What has Bush done to the image of Texas?

[kurth]

What has Bush done to the image of Texas?
President has played to Texas stereotype, some say; whether that's a good thing or bad depends.
By Ken Herman
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Monday, May 14, 2007

WASHINGTON — The latest Texas era in Washington — the last for a while, some say — is grinding toward its last roundup, its final rodeo, the last stampede or any cliché you prefer about a state where even the clichés are bigger. The big-time Texans in Congress (think Tom DeLay, Dick Armey) are gone. And soon President Bush will be just another retired Texan with a ranch and a Dallas home.

So the time approaches to gauge the impact of the Connecticut-born Texas president (son of a Massachusetts-born Texas president) on the image of his beloved home state and its residents. Not good, says Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson. "He has fed into that sort of image of Texas as shooting from the hip and proceeding on the basis of your own sense rather than consulting more broadly and looking for common ground," Jillson said. "A lot of people think of that overconfidence, bordering on arrogance, ask-questions-later kind of view that has characterized George W. Bush, if not all Texans."...

Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost, a Democrat now working as a lobbyist, offered a blunt assessment of the Bush impact on future presidential races: "No Texans need apply." "That means there won't be a serious Texas candidate for the White House for some time," he said. "People have had enough of Texans." In Iowa, where Bush scored his first big win in the 2000 presidential campaign, University of Iowa political scientist Peverill Squire said there is a Texas-related "sense that President Bush follows his convictions without giving much thought to the consequences." "There is this notion of running off half-cocked," Squire added...

At the Capital Q, a Washington barbecue joint festooned with photos of Texas politicians and other Texana, proprietor Nick Fontana said he encounters occasional hostility about his native state. "A lot of people hate Texans," he said, "but I'm used to that. You just kind of deal with them. If Tom DeLay does something stupid or they are not happy with the war, they judge all Texans by that." Chris Patterson, president of Austin Grill, a chain of Texas-themed eateries in the Washington area, said whatever impact Texas has had on life in the capital has dried up. "What it did for business initially was give us a nice little push because there was a big hoopla about Texas and there was a good buzz about Texas at that time," he said, recalling a "fairly significant increase in sales" when Bush came to town. But now it's yesterday's news...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/05/14/14bushtexas.html

[Justitia]

1. Yup, the skunk at the garden party. Overshadows other great Texans.

It sucks to be us right now.

[Erika]

2. Texas executions, Texas big talk about "bring it on"

While they send others to fight the battles. Texas oil execs who want to rule the world as long as the American taxpayers and U.S. troops pave the way.

[Selatius]

3. Hell, people still have yet to live down Johnson and Viêtnam.

For me, that last war is a lot more personal, given that my parents are Vietnamese and lived the war. Painful memories die hard.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. I think we could use the rest.

I also think the good people of Texas need to take stock and, perhaps, make a few adjustments in their state for a while.

[Ron Green]

5. Everytime I return to visit Texas I see less of the state I love.

As a 4th-generation Texan I have a deep love for many things about my home state, but since the '80s it's become a magnet for libertarians and neo-bigots. Going back now, especially to the urban areas, is distasteful to me.

I still love the Hill Country in the spring.

[Justitia]

7. The TX Hill Country is one of the most magnificent places.

But, I'm curious, why don't you care for the urban (big city) areas of TX?

I've lived in the urban, suburban, exurban, and semi-rural areas of the state and the cities are the most democratic places we have.
The suburbs radiating outward are the redder, more bigoted areas we have.

I'm just confused....

[Ron Green]

10. Actually, I meant the suburban sprawl: Plano, the Woodlands, Colleyville.

I could live on Cedar Springs or Westheimer, or in Arlington Heights. But the culture out in the 'burbs is just poison to me now.

[Justitia]

15. Ahhhh, then yes, that makes more sense to me. I lived in Plano previously.

It was a great time in my life, met lots of great people.
It was the first time I became really active in Dem politics, talk about tested by fire!
Me and the other 3 Dems got eaten alive, but I learned a lot - like how to run precinct elections all by myself (as in, I was the only Democrat to show up) - ha.

Nowadays, living in big city Houston is much more my style. And better for my blood pressure.

[Beausoleil]

56. TX Hill Country

My back yard. I love it here! And I've lived on both the east and west coasts and Alaska. And Dallas.

[qdemn7]

26. So ...

You equate libertarians to bigots? ALL libertarians? Even people like Chomksy who call themselves libertarian socialists? I notice you did use the small "l" so obviously you didn't mean the Libertarian Party.

[Ron Green]

28. I don't equate libertarians with bigots, but I see plenty of both trends when I go back to Texas.

There's always been a kind of rugged individualism in Texas, but there were many New Deal Democrats there when I was growing up (the Republican Party was all but non-existent), and their presence tempered the anti-labor and anti-government tone. After the "Southern Strategy" of the 1960's, racists found a new home in the Republican Party, and growing corporate globalism found fertile ground in Texas for the "anti-government, pro-bidness" movement. This was reinforced in the 1980's with massive immigration from the Rust Belt, whose union shops were being dismantled by Reaganomics.

In less than 50 years Texas has gone from a place of almost no Republicans to a solidly "red" state, with vast cultural wastelands surrounding the major cities.

[Thirtieschild]

39. Yes, but....

the Democrats there 50 years ago may have called themselves Democrats but they were as die-hard conservative as the Republicans are now. At least in my part of the state. My home county, at the top of the Panhandle, brags on its web site that it gave a higher percentage of its 2004 vote to Bush than any other county in the country. I don't understand their short memories: many of them are descendants of people who were saved by the New Deal during the Dust Bowl days of the 30s.

[rwenos]

6. Confirmed it in Spades! nt

[ComerPerro]

8. I don't think there are any sterotypes of Texas now that didn't exist pre-Bush

[Blashyrkh]

9. Probably nothing.

I can't say that having Bush reside in Texas has made me think any less of the place or its people.

[Erika]

12. My son in law in Dallas states the following

"They come here and ask us about how Bush has unsettled the ME" and our thoughts.

His response was Bush wasn't born here. Even the Texans are deserting the frat brat.

[Bluebear]

20. Bush, DeLay, Cornyn, Gramm, Gonzales....

Texans are fine, but they sure have voted in some crap as of late.

[KamaAina]

32. Don't forget Goodhair Perry

but they sure have voted in some crap as of late.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. We're not all idiots.

I live in the big city and LOVE the culture. However, economic realities are forcing me to move to the country--it's called falling out of the middle class. I will have to commute to the big city to hang out with the creative folks and go to cultural events.

It's a bit over a two hour drive, so it's doable, but still.....

[Javaman]

36. Now that would make a great bumper sticker...

"I maybe from Texas but I'm not an idiot*" LOL

[DFW]

13. Dallas is surprisingly blue

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of extremist right-wing Bush-loving bible thumpers
within the city limits, but we also elected Ron Kirk, a black moderate-progressive as
mayor, and he evenm got 45% of the vote in the 2004 Senate race, no mean feat, considering
that rural areas of TX are largely about as politically progressive as the Spanish Inquisition.

[Justitia]

16. Dallas kicked ass all over the place last fall. You have much to be proud of. -eom

[Matsubara]

14. Everything "Texan" about Bush is an act.

He is yankee to the bone, and not the good kind, more like the privileged silver-spoon preppy-snob Ann Coulter kind.

Ever read the anecdote about how his dad used to get his kicks by driving around the poor neighborhoods near Yale, tossing pennies on the street and laughing at the street urchins as they scrambled to get them? That's what Dumbya comes from.

His affected Texan impersonation is transparent and annoying as hell to any real native Texan (I am one).

Even his "shoot from the hip" crap is an act. In the end, he is a puppet of powerful political and business interests. I don't buy him as being a true leader in charge for a second.

[EST]

19. True members of a family do not necessarily grow up under the same roof.

The real problem is that evil exists everywhere and the slimebots who are "true Texans" welcomed * to their bosom just as if he were a native son.
Just as in any other community, because the upwelling evil wasn't slapped down and disowned when its nature first became evident, it must be assumed that the evil was approved of and embraced, brother to brother.

Of course it's not right, but it is the way of people. When bush's particular brand of vileness was in its ascendancy, even a lot of the "good" people were willing to look the other way or whatever it took to repress their natural queasiness at what he and his family represented.

I live in Illinois and I feel in no way responsible for the vile Democratic politics going on it Chicago--it's almost a foreign country, hundreds of miles away--but, ultimately (and regretfully) I am responsible and accountable for doing what I can and as much as I can to rectify a bad situation.

It's awful being an adult, isn't it? I don't know if the world is a worse place now than when I entered it or if I have simply become more aware of grim reality.

[krispos42]

17. Well, what does it say about Texans that they keep electing these bozos?

I know not all Texans by a long shot are supporters, but, man, there seem to be enough of them to render the swing independent vote moot!

[anitar1]

18. The Capital is not the place to gather opinions. The city itself

is seen as the epitome of corruption imho. My daughter told me today that she would never set foot in Texas or buy anything that was produced there if she knew it was from Texas.I do know quite a few people who hold the same opinion about the state. While there are many fine people in the Texas,it's rep has suffered because of Bush and the sordid politicians from there.

[Rev. Mother Ramallo]

21. I don't blame Texas for Bush.

[JANdad]

27. I do...

they voted the ass-wipe in for Governor without which he never would have become president. BTW...I just left Keller, TX after five years of living there and I could not be happier...screw Texas and it's neo-con Bible thumping idiots. If you were to drive around the DFW metroplex, you would see more churches than gas stations...truly disgusting...

edited for sp

[NoPasaran]

30. Sounds like good riddance to bad rubbish

:nuke:

[JANdad]

31. LOL....

Come on...ya got at least give me credit for admitting I spent time in Texas...

[NoPasaran]

34. Well, I still live here

Which means I got to vote against Bush four times!

[JANdad]

44. LOL...Not too many can say that!

Listen I know there are good folks in TX...not many but enough to keep your sanity. BUT the overwhelming mentality at least in the DFW metroplex is stronly right wing and it mad me sick just to turn on the radio in my neverending creep along 121...

[diamidue]

40. As Bill Moyers said:

"... if you go home to Texas today, it’s a Christian empire. The state of Texas is a Christian nation. Conservative Christians dominate everything there."
This was going on before Bush arrived on the scene. He got elected because he represented those conservative voters.
Really a shame, because I am proud of my TX heritage, and yet it feels like I can never go home again. Austin is ok. But just a few miles outside of there & I start to feel like I'm lost in an alien culture.

[WinkyDink]

22. Enhanced it? HAHA! (Unrepentant Yankee here!)

[Screwfly]

23. Weird

you would think people would be more pissed at Florida for Bush than Texas.

[dave_p]

24. I thought he'd just taken Texas stereotypes ...

... and spread them to the rest of the country too.

[camero]

46. That's what I think too

The born and bred in Connecticut Bush just took the "don't mess with Texas" stereotype and played it for all it was worth.

[BlueManDude]

25. blame Connecticut for Bush - and Lieberman.

[DemGa]

29. Turned a stereotype into a caricature of a stereotype?

Is that an oxymoran?

[rucky]

35. A sham of a mockery of a travesty of a caricature of a stereotype. n/t

[ceile]

33. All I can say is-I miss Ann!

She was the epitome of the strong TX woman. That's a stereotype I can live with!

[seabeyond]

37. i am calif married to a texan. two sons texans. sons so ANGRY

at what bush has done to the image of texas. they really recent when bush speaks olike an illiterate with his heavy texas slang implying that is how texans speak.

i have to walk a tough line with my boys. not liking texas and the mentality i still have to present the favorable so they can feel the pride in being a texan regardless of what bushco's have done to the reputation of the people in the state

[ejbr]

38. People are clueless. It is not his instincts or convictions that drive him, but a criminal mind n/t

[RedStateShame]

41. You really want to change Texas's image? Re-name everything named after the Bush family...

...after Bill Hicks.

[Aristus]

42. I think he has fulfilled the Texas image.

Now, before you flame me, remember that I was born and raised in San Antonio, so I know from Texas, okay?

Bush is the poster boy for a state that permits guns in CHURCH, for the love of God. That says it all right there, I think.

[Joe Fields]

43. Texas, and Texas politicians have a lot to answer for.

[peaches2003]

45. Sorry, Dem Texans, but I blame your state

There is no way I can do anything but blame TX for what they have wrought. They elected him gov and re-elected him. They supported him and voted for him. Only a very few ever have spoken up that he is a fraud and a crook.

We buy nothing we know to be Texan and when we have to drive across this freaking state crossing the country on the southern route through north TX we won't spend a cent. Irrational- probably so. But that's how deep our hatred goes.

[Texasgal]

47. Oh Okay...

Then it's all OUR faullt... Not to mention the MILLIONS of other people in OTHER states that voted for him...


Pullleze. :eyes:

[Justitia]

50. Well, since we're throwing rocks here, YOUR state (GA) voted for him twice.

Maybe you should take a few shots at your own backwardass neighbors there in the Deep South before blaming TX for what we have "wrought".

Your own state threw a highly decorated Vietnam Vet under the bus for Saxby Chambliss, for cryin' out loud.

[peaches2003]

51. I agree, but

Saxby Chambliss will never be President and inflict his evil on the whole country. By electing * to be Governor, TX gave him the exposure to be picked up as a stooge who could be manipulated by the Republican Party to do their dirty work.

Of course most of this is in jest about hating TX, but many people do feel as I do and TX will be blamed for the Bush years for a long time.

[Justitia]

52. Well, when I saw the Confederate flag flying over your state house a few years back

I wondered if I should be spending a dime in your state too.

Speaking of crappy governors, Lester Maddox ring a bell?

Not to mention, your state gave us freakin' Newt Gingrich and his Republican Revolution, so I'd say your state has some pretty big black marks in modern history to answer for too.
Without Newt and his Republican Revolution, there could not have been a Bush presidency.

You can assign all the collective punishment against TX that you want, but I suspect it's only because it distracts from the nasty political stench coming from your own Deep South backyard.

[peaches2003]

53. Again, I agree, but

whatever has gone on in GA (where I only live in Atlanta recently, I am not a native) or any other southern state pales in comparison with what Bush has done to this country. It seems like a lot of people on this thread alone feel the same way about TX that I do. We can't all be wrong. :nopity:

[Justitia]

54. You're just piling on because you're from GA, which started the Repub Revolution

so it's easier to point a finger at TX.

I'd say if your state is so racist as to fly the Confederate flag over it's state house, you've contributed a whole lot more to the downfall of the USA than a single president.

And BTW, have you heard? Your very own Newt Gingrinch is considering a run for the presidency.
What the fuck will you have to say then?

[Forkboy]

48. It's still holding steady as the last place in the country I want to live.

[jakem]

49. this.

[Beausoleil]

55. Before you bash all Texans

Remember that Ann Richards was elected governor before Bush. Remember also that Rove's dirty tricks helped Bush beat Ann at the polls.
Also remember that Texas has one of the fastest growing minority populations in the country. Things will change.

[Homer Wells]

57. When I think of Texas,

I much prefer to think of Ann Richards. Now, THAT was a real Texan!!!

God rest her soul!