Leave No NASCAR Dad Behind -- MUST READ [View All]

[Emillereid]

"Ironically, the sector of American society now poised to keep George Bush in the White House is the one which stands to lose the most from virtually all of his policies -- blue-collar men. A full 49 percent of them and 38 percent percent of blue-collar women told a January 2003 Roper poll they would vote for Bush in 2004."
--Arlie Hochschild


Perhaps the central paradox for a Democratic presidential candidate is figuring out how to attract some of the 50 percent of blue-collar workers who might vote for Bush. Howard Dean awkwardly addressed the issue when he referred to the need to attract guys with "Confederate flag bumper stickers." Dean used the wrong metaphor, but he was correct in identifying a key election challenge for the Democrats.
<snip>

Arlie Hochschild: Let me back up first before I answer that, though, so I can nail down some poll results. They came as a bit of a surprise to me. A full 49 percent of blue-collar men and 38 percent of blue-collar women indicated in a January '03 Roper poll that they would vote for Bush in 2004. We can now compare that to the smaller proportion of pro-Bush professionals and managers. 40 percent of male and 32 percent of female professionals and managers plan to vote for Bush.

<snip>

That may be reassuring to blue-collar males. I won't be just thrown out of my family if I cheat, or if I spend my money drinking, because I'll come back and ultimately I'm the head of the family and I'll be forgiven. It's a patriarchal archetype that the male head of the household is always forgiven his failings.

...more....

http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=17431

Excellent -- I think she nails the connection between the white, blue collar worker's loss of status, etc and how this translate into an animosity for women and minorities that the Bushits exploit -- all the while they're picking his pocket.