Preaching to the Choir

Christy,

Jackson and progressives, labor, and civil right's people are all MOVIN' ON DOWN SOUTH. Watch out "red/blue state theorists" because this AMERICAN group is going to be their to protect your work, your health, your voting rights, and your family!!!!

BE there August 6th and lets GROW OUR CELLS!!!

Yeah Christy, Bravo Bravo Bravo you rock girlfriend

Truth shall Prevail'

Do you have a link you can post for me for Baker Company Iraq Photos, I would much appreciate

Kangaroo Brisbane Australia

Rossi,

I don't have the link, it was sent out on a large scale, I think, and I have no way to find out it's origin. Try doing a search under the Baker Company, U.S. Marines. They were the only Marine unit left in Iraq, according to my e-mail.

Sparrow can I say something that may get me in serious trouble...?

I live in a black nieghborhood and id say half of all my friends and loved ones are black, and I can say with confidence that Jesse Jackson is resented by most southern blacks.

He has sold out southern blacks far too many times and only shows up when there is a cause to highjack.

I have spoken to many many black people about him and I would guesstimate he has no more than a 10% support rating down here.

Oh and by the wat, that lynching apology didn't work. They are still pissed off.

and that 10% guesstimate is being generous.

I personaly don't believe its more than 5.

Christy,
merci beaucoup!
I am also a true blue Dem in south Louisiana and no one appreciates your moving essay as much as I do!
I would like to add my voice to yours, Louisiana was once solid blue and it is my belief that we can be so again. Soon!
Most of my family, friends and neighbors are registered Republican, but they were all once traditional Dems until the Reagan years. (Although most voted for Gov. Blanco & for Sen Landrieu, so they will vote DEM at the state level, but vote Republican in the presidential elections.)
It was very difficult for me to engage them in political conversation during the '04 election, but goodness knows I tried!
But now that the heat of the presidential election is history, they don't seem to be as vocal in their defense of Bu$h. A few have even approached me in conversation, on topics like the bungled war in Iraq, Bu$h's SS scam, and one family member even asked me what the Dem plan was on healthcare, because he was recently forced into a Health Savings Account medical plan where he had a $3000 out of pocket deductible. I pointed out that he was now a card carrying member of Bu$h's Ownership society, since he now "owned" his own healthcare costs!
No doubt, it is entirely because Bu$hINC has not done a single thing to make middle income America feel as though they got anything they thought they voted for, but I can sense a new interest coming through in questions like "so what will the Democrats do that is different?"
Christy, you (and Howard Dean) are correct, if the national Democratic party leaders would come down here and engage, they would discover how hungry we in the deep south are to reclaim our Democratic tradition. They may have voted for him, but no one I know is feeling like the Bu$h brigade is on their side on issues that matter in their everyday lives.
~true blue in Baton Rouge

Re Christy's comments, I'm sure that some on here remember that she and I disagreed on this subject back during the campaign, and I'm sorry, but I have to say that I again disagree with her. I don't think that Southerners are Democrats at heart anymore- they were prior to Ronald Reagan's election, but the people who live around me, in Northwest Florida (AKA Lower Alabama), are Reagan Republicans to the hilt. The election fraud that took place in Florida didn't take place in this part of the state- it wasn't necessary, because Alabama, Mississippi, North Florida and Georgia will all vote Republican, regardless of any manipulations we might feel have taken place in our previous elections. And it's not based on old Southern values or racism- the voting down here is based far more on the issue of abortion which is pounded into the minds of fundamentalists at their church services than it is on any other issue. It is also based on the fact that Southerners like to feel they are the "most patriotic" area of the country, and the Bush administration has taken the issue of the flag and made it their own- Democrats like myself are not considered good Americans in this part of the country, period. Southern voters were influenced by the same issues that influenced voters in Missouri and the mid-West during the past election cycle- abortion and patriotism. And they, like the voters in the other red states, igonred their own best interest to vote on those issues.
Now to say something that I know will truly annoy a lot of people on here-our problems were not insurmountable during the last election cycle. We could have won that election- but in my humble opinion, we might have needed another candidate to do so. Christy is correct in one thing- that as long as the blue staters believe they can win without touching or reaching out to the people in the red states, the Democratic party will be doomed. I still have not forgotten the moment in one of the debates when Howard Dean made the comment that he wanted to be the candidate of all the people - even the ones who drove pick-up trucks with Confederate flags on the bumper. He said our party needed to address the issues that were important to these people- education, jobs, and their children's futures. He was totally slammed by the other candidates on the podium that night, and he was also completely right in what he was saying. The other candidates went out of the way to show that they were the most politically correct that night during the debate, and completely ignored what Dean meant by what he said. And his predictions came true with our loss in the election. We nominated a candidate who could not appeal to midwesterners and Southerners, who did not speak their language, and we ran a campaign that focused on what we called "winnable" states (I.E.- those that already agreed with what we were saying.) We made no effort whatsoever to try to understand the views of red statere- they were looked on as uncultured boobs who we could win without. We lost because of our arrogance, and there's still plenty of that around. Until and unless our party is willing to truly be the big tent we claim that we are, we'll never own the house and Senate again. We have to try to understand the minds of Southerners and mid-westerners- and not to pigeon hole them by saying they're all racist morons with bad teeth. I grew up in the South, and I'm proud to be a Southerner. So are most of my neighbors and family. And so is one of my best friends, by the way, who is also an African American. She and I have discussed it many times, and she wouldn't live in any other part of this country, ever. This is her family home, it's the birthplace of the music she loves, it's where she attends church every Sunday and goes home afterwards and cooks collard greens, black eyed peas and fried chicken, and it's a city where about 50,000 white Southerers are doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time that she is. It's a culture that we share, and we have no shame in it. The problem with our party is that they don't come South, or Mid-west, because they've given up on the Americans in those areas. And, having been abandoned by the Democratic party, and told that their views are ignorant and backwards, they've taken to the Republicans who stroke their egos and tell them they're the backbone of this country. It is our fault- I agree with Christy on that part. I just don't agree with her that the majority of people in the South are either closet Democrats who have been cheated out of their votes, or racists who would vote Republican no matter what. They are mostly hard working people who would like a candidate who would address the real issues- jobs and education for their kids. And who can speak their language. We didn't have that last time around. I'm hoping we will 3 years from now.

because Alabama, Mississippi, North Florida and Georgia will all vote Republican, regardless of any manipulations we might feel have taken place in our previous elections.

THEN YOU GO ON

I just don't agree with her that the majority of people in the South are either closet Democrats who have been cheated out of their votes, or racists who would vote Republican no matter what.

WE can not win if they are rigging all the damned elections and YES IT DOES MATTER IF THEY RIG IT.

regardless of the amount of manipulationwhathe****ever

collard green yeah ok by the way NOTICE I DID NOT INCLUDE FLORIDA IN MY DEFINITION OF THE DEEP SOUTH.

There is a reason for that: the penisuala state you live on is 3000 TIMES more integrated than alabama, miss. and louisiana.

FLORIDA DOES NOT REPRESENT THE DEEP SOUTH.

And dont get me started on the stupid rebel flag. go ahead and cling to a defeated flag of a defeated nation of defeated ideals but it will NEVER represent WE THE PEOPLE.

Callin Baton Rouge.

I love you guys down there on the lower 40.

Laise Bon Tomp Roule'

Yes my french spelling is atrocious.

As long as Jeb's in office and it looks like the thugs are funding tons more money to K. Harris campaign,perhaps we should forego Fla,be MORE active in Mo.,Ia,Nm, and Az,and of course Oh...I'm sick of all this voting fraud!

Posted by: Patti Ferschke at June 14, 2005 09:24 PM

And the Cubans... *shudder*

Posted by: Christy at June 14, 2005 09:08 PM

NC counts doesnt it and I can say for true even with over half our votes being thrown out we managed to do much better for the Dems than we have in the last little bit, much of our voting problems were ignored by the National Media but were covered aggressivly locally of course always with the rider it did not affect the Presidental part of the election lol. But there wasnt one area of our state that did not have some kind of voting problems.

Sorry all dealing with some family stuff back later.

Christy made a good point. I may live in a "blue" state, but between Ahnuld, Orange County Republicans, and conservative immigrants, the southern half of the state, at least, is turning red - fast. Plus, this once was indeed a red state, home to the likes of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. And I live in the heart of Red California.

Needless to say, the Dems need to do a lot of work to keep this state blue. Unfortunately, the Dems are still taking the state for granted, because they still have strength in the Bay Area and in pockets of Los Angeles, and because they *think* they still have an edge with the burgeoning immigrant population.

But the Bay Area and pockets of Los Angeles will only go so far. All the population growth comes from Central Valley and suburban Southern California, the reddest places in the state, and the Dems are not doing ANY work out here. At least in my red neighborhood, for sure.

Moreover, as everyone knows, much of this population growth is foreign in origin. Immigrants have trended Democratic for the past decade or so thanks to former governor Pete Wilson's race-baiting politics, but that is changing. At heart, these immigrants are socially conservative and love the "morality" talk the Republicans dish out, especially considering that conservative immigrants are the only ones welcome under Bush's immigration policy anyway. And we are still taking them for granted while they turn Republican in droves. My suburban community has large Chinese, Korean, and East Indian populations, and trends Republican BECAUSE OF - not DESPITE - their presence. Abortion and gay rights are very sorry ideas out here - the biggest difference I feel compared to the Bay Area.

I hope that the state Democratic Party does a lot of work in the SoCal suburbs and Central Valley, if it wants to stay relevant. Otherwise it - and the national Dems - are doomed.

My suburban community has large Chinese, Korean, and East Indian populations, and trends Republican BECAUSE OF - not DESPITE - their presence.

AllyMcLesbian

EXACTLY Ally. Spot on.

Dead On Ally.

if the DNC doesnt pull their head out of the sand, its going to be a long hard winter.

I noticed the trend of the urban cities voting blue in alot of, if not most, states, and it was the rural vote that took the states as red, in the last national election. Same trend was there in blue states, but they had enough of a margin in the urban vote to stay blue. The margin in the blue states was also too close to be comfortable, and again, it was the rural areas casting the red votes. I don't know if CNN.com still has the voting data online, but it was a trend that has to be reversed because the margin was too small for comfort.

Christy, for the benefit of all those who may not be familiar with us Ragin' Cajuns:
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!
Let The Good Times Roll!

About the rigging of the elections in the south - I would not be surprised. I don't trust the elections anywhere in the country now.

If Steroid Schwartznegger gets his "special election," he can redistrict to the advantage of Republicans in time for 2006.

If California goes "red," we might as well throw in the towel. He must be stopped. We had dinner last night with a guy who claimed to be 3rd cousin of John F Kennedy and he said the same thing (even though Arnold is an in-law).

If California goes "red," we might as well throw in the towel. He must be stopped. We had dinner last night with a guy who claimed to be 3rd cousin of John F Kennedy and he said the same thing (even though Arnold is an in-law).

Posted by: not my president at June 14, 2005 10:22 PM

The special election has already been called. It will take place in November.

I do hope this is a wake-up call for the state Dems. They have been too complacent since 2002 when they swept every single statewide elected office. They lost Governor Gray Davis only a year later in a bitter recall, but they haven't learned much; I sincerely hope this time they will get their act together and really work the suburbs and the immigrant communities.

We must win this fight, and drive Ahnuld out of the office in '06. We must destroy his credibility; he still has that "moderate" image floating around which causes some Dems to still trust him. Otherwise we truly are doomed, statewide and nationwide.

Not My Pres.,

This whole thing must be awful for Maria Shriver. I just can't imagine.

Truth Shall Prevail

There is just no accounting for some women's taste in men. Sometimes I think these so-called "moderates" are more creepy because they are unpredictable. I don't understand how Arnold can just "call" a special election. I really don't understand how he got into office in the first place or Reagan, for that matter (as Governor or Prez). It never ceases to amaze me.

How did the Republicans raise $23 million at ONE FUNDRAISER?!!

Mr. Bush was the star attraction at two fund-raisers, one in Bryn Mawr, Pa., for Senator Rick Santorum that brought in $1.5 million, the other in Washington on behalf of his party's Senate and House campaign committees that yielded $23 million. It was his most concentrated day of fund-raising since his re-election, and was evidence of the vital role he will play in Republican efforts to hold onto the party's majorities in both chambers of Congress in the 2006 elections.

The "blue" part of the west coast is on tsunami watch so brought the computer to higher ground! ;)

Christy--Your thinking cap must be smoking!!!! Your headers have been very thought provoking, and truly heart touching.

Let me first talk about something with regard to being poor in America these days. I noticed during the last few years of our 'uniter not divider' pResident's term, that people who are poor are also thought of automatically as lazy. It's not because their job went overseas or because someone in their family became catastropically ill, if you are poor, and you need some type of help you must be lazy. The idea that there is some kind of 'faith based' security net for people is a myth. I've seen churches of every denomination cut back on their community efforts. I think something we have to discuss and refocus on, is that the vast majority of poor people are NOT poor out of laziness. They are not looking to live on the dole, sucking up big government hand outs. I rarely see the cadillac driving food stamp families that I remember from years ago.

Next of all, there is no sin in being poor. The sin is those who have so much, more than they can ever hope to spend, trying to find even more devious ways to put more money in their overflowing pockets. I wholeheartedly agree that one is entitled to whatever they earn by the efforts of their labor, but when a CEO will make more in one day than the employees of his company will make in a lifetime, that smacks of greed overmuch. How these people can sleep at night is beyond me.

It is not a Democratic or Republican issue, to look at how things are for our country of neighbors and speak up to say that we must do better by our own people. All the money spent on Iraq, gone. Pensions gone belly up. Cities near to bankruptcy. Everything costs money, a good road to drive on, a school book, a bus, a public park.

Beauty is not just for the rich. As my mother used to say, even a cat can look at a queen. A poor man should have a candle at night, and every child should know the taste of fresh bread. No mother should cry when the milk bottle runs dry.
The message that anyone who wants to serve in public life should be spreading right now, is that the era of being lifted up together has arrived. I could support any politician, from any party who puts the common good above his/her party.

Now, speaking about the South, for us northerners who have never spent time in the deep south, we must tend to pigeonhole and type cast people that we have no real idea about. That is a real pity. The world is getting smaller and in our own country we are moving apart like diverging planets. I don't love this red state blue stae business. I don't love presidential campaigns that write off one state or another as the others guys. Not only does it make some states feel like they don't count, it also serves to make people misjudge whole states as worthless.

Oh, I know we talk about fundementalist strongholds. We know about whipping up people into homophobia, and pro-life frenzies. We know all about how some people fall prey to 'terra here, terra there, terra terra everywhere.' And it is a problem. Say liberal in some places and you can watch faces go sour with disgust. Say neocon someplace else and you see the same thing. Politics is by nature a dividing thing. I'm completley convinced that as a nation, we've decided to accept that EVERYTHNG is blue or red politics, once again forgetting that, no--courtesy, honesty, integrity, kindness and true caring is not a color.

It's not your skin color, or your political color. It's not being born here, or coming here from some other country. There is a need to throw OFF political colors. Racial issues, civil rights issues, individual freedom issues, need people of all colors, from all places to look at what we've allowed to come between all of us. The human family of America has somehow found it perfectly fine to make it their right to judge others. The sad thing, is that just a few judgments here and there have become a huge blanket judgment that is smothering the life out of us as a people.

We are in danger of losing the America that throws it's arms open in welcome and friendship. That loss, no matter who you are, or how you vote, is a burden on all of us. We can spend countless hours deciding who to blame for this frozen polarity of our people, but until we spend record amounts of time and energy NOT worrying about party colors, skin colors, country of origin, north, south, east, west, or whatever else puts up walls between us, we will be fighting red-blue syndrome with nothing to show for it.

My kids learned a song to sing for the last day of school. 'Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.' Long before we ever got to this place in time, that song brought tears to my eyes. The voices of little children singing is a joy and a treasure. Most of you know the words to that song, sing it a bit to yourselves and see if it doesn't put a lump in your throat. We have to remember---let it begin with me.

And pass it on.

Tutterfly,

I love the way you just so clearly lay it out for us.

Amen sister

I think it is time for the Democratic Party to change it's platform on gun control and abortion. We need to be more inclusive on these two issues. Legal and rare should be the mantra. State rights should be upheld on the issue of gun control since the needs of Urban NY and Suburban TN aren't the same. We shouldn't be afraid to talk about basic human rights and ask that even folks who's lifestyles we might disagree with not be treated like second class citizens.

Once we eliminate the "edge" the theocrats have on these issues folks will start voting in their own best intrests. I don't think the south is out of reach...I think we have been out of touch.

Larry Levine

Those are certainly "wedge" issues that have been used. They would find others but the "states' rights" thing is being somewhat turned back on the Republicans right now. That's why they want all the conservative federal judges.

Tutterfly

I work with quite a few people who are poor & there are parents where both grew up in foster homes. It looks to me like there is a big tie between continuing poverty and lack of educational opportunities. Alot of job doors are closed to many and more are closing. I got 3 degrees for $1200 but that wouldn't be possible any more (it was because of grants, scholarships, RA's and TA's).

I heard the "lazy" comment when growing up in rural SD where everyone was poor, and realized that the poor and poorer were being pitted against each other and I think this mentality has also caused alot of the racial tension in this country, with people competing for the same few niches. The conservatives are against any sort of program that is a ticket out of poverty or designed to bridge a gap. The big business system is well-served by having alot of poor and even drug-enslaved people and our prisons are a profit industry for some. We house 7x more than our neighbors to the north.

Here's my question, I hear so much talk about an "ownership" society from those who "do profess and call themselves Christian"...shouldn't we be talking about a "stewardship" society instead?

Honestly, how much of our failure in the South is due to using the wrong language, the wrong register, the wrong accent even? Certainly we're just as patriotic, family-oriented, and values-oriented as the "other side", especially the way they talk one thing and do another...but we're just not advertising our views well.

Larry- I agree with you that we need to be more inclusive in areas of gun control and abortion. These issues have driven so many away from the Democratic party that we've lost the war on other issues that are simply more important. Now I'm going to get people saying there are no issues more important, but I believe there are. I think education and jobs are more important issues by far. As to Christy's rather personal comments to me- we've been through all this before, and I'd challenge her to come to Pensacola, Florida, if she does not believe this is the deep South. It is the most fundamentalist city in America, it is the home of abortion clinic bombers, and it is the city that proudly said they put GWB OVER THE TOP in the 2000 election, though he truly never won that election. Yes, Florida as a whole cannot be perceived as the deep South, but NORTHERN FLORIDA certainly can be. Florida is a unique state- our Northern half is Southern in tradition, and our Southern half is Northern by virtue of immigration. However, even coming from the most fundamentalist, right wing area of the country- Bush won by over 70 per cent in my county, by the way, I do not accept that those who are proud of their heritage and their birthplace and who these days tend to vote Republican are all racists . That is the issue that I will disagree with her on forever. I live here, and I simply know better. Yes, I agree that we need the national party to pay more attention to this area of the country, but they also will have to become more inclusive in order to do that. A failure to become a big tent party will doom us. Bill Clinton knew that, John Edwards knows that, Wes Clark knows that. They're all proud Southerners who know the importance of taking this country back, but who do NOT deny their heritage. They embrace it. And that's where C. and I will always disagree.

EMBRACING HERITAGE is not the same as embracing emblems of HATRED.

And let me get this straight, your southern because your nothern tip and northern for your southern tip and ALMOST and island unto yourself.

YES I DID GET PERSONAL WITH YOU..lets see where that started..hmm when i was trying to warn the kerry team that louisiana was BEING RIGGED YET AGAIN and HOW and WHY and WHO were doing it and your response...?

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Well gee Christy just because your black...

you know what on a personal note, bite me, i am niether white nor black and I AM DAMN PROUD TO BE MUD COLORED. Talk about embracing tradition! try holding those who are of your own blood who have been committed GENOCIDE AGAINST by YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT!

That ignorant flag is a DEFEATED FLAG of a DEFEATED nation OF DEFEATED ideas. And it will NEVER represent ANYTHING ELSE and CERTAINLY not WE the People.

I have to put my 2 cents into Linda and Christy's argument about the south since I was born in Texas.
I have to disagree with both of you. Texas was a yellow dog Democratic state until the 1970s. Every office holder, every judge in this state and Harris were once all Dems. Now 100% of them are Repubs. Lyndon Johnosn told us that integration would hand the south to the Republican party for a generation. He was right although the Voting Rights and Open Housing laws are something Dems should hold up with pride. George McGovern, a man I worked for in my first election was also to blame. His $1000 per person give away and the Eagelton fiasco damaged the Democratic Party's credibility in the south, and was totally incompitent. McGovern was a miserable candidate and unfortunately branded the Texas Dem Party as being incompitent and out of the mainstream.

Now Linda while I agree that northern Florida is a suburb of Republican Georgia I totally disagree with your assesment of John Kerry. He was in Houston Texas and I know that b/c I was up on stage with him in his 1 appearance here, but he was here. Certainly Clinton spent a lot more time here b/c we had a bus trip from Houston to San Antonio to Waco with Clinton and Ann Richards and we had over 500 volunteers working feavorishly for Clinton here in Houston. I don't think you have to talk or sound southern to appeal to southerneres you just have to make an overt gesture- a sister soldia moment, that Kerry never had. Sorry to say this but there is plenty of hidden racism and anti semitism down here. You can hear it in our governor's comments talking about all of the Joses in this state that hire lawyers. I truly doubt that Lyndon's civil rights legislation would pass in today's Congress especially not here in Texas. We raised millions here in Texas for the national Dem Party. What I object to is that 100% of that money went to the national campaign. Not even 10% was left with the state party. I blame that on Terri McCallugh. Our state party is cashed starved and disallusioned. My argument is that we don't need to win southern states, only to get our numbers up from 40% to 45-46 % to help us win presidential elections b/c that will then bump the national numbers over 52% which will in turn swing a few border states like Nevada and Colorado.

"having been abandoned by the Democratic party, and told that their views are ignorant and backwards, they've taken to the Republicans who stroke their egos and tell them they're the backbone of this country. It is our fault- I agree with Christy on that part. I just don't agree with her that the majority of people in the South are either closet Democrats who have been cheated out of their votes, or racists who would vote Republican no matter what. They are mostly hard working people who would like a candidate who would address the real issues- jobs and education for their kids. And who can speak their language. We didn't have that last time..

I think that southerners have more in common with the Democratic party like Christy says, but it has become uncool, something southerners are embarrased to admit, that they are Dems. The Dems Party and I think Dean understands this needs to show Pride and Caring for the south. John Edwards was southern and he lost every southern primary except for S. Carolina so don't presume he was the answer.Southerners want to be pampered, paid attention to and feel that their presidential candidate cares about them. I feel that my man Kerry failed in this regard, but I think his handlers, mainly Bob Schrum, mistakenly told him he could win w/o the south. That is the not the point. A Dems Presidential candidadte can with with the west and w/o the deep south but it sends a horrible message to just ignore the south that probably resonates to places like Virginia and Arkanasas which are winable states. But please Linda don't tell us that John Kerry didn't talk about jobs and education. He made at least 10 wasted trips to West Virginia and we had live feeds from those rallies where he talked about nothing but jobs and the economy and education to no avail b/c we heard of some of our bloggers in Wheeling telling us that families in W. Virginia who were on food stamps and could not support their families yelled that Kerry was a baby killer. I heard that garbage in my campaigning in Denver. Getting across to many of these foks that you are not a gay marrying baby killer is impossible and personally a waste of time with those foks that live in your part of Florida. By the way Linda you know that Kerry had some of his largest turnout in Jacksonville, so you can't credibly claim he didn't try.

By the way anyone interested in a mal prtactice claim against Dr. Frist for his sorry diagnosis of Terri Schiavo?

Linda I am still a John Kerry supporter and especially with his reaching out to Kids First healthcare plan. Texas has the fewest kids in the country covered by healthcare, so please don't say he didn't address wouthern issues like jobs and healthcare. He definitely will need a larger presence down here in the south in '08.

Ira- I'm not going to respond to Christy again, because from far, far back on the blogs, she believes I have some racial issue with her. The fact that I have no shame in my Southern heritage bothers her, but it always bothers me more when anyone is ashamed to be born in a particular locale, or of a particular race, because that's a lifelong issue that can haunt them into the grave, and it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. No one chooses the place of their birth or their skin color (by the way, I'm aware that Christy is Native American, but she doesn't seem to understand that I get that either.) We are what we are, and accepting that, and believing that our heritage has shaped us in positive ways and not negative, leads to a maturing process that is necessary to find happiness in life.
As far as being a Kerry supporter in '08 during the primary season, I will not be. I gave my every effort to Kerry's election after he got the nomination, and I think he'd have made a fine president, but I was never able to convince myself that he was the best candidate our party had to offer. Because of where I am from- I always warned that he'd have problems with the South and Midwest. Not because of his political views, but because of all the Vietnam
Vets in these areas who would refuse to forgive him over his opposition to that horrible disaster of a war. Yes, he was right to oppose it. But the reality always was that the men who fought it would resent those who protested it until their last breath- I even mentioned on the blog that my own husband was fighting hard to vote for Kerry because of that very issue. I always felt we needed a candidate who did not have the spectre of Vietnam hanging over his head, and I know now that I was correct in that feeling. I'm sorry, but if Wes Clark runs in the primaries again in 08, I'll throw my support behind him wholeheartedly. Or, if Clark doesn't decide to run, I'll support John Edwards. But if John Kerry again gets the nomination, I'll swallow my pride and support him just as strongly as I did last election, and that included phone banking, canvassing door to door, and standing for hours on election day with a Kerry Edwards sign at my poll, because I fully believe that this country is in serious danger of becoming a dictatorship at this very moment.
As far as your comments on racism in the South- they mirror what the media has told this nation for 50 years now- that it's Southerners who are the most racist people in the country, and that the rest of the country are accepting, liberal, understanding people who need to fly down South and teach the natives how to feel towards their fellowman. You live in Texas Ira- and there's probably more predjudice in Texas against Mexicans than there is against African Americans. There's more prejudice in New York against Puerto Ricans than you'd ever find in Pensacola, and there's certainly more prejudice in California against Orientals and Hispanics than you'd ever find in my own home town. People tend to be prejudiced against whatever the largest minority population is in their area, and they tend to be prejudiced EVERYWHERE, not just in the South. The reason the Focus on prejudice in America has always been focused on the South is that it makes people in other parts of the country feel so damned satisfied with themselves. They have no hatred for their neighbor, because they live in Michigan. They're not Southerners, so they're reasonable people. But let an African American family move next door to them, and they begin to feel a bit closed in. They begin to feel the need to drive out to the 'burbs and check on the real estate out there. What I am saying is that homo-sapiens, as a whole, tend to hang with homo-sapiens of the same variety as they are, and they are prejudiced. It is a nasty condition that comes with being a human being, and it's one that we must fight our whole lives against, in the same way we have to fight against the urge to fart in public or pick our noses. But it's not productive to say that we're from Michigan, so we don't truly have the same urges or feelings as people from Alabama do, simply based on the fact that we're told by the media that Michiganers are just better people than Alabamans are. It keeps Michiganers and Californians from looking at themselves in the mirror and seeing the truth, that they have issues that they need to overcome too. That's the truth, and it's why I refuse to be ashamed of the part of the country I hail from, or of it's heritage. I'm not ashamed that my Great Grandfather came over from Ireland, never owned a slave because he was a dirt poor farmer, and decided to fight with the Confederacy in the Civil War because his state had left the union. It was his home, it was his soil, and he felt that it was under fire. States loomed a lot larger in people's minds back then than they do now- remember, we were still pretty much an unfinished nation in 1860. The South is the most integrated part of our country right now, and the first issue that I had with Christy was when she said she "hated it down here," as if moving north would make her life any better. I'm glad she has that hope, but I think it's a very unrealistic one. I've never lived in Louisiana, but New Orleans is my favorite city on the planet, and I go there at any given opportunity. The people there are the most welcoming, fun people on the planet, and I hate to see that state stereotyped as a racist hell hole.
I'm sorry, but I'm gonna get off again for awhile. I keep hoping that lessons can be learned from our defeats, but it seems to be hopeless to me sometimes. I will not indulge in self-loathing for Christy's sake, or for anyone's. And I think it's very sad that that's what some people would like Southerners to do. It's never going to happen my friends. And until this part of the country is respected by our party as being something other than snaggle toothed, illiterate, racist fundamentalist nut cases, the Democratic party has no hope here. No matter who rigs the elections.

I never said you had racial issues with me

Once you found out i was white you were more than willing to tolerate me.

Go ahead i prefer you dont respond.

BTW i never once said 'I hate it down here' I have consistantanly stated my love of this state. ASK ANYONE.

There is no need for you to be a liar.

And i have lived in the north and the west,

ONCE AGAIN

DUHHH ON YOU

Classy. And you did say you hated it down here when we were on the old Kerry blog. I said I didn't care what color you are, but you refuse to believe that, because I am not ahshamed of my heritage. That is a prejudice in itself, against this area of the country, which is what I resent in a lot of your postings. Prejudice is bred of ignorance of what others truly are. And I pity you Christy- I don't think you're a very happy person. And I promise I won't respond to you again.

Notice you keep saying my name,
You dont pity me, YOU WANT TO BE ME.

And no i dont use the term HATE unless speaking specifically of neocons or needles.

I DO NOT use the word progressive either.

ASK ANY ONE.

I NEVER SAID THAT AND YOU ARE A LIAR FOR IT.

You dont think i am a very happy person?.. IM NOT HAPPY WHEN PEOPLE LIE ABOUT ME.

AND besides WHO are you to know if i am happy?..TALK ABOUT PITY
Your pathetic AND a liar