Reach out and sneer: Dem radicals speak to the Red States

[bemildred]

An open letter to the Red-State victors:

With hard work and superb organization, you have triumphed over John Kerry and the forces of Blue-state paternalism. Congratulations. The multinational corporations that hold you in bondage remain free to profit off your sweat nearly tax free, while their overpaid senior execs continue to pay a pittance in personal income tax.

Your primary and secondary schools will continue to turn out third-rate pupils with limited opportunities, while you enjoy the satisfaction of making it on your own without health care when a catastrophic illness bankrupts your family.

Your agricultural universities will continue issuing Ph.D.s in football, and bogus Protestant Evangelical and Fundamentalist theology, and how to jerk off a bull safely. Your children will learn to borrow enough money to erect chicken houses so that they, like you, can take custody -- not possession, but custody -- of Tyson's chicks, feed them, rear them, assume losses from those that fail to thrive, and in the end earn just enough money to service their endless debt, and realize a profit of perhaps $12K a year. Your bank thanks you; Tyson thanks you; George W. Bush thanks you; and I thank you.

You can continue sending your sons to die in Iraq on a fool's errand. When you bury them, you can console yourselves with Bush's platitudes about their heroic mission to defend America from weapons of mass destruction.

Register UK

[Old and In the Way]

1. Ouch

Sadly, when they finally start wakng up and realizing that things are going down the crapper, they'll be blaming Democrats for the problems. Like Bush, the Bushbots will never accept responsibility for the mess that they've enabled. I gave them a pass in 2000.....not this time.

[madrchsod]

4. i totally agree

they will never see what is in front of them...they bitch and moan but never change. i know these people out there in the corn and bean fields of the great plains..it`s them against the unknown and they are frightened to death on what they see on their satdishes...i know they exist everywhere but these are the people who i visited for years with my parents in the early 50`s and into the early 70`s.

[tedoll78]

2. Wow. That IS radical.

And to tell the truth, I kinda liked it.

Hmm..

[pleiku52cab]

12. IS THIS REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE SATIRE????

[Blue_Tires]

3. spot on

holy shit he just OWNED the red states...i'm distributing this far and wide

[Gyre]

5. Red states to bemildred

Whats a paternalistic???

[bemildred]

34. You do understand I didn't write this?

What's on your mind?

[The Doctor.]

46. "Yup, too many 'o them big fancy 'English' words..."

"They think they's so smart with there 'intern-ational' cuntry all full of 'smarter 'n you' people... they doesn't live her in A-Mehr-ik-a where we no whats right 'n rong!"

{edited for spelling - it was too good!}

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sleepyhead]

14. Read it. Saved it.

A bit harsh, but fits my mood perfectly.

[raggedcompany]

20. Thanks

I prefer this one, but both rants are satisfying.

[wryter2000]

35. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[For PaisAn]

21. Hey wendy, good one

That's exactly what I've been ranting to myself since Tuesday. Thanks!

[Patiod]

23. You may wish to use "tinyurl.com" to transform this one

before sending it to anyone who is at work.

Tinyurl

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[prof_science]

30. Well, you're in the right place...

...welcome to DU.

[Solitaire]

43. thank you!

thanks, prof_science for welcoming me. I was really excited to find this site. :)

[newyawker99]

93. Hi Solitaire!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[wryter2000]

36. Hi, Solitaire

So many newbies. :hi:

[Solitaire]

45. and thank you, wryter2000!

:hi:

right back atcha!

[sister moon]

26. Good rant

but too bad I cant' forward that one to Mom! I'm a red-stater, although I was born and raised in a Blue state. I have always felt like a fish out of water. I'm a liberal among conservatives, an athiest in a sea of fundamentalists, and an outspoken woman in the land of "hey,sweet thang, kin ya fetch me another beer?". Why do I stay and put up with this? Why not move back to New York and tell Florida to fuck off? Because they don't need more of my kind in blue states. They need me here. Someone has to be the one with the only Kerry sign in the neighborhood. Someone has to be the one who objects to my elementary school hosting Sunday church services for a congregation that hasn't got their shit together enough to have their own facility. Someone has to speak up and tell the chauvanistic assholes to get off their fat, lazy asses and get their own fucking beer. I serve a vital purpose, I am needed. I say we red-staters should each sponsor a blue-stater to relocate and help us with the effort. Infiltrate and change from within!

[MattG]

76. That's fine and all but,

Why do you object to Sunday School in your kid's school? I mean, he doesn't go to school on Sunday, so I don't see the problem. I don't mean to pry, but I was just wondering what the big deal was.

[sister moon]

87. The problem is this is a publicly funded school. The building belongs to

the state. The state pays the electric bill, water bill, and pays for all maintenance and upkeep. That means when the school allows the church to hold services there my tax dollars are being spent to benefit a religious organization. This is contrary to the doctrine separating church and state. My tax dollars should not be going to support or benefit, in any way, a specific religion or religion in general.

[MattG]

99. Oh.

My first reaction was still big deal, but I can see your objection to that, especially when Repubs hate their tax dollars being spent on SOCIAL SECURITY (AHHH!) HEALTHCARE (EWWWW!!!) and most horrifyingly, EDJIMICATION (EEEEK!!!)etc. etc.

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Awesome! I loved it! and I live in VA, (but am from CT)

[wryter2000]

33. Hi, Wendy

Welcome to DU

[The Doctor.]

54. Thank You

That went right into favorites.

Want it posted?

(If it's not already...)

[Sequoia]

55. Come in with a bang!

Welcome, and as someone who grew up in the south, I say Yankee's rock all the way. Not the team, but they do too. Go Boston! That was one ripe article and I'm gonna send it to my kin down south! I'd rather be blue any day because blue is a wonderful color..skies, water, life. Red is fire, smoke and death.

[Chovexani]

56. Printed out and pinned on my bulletin board

This sounds like I could have written it with the mood I've been in since last Tuesday.

[carnie_sf]

65. I gotta say

I've been saying for 2 years now we should have let them leave when they wanted to. Just think, instead of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, we could have had Humphrey, Muskie, Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry.

[Sleepless In NY]

81. Wendy_... Welcome to Du! Awesome site!

Wendy gotta tell you...went to http://www.fuckthesouth.com/ & just loved it! Thank you so much! It made my day! Language might be coarse, but its so true! Looking forward to reading more of your posts! Take care.

[just some guy]

100. well, being from the South,

I must uphold honour and all that, being true to some of the comments made in the source for one of the links on that site.
Seems to me that the guy here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n12_v94/ai_21020057
was a little lax in his reporting.

Going to the NY times article he cited (NYT - Ideas & Trends: Southern Curse; Why America's Murder Rate Is So High) provided some interesting thoughts.
"Professor Nisbett found there was no difference in murder rates between white males in the largest cities in the South and the rest of the country."
Though the numbers are high in the south, it seems to be more a big city versus non big city thing.

The national average murder rate per 100k people was 7.4, for metropolitan areas - 8.1. For non metropolitan and rural areas, 4.5 and 4.7 respectively.
"The South" in this article includes Delaware, DC (73.1/100k), and Maryland(11.8).
( source: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/Cius_97/96CRIME/96crime2.pdf)
Then there is the notion of... ah well, never mind.

The fact that July and August are consistently the highest months might point to another factor - heat, a resource plentiful in southern climes.

Anyway, the data is old. State party affiliation in 96 may be readily examined.

For the record, the southern notion of the maintenance of honour prob'ly has roots in the old notions that a man's blood price was dependent upon his social rank - no honour=no protection.

[tibbir]

7. Why don't you address your letter to the people who voted for Bush

rather than slam the entire population of the red states? I and many like me worked our asses off trying to get Kerry voters to the polls. Forty percent of the votes cast in my state went to Kerry - and this is in Texas, Bush's alleged "home state."

Losing the election was bad enough. Having you include me and other Kerry supporters in the red states with the unenlightened lemming-type voters who voted for Bush is like rubbing salt into the wound.

This election was stolen from Kerry among the borderline states that ultimately showed a "win" for the shrubster.

Rather than contemptuously write off the red states as a whole why don't we work to get a proportional split of the electors per state, assuming the electoral college can't be done away with altogether. It's the winner-take-all system that sucks, not everyone who happens to find themselves in a red state.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Exactly...

Otherwise, it's a good letter...

[Kurovski]

61. Sending sons off to die--

Women are going too.

Other than that, It's the kind of dark, nasty and ironic humor England does so well and that confuses and scares America.

Spoken like a Blue!

[bemildred]

13. Calm down Sir.

I didn't write it, and I'm well aware that not all citizens
of red states are goobers. I can assure you this person is
not addressing such as you. He's just a bit excited and indulging
in rhetorical excess. I expect he would applaud you for
fighting the good fight, and I must say that being a Californian
has been very depressing too, over the years, and still is much of
the time.

[eyepaddle]

58. Well, that sounds like a good plan, but...

face it, the South has held and continues to hold the rest of the country in contempt for well over one hundred and fifty years. I spent a couple years working offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as a geologist and I got to spend months at a crack outnumbered eighty to one. Even the guys I was friends with never could really get past their suspicion of Yankees. Hell I had one Directional Driller who I had let set up shop in my office unit tell an Englishman "Americans hate Yankees more than they hate foreigners." He said that right in my office, right in front of me. How do we reach out to THAT attitude? I don't even know where to start in analyzing the hostitlity in that sentence.

Here's a thought though, how 'bout we send Great Plains or Westerm Republicans to work in the deep south, in a real macho industry like the oilfield, and let them see how welcome they are? Just because you vote like them doesn't meant they ever except you--why else won't the south vote for anybody who isn't Southern?

I don't want to write off allies, wherever they might be from, but parts of this country have a LONG way to go in order to get their house in order.

[olio]

67. Solid South?

When I joined the Democratic party the South voted as a bloc for Democrats.

Now look. What happened.

I can tell you that we had betted get back to America, the left wing -ism's just aren't working here.

Perhaps a little soul searching would be in order It isn't that the Republicans have the high ground, it's that so many of us have the low ground. I wonder how many people will switch back if we continue to call them stupid.

You can go to slate.com and read "The Incredible Unteachable Ignorance of the Red States" to see what I'm saying.

[eyepaddle]

68. Now look what happened,

not Now look. What happened. Even though as typed I suppose it could be "What happened?"

When I lived in the Acadian heart of Louisiana an argument raged about raising teacher pay to "The Southern regional average" because I supposed they figured they'd better set that bar as low as friggin' possible. Even that modest increase sparked whirlwinds of protest. I remember one editorial that sought to justify LA's low teacher pay by observing that they really weren't in school that much, so if you looked at their pay as an hourly wage it was really not that bad.(!) A common joke was "oh well, at least we've got Mississippi to look down on."

Do they still?

I could name a few other well thought cost saving measures--anybody else notice how narrow the roads are down there? No shoulders, turn lanes are a rarity, nothing like blazing down the Evangeline Expressway at 75 mph with a truckload of drill pipe ten feet off my ass and then having to stand on my brakes to decelerate while making a ninety degree turn in the space of about fifty feet. All because of Louisiana's lack of corporate taxes pretty much bankrupted the state.

They cut those taxes to attract businesses and diversify away from their boom and bust dependence on oil. How's that workin' out? Oh wait it's not. When I was there, the local paper constantly trumpeted new "economic development" which oddly enough was always oil related. Rather than diversify the economy all it did was allow big oil to rape the state at no charge. Where else will oil companies in America go? No matter what tax policy Vermont enacts they won't start drilling there anytime soon.

I'm tired of kissing ass and recieving an ass-kicking. It's time to start kicking ass for a change of pace.

I don't think calling people stupid will change anybody's mind, but hey, if the shoe fits....

[newyawker99]

94. Hi olio!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[MattG]

77. message deleted

[depakid]

9. Best bloody rant yet!

How I love a good rant- especially when so much of it is true!

Just what the Dr. ordered for Monday morning.

[Paradise]

10. Now, THIS is more like it!

I'm sick of all of the mea culpas we're hearing from weak-kneed liberals,
and all of the two-faced advice from ill-bearing "conservatives".

[Ganja Ninja]

11. "Were tired of fighting for you by fighting against you."

Ahhhhh-men!

[BigMcLargehuge]

15. This was awesome!

LOL... Satire with sharp teeth, and all too true.

[Arioch]

16. Brilliant!

For the most part I am a liberal, yet I am also a rabid misanthrope...

Wonderful satire that I will hold close to my heart.
:D

[vinny9698]

17. This goes back to the Civil War

Even then the land owners did not fight but sent in the workers to do their fighting for them. They could not even come with up a national song but had to use a Yankee song Dixie Land.

[libbygurl]

18. Brilliant piece that tells it like it is. Enough of the cozy

niceness that only make red-staters sneer at our perceived weakness!

[vinny9698]

19. Most of them live in mobile homes and age of consent is 14

Age of consent is 14 and they question our moral values

[mseang]

22. Excellent!

That is certainly a nice wake up and smell the coffee moment.

[wryter2000]

37. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[mark11727]

24. Ah, The Register... not just for technological commentary...!

[KitSileya]

27. I really, really ,liked this quote

Understandably, you resent us, so you've fabricated an imaginary measure of superiority: Christian "values." Yet you talk about values the way a pre-teen girl talks about "love" in fan letters to Ashton Kutcher.

That is so spot on, even if the satire was a bit harsh in some places. However, that is satire.

[Joanne98]

28. It's a great description of DIRTSVILLE..........

[DemoVet]

31. I probably shouldn't agree with some of it, in fairness

but fuck fairness. I've had enough of being open-minded about closed-minded people. I'm down with the tone of it, especially the idea of being tired of fighting for the people who vote against their own self-interest every time. What's the point?
Yup, lost my job, lost my health insurance, house got foreclosed, can't afford gas anymore, school district laid off more teachers so my kid now has 39 classmates, ______ (I, My son, My daughter, My wife, My husband, My father, My mother, fill in the blank) just got their tour in Iraq extended, or was called back to service ___ years after they got out, or had their guard unit called up, butBush is gonna keep those libruls from takin' our bibles and keep those queers from marryin' each other.
Now that's bone-level ignorance. I just don't know how you convince these people that voting for Republicans actually hurts them MORE than it hurts liberals.

[wryter2000]

32. As a Blue Stater

I don't find anything in there the least bit offensive to me.

[MallRat]

38. This opinion piece is so hot, it just melted my monitor.

Wow. Just WOW.

-MR

[DemoVet]

39. Oh, and let me add something to this,

effective immediately, parents who voted for Bush should bring any of their children aged 18-22 to their local Army and Marine Corps recruiting centers and enlist. If you're under 35 you should enlist too, even if it means quitting your job and leaving your family behind. You want this war, now send your kids to fight it. If you or they come home in a box, or minus a limb/limbs you can consider it a retroactive campaign contribution to Bush/Cheney. BTW, my kids aren't going, and I already made my "contribution" to Nixon in 1970 so I can't.

Suckers.

[xxqqqzme]

40. failing to see the satire

"...What we wanted for you would have been far better than that which you, in your ignorant pride, demanded for yourselves. Oh, you defeated us all right, but only to your detriment.

We Blues will come out of the Bush era no worse for wear, although you Reds will come out very much diminished, deeper in debt, and less able to improve your circumstances by your own powers. But because you wish to be flattered more than helped, you will be grateful for your ass fucking from the Blue-state Republican elite that is laughing behind your backs today.

We did not wish it so. We honestly did want to help..."

[gottaB]

86. geeze, no kidding

eom

[progressivebydesign]

41. That was brilliant... I know you didn't write it, but was it an editorial?

Or was it a letter to their editor? I didn't find it offensive, it's pretty much the truth. If the people that voted for Bush, in the South, can't handle it.. then tough shit.

[The Doctor.]

42. "Ummm... you mean they ain't GOOD things"?

I can just picture a true Bush supporter reading (LOL! - did I say 'reading'?) this article and taking it as a sincere congratulations.

Either that or they won't get the 'subtle' sardonicism.

[1songbird]

44. The red state of Ohio reporting here.

I understand the anger but don't forget that there are Dems trapped in these red states that totally get it. We took a stand and we just fell short. Some of us have lost friends and neighbors over this division. My county went 70% in favor of Dubya so you can imagine that my Kerry yard sign was the only one on the street. It is still in my yard as a sign of rebellion.

[GOPFighter]

47. This was directed at the 70% of your neighbors...

...who voted for Shrub. To all of you in red states who worked your ass off for Kerry, you are much appreciated and admired by those of us who live in blue states.

[1songbird]

49. Thank you. :) n/t

[VTHoosierPatriot]

48. At least you had a shot, OH

I'm currently enjoying asylum in Vermont while the shit storm that is Mitch Daniels ravages the countryside of my Indiana (voting went about a cool 70% Bush). I get in a lot of arguments back home, and the Repubs are always talking about supporting the troops and tax cuts but always fail to look at the numbers to see the results of the misleaders policies (increased terrorism, lower salaries, jobless recovery). Anytime I state actual facts they come back with some flip-flop sound bite or Kerry lied about the Boston marathon. The sad thing is my stating the facts just intimidates them. They seek comfort in Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly oversimplifying the issue. This gives them the intellectual masturbation in believing that they have thought out the issue when there wasn't a single thought process at all. Agreeing is a lot easier than learning. I also talk to a lot of Republicans who think they are rich, but it's hard to explain to someone they are "Indiana Rich" not national rich without being patently offensive (which I currently don't mind being). They have to think they are above and part of the gang banging of the poor. They remain blind to the reality that they are but a middle man getting screwed more than they are screwing.

[1songbird]

53. I really believed Ohio would go blue because we have directly

been affected by tremendous outsourcing. Organized labor has taken a beating and the repeal of steel tariffs certainly did not help. I think what happened here is that progressive Christians did not take a stand against the extremist. We had Pastor after Pastor parading through cincy and surrounding areas talking about how we were on our way to hell if we supported gay marriage. One church had a campaign called "Vote the Bible". Not one single Progressive Pastor stood up against this. This is really where the fight was but no one from our side was engaged so our state will continue to get screwed.

[Dr.Phool]

59. As a former Clevelander

Now living in Florida, it hurts. But the article said perfectly what's been going through my mind since the election. On Wed. morning, I took down my Kerry yard signs, and posted my old Howard Dean sign in the front yard. I'm sending this article and Fuckthesouth.com to everyone!

[CitizenRob]

60. Many thanks

All the thanks in the world go out to Red-state dems. You are going to have to live with these consequences though. The difference is that you know about the consequences, your 70% of neighbors don't. You can at least begin to shield yourself, it'll be too late for them.

[TankLV]

50. That was spot-on! I guess the truth hurts.

I wouldn't have been so nice.

What I find hard to "stomach" is the fact that these idiots in the red states DO behave this way.

Logic and facts mean shit to their idea of their godhead.

[Child_Of_Isis]

51. Ha!

This is by far the best piece that I have read. I loved it!

[CitizenRob]

52. CNN Report on Jesusland

Did anybody see the CNN report on Jesusland this weekend? Apparently Liberal Times was mentioned in the report. I've been getting thousand of hits, but they had no referrers. I guess that means people were just typing the URL in. If any of you saw that could you e-mail me?

Cheers,
CitizenRob

[phantom power]

57. NBC news displayed the other version, the

United State of Texas graphic. No doubt, they used that one because it's less offensive than "Jesus Land".

[Geek_Girl]

62. I live in the South and I posted this on my Blog

Blog

and I bunch of my fundie friends and co-workers read it. The weird part is they read my blog more than ever. I really don't know what to make of it. :shrug:

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

63. Harsh indeed.

While I think the point about most Kerry voters backing him because they believed he'd do a better job than Bush is certainly true, ridiculing voters for their faith, or mocking their intelligence, isn't the way to win votes. Frankly, this letter almost gives credence to the ridiculous notion of the elitist Blue state voters. It's really hard to dispel the myth of the "godless liberal elite," with rants like this.

[eyepaddle]

71. I used to be diplomatic

But I think you're wrong. Questioning our faith and ridiculing out intelligence seems to have won the other side a lot of votes.

As long as ignorance is placed on a pedestal in the red states (and they try to do it here in a blue state) all that trying to appeal to their better nature does is make you look weak.

Large segments of the South ARE re-fighting the Civil War, and they are winning because we don't even realize that it is being fought.

I stand by my bitterness and contempt.

[CitizenRob]

74. We need to laugh at Jesusland

A fool cannot know they are a fool if we're busy patting them on the back celebrating their foolishness. So instead let us point and laugh at them. They need to hear that they are the butt of our great blue economic joke.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

90. I see you point, and it does often seem like a losing battle,

but I still think civility (within its natural limits) ultimately wins the day. The thing that gets on my nerves, is that the Right has mastered this victim game, in which they pretend that its only the Left that engages is personal attacks. They complain about the anti-Bush media (I alwyas laugh when I hear that), and the harsh rhetoric of the Left. I guess the Swift Boats Veterans for Bush, the think tanks, pundits, conservative books, and nightly anti-Kerry screeds just slipped their notice.

Again, I agree with you that it seems like a sucker's game to try to play fair, when they accuse you of being anti-God, or un-American, but I just choose to ignore them and keep fighting, with the truth on our side.

[carnie_sf]

64. I couldn't have said it better myself eom

[Jankyn]

66. This was awesome! n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

69. I've had several pleasant trips to the South, and I met a lot of wonderful

people, BUT the prevailing attitude of superiority and provincial-and-proud-of-it is too much for me.

I'm all for multiculturalism. I don't care what people eat, drink, listen to, watch, or pray to, as long as they do it in a non-discriminatory manner and don't require me to go along if I don't feel like it.

But this whole attitude of not trusting any Northerner (I saw it even among graduate students at Yale) and of INSISTING that the presidential ticket have a Southerner is just plain childish.

[tomreedtoon]

70. Congratulations. You're getting ready to lose again in 2008.

I thought the grieving process was denial, anger, then acceptance. Apparently this guy is trapped between the first two.

He is blaming people for not being as wise and sophisticated as he is, and following his lead to the only appropriate way of life. And he's angry because the people in red states don't want to be told they're idiots.

Maybe, when this little orgy of class warfare wears off, more intelligent Democrats might ask why people hate them so much. And maybe they'll try jumping into the other guy's shoes and realize how they look to people who never drink frappichino.

However, I'm sure we'll have guys like this writer, and Tom Tomorrow, to pump their own ego and cleverness at insulting the people they were supposed to be winning over to the progressive side.

[eyepaddle]

72. It's a lack of respect

Let's face it, we will NEVER convince the majority of Bush supporters to come over to the progressive side. The right-wing didn't achieve control by convincing liberals to join their side. I have grown up in a blue collar environment, and had a very long string of blue collar, often construction related jobs, and a large part of the problem they have with people who drink "Frappichino" is they just don't perceive them as very masculine. In other words they know they can kick a typical liberal's ass and therefore don't really respect their opinions.

I don't make a secret of my left-wing beliefs, nor do I hide the fancy coffee I have in the mornings, another thing I don't do is take crap. They might know I like "uppity coffee" and listen to some jam bands and can throw a frisbee a country mile, but I don't back down or come across as mealy-mouthed. Blunt honesty is sometimes the best way to go.

I realize that my fairly foul-tempered posts on this thread don't show this, but I also have a very sharp sense of humour, it helps to use that.

However we are just gonna be viewed as caricatures of elitists the same as they are portrayed on King of the Hill until we show them that being open minded doesn't mean the same as easily shoved around.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

101. Good observation

I've noticed that blue collar voters admire feistiness even if they don't agree with or even know what the person stands for.

[shrike]

73. I think people are more concerned about their country being fucked

I know I am. Every day in every way, the news gets a little worse. (Chalabi and Al-Sadr creating an alliance is one, China selling off its dollars is another.) I think the anger is directed at not only what these people have done to themselves, but to the rest of the country. And to us, frankly. And we're powerless to stop it.

All we have right now is our rage. And the freedom to express it, within reasonable limits. They'll take my freedom of speech from me only when they pry it from my cold dead fingers, quite frankly.

I also don't think a lot of these people know what they voted for. Tax codes, HSA, all the strategies to shift more money and power from the highest tier -- I think a lot of liberals feel rage and frustration over the fact that in voting for Bush these people slit their own throats -- and they're proud of doing so.

Maybe it IS us. Maybe we didn't do a good enough job explaining what was really going on. I think a lot of people will just have to vent for a while, before they feel ready to try again. I know I will.

[CitizenRob]

75. namby pamby Dem

Dude, you're just another Namby Pamby weak kneed liberal. Liberalism is evolving, we don't want your flower power, "fight like ghandi" against people who don't care if they destory us, B.S. We want social freedom, and economic prosperity that increases in step with the top 1%. Your ideal of liberalism is dead. It's unfortunate that we're still stuck dealing with the remnants of the politicians from the 60's era liberal idealism in our national offices. It'd be great if we could get some modern liberals in, people who know how to KICK SOME ASS.

Honestly if the retards in the bible belt want to vote into their local, state, and federal governments people that hate to help the lower and middle class, that's fine with me. We here in the blue states will forever see the profits from the red states back breaking physical labor. We'll think up the products, the design, the markeeting, and conduct the sales here in the blue states, while the red state workers toil away to make our products. Which of those job descriptions create profitable living wages? Certainly not the "manufacturing in a red-state" jobs. I'm more than happy to take the fools in the south for the economic ride they're begging for. F-@k 'em.

[Hello_Kitty]

91. I've noticed that theme quite a bit in the political dialogue lately

"Liberals are mocking and condescending to Middle Americans." It'd be one thing if it were simply being discussed as a possible factor in Kerry's defeat. But it is apparent from the bitterness and vitriol that I continue to read and hear from the r/w media, that * voters are STILL actually offended and whining about it. How DARE we call them stupid! I mean, come on people. They now control the Presidency, the Senate, the House, and are on the verge of owning the Supreme Court. Yet they still whine about being persecuted. Well boo hoo. I happen to think glib, sarcastic wit is funny. Some people enjoy crude or slapstick humor. So what? Now, in addition to compromising on gay rights, reproductive freedom, and a host of other important issues in order to appease these yokels, I must also change what I find humorous. Fuck. That. Shit.

[mom cat]

78. If the election had not been so obviously stolden, I doubt that this

level of bigotry would have surfaced in DU. But it has, and I am disapointed that it is on our front page. We are all justifyibly hurt and angry, but misdirecting our rage into horizontal violence will only further divide and conquor those of us who are fodder for the empire. I have seen a lot of thoughtful, intelligent articles on this site. This is not one of them.

[CitizenRob]

79. Time is up.

Time is up for the flower power generation. Get out of the way of those of us who are ready to kick some Republican ass. Obviously the Tom Daschle Dems are such pussies that they can't fight even when they must fight. There's a new Liberal ethic, and it isn't all hugs and kisses big boy.

[mom cat]

82. Kicking ass is great, just as you know whose ass to kick and why you want

to kick it. A prime example of indiscriminate ass kicking is **"s war in Iraq. I do not believe- like Kerry- that you can win by pulling your punches. Nor do I believe that indiscriminately sneering at whole segments of this country is the winning strategy. Those of us at the bottom of the totem pole attact each other at our own peril. A lot of people from the South are fightine hard for change and need our support. Divided we fall.

[CitizenRob]

95. Those people..

The Dems in the South undoubtedly agree with the contents of that letter though. Everyone I've talked to in the South gets it. The "Still Living Like a 60's Hippy" long hair 50 something is what's killing the Democratic party. They're getting their ass kicked every which way by an enemy that see's no reason to fight fairly, and lacks compassion. They choose the path of Ghandi when they should be choosing to fight back. Despite their continued losses, their obliteration on the national political level, they still continue to say pacisifism is the best tool. They're wrong and the record (10 years of failed Legislative elections, and 10 years of losses of governorships) proves it.

Ghandi wasn't the only opposition leader.

[bemildred]

84. I am from the "flower power generation".

And all I can say is welcome aboard. There has been a real
shortage of lefties with spine since my peers burned their
brains out.

This other fellow is correct about the Red States, that is not
the proper division. There are goobers in the Blue States and
non-goobers in the Red States, and sometimes the colors change.
I live in California, which used to be a Red State, and it used
to drive me bonkers. My brother still likes to point out where
the Bank Of America was, the one they burned, with the helipad
on top, during the VietNam war protests.

[Anakin Skywalker]

80. Great Article! I LOVE it!

Red state rednecks deserve our contempt. Now if only they'd develop some pride and stop taking our federal tax dollars which are paid more by the blue states.

[Sleepless In NY]

83. Thank You DU and bmildred! Excellent article!

This deserves to be on the homepage and thank you DU for putting it there. Instead of trying to be more like republicans to win elections, we ought be promoting what's good about us, and defending ourselves. Use to make me sick to watch bush bash Massachuettes constantly & Kerry never let him have it.

Perception is everything. Time now for a reality check. NY, NJ, PA, DC., all those effected by 9/11 didn't vote for bush. We have no illusions about him "protecting" us and for the life of me, I cant understand why anyone would.

Talk about bigotry, if I have to hate gays to win elections, I'd rather lose.


And its way past time for Red States to take "responsibility", a word they love to use for everyone else, but themselves. Let them pay their own bills.

[scottxyz]

85. That was the 1ST TIME I've ever sat here LAUGHING in front of the computer

That was the FUNNIEST thing I've read on DU in ages.

By the way, it's also the first translation of Thomas Frank's landmark book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" into the vernacular.

[BiggJawn]

88. We don't teach Theology at Purdue.

Bull-jerking is a very popular class, though. Right up there with forensic pathology. And our football Doctoral Candidates need to overhaul their thesis, dontcha think?.

[Arlington]

89. God, I wish I had written it.

I have sent this out countless times today with instructions to "send to 2,000 of your friends...."

There is nothing in here that isn't fundamentally (hey, a pun) true.

I am originally from Ohio, but I have only contempt for anyone who would vote for these bastards.

Way I see it -- only two things motivate a vote for Bush: Greed and stupidity. And there is no reason to spare the whip on either one.

[Emillereid]

92. I so totally agree with this writer it hurts -- I hate to admit it, but

I'm done with the 'poor, dumb rednecks.'

For months now I've been trying to tell anyone who would listen that Americans (a majority?) have become too stupid to live with. It's one thing to vote against their own interests, but I don't want these assholes determining my destiny any more. I would really like an amicable divorce from these bozos. We'll take the Northeast, the northern tier states, Illinois and the West coast -- they can have the the fuckin' heartland and live contentedly in their Christian fascist, totalitarian, idiot state and worship their chimp god forever. They've never been part of the American democratic dream -- we made stupid compromises since the beginning of this nation to appease them, just read de Tocqueville. And to think we lost life and limb to keep these assholes. After the break up -- we'll give everybody 5 years to get themselves on the side of the divide they prefer -- and then the true United States will be free to join the rest of the peace loving world.

[n2dfun]

96. united we stand; divided we fall

Let me just start by saing that I've felt tremendous anger this week as result of the election. My anger isn't directed just at B**h but also Faux News and any of the other pundits who seem to pander to the right. In a fit of rage I made the statement that wnayone who voted for Bush would not be welcomed into my home. This offended my partner althought he and I both have relatives in the South. I was venting.
HOWEVER, I must tell you that this article from the theregister.co.uk offends me as does the writing at info@f**kthesouth.com because I am from the South. I now live in NH. I love it here but over the weekend I spoke to a friend in my native TN who voted for Kerry. She was equally horrified that the idiot won another four years. Over one million of her fellow Tennesseans voted for Kerry. Millions of people voted for K/E in the so-called 'red states.' We cannot discount these people. They're on our side.
I think it's divisive and unproductive to lump everone in the 'red states' or everyone in the 'blue states' altogether. Nearly half the people of NH voted 'red.' We barely made it into the blue column this time. God knows we have our share of gun-loving rednecks in the North Woods.
Senator-elect Obama talked about the 'purple states' at the convention in Boston. That's what we need. That's what we are. We'll never win the hearts and minds of the moderates who happened to vote for the idiot if we antagonize them into thinking we feel superior because we're from a 'blue state.'
Don't misunderstand me. Rage is justified. But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember the millions who 'get it' in the South, Great Plains and Rockies. Don't let the bi-colored media maps distort reality. There are millions of heart-sick Southerners and others who fought hard and they don't need a region-bashing on top of this loss.
In the future, to win, we must heal the differences and focus on the positive. A POSITIVE MESSAGE! Dignity and respect for every human being always, eventually, succeeds.

[Emillereid]

98. Sorry - the pollyanna stuff won't wash anymore -- there is nothing

immutable about the geography of this country. I welcome those that 'Get it' to live in the New USA -- but I think history reveals that this is TWO COUNTRIES -- and I for one do not want my destiny or that of my children swallowed up by the Christian fascists. All I'm proposing is to make the divorce real. Of course they're are good people in the South -- I just want to liberate them from their geography -- and give them a new home in a revitalized, authentic democracy in the Blue States. Blue republicans can find themselves new digs in the fascist states of America. I no more want to impose my values on the Reds than I want them to impose their 'values' on me. I could just move to Canada or some where -- but this is my country too -- and I think there is enough of a real split historically to talk seriously of dividing up the geography into ours and theirs -- so we can finally get about living in the kind of country we want.

[n2dfun]

97. united we stand; divided we fall

Let me just start by saing that I've felt tremendous anger this week as result of the election. My anger isn't directed just at B**h but also Faux News and any of the other pundits who seem to pander to the right. In a fit of rage I made the statement that wnayone who voted for Bush would not be welcomed into my home. This offended my partner althought he and I both have relatives in the South. I was venting.
HOWEVER, I must tell you that this article from the theregister.co.uk offends me as does the writing at info@f**kthesouth.com because I am from the South. I now live in NH. I love it here but over the weekend I spoke to a friend in my native TN who voted for Kerry. She was equally horrified that the idiot won another four years. Over one million of her fellow Tennesseans voted for Kerry. Millions of people voted for K/E in the so-called 'red states.' We cannot discount these people. They're on our side.
I think it's divisive and unproductive to lump everone in the 'red states' or everyone in the 'blue states' altogether. Nearly half the people of NH voted 'red.' We barely made it into the blue column this time. God knows we have our share of gun-loving rednecks in the North Woods.
Senator-elect Obama talked about the 'purple states' at the convention in Boston. That's what we need. That's what we are. We'll never win the hearts and minds of the moderates who happened to vote for the idiot if we antagonize them into thinking we feel superior because we're from a 'blue state.'
Don't misunderstand me. Rage is justified. But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember the millions who 'get it' in the South, Great Plains and Rockies. Don't let the bi-colored media maps distort reality. There are millions of heart-sick Southerners and others who fought hard and they don't need a region-bashing on top of this loss.
In the future, to win, we must heal the differences and focus on the positive. A POSITIVE MESSAGE! Dignity and respect for every human being always, eventually, succeeds.

[Kellis]

102. Thank You for that

I live in the South as well and I am horrified by awol chimps re-appointment.Almost half my state voted for Kerry but we are branded a 'red state'.Its not true.They just won out over the Kerry voters.

[__Inanna__]

103. While Entertaining...

ENOUGH ALREADY, PLEASE !!!

When we get to the point where we have to categorize based on Blue states vs. Red States, we become as simple minded as those who voted for *.

I live in a RED state and voted Kerry. My three siblings live in a BLUE state and voted BUSH. In fact, I have about 12 family members who live in a BLUE state and voted *. I am the only one not living in that BLUE state and I voted KERRY.

I understand the angst and anger, but IMHO it's misdirected. It should be directed at THIS ADMINISTRATION, not those who cannot help either lower IQs or selfish greed.

[bemildred]

104. Come to Jeebus. Jeebus will save you. Jeebus is coming soon.

I feel your pain.

But seriously, I know what you mean. I live a "blue state" and I
have relatives up the wazoo that think Shrub and the Iraq war are
great for America, and I have to just withdraw for the sake of peace
in the family. If I started talking, I'd get kicked out of the
family anyway.

But I think "red states" is a metaphor for "Bush voters" here, so
buck up, we're all on your side, and it's not personal.