It’s a lie that might have once been true: Republicans are the party of the rich; Democrats represent the little guy.
Not so today. Not for quite some time now.
Consider the daughters of two former presidents, one Democrat, one Republican:
- Daughter A’s wedding cost $100,000, Daughter B’s wedding anywhere from $2–5 million.
- Daughter A attended a state college, the University of Texas. Daughter B got her BA at uppity Stanford and her Master’s at even more uppity Oxford.
- Upon graduation from college, Daughter A taught at a charter school for disadvantaged children. She also published a biography about a 17-year-old single mother in Latin America infected with HIV. She met this girl while working as an intern for UNICEF in Panama.
Daughter B went from college right to a six-figure position in a New York City consulting firm. She then took a job making the same type of money for a hedge fund firm whose owner is a heavy donor to her father and his party.
As you’ve probably surmised by now, Daughter A is Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of that eeevil rich oil guy George W. Bush—a Republican. Daughter B, naturally, is newlywed Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky, whose Democrat father has always been depicted by the media as a man of the people, champion of the little guy, the first black president, etc., etc. etc.
Does something seem about 180 degrees out of phase to you?
(Should we also mention that George and Laura Bush live on a ranch in Crawford, Texas while Bill and Hillary Clinton reside in a mansion worth seven-figures in tony Chappaqua, New York.)
And speaking of the media, the media’s coverage of both daughters both during and after their father’s terms in office is well-documented. Chelsea’s privacy was dutifully respected. If her life was frought with trouble, as is the case with many young people facing many worldly temptations, you’d never know it from following the U.S. mainstream media.
Jenna and her twin sister Barbara, however, did not enjoy the same respect for privacy afforded to Chelsea. Their run-ins with the law due to underage drinking—which virtually everyone does and they know it—were exploited by the media and used to bash their father, himself a recovering alcoholic. (It is quite clear that the only people not to be sympathized with or forgiven for alcohol, drug, or marital problems are conservatives/Republicans. The name Rush Limbaugh ring a bell?)
Kathleen McKinley, who documents the stark contrast between the two daughters at Right Wing News, writes:
Gosh. Which daughters sound more “Republican” and which more “Democrat?” In Chelsea’s case, all things lead back to more money for her parent’s political ambitions (and for herself). In the twin’s case, all things lead to helping mankind.
I’m just saying. There is perception, and then there is reality. Interesting, is it not?
Interesting and infuriating.
Don’t get me wrong: Like most conservatives talking or blogging about the subject, I don’t begrudge Chelsea Clinton her extravagant star-studded dream wedding, her six-figure salary, or her parents’ palatial digs.
What I take serious issue with, however, is the line constantly repeated by Democrats that it is they who are the party of the little guy, and that Republicans are not.
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