Being seen amongst the peasantry

Passing this around. From LaBelle, via Blanton's and Ashton's (I'm really liking that blog), via dailykos.

Dick Cheney, Lord of the Manor
by Trapper John
Thu Aug 26th, 2004 at 21:51:45 GMT

This is a cute little story.

In a lighter moment, the Cheney tour stopped at a farm stand owned by Ray Levan, 65, in the small town of Catawissa. Cheney and his wife went to buy fruit and vegetables, while daughters Mary and Elizabeth went with the Cheney grandchildren to watch cows being fed.

The Cheneys purchased nine apples, five large tomatoes, three green peppers and a dozen ears of corn. Cheney pulled a $10 bill from his pocket and gave it to Levan. Asked by a reporter whether the $10 covered the cost of the produce, Levan indicated that it did not. But he said it was an "honor" to sell the fruits and vegetables to the vice president, even if at a discount.

It's a cute little story that tells us two things most of us already know about Cheney. First, he's completely out of touch with the cost of produce. This isn't that surprising, as he probably hasn't done much shopping in at least the past three-and-a-half years. He's the Vice President of the United States, so it's to be expected that he's not popping into the Social Safeway on Wisconsin every Thursday. Now, of course, if John Kerry had done what Cheney did, and had mistakenly believed that $10 would cover a bushel of veggies, Instapundit, Sean Hannity, and Wolf Blitzer would be up in arms about how completely out of touch with America and how elitist Kerry and Teresa are. But hey, we're bigger than they are, so we're not going to make a stink about the fact that Unca Dick thinks that produce still costs what it did 15 years ago.

But what struck me most about this vignette, and what is troubling to me, was the way that Cheney handed the guy a $10 without asking him what the cost of the goods were. It's as if he sized the tomatoes and corn up, sized the farmer up, decided that $10 was appropriate, and that was that. No need to say, "what's the damage?" No need to wait for the farmer to total the cost. Nope -- Dick saw the entire transaction as he might an interaction with a bellhop at the Plaza. He took a commonplace commercial transaction between vendor and consumer, and turned it into a master-servant relationship. In essence, Dick took his veggies, and tipped the guy $10. Now that's weird. Almost shakes your faith in the GOP as the defender of small business . . .

And the farmer just reinforced it. It's an honor to be treated like a peasant and ripped off by the royalty.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.