Conservatives' Offensive Attacks on Colin Powell, Progressives

Posted by Jill Filipovic, Feministe at 2:47 AM on October 22, 2008.

Conservatives like Pat Buchanan not only accuse Colin Powell of supporting Obama because of race, but do so in an article titled “Tribal Politics.”

Buchanan also says that Powell “owes his fame and career” to the Republican party, and that his endorsement of Obama “smack of ingratitude, opportunism, and even vindictiveness.” The implication, of course, is that Powell should have been grateful that the Republicans let the likes of him through the door. He didn’t become an accomplished general by pulling himself up by his own bootstraps and working hard like everyone else; no, he was the GOP’s affirmative action candidate.

If Buchanan irks you and you want a good laugh, check out Ben Shapiro’s You Might Be An Elitist If column. Apparently in his years at UCLA and Harvard Law and in his short time practicing as an associate in LA (a totally-not-elitist city where he gets paid the totally-not-elitist salary of at least $160,000), totally-not-elitist Ben has learned that the term “elitist” simply means “someone I don’t like.” Here are some of the things Ben believes reflect elitist values:

You're an elitist if you think the government should manage the health care system even though it can't manage to keep the tax code within a 10,000 page limit.

You're an elitist if you think transgenders ought to have their own bathrooms for privacy reasons, but public distribution of pornography is fine.

You're an elitist if you think that pro-life folks are fascists unmotivated by true sympathy for the unborn.

…right. I hope his law school finals were this intellectually compelling — perhaps he just wrote the words “Roe v. Wade” followed by a bunch of frowny-faces. It makes me think that Ben got into Harvard Elle Woods-style (or, more likely, Aleksey Vayner-style).

So allow me to help.


Dear Ben:


Here.

Love,

Jill.


p.s. I ate an organic arugala salad tonight and it was delicious.

Tagged as: wingnuts, pat buchanan

Jill Filipovic is a New York-based freelance writer and a law student at NYU. More of her writing is available online at her blog, Feministe.