The NYT Supplies Its List of represerntative Americans

[bitterlyclingin]

If you saw this “If I were President” article in the NYT that purported to offer up helpful suggestions from non-pundits and political/media types on how to fix the country, you probably rolled your eyes. Certainly FrankJ and Jon Henke did on Twitter (H/T), and for good reason: as ideas go, said ideas were… ah, largely lacking. And kind of provincial. Gimmicky, even. Certainly mostly a narrow focus.

But that’s not the point of this post. No, the point of this post is to introduce you to who the New York Times consider to be “a range of Americans who don’t labor in politics or the media” – largely because if people just let the New York Times get away with claiming nonsense with a straight face then they’ll never stop doing that.

So: let us look at these twelve supposedly representative Americans (one of which, by the way, is probably actually a Brit):

Name

Affiliation

Noteworthy because?



Michael J Sandel

Liberal

Harvard Professor/HuffPo



Sharon Olds

Liberal

“Poet Rebuffs Laura Bush”



Andrew Weil

Liberal

Alt-med, likes Obamacare



Danny Meyer

Liberal

Obama supporter/restauranteur



James Q Wilson

Conservative

Professor/Academic



Jennifer Egan

Liberal

Author / Thinks Bush ‘criminal’



Str. Mary Walgenbach

Liberal

Antiwar loon


The New York Times’ Everyday Americans? | RedState

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Sort of like the NYT's usual polling samples: 48% Democrat, 24% Republican and 28% Independents who had voted for Barack Hussein Obama. The 19th Century frontier card cheats should have had it so good.

 

[Greenbeard]

Just curious, how do you get from

“a range of Americans who don’t labor in politics or the media”

to

twelve supposedly representative Americans

?

There are a range of personalities and views on USMB. They are not, however, a representative sample of anything. That's because those phrases aren't synonymous.

 

[hellofromwarsaw]

Non pundits- and very interesting- unlike Red State...

Published: August 20, 2011
Opinion
If I Were President...
Opinion
If I Were President...
We've heard from the media and from experts — incessantly. What if we entered a pundit-free zone?

THERE’S a near-total disconnect between our real, large, urgent problems and the who’s-up-who’s-down cage match that is the daily bread of our pundit class. Unending wars, a bone-dry Southwest and flooded Midwest, the absence of a jobs program — these have been, at best, of anecdotal interest to the mouths that roar on television. Instead, media-friendly politicians and pundits have been obsessed with two contrived priorities: the debt ceiling and a presidential election that’s 15 months away.

“In moments of crisis, style dissolves into character,” says Warren Bennis, the scholar of leadership who has advised four presidents. And not just for our leaders — talking heads are also being tested. For all their eloquence, most have nothing to say that we haven’t heard them say before. Bored and frustrated, I found myself hoping for ideas that might challenge or inspire. Then I asked a range of Americans who don’t labor in politics or the media what they’d do if they were president.

— JESSE KORNBLUTH, a writer and the editor of HeadButler.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MICHAEL J. SANDELSHARON OLDSANDREW WEILDANNY MEYERJAMES Q. WILSONJENNIFER EGANSISTER MARY DAVID WALGENBACHGEOFFREY CANADAPATRICIA RYAN MADSONSTEPHEN HANNOCK
Artist known for paintings of landscapes JAMES DYSONNEIL deGRASSE TYSONPrevious1 of 12Next Photograph by Kiku Adatto/Harvard News Office
Harvard professor and the author of “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?”

I would lead a campaign against the skyboxification of American life. Not long ago, the ballpark was a place where C.E.O.’s and mailroom clerks sat side by side, and everyone got wet when it rained. Today, most stadiums have corporate skyboxes, which cosset the privileged in air-conditioned suites, far removed from the crowd below. Something similar has happened throughout our society. The affluent retreat from public schools, the military, and other public institutions, leaving fewer and fewer class-mixing places. Rich and poor increasingly live separate lives.

I would invest in an infrastructure for civic renewal — not just roads and bridges, but schools, transit, playgrounds, parks, community centers, health clinics, libraries and national service. This would put people to work. And it would draw us out of our skyboxes and into the common spaces of democratic citizenship.

I hate skyboxes and the rich writing it off non fans in them...

 

[Sallow]

Sort of like the NYT's usual polling samples: 48% Democrat, 24% Republican and 28% Independents who had voted for Barack Hussein Obama. The 19th Century frontier card cheats should have had it so good.

Believe it or not..that's probably how most of the American population breaks.

Which is why you guys fight tooth and nail not to have true majority elections for President.

 

[bripat9643]

Sort of like the NYT's usual polling samples: 48% Democrat, 24% Republican and 28% Independents who had voted for Barack Hussein Obama. The 19th Century frontier card cheats should have had it so good.

Believe it or not..that's probably how most of the American population breaks.

Which is why you guys fight tooth and nail not to have true majority elections for President.

You're right, we don't believe it. No one without significant brain damage believes it.

 

[California Girl]

Sort of like the NYT's usual polling samples: 48% Democrat, 24% Republican and 28% Independents who had voted for Barack Hussein Obama. The 19th Century frontier card cheats should have had it so good.

Believe it or not..that's probably how most of the American population breaks.

Which is why you guys fight tooth and nail not to have true majority elections for President.

Let's just review this missive from the brain of Shallow.

Believe it or not... probably.

In other words, "I have absolutely no idea if I'm right but....."

Fucking moron. (first reply - name calling already... is it really name calling if I'm just stating a fact?)

 

[hellofromwarsaw]

Nobody said they were everyday Americans- the usual RW pile of crappe.