Althouse: "She hails her own cabs!"

December 22, 2008

"She hails her own cabs!"

"This is what passes for a common touch these days?"

34 comments:

Hoosier Daddy said...: That reminds me of one of the entertainment rags Mrs. Hoosier reads where they show the glitterati doing things we all do.

Like going to the store or drinking double mocha latter esspressos.; 12/22/08, 1:36 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Hailing a cab while black/latino is very . . .

Oh wait, Obama won.

How silly of me ;); 12/22/08, 1:57 PM
Mark O said...: Hail yes.; 12/22/08, 2:00 PM
Joe said...: The only time I've taken a cab is on business trips and even then only rarely. It has left me wondering how anyone can afford to take a cab often.; 12/22/08, 2:05 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Caroline is like the son of a hall-of-famer expecting to come in to the majors w/o first going thru the minors.
Ride around the country in a bus and sleep and eat at the cheapest joints available.

Caroline needs to go down to Tidewater / Columbus.; 12/22/08, 2:11 PM
Bob said...: tomorrow's news is Caroline puts on her pants the same as the "little people".

And you'd take a cab rather than ride with her relatives...; 12/22/08, 2:25 PM
John Stodder said...: Didn't Stalin occasionally travel to the countryside and feed goats?

By the way, don't cabs have a rather large carbon footprint? If she really wants to be senator, Caroline needs to travel by Segway.

But overall, the funniest thing about this is the idea that Al Hunt, a 30-year elite beltway veteran, has a clue as to what constitutes the "common touch." And is he really suggesting that Caroline's "touch" is really more "common" than, oh, Nita Lowey or Carolyn McCarthy?

Al Hunt is such a suck-up!; 12/22/08, 2:39 PM
Bissage said...: There is no good explanation for why I felt the sudden urge to write a mini-folk ballad in three-quarter time. C-F-G-C times 2:

She hails her own taxis.
She drinks her own wine.
She bends over backwards.
She laughs all the time.

She sleeps on a mattress.
She walks a straight line.
She cooks a mean breakfast.
That girlfriend of mine.; 12/22/08, 2:42 PM
Bissage said...: Should I dedicate it to Caroline Kennedy?

Why the hell not?

It is hereby dedicated to Caroline Kennedy.

Ha!

(Call me?); 12/22/08, 2:43 PM
campy said...: I lamented that I had to hail my own cabs, until I met a man who had to take public transportation.; 12/22/08, 2:46 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Why cant she wait for uncle Ted's seat?
Mass not good enouf for her?

Oh - she never hailed a cab in Boston? Thats a problem.; 12/22/08, 2:58 PM
Original Mike said...: Well, I'm going to show myself as the rube that I am but, how else do you get a cab?; 12/22/08, 3:02 PM
fivewheels said...: Well, the bellman at the Four Seasons could hail it for you, but then you'd have to tip. And being the everyday Jane she is, she's got to pinch pennies, you know.; 12/22/08, 3:08 PM
vnjagvet said...: Doormen, my dear fellow, doormen. You see, those who have doormen at their Park Ave. apartments, coops and condos do not have to open doors or hail cabs.; 12/22/08, 3:10 PM
Jeremy said...: Oh so she's too cheap to help support a working stiff? You know, some of us have to earn a living and tips are part of our salary.; 12/22/08, 3:12 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You could have an assistant/intern hail the cab.

Hillary has an assistant.; 12/22/08, 3:33 PM
SteveR said...: Does she hail her own cabs when she goes "upstate"?; 12/22/08, 3:36 PM
tim maguire said...: As dumb as that comment is (I can beat that, I hailed my own subway train this morning. Twice!), I find the "intellectually curious" remark more worth noting.

Contrasting as it does with Sarah Palin's intellectual incuriousness.

It's one of those completely meaningless words that idiots use to make themselves appear thoughtful. And by what means did he determine Kennedy's intellectual curiosity?; 12/22/08, 3:41 PM
Bob said...: Maybe Caroline could make an effort to hail a cab on Election Day. Seems she has a non-voting habit.

But she's a fixture on the NYC charity circuit so of course all is forgiven. That and she's left-wing royalty; 12/22/08, 3:45 PM
Original Mike said...: I get that the doorman does it at the hotel, but I guess my imagination did not stretch far enough to consider that I would have an "assistant" falling me around where ever I go.

Where is the appropriate place for the assistant/intern? Two steps back? To the right or to the left?; 12/22/08, 3:47 PM
Original Mike said...: That would be "following" me, of course.; 12/22/08, 3:49 PM
fivewheels said...: "Assistant/intern" is kind of a nice semantic improvement over "servant".; 12/22/08, 3:50 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: The last time I met my brother in Manhattan for a meeting, the Pakistani cab driver drove over the friggin sidewalk and almost hit several pedestrians - and he was the best driver we had.

Perhaps failing a cab in NYC rather than take a limo or car service is an act of bravery - Caroline is courageous.

But seriously, could she be any worse than the rest of the NY politicians? Not likely.; 12/22/08, 4:16 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: Lem:

Love those Columbus Clippers, but perhaps a tour with the Mud Hens would be better.; 12/22/08, 4:17 PM
John Stodder said...: I find the "intellectually curious" remark more worth noting.

Contrasting as it does with Sarah Palin's intellectual incuriousness.

My bete noire!

Use of the phrases "intellectually curious/incurious" is a dead giveaway that you're a hack. If you use "curious," you really mean "I'm sucking up to this person, but I want to make it look like I'm assessing them." If you use "incurious," you really mean, "I don't understand how come anyone can be so sure of something that I disagree with." To call someone intellectually incurious betrays a lack of intellectual curiosity on the part of the hack saying it.

Writers who use this lame phrase also, invariably, fail to give examples. What exactly did Carolyn Kennedy say that struck Al Hunt as especially "intellectually curious?" I'm sure it wasn't "Al, all my Democratic friends tell me I have to vote for card check, but from everything I've been reading, it will hurt the economy. What do you think I should do?" Or: "Anthropogenic global warming scares me, but then I read that the Antarctic ice layer is growing almost as fast as the arctic layer is shrinking. Do you suppose that means there should be more debate about global warming?" If she's said those intellectually curious kinds of comments, I'm sure Hunt wouldn't have been remotely so complimentary. Instead, the tag would've been "not ready for prime time."; 12/22/08, 4:28 PM
TosaGuy said...: Does she hail those standard issue Crown Victoria or Impala cabs or the Ford Escape Hybrid cabs? Pretend environmentalists obsessed with image want to know!; 12/22/08, 4:55 PM
Anonymous said...: I bet Mrs Reginald Maudling doesn't have to hail her own cabs. It'd all be done for her.; 12/22/08, 5:34 PM
Anthony said...: Where is the appropriate place for the assistant/intern? Two steps back? To the right or to the left?

Two steps back and one to the left or right depending on the handedness of the master.; 12/22/08, 5:35 PM
tjl said...: "Could she be any worse than the rest of the NY politicians?"

The rest of the NY politicians are open to criticism on many fronts, but at least they're politicians, i.e., they actually got out there and ran for office.

Caroline Kennedy has not suffered such an inconvenience. She can easily afford to indulge her intellectual curiosity because she's never had to condescend or pander to get people to vote for her. In the absence of any need to connect with actual voters, she is free to have high-minded political positions completely in sync with the editorial board of the NYT.

It's odd to see progressives falling all over themselves to welcome the return of hereditary nobility.; 12/22/08, 7:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Cab-shmab.

I'm surprised she isn't carried around by livery, pulled by horses wearing those feather-y things on their heads. If she's so interested in politics, why not start small? Say, as in running for mayor of some small, er, Wasilla AK sized town?

MD; 12/22/08, 7:35 PM
AllenS said...: She hails her own cabs because she's smart enough not to let Ted drive.; 12/23/08, 6:32 AM
Anonymous said...: If she never hails a cab, how can she get to play Cash Cab? Duh!; 12/23/08, 7:17 AM
Anonymous said...: "Intellectually incurious" is how you say "didn't go to the right school" without sounding like the sort of person who'd say "didn't go to the right school".; 12/23/08, 7:51 AM
Mark said...: "It's odd to see progressives falling all over themselves to welcome the return of hereditary nobility."

Actually, I've not seen any do that, but then I don't frequent the Looney Left sites much.

Got links?

(My impression is the only people who much like the idea of the Princess ascending to the Senate are the Back Room Barons, and of course the tabloid publishers.); 12/23/08, 11:00 AM