Republican insiders and anti-Obama power brokers like Thomas Buffenbarger have spent the last few months trying to make elitist the official word of the 2008 election.

What makes someone an elitist, in their opinion? Drinking coffee with milk (a latte), some say. Driving a hybrid car to save money on regular unleaded gasoline that will soon be five dollars per gallon, others say.

That doesn’t make sense to me.

You want to see what real elitists look like? Consider the people who bought Precision-rolled, handcrafted cigars from a private stock, with rich Havana seed, wrapped in gold foil and placed in a handmade ‘rich’ heirloom oak case adorned by a special etched plaque, surrounded by royal blue satin to celebrate the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004.

Or, consider the thousand-dollar salmon. Yes, there are people buying salmon for $1000 per fish this year, and the prices are expected to go even higher. The Tacoma News Tribune reports that Alaska Airlines “will further transport some of the fish to the upscale eateries on the East Coast on passenger flights where restaurant patrons will pay even more for the privilege of biting into the first of the oil-rich salmon of the year.”

The real elitism is with people who insist on indulging in the consumption of items like Pacific salmon that is increasingly rare because of overfishing, pollution and climate change. As the Earth’s ecosystems are stripped bare, and working people drive their sub-compact hybrid cars because they can’t afford the price of 25 cents per mile, these anti-environment elites continue to take their Lincoln Town Cars to restaurants with reservations to gobble up their endangered species of choice.

Environmentalists who work to live efficiently so as to be responsible and to save money are not the elites. If you want to find the real elites, follow the smell of salmon.