Wow. The news item about the election of the Young Repub. pres. has inverted the Indystar boards.

[salin]

The Young Republicans convention was held in Indy - so coverage was local.

The comments to the controversy about the election - per the racist comments (and initial support) of the winner - are interesting.

The Indystar comments are generally so far rightwingnut that it isn't worth reading. Sure there are some countervailing voices, but not so many. That has been shifting in recent times.

That said, I just read through the first five pages or so of comments on the Indystar per the story... tides.turned. Shift - made. Worth a read - esp if one keeps in mind that until very recently these comment boards on the Indystar often read like the free republic at its worst.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090712/LOCAL18/907120403 scroll to the bottom to read comments.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. fun with the comments

especially the ones on history. What the conservatives apparently are unaware of is the fact that the ideologies of the two political parties have changed, and continue to change--they are not set in concrete. It is laughable to defend the racist comments of the YR by stating "the GOP freed the slaves, it is the party of Lincoln!" Bet dollars to doughnuts if I laid out the Republican platform of 1860, modernizing the language a bit, the Freeper types would call it communist talk! (Free land for farmers; government sponsoring colleges, government paying for internal improvements, etc.)

[salin]

2. Indeed they keep citing the 1922 ties between the dem party

in Indiana and the Klan. Horrible that. However, my dem family came to the state 30 years later - and 90 years later dems and independents in the state voted for Obama. But there the posters get stuck on something 90 years ago as if it suggests some current state of affairs.

I would be on your side of the bet you suggest - that they would reject language of the repub. party from the time of Lincoln. But heck, they would reject some of the teachings of Jesus (that they ignore) about wealth, as communist talk. :shrug:

I am just glad to see more and more signs that the changes in this state are more than a fluke. Ala first the turning of the congressional delegation into a dem majority - and then maintaining that majority and going majority for a dem for president for the first time since 1964. Starting to feel like the change is lasting, rather than a fluke.