Fanfare For The Common Man
It's The Presidency. Not A Grocery List.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Featured Stories — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
You know that the political silly season has begun in earnest when you get stories like this one (read on):
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hasn't done a lot of grocery shopping lately -- at least based on his answers about the cost of milk and bread.
Campaigning in Alabama on Tuesday, the former New York City mayor portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative and an aggressive fighter of terrorism who has a lot in common with the Deep South state.
But when asked about more mundane matters -- like the price of some basic staples -- Giuliani had trouble with a reporter's question.
"A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30," he said.
A check of the Web site for D'Agostino supermarket on Manhattan's Upper East Side showed a gallon of milk priced at $4.19 and a loaf of white bread at $2.99 to $3.39. In Montgomery, Ala., a gallon of milk goes for about $3.39 and bread is about $2.
Later Tuesday, the Giuliani campaign pointed out that the national average for bread is $1.17 per pound, as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government agency also lists milk as costing, on average, $1.60 per half-gallon.
Giuliani was closer to the mark on the price of a gallon of gasoline.
"Gas, I think, is $2.89," he said.
I know that these are the statistics each and every Presidential candidate ought to have at his or her fingertips, but color me unexcited. We don't elect Presidents who can with Jeopardy! contests regarding the price of groceries. We elect Presidents who (1) have an agenda that (2) fits in with the agenda of the country at large and (3) have the capability to articulate that agenda better than anyone else along with (4) the experience and personal qualities to implement that agenda.
As such, who cares if Rudy Giuliani or anyone else couldn't accurately quote the price of a gallon of milk? Find me a President who will limit the size of government, empower the free market and give us a robust and successful foreign and national security policy and then you'll get me excited. These little pop quizzes are worth nothing and certainly don't deserve the time and attention they've gotten in the national media.
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Fanfare For The Common Man 7 Comments (0 topical, 7 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
the candidates do their own grocery shopping?
I doubt John Edwards, Clinton or Obama have been to the local Hannaford or Kroger anymore than Guliani has.
This is a question based more on "who has the best researchers" than who really knows how much it costs.
Not to mention, organic, and fancy stuff costs more-bread itself can have a huge variance, from off brand bread to fancier name brand breads.
I'm a college student... to me, getting that stuff is typically a trip to the convenience store, and picking up milk somewhere between $2.39 and $2.79 a gallon, and the cheapest store-brand wheat bread I can find, typically around $0.99 a loaf (sure, it's barely edible, but it is edible, and that's what counts). So, from that perspective, Rudy was in the ballpark on one of them.
I personally would find it amusing the numbers that the plutocrats on the left would come up with... methinks they'd guess way high unless they had their researchers working on it ahead of time (after all, as you mentioned, that organic stuff doesn't go cheap!).
"I could explain, but that would be very long, very convoluted, and make you look very stupid. Nobody wants that... except maybe me."
I read the article the other day. I asked the mechanic that was servicing my car and although he knew the price of gas, he had no idea of the price of milk or bread as his wife took care of that. I asked a female associate and she wasn't sure because if she needs it, she just buys it. In Whitesville KY,(population 750) regular gas is $2.69, bread is $.99-$1.99, and milk is $3.29 at the local grocery. I have no clue as to what it cost at Walmart. Will my stop in Whitesville will make me more productive?
Applying lipstick to a pig doesn't change the fact that it's still a pig.
It's a stupid question to ask a presidential candidate, but it's hardly unexpected. The media has asked this question for as long as I can remember. You'd think a savvy politician would be prepared for it.
I do the shopping for our house and I would have given the same answers as Rudy, because that's about what I pay for my bread and my milk when I shop at the local Safeway here in the People's Republic of Maryland. Granted, I would have been wrong, but that's because I normally buy half gallons of milk instead of full gallons and I forgot to adjust for that. As I recall, the store brand normally costs about 79 cents a loaf, and if you buy a national brand with 7 grains or some such you can pay as much as $3.29.
I'd say whoever wrote the story really needs to get out and associate with some real Americans instead of hiding out in those hoity-toity places that start their bread costs at $3.00 a loaf.
maybe losing NJ Gov Candidate Doug Forrester should run for House in his district in central New Jersey. Incumbent is Democrat Rush Holt and I think that is where Forrester is from--near Princeton. Area is probably slightly Democratic, but not overwhelmingy so. Holt recently voted "no" on the amendment in House to immunize citizens who report suspicious behavior from civil lawsuits--so-called John Doe act.
I'm not a presidential candidate, and I couldn't tell you the price of bread either.