Fisk of the Day

Canadian columnist Heather Mallick thinks Palan, like most Republicans, is a hillbilly, and complains that "the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right." Fortunately, James Lileks "Fisks" her to within an inch of her life:

Leaving aside whether Europe would like us more if we did something about those horrible people they see in "The Dukes of Hazzard" documentaries, you have to love the idea of the "white trash" demo sullying our name inside our borders -- she’s talking about the thin crust of coastal dwellers who regard Manhattan as some sort of precious monastery that keeps the dim flickering light of civilization alive. Why, if the hillbillies disappeared, the New Yorkers would be reduced to making disparaging remarks about people from New Jersey who take the bridges and tunnels to go clubbing in LowSoHo or MoTriVil or whatever old neighborhood has been fitted out with thudding discos and fusion-sushi joints.

Why does this demographic -- the white trash, I mean, not the orange trash of the Guido Jersey interlopers -- have such a "curious appeal" to the right? Because the right, perhaps, thinks of them as "voters" who cast "ballots" in "elections" for people to don’t consider rhinoplasty so they can look down their noses even further than God intended.

Mallick continues: "It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman." Lileks responds:

Consider the joy that would reign if someone wrote that "Democrats, racial guilt-mongers that they are, really believe that African-Americans will vote for an African-American just because he’s an African-American." Of course Republican men don’t believe that women will vote for her just because she’s a woman. It’s surely a factor, but there’s the possibility that they will vote for her because she is not a woman like Heather Mallick.

You have to love the "Sexual inadequates that they are" line as well; if there’s one thing that’s amused me in the last two weeks, it’s the screechy distaste of Ms. Palin coming from men who embodied the Modern Alda Paradigm of masculinity, which is to say they are nervous around cars, think guns are icky, had their own Snugli, have wives in corporate jobs who make more money than they do, and still get dissed behind their backs because they can’t figure out how to make the bed. The Lost Boys, if you will. Now, some women can’t stand Sarah Palin for their own reasons, personal or ideological; same with men. Some men, however, are made deeply uneasy by her, because she’s the one who ignored the sensitive poet-guys in high school for the jocks, and didn’t seem to grasp the essential high-school truth that it’s cool to be a loser. But that’s rank psychoanalysis, and we won’t stoop to that.

Read the whole thing.