01-07-2008, 12:22 AM
As [Senator Clinton] pointed out last night, back in 2000, people chose someone they felt they could "have a beer with" and then later regretted it. I was kind of surprised she said that, because obviously she just hugely insulted a good part of the constituency (despite it being the truth, what she said).
I don't think she insulted anyone but the pundits who decided that people would rather have a beer with a shallow, thoughtless, and mean-spirited thug of a frat boy than with an erudite and accomplished wonk.
The problem with this country is that there is a strong anti-intellectual and anti-rational thinking trend, which has seemingly been holding sway since the 70's. (Remember back to when it was last "cool" to be into chemistry, or rocketry?
Speaking as a life-time member of the Don Herbert Fan CLub, and a signatory to the Estes Rocketeer Pledge, I can state categorically that these things were not "cool" in the 1970s.
We had a very intelligent, rational candidate back in 2004, and we didn't elect him. We had a very intelligent, rational candidate back in 2000, and we didn't elect him either. Instead, a good portion of this country chose to re-elect a bumbling idiot that they could have a beer with...
Well, actually, the rational candidate won in 2000. The election was stolen from him.
As for 2004 -- I am unconvinced. Who knows what Diebold did to the voting machines in Ohio.
AFAICT, nerdiness is cooler today than it has ever been. From Willow the cool-nerd witch in the Bufffyverse, to the proliferation of crime solving nerds on cop shows, to rock musicians (!) making music on laptops, the coolness of being a nerd in popular culture is at an all time high.