Wing Nuts defend Pig-Boy and Bitch about hateful "Libruls"

[bow-tie]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/09/rush-limbaugh-launches-se_n_111794.html----------In comments. This country is divided beyond hope. It really is time for secession. It's even touched on in the "comments" only the righties say the left coast will go broke a come begging for "their money". It's really disgusting when you read what all the wing-nuts are saying. What's going to become of the US?

[nxylas]

1. Yeah, that'll happen

I'm sure that California and Massachusetts will be holding out the begging bowls to Mississippi and South Carolina any day now. :rofl:

[margotb822]

2. Well, CA is $16B in debt

I guess that's thanks to the fantastic leadership of the Governator. Eighth largest economy in the world and still broke...what a joke!

[nxylas]

3. But is there a red state that *isn't* an economic basket case?

Voting for * in 2004 seems to be almost synonymous with having a third world economy.

[margotb822]

5. Concur

We should let them secede, and then they can arm themselves to the teeth and not pay taxes and see how long they last!

[nxylas]

6. Trouble is, for me, "they" are "us"

I happen to live in South Carolina. Not everyone can afford to move to a blue state.

[margotb822]

7. Maybe we could set up some sort of trade

Haha, just kidding. The closest I came to living in a red state was MD with a Repub governor. I just keep hoping more people in the red states will recognize that they are the ones most in need of change!

[nxylas]

8. That won't happen...

...until the Dems can reassure "values voters" that they're not going to make abortion and homosexuality compulsory. I'm not saying that they should adopt reactionary positions in order to appease those people, just that they should listen to and address their concerns instead of saying "fuck you, you redneck freak" every time they open their mouths. I think Obama will do this, that's very much his style, and picking a VP with red state appeal would go a long way to achieving that aim too.

[gratuitous]

9. Why should Dems have to reassure "values voters"?

I'm a little at sea, here. The rabid rightwingers make up some obvious nonsense about how the Democrats are going to make abortion and homosexuality compulsory, and it's up to Democrats to explain the lie? And is there any lengths Democrats can go to make the case that they're not going to make abortion and homosexuality compulsory? That is, short of joining with the likes of loony Pat Robertson, demented Don Wildmon and out-and-out crazy Fred Phelps? I'm going to go out on a limb and say "probably not." Which means that in order to pander to a bunch of willfully self-deluded individuals, Democrats have to betray women, sexual minorities, and the people who love and support them. Doesn't sound like much of an incentive.

The problem with listening to and addressing the "concerns" of the "values voters" is that it's never enough. Any failure to pander 100% will be seized upon by someone somewhere who will get in front of a microphone or a camera, and colorably claim that Democratic candidate so-and-so doesn't really hate abortions and gays enough. That will be sufficient for the "values voters" to continue to vote against their own interests because of a ginned-up tempest over a fake issue that doesn't affect them. Then, in the next election, the Lee Atwaters, Karl Roves, and other Hate Strategists laugh and set up the pieces again for another round of ersatz controversy.

[nxylas]

12. It's called a 50-state strategy

For many red-state voters abortion and gays are merely symptoms of a deeper fear, that of a bicoastal elite talking down to them and making them feel like strangers in their own country (an attitude I detected in your post, however subconsciously). It ought to go without saying that if you want people to vote for you, it's a good idea to treat them with respect, but this seems to be lost on some Democrats.

[gratuitous]

14. I understand the 50 state strategy

But even when the "values voters" are engaged, Democrats are accused of being condescending or smug or elites by the opinion shapers in the community. There's no way to avoid those charges, because they're so handy, and the right wing is very practiced at their deployment. They'll even show up in posts on a message board between like-minded correspondents. References to a "bicoastal elite" (however untrue that is) are apparently acceptable; reference to the provincial nature of isolated rural communities (no matter how true) are not. The "elites" are importuned to try to understand and be sympathetic to the mores of small communities, but any effort to explain the diversity and complexity of an urban area of a million persons or more is dismissed as sanctimony. Respect in regard to interactions with "values voters" seems to be a one-way street.

[nxylas]

15. I didn't say that the perception of a bicoastal elite was true

Just acknowledging that it exists among voters in red states and is an obstacle that needs to be overcome if Democrats are to turn those states blue. I do believe that Obama is not perceived as being part of that elite, and that's probably why I'm seeing far more Obama bumper stickers than McCain ones in my redder-than-red state, despite the efforts of some to portray him as "the abortion president" (whatever that means).

[raccoon]

10. Well said. I live in SC too. It would be nice to live in a blue state, such as MN.

To pick up and move there is one thing, to try to find a job in your late 50's where you don't know anyone is another one.

[nxylas]

16. I may have to move to Boston if Columbia's bus system collapses

I am partially disabled and can't drive, so I can't live in a city with no public transportation (if you don't know what I am talking about, see this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=177x1551)

[raccoon]

17. Hope the measure passes.

I used to live in the Columbia area but am now in the upstate area. I wish this country did have better public transporation.

[nxylas]

18. See my sig line

That is all.

[mitchum]

24. I hope the measure passes; I used the bus system all of the time...

when I lived in Cola
It was quite good

[Clark2008]

19. What a bunch of bigotry you're espousing!!

Where, exactly, would you have the 47 to 49 percent of us blue voters in red states secede TO?

The problem, margot, is that rural voters are red and urban voters are blue. It's not about so-called "red" states v. "blue" states. It's more about mindset and local geography than national geography. There are red voters in every state, just as there are blue voters in everystate. We're intermingled to the point that we cannot secede.

Are cities supposed to secede from counties? How does that work? :shrug:

FWIW, the mid-west is far more "red" in those models than the South - yet the terminology you're using fully blames the South for your ills.

Want to help? Helps us blue Southerners change our media.

[nxylas]

21. I agree 100% with your last paragraph

Many people in solid blue areas have this stereotype of Southerners as a bunch of cross-burning, hate-filled bigots, when my observation is that most of them, including the Republicans, are basically decent people whose main "crime" is being insufficently critical of the lies fed to them by the RW noise machine. The restoration of the Fairness Doctrine would break the Republican stranglehold on the South overnight, IMO.

[margotb822]

23. Relax

I guess I should have put :sarcasm: in there, but I thought it was apparent...

[Breeze54]

4. But those 2 states are mini-countries, inside the US of A, unto themselves.

:P

[EstimatedProphet]

11. The country isn't divided by state

There may be more people trending in one direction than another in each state, but the states aren't uniform. Even Texas and Georgia aren't ALL red.

[Brewman_Jax]

13. Of course they do

let the "do-it-by-yourself" conservatives pull themselves up by the bootstraps. No government assistance for them!

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Isn't this a repeat? n/t

[Outlier]

22. Rush subconscious speaks out.

Obama wouldn't seem like a Messiah to so many people if so many people weren't looking for salvation from the last 7.5 years.