Ah, I think it was Sam Harris who wrote in Time or Newsweek or somesuch about how elitism in politics should be a Good Thing because after all we want elites everywhere else doing stuff for us why shouldn't our politicians be qualified? With respect to Sarah Palin, of course. I agreed with this, mostly, because yes I do believe running a country is necessarily a complex and difficult not to mention pivotal job and hence deserves qualified professionals. 

There is a difference however between the elite and the elitists and I find Sam Harris misses the point a little here : not even the hockey mums and Joe the Whatever want an incompetent in the White House. They didn't want someone who ignores the needs of the middle-class, and perhaps misguidedly rallied around Palin and her unfortunate populists. This doesn't invalidate populism, because it is possible to be elite (i.e. highly qualified) without being elitist (i.e. ignorant of the needs of the middle/lower classes). So Sam Harris' incredulous sniffle at the whole Palin saga was perhaps, a little too incredulous. I still think she was an idiot though.

adam