Gulfstream Liberals

[Dob]

Comments in italics mine. Edited by me for brevity, link to entire article at bottom.

Those Democrats and Their Private Jets
By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: August 15, 2004

THERE are objects or possessions that scream "I'm better than you". This year's conspicuous object seems to be the private jet.

Once, this prized possession was associated with corporate executives and reclusive stars. There was nothing political, or at least nothing partisan, about them. But since October, when John Edwards was tweaked for flying on planes borrowed from Archer Daniels Midland, they have become what conservatives have portrayed as symbols of liberal hypocrisy. The argument is: these people pretend to be "of the people" or at least "for the people" but they are elitists who fly far above the rest of us.

When the leftist film maker Michael Moore used his publisher's plane on a recent book tour, for example, critics lambasted him for enjoying the corporate high life. The Hollywood activist Laurie David, the wife of Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," was labeled a "Gulfstream liberal" in an article in the latest issue of The Atlantic Monthly for condemning S.U.V. owners while flying around in private planes. (while we're at it, how big is Ms. David's house?)

Arianna Huffington, a financial backer of anti-S.U.V. commercials, has also borne the brunt of criticism for traveling in a jet; and a supermarket magnate, Ron Burkle, is perhaps as well known for his eight-bedroom 767 as he is for the more than $1.5 million that he has given to the Democratic Party since 2000.

Republicans, of course, avoid the hassles of commercial flight at least as often as Democrats. But no one accuses Republicans and their wealthy supporters of hypocrisy, of being "Gulfstream conservatives.'' "Democrats get hit with a double whammy," said Bill Blomquist, a political science professor at Indiana University. "It's not just expensive and indulgent. It's also somehow against the principles of the party." (it's against the principles of an "anti-SUV" political party, that's for sure)

David Horowitz, a conservative purveyor of the hypocrisy accusations, says that the attitude is "everyone should ride bicycles, but we'll take the jets. The schools thing is a good example of that," Mr. Horowitz says. "They send their kids to private schools, but they oppose vouchers."

Then there's the criticism of the rich environmentalist who flies in a private jet to Sierra Club fund-raisers. A midsize Gulfstream 200 uses from 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of fuel for a cross-country flight, so if it holds four people, each person would use about 350 gallons of fuel. That's 10 times the amount of fuel used per person by 130 passengers flying coast to coast on a Boeing 737-300.

It's also nearly the equivalent of driving a Hummer cross country, twice. Mr. Burkle's 767, if it carries eight people across the continent, would each use 1,000 gallons of fuel, enough for eight Hummer trips from southern Brazil to Dearborn, Mich.

Mr. Burkle did not return calls for comment, nor did Ms. Huffington. (big surprise) Ms. David, whose husband was a creator of "Seinfeld,'' also could not be reached for comment.

Such silence, according to conservatives and even some liberals, only proves that the party of the New Deal is blind to the political danger of visible self-indulgence.

"The big problem the Democrats have is that they don't seem to understand the fundamental Republican attack on them this liberal elitist charge," says Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America." "They don't even fight back anymore. They don't take it seriously."

Environmentalists in particular bear the imprint of their enemies. Most Americans think that so-called greens are "supposed to be dressing in wheat shoes and burlap and driving on donkeys," says Mr. Blomquist. (hey professor, NO ONE expects Arianna Huffington or Laurie David to ride a donkey. You're being ridiculous) As a result, he says, "any time they're not doing that, they're open to criticism." (you mean getting criticized for saying "do as I say, not as I do"? Go figure.)

Environmental advocates privately admit that they'd prefer that their liberal donors fly commercial; some even call them outright hypocrites. But they also stress that policies matter more than purchases. "The Kerry energy plan has as its centerpiece an increase in fuel efficiency for automobiles, and they are a much larger environmental concern," says John Coequyt, an energy policy specialist at Greenpeace. "Because there are more of them."

Well then - according to Greenpeace, it's OK for me to drive a Hummer. For one thing, they're aren't that many of them. For another, I'll only be driving one of them, and the environmental impact of just one is negligible.

Yet making the personal political is an American tradition that's difficult to avoid. George Washington's image in the popular historical imagination is tied not just to his victories as a general and president; he's also the down-home farmer who chopped the cherry tree.

By the same token, George W. Bush may be a patrician scion of a former president but when he cuts brush in Texas, he look like an average Joe.
Such attempts to move down market are common, says Alan Brinkley, a historian at Columbia University. "Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison - they ran as log cabin boys, but they were aristocrats," he says. What's new, he says, is the Democrats' rejection of that ethos, and an inability to notice that class still matters; that stepping onto a private jet while fighting for energy conservation looks, well, less than consistent." (ya think?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/weeki ... 5dame.html