# Politicians: driving a pickup truck does not mean you're better than anybody else **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700 "2010-01-20T15:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/61 "2010-01-21T16:57:51Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Wrong. At least if you’re assuming that anyone who shows (or even owns) horses is automatically a rich-bitch elitist snob. The teenage girls at one barn where I boarded my horse did barn chores to earn lessons, scraped together pennies to amass enough to buy low-end or even second-hand show gear and pay entry fees for little local shows, trained and competed on less than magnificent schoolies, and often did as well as the kids who did have parents that could underwrite their hobby, because they were dedicated and worked their hearts out. > > Owning horses, when you do the work yourself, involves large measures of dirty, smelly, backbreaking work. (I should know; I feed and water and muck every damn day, and I’ve got to go now and do evening chores.) It’s quite possible that the Brown daughter keeps her horse(s) in a high-end barn where all the work is done for her and she merely shows up to ride. It’s equally possible, based on my experience in a well-to-do suburb north of Boston, that she gets her hands dirty as an equestrian, simply from the love of horses and the satisfaction inherent for us horse nuts in doing even the dirtiest chores to take care of them. > > I can’t stand Scott Brown, but don’t trash his daughter for being an equestrian when you know nothing about it. > > /rant I think you missed my point. Read the last part of my post. I was making a sarcastic comment about drawing conclusions based on one point of data. It’s no less fallacious to say that a guy who owns a pickup truck is a “regular guy,” “everyman,” etc. than it is to say that going to horse shows is “elitist.” ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/62 "2010-01-21T17:01:22Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > The OP has a point. But going after the truck presents political risks. President Obama attacked the truck in a speech, and Brown was able to turn that around pretty effectively: > > Had numberless other things been different, the truck issue would have been a nonissue. I worked for a candidate once who tried to use her little red truck as a motif of her campaign - the truck got more traction than she ever did. This sounded weird to me. Why would the President stoop to **attacking** anyone running for office (even worse if it came about after he had won)? Should he not be above that blather? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/63 "2010-01-21T17:17:12Z")
> [@Kearsen](#): > > This sounded weird to me. Why would the President stoop to **attacking** anyone running for office (even worse if it came about after he had won)? Should he not be above that blather? It’s common for sitting Presidents to campaign for party candidates. Obama did not “attack” or “go after” Brown’s truck. He basically just implied that Brown was using it as a prop. What he actually said was “Forget the truck…anybody can buy a truck.” He also said Brown “wants to park his truck on Wall street,” and that Brown would be “driving us in the wrong direction.” **Moto’s** characterization of this as “attacking the truck” is a reflection of right wing blog distortions, not reality. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/64 "2010-01-21T18:18:40Z")
redundant once again 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/65 "2010-01-21T18:25:48Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > Gee, how did ANY work get done in the '50s when most pickups had six-cylinder engines that made around 100 net horsepower? Horse trailers were smaller then, on average, and the trip was obviously slower. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/66 "2010-01-22T08:25:33Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Have you ever \*seen \*England? It’s _tiny_. They probably just \*ride \*them everywhere. As an English person I should probably be affronted by that sizeist remark, but that was frickin hilarious. BTW, in England, people who own horses drive Land Rovers. And they are generally posh, so wouldn’t be seen dead in a pick up truck. And no politician would use his SUV/4x4 as a campaign gimmick as it would have a negative effect - people who drive these vehicles are generally seen as arrogant, environmentally disastrous pricks. The Mayor of London and Leader of the Conservative Party (and probable next Prime Minister) both make a big deal about riding a bicycle to work. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/67 "2010-01-22T08:52:33Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > Gee, how did ANY work get done in the '50s when most pickups had six-cylinder engines that made around 100 net horsepower? Something to do with Real Men? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/68 "2010-01-22T10:19:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yes. Unfortunately, not everybody can afford to buy their daughter a horse. Go, you man-of-the-people, go! Excellent point. I wonder why no one else noticed it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-driving-a-pickup-truck-does-not-mean-youre-better-than-anybody-else/525700/69 "2010-01-22T14:10:39Z")
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