Experts on America Not

I am quite amused at the antics of the so called experts on America at Harry's Place. It is abundantly clear that David T is at times off his rocker on certain subjects. He vastly overestimates his knowledge of America and at times is comedic.

There are those in Europe who feign to be experts in America. They read the NYT and make a few visits to NYC, Disney and LA and attend a few cocktail parties with the arts and croissant crowd and that is the extent of their knowledge.

In general the rants of these so called experts merely parrot our Europhile far left. This group tends to be a very small percentage of our population. It does not nor has ever represented the spirit of our country.

I do live in NYC and want to point out that the Editrix is largely correct that the issue with rude tourists is a matter of class. In my 43 years of life in a tourist center I have never encountered
a rude Japanese or Korean tourists. They ask questions and I am more than happy to direct them with a smile. In general most of the tourists are okay with the exception of some very boorish Europeans who are of the mindset of David T.

I spent three years in VT and was beloved by the locals. I never criticized the local culture or expressed an opinion on local Vermont issues. My point was that Vermonters themselves should decide their local concerns without nosy NYC types mixing in. I respected the local traditions of hunting, fishing, skiing and boating even though I rarely took part in any. I visited the local fairs and was a good sport if humor was directed my way. I do not claim to be an expert on VT, but enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I will contrast this with the highly obnoxious Euros that come to NYC. They come in and lecture
the locals about our elected leaders and local politics. I am sorry if you do not like Bush or our foreign policy, but we didn't ask for your opinion. To be blunt I really do not care who your leaders or policies are, nor do I care to visit your countries. I would rather see parts of my own
country that is much larger than your country. If I did visit, I certainly would show more manners than to start badgering the locals about their elected leaders, local media or foreign policy. The worst offenders far and away are foreign journalists.

As usual David T starts off with his latest rant about the Tea Party movement. He points out the irony of leaders of the movement being unemployed. He repeats familiar cliches about the Tea Party movement. One could and should ask similar questions about members of Code Pink, ANSWER and UPJ that seem to Jet set with no discernible employment and behave like a cross between Grateful Dead Fans and Neonazis. One could also add in plenty about taking grooming tips from homeless people. These quips are not based upon the NYT, but upon personal observation.

As for these arrogant remarks plenty of good people find themselves out of work. They do not want handouts or health care. They want jobs and they see an arrogant administration with a 24/7 mania about a health care program the American people do not want. They want the government to create policies that will foster job growth. Those that are unemployed include many people who were at jobs for more than a decade of all political leanings. The message of the Tea Party movement is get back to our basic traditions, smaller government, sane taxation and promote job growth.

David T's cohort Gene points out that the Obama stimulus plan saved jobs. This is a debatable
contention and folks like Mr. B would point out the pork and waste were not as advertised. How
this plan made matters better is a matter of speculation and conjecture. What is known is that the American people are growing increasingly angry and frustrated with Obama and find him arrogant and out of touch. Whether, it is fair to blame him for the mess is a different story. The American people in poll after poll are starting to react negatively. Of course David T repeats the NYT cliche about an inept candidate in MA. John Corzine in NJ was certainly not inept and well funded and was burned by Obama and the economy. The facts are independents and Regan Democrats are walking away from Obama.

I pointed out that the peace protests do resemble Nuremberg style rallies. Truthers, Conspiracy Kooks, Commies and antisemites are noticeable in seconds. One has to look hard to find similar types at a Tea Party event. I actually did go looking for such types at a huge DC rally and couldn't find them. I asked him how many Tea Party events in the USA has he personally gone to. The response was predictable in that he accused me of getting all my news from FOX. This is a worn cliche and in my case amusing as I get my news from Google News. I seldom watch TV
or have time to listen to talk radio. I have in the past, but commute in NYC and it is not cool to listen to talk radio on a head set on the bus home.

Unlike David T I have attended plenty of Tea Party events and plenty of Nuremberg style so called "peace protests". A simple look at the brilliant blog of friend Urban Infidel shows what is obvious upon any actual attendance of Tea Party events and so called "Peace Protests". Why would I need Fox News to tell me what any NYC type who has witnessed these events could describe in seconds.

David T is also a self described expert in our talk radio shows. How he managed to gain this expertise without bothering to listen to the shows over an extended period of time is unknown.
He might also be an expert on books he hasn't bothered to read as well and do some amusing card tricks to entertain guests. Three Card Monty would qualify as a job skill in this dreadful economy albeit an illegal one.

Another commenter posted links to pictures clearly pointing out deranged antisemitic peace protesters with hateful signs. He made a quip about guns and the alleged racial and homophobic epithets hurled at some very ethically challenged members of congress. Of course CNN reported the story, but no video footage was released in a town with more cameras than Dubai. Even if these episodes did occur they would be regrettable but no worse than the General Betrayus, Bush= Hitler, Antisemitic smears aimed at Joe Lieberman and so forth that we see with exponentially greater frequency from the far left.

David T seems to believe some anecdotes about Tea Party members with guns. I never saw any except for those on the law enforcement officers. If this was a reference to the militia story it would seem that these clowns were imitating Bill Ayers, Chesimard and blathering incoherently about revolution like some familiar cafeteria commissars or bathroom Bolsheviks. To paraphrase Ashton Kutscher "Dude where is the Marxism"? I also pointed out a google search of protester arrested shows one minor story about people possibly linked to Tea Parties and multiple examples of leftists in their natural environment, jail.

The story gets more bizarre as David T sees a sinister racist plot to disenfranchise blacks by not granting DC statehood. A fellow blogger pointed out the historical context of how the Federal District was created. Perhaps David T is unfamiliar with James Madison, George Washington and our history. He should also be aware that many states pay in more taxes than they pay out.
Historically NY and NJ subsidize states like New Mexico. DC is not underfunded in any description. As for ascribing political motives to the Republican effort to block statehood, one can argue that a move to alter our traditions was a brazen attempt by the left to grab an extra three seats. Interestingly David points out that more people live in DC than Wyoming. However if we were to look at land many of the leftist NE states are over represented with no land mass. For the record I oppose altering our traditions to reduce the number of states.

David T was unable to even discern who he was dealing with. Contrary to popular opinion I am a traditional liberal. If you want to meet a Conservative I know and am friendly with plenty. We have zero patience for communists, anarchists, theocrats, truthers and racial hygiene nuts but that was the position of traditional Democrats up until the 70's.

While we do appreciate opinions from abroad it would be nice if folks like David T would make a minimal effort to familiarize himself with the subject matter.

That being said we do appreciate and respect his other posts. He is clearly a bright person who just too often takes the NYT as gospel.