For a Conservative, Life Is Sweet in Sugar Land, Tex.

[kskiska]

Monday, April 26, 2004; Page A01

Second of three articles

SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby."

Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. He lives in a house that has six guns in the closets and 21 crosses in the main hallway. His wife cuts his hair with electric clippers. His three daughters aren't embarrassed when he kisses them on their cheeks. He loves his family, hamburgers and his dog. He believes in God, prays daily and goes to church weekly. He has a jumbo smoker in his back yard and a 40-foot tree he has climbed to hang Christmas lights. He has a pickup truck that he has filled with water for the Fourth of July parade, driving splashing kids around a community where Boy Scouts plant American flags in the yards. His truck is a Chevy. His beer is Bud Light. His savior is Jesus Christ. His neighbors include Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the House majority leader, who says of Sugar Land, "I think it is America."

Pollsters and political consultants have a more specific definition of Sugar Land, as part of what they call Red America. The term is shorthand for the roughly half of the U.S. population that tends toward conservative values, the Republican Party, gun ownership, church as the preferred way to express faith, and moral absolutes.

"You find communities like this all over the place," DeLay says of Sugar Land. "This is what the future is about."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41964-2004Apr25.html

[Skittles]

1. redneck communities are what the future are all about?

f***ing scary

[Porsche]

36. Kerry Is A Man Of The People

How can they even compare Bush to Kerry?

Bush is a guy who will chop wood for fire and clear brush like a blue collar worker.

Kerry has got class!

Did you see his racing bike and matching helmet? Awesome!

[Skittles]

44. good lord

Bush PRETENDS to be a "blue collar worker" like he pretends to be a "president".

[Maeve]

47. The key phrase there is "like a ..worker"

Not a real worker, just plays one for the cameras.

Buh-bye!

[RandomKoolzip]

51. Bush is a spoiled inheritance millionaire from New England

who acts like a blue-collar redneck because he knows it'll snare "the ignorance vote" (like yours) to put up a false facade.

Your idiocy is stunning. You have been completely duped by the corporate media. Congratualtions!

[LoneStarLiberal]

60. Some of Us In Texas Were Never Fooled

Bush is a guy who will chop wood for fire and clear brush like a blue collar worker.

Nothing like a good photo op to try to fool us into thinking he's a man of the people rather than a cunning, drooling elitist chimp!

On that ranch he's owned for such a long time, too.

Oh my! What have I been thinking? The Dear Leader **IS** a man of the people! Good-bye Democratic Underground...you have misled me long enough!

I must go campaign for my husba...I mean for My President now!

[bhairava]

68. I call it his personal dude ranch!

Remember, dudes were gullible city slickers who wanted an authentic taste of the Old West. The cattle are left over from the previous owner. When FOx visited Crawford, he wanted to ride but they did not. Bush is afraid of horses(!), they say. That's why he's never been photographed on one. What kind of Texan or WASP ,for that matter, doesn't like horses! This ersatz Texan didn't even play football, he was a cheerleader however!

[dawn]

63. Bush, like a worker?

More like a worker always on vacation.

[SiliconMethod]

71. Nice try, smartass

Indirect, yet clearly implying the overused "Kerry is an elitist yet Bush is for the people despite his wealth, oil connections, etc." argument. Also rather dumb and agitating... I love it!

You've earned it, Porshe. Here's youur trophy!



Hold it over your head with pride and show all your lucianne/FR friends! One might even give a shit!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. That isn't America. That's Texas.

[DS1]

4. Yeah, to hell with natural resources, there's steak to be had

Ignorant farkers.

[chillwindblowing]

8. that is not texas

lala land:mad:

[Gman]

18. No, that is NOT Texas

in a blanket, stereotypical way.

[bloom]

58. I'm afraid that you would find quite a few people

that guy could relate to here in Indiana.

And the Republicans are probably counting on us going for the Republican nominee, again.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. Texas hardly represents America!!!

:eyes:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

7. Exactly. It's like a different country.

Thankfully, it's 3000 miles from Boston.

[RummyTheDummy]

30. You're lucky to be that far away from Ground Zero (NT)

NT

[skooooo]

5. Frozen in time..

....is a more apt description, and no, the future of America will not even look this good.

[PfcHammer]

6. crosses. he doesn't have nearly enough crosses.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. Yeah, like the kind he probably burns on a Friday night.

[Canadian_moderate]

11. To me, King of the Hill is Texas

I love that show!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

12. I love that show too!

but the real Lone Star state is a lot nastier place than Arlen, TX.

[Thor_MN]

40. And Dale even talks just like Pickles.....

Same stilted cadence and somehow off-key monotone. Everytime I hear her speak, I keeping hearing Dale saying "Look out for the black Hel-ly-cop-TERRRRS."

[wtmusic]

25. LOL

Good one RR! :D

[Joanne98]

10. The future over my dead body.

[CompassionateLiberal]

13. And here I thought Hank Hill was a cartoon character <eom>

[Zen Democrat]

14. Sugar Land is NOT Texas. It's a wealthy gated community.

Don't confuse Texas with George Bush and Tom DeLay. Sugar Land is an affluent appendage of Houston ... and Houston is a Democrat city, believe it or not. Houston has a Democratic mayor and a multi-cultural slate of local politicians. Houston is a true melting pot of whites and browns and blacks and Vietnamese, Indians, Pakistanis and on and on.

Recently visited my dad's birthplace of Fannin County, Texas -- just south of the Red River, and the county is bedrock Democratic, home of Sam Rayburn, and has only voted for Republicans twice in the last 100 years. They voted for Al Gore and Jimmy Carter (missed on Nixon).

Don't paint Texas with a broad brush. The Hispanic community is growing exponentially and this state will soon be like California - formerly Republican. The tide is turning.

[glitch]

54. Good!

I hope it works out that way. Welcome to DU!

[Justitia]

70. Very true! Just spent some time in Sugar Land this wknd.

It is a VERY wealthy suburb of Houston - lots of mansions erected to personal wealth. Think Enron exec types. When I read the description of this particular man, I died laughing thinking he was anywhere near Sugar Land.

And yes, Houston is one of the more diverse, Democratic areas of Texas - maybe that is why Sugar Land seceded as an alternative suburb...

We Dems are fighting like hell down here for survival in Texas, and most of us are REAL Texans, not like Faux Cowboy Bush!

[w4rma]

15. His culture isn't going to change under a Democratic government.

He can do everything he's currently doing under a Democratic government. But, he won't be able to force the rest of us to act like him under a Democratic government.

[DBoon]

16. Please tell me this isn't some bad sci-fi movie

"Night of the Living Bubbas" or something like that.

Please tell me this isn't the real world

On Edit: Silly me, how could I forget about "Night of the Living Rednecks"

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_dead_kennedys/night_of_the_living_rednecks.html

[SmileyBoy]

17. I have a few things to say about this, and I hope you're all listening:

1) If I EVER, EVER wind up living a life and having political beliefs like this man does in 20 years, PLEASE take a pistol and shoot me in the head right away. This is the type of lifestyle I want NO part of. This is the type of politics I want NO part of.

2) This man says we think he's mean-spirited. I don't think that at all, not one iota. I think this man is IGNORANT, OVERBLISSED and UNINFORMED. Nothing more. I'm not debating this man's morality and religion, because he didn't come across as a hypocritical fundie-type to me.

3) What the fuck is it to him if two gay people get married??? Why in the hell should he give a shit about what two other people do that in NO WAY affects his life whatsoever???

4) This is the idea, the lifestyle of America that will get us in a WHOLE lots of trouble. You know the reason??? ISOLATION. When you're isolating yourself, you start seeing the world as black-and-white outside your own little world. I bet this man has NEVER been to a major city like NY, Chicago or LA once in his life. He probably has never set foot outside this country. He was probably born and bred in that specific area of the country, and that in turn bred his isolation towards other people in other places.

5) This ideal, this lifestlye, is one reason why I'm seiously thinking about moving out of the US. When I was reading this article, I kept thinking about the media, culture, etc. In Canada, and started making a comparison. This article really reinforced my yearning to get out of this country.

6) Tom DeLay says Sugarland is the future of America. Well, if it is, then I want to get the FUCK out of America as quick as I possibly can. I don't want to live in a neighbourhood like this, I don't want to live in a town like this, I don't want to live a life like this, I don't want to have a bland and boring family like this, I don't want to be religious in this particular way, and I don't want to live in a country where THIS WHOLE FUCKING THING will be the norm.

If this becomes America, then I am NOT an American. If this becomes the norm, and I'm staying in this country, one of two things will happen:

1) I end up like this redneck in the article, or
2) I'm ostracized, maybe "sent away" somewhere where they send all the other liberals.

And if any goddamn Freepers are reading this, you can all suck my hairy balls. You are the CANCER of this country.

[TheWraith]

20. Ditto on point one...

I'd rather die young than turn into an elderly fascist. I'm always thrilled to see those little old ladies that drive around with the Hillary Clinton bumper stickers in my largely dittohead home town in rural New York, because they're a reminder that you can age gracefully without losing your mind. I'm not willing to leave the country, though--not until and unless it really does tip all the way and turn into a police state. Not that we aren't too close for comfort now... But goddamn it, I am an AMERICAN, because I stand by the principles that founded this nation, and you blind, goose-stepping, dittohead fascists are the living antithesis of everything this nation stands for... I will NEVER surrender this country to you! Victory or death!

Simmer down, boy, simmer down...

2004 Victory, I hope so. That would give us a practical lock on the White House as long as the electoral college is around. Personally, though, until Texas goes blue I will stick with my existing opinion: if they hate "big government" so much, then grant them their wish--end all federal government involvement within Texas--and just watch the rednecks scream when the Federales quit covering the border and Texas becomes a suburb of Chihuahua.

[Democat]

28. Don't believe Tom DeLay - conservatives continue to lose and then change

Liberalism will win in the end, it's just a matter of how long the good fight will take.

Conservatives cannot win because they represent the past. Even though Bush is winning the battle in the last two years (mostly because our Democratic leaders suck), they are not winning the war. Look at the last century, the last 50 years - the right just keeps losing and changing their goals to try to make it look like they have any sort of chance.

Even the idea that America is debating gay marriage shows that we are winning, slowly but surely.

This man's children will not be as sheltered as he is, no matter how badly he wants them to be. They will be more liberal than he is, and their children more liberal than that.

We are winning, though not as fast as we might like.

[Piperay]

37. Same here

I would rather be physically dead and buried than to be brain dead like that guy and his type. :puke:

[WLKjr]

53. Right on

I agree with you. If it turns out this way then it's not a "great experiment" anymore or a "melting pot" of people and ideas. If it came to what was described as the it would be like the master race that Hitler wanted.....I guess the * family has had ties to nazi's in the past.

[MaraJade]

56. If this is the future of America, some of us WILL have to leave. . .

in order to save our lives!

It is precisely this type of isolationist, insularly narrow person
that is in the vanguard of every racist movement on this planet.

I don't care about color. What I am talking about is ANY person
whose entire world view boils down to the type of "them vs us"
mentality that this person displays. This is the intolerant type of person who rants on about "culture wars" every time anyone who is downtrodden begins to demand the rights that should be common to all humanity. The attitude is 'hands off *my* rights; *you people*
need to shut up and disappear.' You see this all the time with the gun-happy NRA types and the Anti-Reproductive Rights, types.

Ordinarily, if this were just a matter of one opinion against another,
it would be no problem. The horror of it is that people like this
Sugarland guy want the laws in this country to be changed to
enforce/force their beliefs on others.

This is the type of paternalistic person who is perfectly willing to sanction laws that "frame trouble by decree" for others, to favor laws that interfere in the personal lives of any who are deemed 'different.' Generally, this type of person believes that "all people are created equal, but some are more equal than others." As one of the "more equal" ones, this sort believes that
they know best who people should marry or whether or not people should
control the size of their own families. As long as nothing affects *their* own personal life and worldview, everything is good.

If this sort becomes the future of the US, people like me (woman of
color) will have no choice but to leave. It will be either *leave* or live in virtual slavery.

Then there will be nothing left except for the last reasonable person
escaping to 'turn out the lights,' as it were because the Dark Ages
will have truly begun.

[starroute]

19. Sugarland was where that Enron exec supposedly killed himself

Remember this story from two years ago?

A former vice chairman of Enron Corp. was found dead early Friday after apparently committing suicide, Texas police said.

Authorities in Sugarland, Texas, found the body of John C. Baxter early Friday morning in a vehicle parked between two medians. A suicide note was found at the scene, the police said.

"There was no sign of foul play," Pat Whitty, of the Sugarland police department, told CNN. "Inside his wallet was an ID indicating he was an employee of Enron."

The contents of the suicide not were not released by police and it was not known what connection there was, if any, between the death and the company's collapse.

http://money.cnn.com/2002/01/25/news/enron_roundup/

[dawn]

21. If that is the future...I want a time machine to take me back to the past!

[opihimoimoi]

22. Just cause they want it to be the Future doesn't mean they get their wish

After all, Hitler wanted a 1000 year Reich...had to settle for zero as he was defeated.

[TrogL]

65. Back to the 50's? This kind of thing was the norm.

Conservatives' favourite mantra is about the mom-and-pop-and-two-and-a-half-kids-white-picket-fence household of the 50's.

I grew up in that lifestyle, including its

• child abuse both physical and sexual (a girl down the street was routinely raped by her father with full knowledge of the community)
  
• wife abuse (the neighbour across the street routinely beat his wife to a pulp on the front porch)
  
• racism (people called racial epithets to their face as a matter of course)
  
• sexism
  
• adultery (a businessman/professional who wasn't boffing his secretary was considered a risk)
  
• homophobia (a gay-bashing homicide often resulted in a community service medal)
  
• alcoholism (everybody drank pretty much constantly, including during business hours)
  
• smoking (everybody smoked, everywhere, all the time)
  

[dawn]

23. Also, I feel sorry for the 25% of Gore voters in that town.

That must SUCK. I thought it was bad where I lived!

And I love how he says he could "care less" that 'Melitta (coffee filter maker) plants four trees for every one used in the production of our filter paper,' " he says, reading the side of the box of filters. How selfish!

And he drinks beer at Hooters, but probably got all up in arms about Janet's boob at the Superbowl.

Sorry, but I agree with Northwest....if I (or my husband) ever end up like this guy, please shoot me!!

[symbolman]

33. So I suppose that

God told him to drink Bud light at Hooters?

this guy's insane.. he watched a little too much Leave it to Beaver..

they all think that the Leave it to Beaver days were the Apex of civilization for some reason..

it's hard being a crazy DORK isn't it you putrid little swine?

Bush a Manly Man? WHy does HE CRY SO MUCH THEN?

[Arugula Latte]

67. Little manly man Bush

can't testify without Big Dick next to him!

Little manly man is too scared to go into combat himself but not too scared to send other people's boys and girls to die.

[Bridget Burke]

24. The writer didn't talk to Juanita Jean Herownself

Also known as Susan DuQuesnay. Her articles, many originally published in the Fort Bend Star, show the other side of Greater Sugarland. Here's a recent piece:

"Tom DeLay’s appearance at the Rosenberg Civic Center last weekend to explain teacher retirement was everything I could have wished for – Tom was arrogant, rude, patronizing, and I have 400 witnesses to prove it. And then, as if determined to make this the best day of my entire life, Tom threatened to have people 'removed' and would not allow the news media into the room.

"Thank you, Tom! I owe you a big one, Bub. For years, everybody thought I was exaggerating about your rotten attitude until you came to Rosenberg and made me look like Miss Understatement Festival Queen.

"However, I did think that my fellow audience members were a little rough on Tom with all their booing and sardonic laughter. After all, Tom was slumming by coming to Rosenberg. With schoolteachers, for Socrates’ sake! Schoolteachers don’t have any money and the Rosenberg Civic Center is certainly a long slide down from the country club or Haughty’s Steak House. I think Tom was expecting the Mother Teresa Award for Being a Regular Guy because of this event. But instead, he got booed. And, worse yet, laughed at. By mostly women. Hundreds of them."

www.brazosriver.com/hammertime.htm

But Tom DeLay & the writer of this article want you to think that everybody is the same in SugarLand. Who do you believe?

[Misunderestimator]

42. Oh YEAH!! Great article.

-----------------
I guess the best part was when the teachers suggested that maybe the economy could use some help. Tom was shocked, shocked I tell you. He puffed himself up like a little banty rooster prissed, “Well, I don’t know what world you live in but this economy has never been better ……” I didn’t hear the rest because people were howling with laughter. I mean, really howling.
------------------

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. So hot down there in the summer that their brains are fried

Subhumans with spending money.

[bluestateguy]

27. How can Democrats win these types of voters?

The white, male, fundamentalist Christian who lives in wealthy suburban Houston. That should be out task, winning that vote.

[Christ was Socialist]

32. The party needs to work to integrate the greens and socialists back

which is a battle that can be one, provided we are treated like constituents and not scum.

[Tommy_Douglas]

55. You can't win that vote...

And why would you want too? The only thing that matters to those people is merging church in state, keeping minorities in their place, and cutting taxes.

Why exactly should the Dem party cater to these primordial ooze muckers?

[BadGimp]

29. wonder how Red they will be when the GOP comes for their jobs

eom

[RummyTheDummy]

31. This guy is the epitome

Of the angry white male. He loves America, but hates Americans.

[Lorien]

52. Doesn't "love" America enough

to protect her constitution or bill of Rights, or to spend much of his easily earned cash supporting her by the way of taxes, or to protect her last remaining "God created" wild places...so what exactly does he "love" about America?

[symbolman]

34. He needs to watch a few of my flash movies

Here's a good start..

"MURDER BY NUMERS" http://www.takebackthemedia.com/murderby.html

and if Bush was so manly why didn't he LEAD the charge in Iraq?

and why didn't he climb the white house christmas tree and hang the star at the top HISSELF?

answer that one Mr Smartie Bob..

I'd really like to blindfold this guy and dump him off in the middle of the Alaskan tundra in his underwear and see how far he walks out..

and I wouldn't ask that of anyone if I couldn't do it myself, and I have.. :)

[Piperay]

35. No, that is what the past is all about

not the future. It is a past like that that has caused the problems that we have now, the self-centeredness and not having a larger view of our place in the World is the reason we are in such a mess.

Stein "wonders what people categorized by pollsters as Blue Americans would think about him. "I would guess they would say I am mean-hearted and mean-spirited. They'd probably think I'm for big business at the expense of poor people. They'd think we want to hurt the poor, hurt the environment, do away with the school system. They'd think that we believe everybody should be able to own Uzis or any kind of gun, and that we want to impose God on them,"

Yeah, he is correct. That is exactly what I think of him, that he is "mean-hearted and mean-spirited" along with being selfish and self-centered.

[booksenkatz]

38. Can't wait for the story about Kerry's half

If half the country is comprised of chucklenuts like Britton Stein who vote for Bush, and the Washington Whore Post has seen fit to do an entire in-depth story about them, then I fully expect, and cannot wait to see, the equivalent story about Kerry's half of the voters.

Right?

Will the story about the Kerry voters portray us in a positive light? Or will we be called brie-eating, sandal-wearing, tree-hugging elitists?

Tapping my foot and waiting.

[cap]

39. dumb f----

doesn't realize how much of his life depends on the government subsidies and regulations he claims to despise.

Without government regulations, he would be poisoned by the very chemicals he uses in his business.

His mortgage, his health insurance, his kids education are all subsidized by tax money that comes from people who are poorer than he is.

He does not follow the precepts of his own church: "Government has a moral obligation to help the needy".

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops sets the standard for Catholics not the Christian Coalition.

[callous taoboy]

41. He describes

my neighborhood to a tee, and it's not so bad except that I feel (and have been treated) like an alien.

[farmbo]

43. In Sugar Land...the wealthy White Guys don't serve in the military.

Those poor, disagreeable 'Whiners' in the Blue states will shoulder all the fighting and dying in Delay's America.


And while these intrepid Sugar Land warriors love their guns, they will only fire their guns at things that can't fire back.

[Mari333]

45. These are the types of men

that women avoid, like the plague.
Dumb, insecure, brutish louts, angry because they havent got a life, and are filled with self loathing.
Luckily, my husband is the kind of man who is kind, good, and gentle hearted.
and it boils down to a lot of angry white male heterosexual men who are pissed off because they are losing their teeny weeny power trip and they want to go back to the turn of the century when wives were property, blacks were second class, gay folks were in the closet, and they could bully people.
Of course, these are also the kind of men who would shit their pants if they had to go to war.
Comfortable cowards that prefer to send other peoples kids.

[glitch]

57. Comfortable cowards

Good one, I'd like to see it catch on. Fits a lot better than compassionate conservative, doesn't it?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

66. i've noticed that too

Back in the days when I tried personal ads, I noticed that the overwhelming majority of the men advertising came off as stereotypical "dumb guys" with clearly sexist or immature attitudes and incapable of an original thought.

I thought maybe this was my imagination, until I mentioned it to a married couple who were friends of mine. They both took a stab at reading through both the men's and women's ads and came to the same conclusion: that most of the men who advertised sounded either emotionally stunted or clueless and that most of the women sounded as if they would be interesting dinner guests.

[Failure]

46. This guy is Hank Hill

[Eye and Monkey]

72. No way. Hank Hill is working class, not "planned community".

[Catherine Vincent]

48. Not all of Sugarland is that way.

I have a lot of friends that live in that area and it surprises me that they choose Tom Delay term after term as their congressman.

[enki23]

49. umm... sugarland is a *suburb* of houston.

and it wouldn't exist without the economic powerhouses that make up dallas houston, san antonio, and dallas/fort worth. wow. he's a fucking yuppie with guns. big. hairy. fucking. deal.

the day a comfortable white republican male asshole and his regimented family define all of a large city like Houston, suburb or no, is the day his jesus will come back to rescue him from it.

the point of this article seems to be that there are plenty of assholes in texas. shocking news, i know. now let's profile the local walmart employees, the ones at the packing plant, the ones at the car wash, and the ones who built this asshole's house. they might just be a little browner than him, and some who might have a bit of a... mexican accent. of course, they probably pray to jesus too. for enough to eat, for a working car, for a home of their own, for a decent school their kids could attend... for revenge against comfortable surburban slobs with severe tax allergies.

*that* is what america is becoming. this guy is only half of the equation. the smaller half.

[okieinpain]

50. salem's lot.

[TrogL]

59. Please make the screaming stop

Oh, that's me.

Let's add a bit to it. I suspect...

Mr. Stein does not allow any books in his house other than the Bible. He refuses to allow his wife and adult children to register to vote. While he claims to be a Christian, he has never actually read the Bible cover to cover. He believes Jesus Christ was white and spoke English. He is incapable of making a coherent statement about the Hindu or Islamic faiths (or Christianity for that matter). He cannot name the capitals of more than a handful of states and countries. He cannot find most major countries on a world map. He refuses to watch anything except Fox News because all other stations are "Communist", especially CBS, CPB, BBC and CBC. He believes in "flat taxation" and "trickle-down economics" but cannot describe how they work or how they would benefit him. He has never attended a cultural event nor watched a documentary. His children are home-schooled and are excellent spellers but are in for a rude surprise when they apply for college as they lack the necessary pre-requisites in literature, biology and social studies. He is oblivious to his doctor's warnings about smoking, heavy drinking and incipient diabetes and chirossis of the liver. There's probably no point as he has no health insurance.

[Yavin4]

61. How Is He Paying for His 'Utopia'?

Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican.

His lifestyle is too expensive for a landscaper. So, how does he pay for it? He must own his own landscaping business, and I'm sure that his employees aren't illegal laborers working for less than the minimum wage.

[cap]

62. maybe that's what the future is...

white men exploiting others....

[dolo amber]

64. Who cares?

This is where the big difference is between our parties. If this guy wants to love "God, Guts, and Guns", I couldn't possibly give the lesser of two shits.

HOWEVER, they want to make sure that's how we ALL live, and therein lies the problem.

[Zerex71]

69. I've got news for DeLay, et. al.

And the news is, "Rednecks, simpletons, black-and-whiters, and small-minded racist bigots is not the future of this country." The God-country-and-Tim LaHaye crowd is a bunch of dinosaurs, and they know it. It's the last desperate cough of an unimportant segment of society.