Soccer Dad

Thinking the right thoughts

William Kristol on the arrogance of the elites:

Why do elites like to proclaim premature closure -- not just in elections, but also in wars and in social struggles? Because it makes them the imperial arbiters, or at least the perspicacious announcers, of what history is going to bring. This puts the elite prognosticators ahead of the curve, ahead of the simple-minded people who might entertain the delusion that they still have a choice.

I'm thinking mostly of the MSM, though Kristol is referring to a more general elite. It's hard not to get the impression when I read the Washington Post or the New York Times that I could be open-minded individual, if I just adopted all the premises they did. There's something perverse about defining open-mindedness by attaching it to the belief in certain ideas.

Kind of like the man Jay Nordlinger just wrote about.

(via memeorandum)

UPDATE: Jennifer Rubin adds:

In this election more than most, the MSM has become trapped by their own narrative. After all, if the MSM barons have intoned that Joe the Plumber is a dolt, Sarah Palin was a tragic error and Barack Obama won every debate, it simply isn't possible that Obama could lose, is it? Well, aside from the potential for secretive racism - which is trotted out at every turn -- there's nothing to prevent Obama from sailing to victory.

(via memeorandum)

As she states, her point isn't that Sen. Obama won't win or isn't likely to win. It's that when the media is so invested in the victory they can't reasonably see any other outcome. That's the problem when the referee takes sides.