Roland Martin calls out Republican party, media, on "elitism" memo

Roland Martin, a regular CNN contributor (and the one that I personally find the the most tolerable of the whole CNN bunch), finally calls out the ridiculousness of accusing different presidential candidates of being elitist.  He especially calls out the Republican party's hypocrisy on the issue.  Their argument that Democrats are elitist, while they are just men of the people is tired and false.

We have all been making this argument on this site for a while now, but someone in the media finally appears to be paying attention.  I will have a lot more on Roland's commentary, which goes on the skewer both the Republican party and the mainstream media for their phony charges of elitism, right after the jump.

Commentary: An 'average' American will never be president

So, Sen. Barack Obama is all of a sudden an elitist because he went to Columbia and Harvard? And Sen. Hillary Clinton is an elitist because she went to Yale? Do you actually think Sen. John McCain isn't an elitist? He went to an exclusive college -- the Naval Academy, and that is one of the hardest places to get into. (You can't even apply unless a member of Congress recommends you.)

Karl Rove, who tries to portray himself as the common man but is just another rich Republican, has called both Democratic candidates elitists. Well, his former boss, President George W. Bush, went to Yale. So did Bush's dad, former president George H.W. Bush, and his granddaddy, former Sen. Prescott Bush. All three Bushes also were members of the super elite organization Skull and Bones. The younger Bush later went to Harvard.

He walked into the governor's mansion and the presidency on the strength of his name and his dad's money and connections. Sounds like an elitist to me!

Does someone in the mainstream media finally get it?  None of the candidates, no matter how hard they try, will be the "Average Joe".  They will all have been to a top college, and by nature of their roll in government, very well off, if not downright rich.  

Roland perfectly hits on Republican hypocrisy when talking about the average American.  Despite all of their pandering to working class voters, they are  extremely judgmental when trying to let people into their exclusive Republican club.  

Surely you recall when Bush nominated Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court? Those same conservative voices decrying the elitist Democrats were blasting her because she went to little old Southern Methodist University, that unremarkable -- their view -- university in Dallas, Texas. (By the way, that will be the home of the George W. Bush Library.)

You can bet a pitcher of beer that had she graduated from Harvard, Yale or Princeton, she wouldn't have been derisively referred to as too plain and not educated enough by the elitists in the Republican Party.

The message is clear from the Republican party to the working man or woman.  We'll take your vote, just don't expect us to allow you a seat at the table.

Presidential candidates will always come from privileged educational and economic backgrounds. Regardless of how many times John McCain calls everyday folks "my friends", it doesn't change the fact that he's a son of an admiral who has married into a $100 million beer fortune.  No matter how many shots Hillary Clinton knocks back at a bar, she will still be the  wife of a former President and has made (along with her husband) $109 million over 6 years.  Even Barack Obama, who is significantly less wealthy than either McCain or Hillary, still is in an economic situation most people would love to be in themselves.

As Roland points out, being from an elite background is not necessarily a bad thing.  He points out what should be obvious.  Presidential candidates should not be judged on things such as their bowling scores or what they choose to order at a diner, but the policies that they have for fixing America.

Bottom line: The narrative about our presidential candidates being just regular folks is a tired myth that gets repeated each and every day. And their efforts to show that they are "just like us" are really pathetic.

You don't have to go duck hunting, be seen buying milk at the grocery store for your family or having a beer at the local bar to show that you're "one of us." Just do what rich and highly educated folks do when they are in politics: Advance policies that will at least allow me to keep a few more dollars in my pocket and be able to afford a home.

He says some of his most skewering criticism for the group that deserves it the most.  The media blowhards that are crying "elitist" over Obama's latest remarks.  As we all know, they are not exactly the average American either.

One more thing: Don't buy fully into the nonsense tossed out by some of the loudest voices on television, radio and in print who decry these "elitists" and trumpet that they are for the blue collar, middle-class worker in middle America.

Many of them pull down multimillion-dollar salaries and run into these same candidates on Martha's Vineyard and in the Hamptons when they all vacation. They, too, will pull every favor they have to get their children in the posh private schools and Ivy League institutions.

Yes, we even have elitists in the media.

I'm looking at you Lou Dobbs and Chris Matthews