A popular story is told about Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) when he was running for president in 1952 (or in 1956).
Someone heard Stevenson’s impressive speech and said, “Every thinking person in America will be voting for you.”
Stevenson replied, “I’m afraid that won’t do—I need a majority.”
Compounding the trouble, Warren's campaign was targeted more at midwits and Intellectuals Yet Idiots than at "thinking people." Far from being too smart for Americans, she was simultaneously bookish and ignorant, issuing policy platform after policy platform for the sake of showing that she had "done her homework" without bothering to acknowledge that the homework was done poorly.
But the most important criticism would hold even if her policies had not been a mess of pandering, bad math, shoddy research, and false certainty regarding costs and benefits. Mass politics is not about doing your homework.
e:Also -
6. "Big structural Bailey" will go down in history as a campaign-defining moment on the level of Monkey Business or the Canuck Letter.
Intellectuals Yet Idiots. Great phrase - will make sure to remember!
