Word: litist
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Central to the book's appeal is the compelling voice of its main character, Renée Michel, a 54-year-old Paris apartment-building concierge who struggles to hide her self-taught erudition and cultivation from snobby, rich tenants. She disdains their élitist notions of class and social order, but she knows the residents would be outraged at discovering what a deep grasp the hired help has of art and learning. So Renée masks her intellect behind the persona expected of her lowly station...
...about a speech to Hartford Technical College, which is a made-up school. The bit was me pretending I was a jerk, but no one in their right mind would think I would actually say it. But they used it to say how much of an élitist I am." To say what a pervert Franken is, Coleman alluded to a smutty humor piece about virtual sex that Franken wrote for Playboy eight years ago. Of course, Franken has said much worse, especially if you repeat a joke in the stentorian voice of a political...
This is silly enough when candidates are attacked for their wealth or supposedly élitist habits; it's hard to see how McCain's multiple mansions or $500 shoes detract from his economic plans, and just about impossible to see how Obama's decision to vacation near his grandmother in Hawaii undercuts his claim to economic leadership. But ever since the wealthy Whig William Henry Harrison's brilliant "log cabin and hard cider" campaign, candidates have tried to strike an Everyman pose, and missteps that have made them look "out of touch" - like George H.W. Bush checking his watch during...
...some ways, McCain is simply following the blueprint that helped George W. Bush defeat John Kerry in 2004, when Bush painted the Yankee Senator as a windsurfing élitist. It is also a strategy that Hillary Clinton employed in the primaries against Obama by arguing that the Illinois Senator wasn't ready to fight the hard fight for working Americans. Clinton beat Obama in most of the last 13 primary contests, including wins in several industrial swing states that could decide the November election. The McCain campaign hopes Obama, who holds a stable but slim lead in national polls, does...
...double-edged sword. It didn't help John Kerry that Europeans seemed so eager to embrace him. In a famous put-down, then Commerce Secretary Don Evans declared that Kerry "looks French." For his part, Obama has already been portrayed by opponents as an out-of-touch élitist (see "Bittergate"), and recently McCain surrogates such as Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have suggested that the Democrat has more of a European worldview than the Arizona Senator does...