Should the N.E be offended?

[Senator Lamb]

it seems like we can always vote for a southerner but not the other way around. in fact massachussets was mocked by Bush several times. you know what, we have just as much values as any other part of the country. we are the birthplace of the revolution, we gave the country people such as Adams, the Roosevelts, JFK & RFK. we fought to end slavery, segregation, womens rights. now it seems like we can never have a N.E Democratic President again since the south never budges and the main battleground is in Middle America, the "heart of america". and yeah, that also reminds me, who here is sick of believing that these people are the heart of america. like they have superior values over us, they are the super patriots. that these are the true every day americans, and that we on the coasts are some elitist, unpatriotic, ungodly bunch. who even talks about our cities, are they not the heartland. or do they only matter when their building blow up. i remember hearing bill mahr one time said that these people (south)are the most supid people in the country and voiced some of the concerns I have.

pissed off Jersey Democrat

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Pissed of Connecticut Democrat.

[gnofg]

2. Bravo

I live in the south and I couldn't agree more. I have a friend who had the gall to say to me that his parents were more moral than mine because thay went to church.. They make me puke

[CottonBear]

3. W is from the N.E. but pretends to be from Texas.

That should offend you. Unfortunately, for us non-stupid southerners, he's claiming to be from the south.

[mitchtv]

4. pity them if it weren't for air conditioning

they'd still be in the third world. That and the money coming from the states that contribute more per dollar than they receive. Where does it Go? highways to nowhere in WV and MS. Fly over country.
NY'r in CA

[lastliberalintexas]

24. Actually, without air conditioning

we never would have been invaded by the likes of the Bushes- conservative New Englanders who knew their political future in the NE was limited. North Dallas/Plano is littered with them.

I have a friend who has claimed for years that AC was the downfall of the South. And who knows- maybe he's right. After all, before widespread AC, we weren't liberal, but we were Dem.

[jjanpundt]

5. Without the Northeast we wouldn't exist

as a country. Yeah you should be pissed off. Last week on Bill Maher's (sp?) Real Time program he was furious that * was dissing Massachusetts. A lot of his comments about the South are right on the money.

I lived on the outskirts of Atlanta for 10 years and while many of my friends there were moderate democrats the vast majority of people I worked with, commuted with etc. were very narrow minded, bible thumping rednecks.

[ncgrits]

6. I hear ya!

Born and raised in the South, and I am so tired of the refrain that all of "us" must be ignorant and inbred, and all of "you" are godless libruls! They tried to make Bill Clinton look like a hick. And said John Kerry was a snob. They'll play it whatever way suits 'em.


And isn't it an irony that the rural RED voters are so afraid of terrorism and voted for bush, while the urban BLUE citizens are actual terrorism victims--votin' for Kerry!

[theHandpuppet]

7. Hell YES you should!

The NE is the heartland of Patriots, and not just those who play football!

I'm DAMNED PROUD of New England! THANK GOD for YANKEES!

[Mr_Spock]

8. There is a problem where one group forces the other group to try

and have the same set of standards. It not only will not work, but in CAN NOT work. In fact, our country was never supposed to be about imprinting one groups moral & ethical standards onto another. The motherfuckers in power now have determined that they can get elected by playing on peoples fears and prejudices, thus pitting one group in this country against another.

VERY IMPORTANT!! IF we ever stop turning the other cheek to this vile and repulsive political game, there will be no country left to divide. They have created an all or nothing game here and the result of this historically failed experiment will be the end of America as we know it. They either work with us of face inevitable extinction.

[seraph]

9. Pissed off "Massachusetts Liberal" (nt)

[displacedtexan]

10. It's that War of Northern Aggression 'thang'...

As a Texan, coming from a family which actually evolved with the times, I can tell you truthfully that I was 8 before I learned that Damn and Yankee were 2 separate words.

I've moved farther North and East in my lifetime, and I would never consider living in Texas again.

The Buckle on the Bible Belt is not my idea of an enlightened place to live.

[smirkymonkey]

21. Yeah, maybe someone should enlighten them and tell them....

"Hey, you fundie morons, the Civil War is OVER!"

[Gyre]

23. It's the "Ahhhm a dumb fuck, don't hurt my head w/ facts" thang

I'd gotten over my northeastern reflex to eyeroll when I heard a southern accent after Carter. Thanks to 11/04 it's back w/ a vengence. Unnnnn hunhhhh.

Gyre

[regnaD kciN]

34. I hate to break this to you...

As a Texan, coming from a family which actually evolved with the times, I can tell you truthfully that I was 8 before I learned that Damn and Yankee were 2 separate words.

...you'd be likely to get the same experience in Massachusetts as well. Of course, we were thinking about a different meaning for "Yankee"...

;-)

...and, besides, after 2004, there may be a bit less animosity on that score.

(GO SOX!!! :party: )

[OctOct1]

11. In the arrogant New America

The old N.E. Values have no place.
Freedom of religion. What???
Their religion or your immoral.
Separation of church & state. What??
God talks to our leaders.
Quiet strong modesty. What??
Arrogant, pushy, My way or the highway.

ANOTHER PISSED OF IN CT


We are old America.

Frankly, I do not embrace this new America.
Not one little bit.

[bostonbabs]

12. ahmen...brother.....I am from massachusettes

....we have the Lowest divorce rate in the country 2.1 per 100,000 and guess who has the highest?....the bible belt....I think about 4.3!!!!...it's a joke...Morals?...Who in God's good name would send young men into battle ill prepared, ill equipped for no real good reason....and they stand on Moral ground. They are followers.When Jerry Falwell said on Larry King Live the other night "blow them up in the name of the Lord"..(Iraq).I got scared....There is only one instance in the entire Bible where Jesus shows anger and it was in the Temple when he saw people making money and exchanging money for profit...he overturned a table......Greed is a sin....not just greed for money but power as well.If these poor people in middle America would just think for themselves and read something other than the Bible.

[sangh0]

13. Why do people care where the candidate comes from?

It's odd the way people complain about how geography matters in elections and their major complaint is that we can't elect someone from THEIR area.

If we got a good candidate who wins, why do you care if he comes from another area? Isn't it enough to have a candidate that supports progressive issues and wins elections? Do you really care if they came from Boston, MA or Buttfuck, Nevada>

[Senator Lamb]

16. well geography does matter

look at all the calls for a southern or midwestern democratic governor the next time. i agree. buts its sad that the north east and west coast are demonized.

[sangh0]

19. But why complain that geography matters

and then follow that with "because I can't get someone from my area elected"?

Geography matters in politics. That's clear. But if you don't think geography SHOULD matter, then why would you want someone from your own area?

[smirkymonkey]

22. Which is why the Northeast needs to seceed.

We are really two different countries sharing a federal government.

[mitchtv]

26. Myself, I see a greater California

from Baja to British Colombia. BC to BC we might have to grab some of NV( a vassel state)

[smirkymonkey]

30. Yes we need an East coast and a West Coast secession.

Unless we all become a part of Canada.

[Sallyrat]

14. Honey, you got lots of southern votes

My entire family of 5 brothers and 4 sisters and all their household here in NC voted for JFK and John Edwards......we have only one repuke in our family and the county I am from (Duplin) SE, NC has never voted republican......We are yellow-dog democrats and very, very proud of it. On election nite eve I passed by our voting place and there was no K/E sign..this was midnight, I drove home, about 1 miles away, pulled my sign up from my front yard and went back and proudly placed my sign for K/E....We had our family reunion 2 wks ago and gave out K/E stickers for all to wear. Pray that our young family voters who worked so hard will not get turned off by our defeat. We all are going through depression and need lots of hugs....
This is the first time that the younger members in our family have gotten so active in politics and they are so sick......they know all about the bushies and BFEE and the whole shabang.....

[TahitiNut]

29. How many would there be without Edwards on the ticket?

We are neither 'United' as a people nor as States. How many presidential tickets didn't include a candidate from the (former) Confederacy (or so-called border states) in the last 150 years? How many that won?

Every time a political pundit acknowledges the necessity of such a candidate, such bigotry is legitimized.

[shelley806]

15. Other than FRAUD, which is hardly a win with "moral issues," the way

B* (Rove) was elected is by relying on the ignorant, uneducated, "Christian," unpatriotic lot; because one cannot maintain patriotism and ignorance simultaneously.

I read a very funny post (as sad as it is funny) from an angry liberal who expressed all manner of angst against the stupid Southern bunch who elected B*. You might want to read it for a chuckle.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2601413

[OrwellwasRight]

17. Keep talkin' Jersey

As a left-coaster who relocated to DC, I hear ya. Why is "Massachusetts liberal" an accepted put-down? Does anyone who uses it even know what it means? And why do we not fight back when they say we are godless and immoral? We are the party of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jesus preached about giving to the poor. We are morally right in our beliefs.


We in the Democratic party have lost the power of moral persuasion. We forgot that it is right, moral, noble (Christian, if you like) to fight for the rights of the outcast, less fortunate, minorities, pick your unpopular group. Why did we Dems never try to persuade middle America that it is immoral to indiscriminately kill Iraqi civilians just to take out our revenge for 9/11? There are a lot of churchgoers out there who could have seen our side if we had really engaged them.

[regnaD kciN]

33. I haven't lived in New England for twenty-five years...

...but I grew up in Massachusetts, went to school in New Hampshire (same school as John Kerry!), and spent some time in Vermont as well.

The thing that gets me relates to your question:

Why is "Massachusetts liberal" an accepted put-down?

I've seen many people ask, "why is Massachusetts considered so un-American when we started the Revolution (etc., etc.), and gave the country JFK and RFK?" Folks, I remember that "Massachusetts liberal" only became a perjorative in the late 60s, and it wasn't despite JFK and RFK, it was because of them. Granted, there was a hatred of the north dating from the Civil War, but it only really became focused on Massachusetts during the Kennedy era. While JFK did gain a positive, even heroic, image after his death (and mostly because of his death -- he became a secular martyr to America), he was hated in the south while he was alive, and his brother even more than he. The image they gained among the more conservative areas of the country was of rich northern big-city (strike one!) Catholic (strike two!) recent Irish immigrant (strike three!) liberals (commies!) who wanted to use federal troops to force the south to desegregate (get the noose!) and the FBI to crack down on the Ku Klux Klan (bring the shotgun, too!).

The fact is that, for the southern electorate of the time, the Kennedys represented almost everything evil in the world. The only thing that could have made them worse is if they had managed to be not only Irish and Catholic but simultaneously black and Jewish. ;-) It is from their legacy that the hatred of candidates from Massachusetts began.

[lady raven]

18. I live in Oklahoma,

The middle of the so- called "heartland". Where people hate everyone who is different from them. If you're from "back east", you're an elitist, effeminate snob who thinks you are smarter than us. How I long to be able to afford to become one of those elitist snobs in the Northeast, where people DO have hearts.

[JackRiddler]

20. Resigned New Yorker

[TexasSissy]

25. You just gave the answer to your own question in your post.

You said, "I remember hearing bill mahr one time said that these people (south)are the most supid people in the country and voiced some of the concerns I have."

Now why would anyone from the south vote for someone who thinks that about him? That's a somewhat pervasive attitude by nor'easterners about people from the south.

I was born & raised in deep south Louisiana. Since I wasn't raised in the north, I can't compare. But I can tell you that common sense tells me that there are a LOT of stupid people in the north. And I've seen quite a few on TV, in interviews or documentaries or sitcoms).

Stupid people are everywhere. The south has plenty of 'em, but I would expect that the north, with its congested urban areas, has even more.

Think about it: Tulane University; Rice University; Mark Twain; Truman Capote; Ann Rice; Helen Keller; and on and on and on. We have our brilliant folks, too. (and particularly in the area of music & the arts!)

[mitchtv]

27. yes. there are exceptions

but mix nationalism, fear, ignorance, and heretical piety you get Hatriots.

[groton]

32. Mark Twain's house in CT

Yale ,Princton,Harverd,MIT,Stanford

we have higher places of learning also.


one probaly with us breaking off USA is are Nation
its those Southerns that should pack up and leave.

join Cuba or somthing

one pissed off CT Yankeee Redsox Fan

[Nimble_Idea]

28. your right, I wish northerners won't take shit from southerners,

even here at DU, they come on here and when we call the South what it is, they try to justify it and say that YOU are being the ignorant one.

Like somehow , the south is more American? More American than New York?

When we want to show the world America, we show them California and New York, not any farm house in Texas.

[Cat Atomic]

31. You're "Old America".

Didn't you get the memo? It's ok for southern politicians to mock you- even if they're the President. I know, you'd think he'd try to be the president of all 50 states, but that's not how things work in New America. Be sure to send your tax money in on time, though. Texas wants it.