Will you stop it Senator Clinton!

Now economists who don’t agree with Senator Clinton’s gas tax proposal are “elite” or spouting “elite opinion”:

Clinton dismisses “elite” economists on gas tax

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday dismissed the “elite opinion” of economists who criticized her gas tax proposal, using a term that has dogged rival Barack Obama in recent weeks.

…Clinton used her appearance on ABC’s “This Week” to raise questions about Obama’s ability to connect with working-class Americans while dismissing economists who have said her plan to suspend gas taxes over the summer would do little good.

“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists,” the New York senator said when asked to name a credible economist who supported her proposal.

“We’ve got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans,” said Clinton, a former first lady who would be the first woman president.

WILL YOU STOP IT, SENATOR CLINTON!

You are a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. You are a multi-millionaire. You are, as the article above says, “a former first lady who would be the first woman president“. You are elite! And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Let’s look at the definition of “elite” via Dictionary.com:

1. (often used with a plural verb) the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.
2. (used with a plural verb) persons of the highest class: Only the elite were there.
3. a group of persons exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group: the power elite of a major political party.

And from the American Heritage Dictionary:

1. A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status: “In addition to notions of social equality there was much emphasis on the role of elites and of heroes within them” (Times Literary Supplement).
2. The best or most skilled members of a group: the football team’s elite.

Hello!?! Sounds like you, Senator Clinton. By the way, sounds like Senator Obama also. And what do you know? Senator McCain is elite as well. In fact Senators Clinton and McCain are senior elite. Senator Obama is a cutesy baby elite and he may make his way to senior elite soon enough. So enough already, Senator Clinton. You are elite and elitist. And you’re not going back to the non-elite. Why say this to a fellow Democrat when Republicans have been able to frame Democrats this way for years and win the big prize because of it? You are an intelligent, battle-tested politician that knows the game. Why do this when it can be used against you?

And it’s very easy to say that you just disagree with the economists’ opinions. Why throw in the “elite” tag unless you’re… well let me just say this:

You lend much credence to Senator Obama’s comment that “this is some politics being played”.