Snob of the Week (with Bonus)

While I was poring over The Weekend Oz to find out the true state of the world and the nation, two excellent examples of intellectual snobbery caught my eye. First, here's Pearson, C arguing that while the Liberal Party has resumed its traditional status as the natural party of government, the Labor Party has reverted to its traditional role as the natural party of something else:

It ought to have been obvious to the dimmest in caucus that this [a standing ovation for President George the Second] is a salute to the office, not the man. It ought to have been equally obvious, having recently turned Labor's collective attitude towards the alliance into a problem for the Government to exploit all the way to the next election, that it is a symbolic, fence-mending gesture. The only constituents likely to get sanctimonious about it have no one else to vote for and are too few in number and possibly too stupid to worry about.

This is easily surpassed by Phillip Adams in his article in the Weekend Australian Magazine, which concludes with a magnificent dummy spit:

... We're dealing with a public that doesn't want to know. A public that chooses to ignore the truth about Tampa, the refugees, SIEV-X, the detention centres, the war in Iraq. A public that proffers the blind eye and deaf ear, preferring to live in the amoral world of blissful, wilful ignorance. Instead of being enraged by the lies of our leaders and the gutlessness of the Opposition, we excuse our failure as citizens by saying, "We're not to blame; they've made us cynical." Sorry that's not good enough. The public has to lift its game.

So there you go. Two old favourites in one; a Snob of the Week and a Dummy Spit of the Week. You can't get better value than that. Onya Phil.