From the SF Chronicle:
"Liberal arrogance redefined, by Mark Morford
January 24, 2002

Mark Morford seems to think his role is life is to cynically attack anything, or anyone, approaching what most of us would deem as normal. Unfortunately for its readers, the Chron gives him a venue for this rambling cynicism. Unfortunately for the Chron, it is just another example of its relentless swirl down the drain of acceptable journalism. CW readers are left asking, "is this the best they can do?."

Try this. Mark visits his family vacation home in Idaho, which apparently is located in a small town distinguished only by having a giant WalMart and a Super K-Mart. Mark wanders into town wearing his liberal arrogance on his sleeve. He stands back and views the town folk with his typical assumption of moral and intellectual superiority. To Mark's horror, these people actually buy goods at these stores. Lacking Mark's acute sense of separating the important from the useless, the locals fail to realize that they do not need the items they purchase there. The poor things don't realize that they are simply engaging in conspicuous consumption, which is nothing less than the bane of American society. Furthermore, they are unable to distinguish shoddy items from good bargains. Because of all these shortcomings, these small town dunces fill the parking lot at WalMart, race inside and overload their baskets with piles of shoddy goods they don't need. And all of American society is the worst for it, according to Mark, as he looks down in dismay while passing judgement.

If ever you needed a lesson in idle, and useless, liberalism, this is it. What a pompous ass Mark is. Speaking of conspicuous consumption, the good people of the little town probably don't own a vacation home anywhere either. They're probably too busy trying to just get by materially, while leading a good and decent life. My guess is they can't afford to engage in conspicuous consumption of any kind. Mark, these people who shop there are from the red section of the map, and you, thank God, go on cynically representing the blue. If I were from that section, however, I'm not sure I would claim you either. In that sense, you may yet end up homeless. If I were a Chron editor, I would make my contribution to that happening this very day."