Economist and Mayor Bloomberg endorse Obama

[Sheilbh]

I think the Economist is the definition of the liberal establishment, in both the UK sense and the US sense.  I can't think of a more bien pensant paper.

[Queequeg]

The Atlantic, The New Yorker and The New Republic are far more clearly related to the Democratic establishment, and TNR's relative centrism (Clintonite, Liberaltarian arguably) would probably make it the closest.  I think The Nation is too far to the right to be the equivalent, and The Economist is generally pretty esoteric in it's politics.  In terms of temprement and affiliation it's probably about equally split between Matthew Yglesias and Reihan Salaam, meaning that it's primarily concerned with efficient, technocratic government and well-regulated, lightly managed economy more than tribal affiliation or class interest.  The Democratic Party and the "Liberal Establishment" is a creature of tribal affiliation and class interest before policy, so I don't think The Economist falls in that at all.

[Queequeg]

Actually, that's kind of an interesting question.  I don't know if TNR's wonkish Clintonite bent or The New Yorker's pretentious, vaguely patrician, highly tribal Liberalism better represent "The Liberal Establishment."  Probably best to say that they both represent it, and that they aren't mutually exclusive. 

[CountDeMoney]

The Democratic Party and the "Liberal Establishment" is a creature of tribal affiliation and class interest before policy, so I don't think The Economist falls in that at all.

The Economist's first love is the free market and free trade.

[Sheilbh]

But isn't there a Liberal Establishment and a liberal establishment?  On the one hand a group with links to the Democrats and policy wonkishness like TNR or the New Yorker or whatever else, on the other a group which is simply the upper middle-class bien pensants who drink DOC wine, go to their farmers market, listen to PBS and, to relax, Coltrane, they probably watch BBC America.  The Economist clearly isn't part of the Democrat establishment but I think they're a pretty liberal establishment paper.

The fact that they're foreign, maybe a little elitist in tone and written with Oxbridge brio and omniscience helps. 

[CountDeMoney]

The fact that they're foreign, maybe a little elitist in tone and written with Oxbridge brio and omniscience helps.

Exactly. Feeds directly into the American anti-intellectualism that labels anything like that as commie pinko lefty pap.



And for the record, I don't even drink wine, thank you. 

[Ed Anger]

Furrigners smell.

[Eddie Teach]

And for the record, I don't even drink wine, thank you. 

Me neither. But if I did, they'd have ice. 

[Queequeg]

But isn't there a Liberal Establishment and a liberal establishment?  On the one hand a group with links to the Democrats and policy wonkishness like TNR or the New Yorker or whatever else, on the other a group which is simply the upper middle-class bien pensants who drink DOC wine, go to their farmers market, listen to PBS and, to relax, Coltrane, they probably watch BBC America.  The Economist clearly isn't part of the Democrat establishment but I think they're a pretty liberal establishment paper.

The fact that they're foreign, maybe a little elitist in tone and written with Oxbridge brio and omniscience helps.

He we are running in to conflicting usages of the term Liberal.  To my mind, the American usage of the term implies a degree of hostility-or at least skepticism- of lightly regulated capitalism that is almost entirely at odds with The Economist's positions dating back to the Corn Laws.

[Ed Anger]

And for the record, I don't even drink wine, thank you. 

Me neither. But if I did, they'd have ice. 

And OJ.

[Sheilbh]

He we are running in to conflicting usages of the term Liberal.  To my mind, the American usage of the term implies a degree of hostility-or at least skepticism- of lightly regulated capitalism that is almost entirely at odds with The Economist's positions dating back to the Corn Laws.

But I think the NRO is using 'liberal establishment' to mean sneering, elitist, DC & NY cocktail party-goers - not the the Liberal Establishment.  I think it's liberal establishment as a cultural judgement not as a political elite.

Edit:  Incidentally I can't stand Yglesias.  Him, Klein and Sorkin make the American left almost unelectable

[Queequeg]

So you're not using the American definition of Liberal, but rather the definition of Liberal Establishment by the feverishly insane and paranoid modern NRO? You might be right, but they're just a bunch of incompetent children of sightly more gifted demagogues who hate that they'll never be smart enough for The New Yorker.

[Eddie Teach]

I think Economist readers are more likely to aspire to be intellectuals than sophisticates.

[Viking]

The Republican Intramural Bloodletting that will happen if Obama wins again and the dems take back the senate will be entertaining. I suspect the blame will fall on those who Teapartiers were attacking all cycle. 

[Queequeg]

We never lost the Senate.