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http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081105/OPINION12/811050360/1002/OPINION

An Indianapolis Star editorial decries “elitism”:

For one thing, the two most exciting political figures to arrive on the national political stage in decades — Barack Obama and Sarah Palin — were savaged by unfair criticisms that played on people’s prejudices. As a biracial candidate with a multicultural background, Obama had to overcome both racism and nativism, including the unfair accusation of not being sufficiently American. And as a political outsider and working mom, Palin had to contend with sexism and elitism. At first, she was criticized for her parenting choices and then for not being able to name her choice of newspapers or Supreme Court cases with which she disagreed.

Personally, as despicable as I found the terrorist/Muslim/crazy preacher slurs on Obama, I think the most disturbing development in this election was the concept of elitism as a pejorative. Sarah Palin’s ignorance on current affairs and legislative decisions was inexcusable, not only because of the seriousness of the campaign, but also because – as a politician – it’s her job to understand this stuff.

I tell you, between Palin’s fervent backers and their reelection of the crook Ted Stevens, my desire to visit Alaska has greatly diminished. The Wild West is alive and well in the 49th state.

**BUMPITY-BUMP**

Full disclosure: The anti-elitism bullshit reared its smelly head in the Canadian election, too. And an indecent percentage of our population is as poorly read and underinformed as Sarah Palin; I went for lunch yesterday with two coworkers, one of whom proudly said he’d only voted once in his 30-something years, and the other had absolutely no idea John McCain was a war veteran and a former POW, though both – predictably – knew all about Britney Spears’ travails and whatever else TMZ deemed newsworthy. (In their weak defense, though, they weren’t running for the second-highest public office in the land.)

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