

18. She didn't go far enough, economics = esoteric

Anyone that thinks Greenspan; even Bernanke, aren't elitist is living in LaLa Land

[Frank Booth]

22. Greenspan and Bernanke aren't the only economists out there.

And call me crazy but I'd rather have our economic policy determined by people with economics training rather than by a firefighter in Indiana, as nice a person as that fireman may be.

[bridgit]

25. y'think?

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html I do hear you talking though. Firemen are not elitist.

[Frank Booth]

26. Non sequiturs to support your position that economists should not be involved in developing

economic policy?

Good luck with that.

[bridgit]

28. Then name one. Name two. Name a gaggle that are not already diverting...

monies away from entitlements and into the pockets of no-bid crony war profiteers. This outta be good, enlighten us all instead. But Malthus' geo-political economics are still driving the search & acquisition of scare resources elsewhere. Gated, elitist communities.

One guy says, "A rising tide lifts all boats in the harbor." and that's it? You're done? You think economics if is by, of & for the common man. Economics is by & large for Wall Street. You must be a member of the investor class.

[Frank Booth]

32. Do you honestly think that all economists out there are only interested in

diverting monies into the pockets of no-bid crony war profiteers? You think that all economists subscribe to the notion that "a rising tide lifts all boats?" Come on. The internet has plenty of resources from economists who are interested in equitable distribution, minimizing poverty, raising standards of living among the poor, equalizing trade so people beside the investor class benefit. Feel free to read them.

[bridgit]

38. Drifting away from the gist of your own OP I see. You content that economists are not elitist...

They are. They study matters that none of us ever think about. They absorb not merely elitist; but esoteric information. Do you seriously think that Greenspan was understood by little more than a handful of people? That dude spoke in terms that were quite nearly poetic to listen to, but for the fact that only *some* economists even knew what he was saying.

That is elitist. That is esoteric. Calculus is an esoteric field of study as well. In a world where consumer math is challenged in the check books of Americans.

You're just bringing this up because you think this to be the last nail in HRC's coffin that you intend to pound yourself. I think you need another argument if this is all you guys can come up with.

How does HRC feel about 16th Century French Romance Literature? That's an elitist field of study well. Why aren't all you all just pinning for the answer to that question?

Or is it to be this one, in that most of you consider yourselves elitist, and are thereby cast into states of umbrage?

[Frank Booth]

43. Critical reading skills are cool. Read the original post again.

Hillary said she wouldn't listen to economists. She said it very simply and clearly. Apparently, if she won the nomination her economic policy would be formulated by people who have never studied economics. I for one don't think that's a great idea.

Hillary wasn't claiming that economics and 16th Century French Romance Literature are similarly esoteric. Anyway, supply and demand theory really isn't that esoteric. Basically everyone who graduated from college has studied it, and many people who never went to college are familiar with it as well.

[hfojvt]

42. I am guessing the guy at Citizens for Tax Justice is an economist

and also that the CBPP and ITEP, etc. employ some economists. Mainstream economics is, largely, about the status quo, and in the case of Bush policies, etc. their opinions can be bought. There are also economists working for the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute. Still, there are certainly some economists who care more about poor and working class people than Hillary does.

[tularetom]

20. Would you rather have a president who is a dumshit

Or one who pretends to be a dumshit because she thinks the American people are dumshits who will only vote for another dumshit.

I really don't want either, but the second might actually be worse.

I might be a dumshit but I'm smart enough to know I want a president who (a) is smarter than me and (b) isn't so condescending as to treat me like a dumshit.

We are really in deep trouble in the good ol USA when educated people feel they have to act like hicks in order to get elected.

[stray cat]

23. Well said - I don't want a beer-drinking buddy as president if he/she is also an idiot

or pretends to be to win acceptance.

[bridgit]

24. Well that's the gist in OP's like this one; elitist good/HRC bad. I suppose we are to throw laurels

upon the heads of the economists that are working day & night for Exxon, Halliburton, Raytheon & The Bilderberg Group; not to mention Carlyle

This half baked stuff and this blurring of every other line under the sun is just too predictable: Bat Boy gives birth to space alien :eyes:

[Frank Booth]

27. Janitors work for Exxon, Halliburton, Raytheon & the Bilderberg Group, as well as Carlyle

I guess that makes all janitors bad people?

[bridgit]

30. Then stop talking about the ills of Halliburton, Halliburton = Good...

Right? Exxon = Good? Right? They're just doing what simple, home spun corporations do. Acting like they have tax deferred, extra-civil rights traversing the landscape with a tyrant's awful gait that's all. As an exercise in fairness; you should have parsed that all the way down to the people that pull the triggers. As there's a high probability the janitorial services have been out-sourced already.

[Frank Booth]

34. Huh? The only point I'm trying to make is that not all economists are evil, and it's probably

a good idea to involve economists when you're developing economic policy.

Apparently you and Hillary disagree with that point.

[Neshanic]

33. All the "economists" that should of been ignored got us here. The ones that get shut up on MSNBC

are the ones we should listen to. Hillary is a very smart woman saying that, considering the clusterfuck we are in.

Who was listened to more? Greenspan/Ben Stein/usual suspects or Shiller? Not Shiller.

[Frank Booth]

36. Hillary wasn't selective. She said economists in general should be ignored.

And no wonder, since even Paul Krugman says that her gax tax holiday is a farce.

[Neshanic]

37. She said the right thing. Sorry.

[Frank Booth]

39. Just keep telling yourself that. Maybe you'll convince yourself eventually.

[cali]

47. Shorter Hill: I don't need no stinkin' opinions of experts unless

they agree with me. Hilly: Just like bushy.

[ForeignSpectator]

35. Watched the "Situation Room" today, with the "best team in politics" (lol)...

...where they talked about the tax holiday. This John King dismissed criticism that it's just short-term and doesn't save people that much money by saying something like "sure it's short term but it shows the people 'we understand you, we're on your side, we help you', it has great symbolic value" and "maybe people can buy school supplies for the kids" (didn't exactly catch that but it was something like that).

Then this Dana Bash went on to say how hillary garners blue-collar votes whereas Obama "uh attracts the more uh sophisticated, wealthier democrats". ( why don't you lob in San Francisco, Lattes and 'elitist' in there, too?? )

Together with that tool blitzer who earlier tried to make Carter look bad because he talked with Hamas, I was ready to turn that crap off after 5 minutes of their bullshit.

And tens of millions of people watch that?! Oh my...

This attitude in America that "experts are the booo-elite, they're boring nerds - let's not trust 'em, trust our guts instead" is gonna ruin the nation.
Would you want your doctor to go with his gut feel instead of everything they have learned in medical school???

[Frank Booth]

50. I know what you mean. It's like CNN and the rest of the tv media's agenda is

to convince Americans that it's cool to be dumb.

[cottonseed]

52. It's the same attack on science we've been sick of with Bush.

I think even Hillary once called bush out on that. We've come a long way baby.

[npincus]

40. I found an economist for Hillary:

He's definitely not an 'elitist'!

[bigtree]

41. I saw 'economists' line up behind Bush's tax cuts in his early days in office

Who are these economists Obama folks are fawning over, sight unseen?

[Frank Booth]

44. Sure there are crappy economists out there. The problem with Hillary's plan is that NO economist

supports it. Even Paul Krugman said it was a horrible idea.

[ladywnch]

45. great, lets just dump all education beyond reading and writing

and go with 'belief' and 'gut'......all those pesky facts only get in the way and 'confuse' things.....maybe we should turn to Ouija boards and taro cards maybe tea leaves to determine correct courses of action. Think of all the money we could save on education! Smart people/subject matter experts have no place in society let alone government. I agree with Hillary.

[Vinca]

46. I'm reading a book about Republican campaign tactics and there's

an entire chapter devoted to the "elitism" tag. For Hillary to repeatedly use this is just disgusting.

[Cha]

48. hilary puts her "lot" with fascist neocon panderers...so

yeah..Economists don't fit into that category.

What stupid dumbingdown of AMerica stunt.

[IntravenousDemilo]

51. She'd put a Band-Aid on a gushing neck wound. What an incredibly silly woman! n/m

[cottonseed]

53. We've come a long way baby!

Wasn't it just a few months ago that Hillary was lambasting Bush for his, "war on science"? Wasn't it just a few months ago that Hillary was saying she would shield science from politics?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/us/politics/05clinton.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Well, I think we're starting to see who's ideals she more admires.

[RainDog]

54. gawd what a sewer-sucking campaign tactic

coming from a woman who attended Wellesley, grew up in a well-to-do Chicago suburb... or wait.. where... who was a Goldwater republican, who has served in the elitist world of representational democracy as a Senator...