I’m no fan of Tom Delay, but I almost became one reading Timothy Noah’s snobbish surprise that the House Majority Leader could be interested in opera.
Abramoff is a huge opera buff, and-until now this has been a closely guarded secret-so is DeLay. The only previous public hint of this mutual enthusiasm was the revelation in June by Associated Press reporter Adam Nossiter that Abramoff persuaded the Coushatta tribe to put up $185,000 in 2000 so DeLay could treat some of his biggest donors to a concert by the fabled Three Tenors (José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, and Placido Domingo). Apparently, DeLay is no mere opera dilettante. He knows his spintos and his verismos and his ariosos, and I guess he must work overtime to keep that knowledge a tightly held secret lest his good-ole-boy constituents in Sugarland, Texas, conclude the Hammer is putting on airs.
Oh, really? There’s no proof anywhere that I have seen that Delay (whatever his level of political corruption) hid his love of opera from his constituents, other than Noah’s assumptions about the redneck residents of Sugarland and environs and what they would think of their Congressman’s musical tastes. I guess the man from Slate is certain no one from Sugarland ever got beyond Dolly Parton. I would remind the hoity-toity Mr. Noah that people from the likes of Oxford, Mississippi have achieved more in literature than ten million journalists of his ilk put together. (via Michael Totten)
Sent Instapundit same questions.
I haven’t been able to get this James Wolcott quote out of my head.
“The fact is that by subscribing to Bush’s War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq with every corpuscle of your tired body….”
I just can’t grasp what it takes to be so bitter that you don’t consider The War on Terror to be everyone’s war on terror. In reality, the only people who shouldn’t be part of The War on Terror should be the people fighting The War on Western(and Eastern eventually, if they get that far) Civilization….and Switzerland. Neutrality is not noble. I can understand a Bush-hater calling it Bush’s war in Iraq, but he actually separates the two(obviously because it’s a proven fact that Saddam hated terrorism and probably would have helped fighting it) calling it “Bush’s War on Terror” but not his “invasion of Iraq.” I guess it’s because everone knows the invasion is Rumsfeld’s, Cheney’s, Wolfowitz’s, Rove’s, Fox News’s, Ken Lay’s, Swift Boat Veterans’, Halliburton’s, Guantanamo Bay’s, John Roberts’s….
I think there’s something to the fact that(according to his website at least) he mentions a wife but no children and 3 cats but no dogs. In general(I know stereotype, prejudice, racism), I’d say this signifies a self-centered pair, not at all interested in sacrificing the conveniences of their lives to care about something besides themselves. Add to that living as writers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and you’ve got yourself a selfish couple who thinks they are >=(that’s math) everyone and anyone who has an opinion that differs from theirs is too stupid to understand the topic.
On a totally different issue, I’m curious as to what you think the reach of political blogs are, especially now that the Presidential election cycle is finished for a little while. I was a daily reader during the run-up to the war through Bush’s election. Since then I’ve been off and on. Spending more time on the internet browsing the major stories and reading more fun sites like http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/ and http://www.gorillamask.net/. Go Sox. Now I read political blogs a couple of times a week and find that much of the content is totally new to me. For instance, I would have been unaware of the NARAL ad controversy, had I not been reading blogs. I feel that when I’m zoning out on more “fun” sites, I’m more in touch with the news that the overwhelming majority is getting as opposed to the topics that consume vehemently opposing sides of the underwhelming minority.
Thanks for the consistently interesting reading,
A “New England Republican…different than most…more reasonable and thoughtful”
P.S. How much do you think Bush’s statement supporting Rafael Palmeiro has to do with them being “friends” as opposed to Palmeiro being a Cuban-American? Along the same lines, how differently do you think Bush answers questions now that he knows he won’t ever be up for any sort of election again? Is he just trying to help his brother?
Opera is OK, I like some of it. I suppose I can forgive mean old bug killer Tom Delay for being an opera fan. I was more interested in why Noah believes Delay is a crook. Turns out Noah interprets the law so that anytime anyone endorses a politician in an election, a bribe has been offered. I endorsed a politician once, I guess I am guilty, guilty, guilty! In fact I got the tax cut I was hoping for. Nuff said, take me away Judge Judy.
201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses
“Whoever,
(1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent?
(A) to influence any official act; …
…shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”
I bet Timothy Noah would never, never, never apply this legal standard to a Democrat.
ìI guess the man from Slate is certain no one from Sugarland ever got beyond Dolly Parton.î
I probably live within a ten minute drive to Tom DeLayís home. His district includes a high mix of people from across the economic and cultural divide. The myth that only Bubbas in pick up trucks dominate the area is a slander.
Tom DeLay was merely one of many beneficiaries of Jack Abramoffís money machine:
ìAmong the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill’s most powerful Democrats, including Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (Nev.), the top two Senate Democrats at the time, Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), then-leader of the House Democrats, and the two lawmakers in charge of raising funds for their Democratic colleagues in both chambers, according to a Washington Post study.î
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/02/AR2005060202158.html
There is no justification for Tim Noahís ignorant rant. The facts behind the Jack Abramoff scandal has been readily available for at least the last few months. Doesnít Noah do any real work at Slate.com?
Larry, I’m finding that these political blogs are just as relevant as ever. For instance, Able Danger, Air America . . . since I never see thes4e mentioned in WaPo, when the delivery person bothers to do his/her job and drop it of in the morning (how do you like paying for 7-day delivery and achieving a rate of about 80% in finding the newspaper in the driveway before 8am???).
Lola, think of it as a health benefit. For example, the government is trying to make you cut the amount of trans fats in your diet. In this case, your newspaper delivery person is trying to lower your blood pressure 20% of the time by not having to read the biased news reports. Admittedly you can cut it 100% and save money in the process by not subscribing to the newspaper (as I did with the Washington Post), but you have to start somewhere. After all if you go cold turkey and drop it all at once, the euphoria your experience may be too much for your heart.
The problem with snobs like this Noah character is that they do not get out enough.
It is regional snobbery and partisan politics plain and simnple and I am getting tired of the stupidity myself.
The funny part about snobs like Noah is that their inflated opinions of themselves are seldom justified. The silence from the left when it was revealed that GWB and Kerry had similar academic records was telling.
Off topic, my local paper (Syracuse Post Standard)is recycling a Maureen Dowd column from 2000 because she’s on vacation. Couldn’t expose the yokels to a new idea, could we?
Does everyone see the direct connection between this subject and that of the thread on Bush as communicator?
Precisely. I have no knowledge of, and no desire to speculate about, Timothy Noah’s domestic arrangements. His prose is sufficient. It’s a nice, neat circularity. One defines a culture as somehow deficient; from that, one can conclude that a member of that culture is less than noble. It then becomes possible to back up one’s assertion that the culture is bad by pointing to its less-than-noble member, then to infer vileness in the member from the characteristics of the culture… It’s how I thought about black people for the first third (or more) of my life, so I’m quite familiar with the mechanism, and with the lubrication and maintenance needed to keep it in smooth running order. The shiny new paint and logos are irrelevant once the covers are off, and the fact that it’s pointed at me and mine rather than someone else is only slightly distracting.
Mr. Noah and his ilk assume that the Southern/Southwestern culture (I have no other name for it) is that of the crude and uneducated, on the basis that it does not proceed from the same assumptions as his own culture. From that he concludes that the members of the culture are coarse, crass bumpkins — then he cites the crassness as an excuse to further denigrate the culture. The technical term is bigotry.
I have a friend, a truck driver, who spends a good bit of money on things like noise-canceling headphones because it’s hard to hear the quiet parts of the classical music he prefers over the roar of the Cummins. Dan is well over six feet and 220 pounds; he wears checkered shirts with pearl snaps and belt buckles suitable for dessert plates. I wonder what Timothy Noah would think of him on first sight. Of course I have a prejudice on the matter.
Like Roger I have no particular brief for Tom DeLay, but I doubt very seriously that DeLay’s taste for opera (or lack thereof) is any factor at all in whether or not he gets elected. Compare and contrast the likely response should it be discovered that some randomly-selected Democratic politician from Massachusetts enjoyed George Strait. Visualize Teddy in a slightly-small, pearl-snapped Western shirt and jeans, with broken-backed seven-stitched Justins and his belly hanging over a rodeo-prize buckle from 1959. He’d fit right in, despite his accent. Would you buy a used Congressman from this man?
Regards,
Ric
If Tom Delay likes opera, I only like him better for it. The only good-ole-boy I know is a wealthy rancher who plays tuba in the local symphony orchestra.
Things I love: my family, classical music, and blogs like this!
Susan
Sugar Land, Texas
Well, I’ve got a brief for Tom DeLay. His job is to keep his portion of the congressional clown corps focused and on task. He’s a very good whip and the evidence is in the legislative package that has moved through the House. I’m not speaking in any way to the merits of any particular legislation, to the pork accreted or to the unlovely compromises necessitated by the sausage making in the lobbies. I’m speaking just of his responsibility for maintaining party discipline and getting legislation to a vote.
If you contrast his performance with that of McConnell in the Senate, he comes out ahead. It’s true that he doesn’t have to deal with the blimp sized egos tied to pea brains that are common in the Senate but just about every congresscritter thinks (s)he’s a Senator in training. Herding chickens is much easier.
It is totally unsurprising that Noah has sneers for one of the opposition engaging in an activity that does not fit within the narrow constructs of his rigid template. Reality makes fools of those of his persuasion with every sunrise. He just gets to expose the limitations of his thought process in a public forum, removing all possible doubt as to his “liberalism”.
Well, I get to drive past DeLay’s Campaign office every time I go home. I could even walk to it for re-election signs for my front yard. Now I think I’ll turn my FM station to the Classical sounds of……..oh, wait. My local Classical station is Pacifica radio. And it’s the same ole liberal crap fron NPR instead of music. Guess I’d better go out and buy me some classical CDs to play in my Lexus 470 and my F150 Pickup and maybe even my new Mustang GT convertible. Is that snobbish enough for you Noah?????
Susan W. beat me to it, but Mr. Noah didn’t take the time to check how the “Rednecks” spell the name of their city: Sugar Land.
–from a native of Pearland
“so DeLay could treat some of his biggest donors to a concert by the fabled Three Tenors”…so, not only in DeLay himself an opera fan, but so are some of his donors!
This must be psychologically very difficult for Democrats, to have something they thought of as a class marker for their own sort adopted by outsiders. Expect proposals for new versions of sumptuary laws, such that no one will be allowed to listen to opera or classical music without appropriate educational credentials (a masters or PhD in a non-scientific subject)
Mr. Noah’s position is what the Dems must overcome if they ever expect to get back in the White House. Condescension and snobbery are guaranted to strengthen the red states and chip away at the blue.
He apparently thinks they can win without us southerners. Howard Dean wants to court us “confederate flag in the pickup” types. Faster please.
Good Lord.
Anyone who has ever been near Dallas (I cannot speak for Houston) will likely be struck, as I was, by how much they all want to be from London — everything from “The Lady Carruth” (may she rest in peace – they build Carruth Pavillion at SMU), to the names of the clubs and office buildings, to the high end decor.
Just becasue it is east of the Hudson River does not mean what many NYers think it means.
To David Thomson and others:
Exactly why is “Bubbas in pick-up trucks” a slander? And for Mr. Simon, whose writing I could not appreciate more, did you really mean to say that opera is “beyond Dolly Parton”? I cannot see any reason for denigrating people, or otherwise taking their measure, based on the types of vehicles they drive or the fact that they like to listen to music that naturally appeals to them, rather than something for which they must struggle to develop a taste. Thank goodness all people do not have the same taste. Still, why on Earth would anyone, regardless of whether they drive an old pick-up truck or a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 coup, prefer opera to Emmylou Harris singing “Boulder to Birmingham” or “Hickory Wind”?
Um, Roger, shouldn’t that title read “Discreet Charm …?” (No offense intended– internal editor takes over sometimes.)
Since my own gradual apostacy from the left was completed over a decade ago, I’ve been fascinated by the centrality of rank bigotry and class prejudice to the modern liberal argument. Even the most sophisticated left-wing pundits (Wills, Wolcott, Dionne) can’t help indulging in crude ad hominems to claim what they clearly perceive to be the moral high ground over their adversaries.
The difficulty with this habit of mind is that it leaves one blinded to the substantive weakness of one’s core argument, and utterly unaware of the transparancy to the rest of us of their inflated self-regard.
From whence does this moral and intellectual blindness come?
I have season tickets to the San Francisco opera, but I also have the “redneck woman” herself, Gretchen Wilson’s, latest album in my big ol’ Ford truck’s CD player at the moment. Yet according to Noah this is a cultural impossibility. I’m surprised my head hasn’t exploded.
Rick Z…I think present-day liberalism (or “progressivism,” as they usually call it) is in fact much more about acquiring the markers of class status than it is about any particular political philosophy.
Just as these individuals read the ads in the NYT magazine section to learn what products to buy in order to be recognized as “one of us,” they read the NYT content in order to learn what opinions to hold, for the same reason.
Connecticut Yankee — Nope, there’s nothing discreet about this alleged “charm”. It is discrete — isolated, lumpen, obdurate and obstructive.
photoncourier is right.
Much of modern-day political sentiment is for some people a mere fashion statement. That’s because they’re living in a symbolic world not the real world. And we all know which beliefs are the fashionable ones.
One must indeed be ‘discrete’ – seperated – to think Texans incapable of elevated tastes. There are few less Texan individuals than Ima Hogg, who, among her accomplishments founded the Houston Symphony way back in 1913.
I take some amusement in the judgement of the burghers. When our old neighborhood in Chicago gentrified to the point we needed to leave, I made a point of switching from Chopin piano sonatas to the Kentucky Headhunters when I got near home.
As a resident of Sugar Land, TX, I must say that our community is thriving. Booming, in fact. What started out as a suburban community of people looking for excellent public schools will become a metropolitan are of over 1,000,000 people by 2020.
I can assure Mr. Noah that it wouldn’t surprise anyone here to discover that one of our neighbors or political representatives was a fan of the opera, nor would it bother them. Houston has a world-renowned opera and I can further assure Mr. Noah that it wasn’t created and sustained for all of these years by a bunch of chaw-spittin’ rednecks.
I have to wonder if Mr. Noah is aware of how ignorant he is, or how dangerous this ignorance is to the Democratic Party. This attitude loses elections, and yet they can’t seem to resist it.
The Southern Intellectual although ignored, is by no means extinct. And they sit back in amusement at myopic east coasters who plug their ears, shut their eyes, shove Thai food down their throats, and smugly declare their intellectual superiority.
Cocktail Party Trivia – For a while the only Brooks Brothers store outside New York was in Houston, TX. Amaze your friends!
And apropos of nothing – Rudy Giuliani is a huge opera buff (or is that opera buffa?) and is “out” about it too. Maybe a Giuliani/Delay ticket would appeal to the NPR set?
Then again, maybe not.