Last white House Democratic congressman in the Deep South fights for political survival
This is the third in an occasional series on issues of race, identity and politics ahead of Election Day, including a look at the optics of politics, a civil rights icon registering voters and how parallels to the past haunt the age of Obama.
By Moni Basu, CNN
Baxley, Georgia (CNN) - Here in the home of timber yards, BB-gun champs and DEET-defying gnats, John Barrow is fighting for survival.
He's the last standing white Democrat from the Deep South in the U.S. House of Representatives, a remaining sliver of a party machine that once brokered power for the region's establishment.
John Barrow, the last white Democratic congressman from the Deep South, is fighting to win in a conservative district.
Barrow's political death, if it comes on Election Day, would serve as a stark signal of the electoral realignment dividing Southern Democrats and Republicans along racial lines.
The ramifications are huge - not just in the South, but nationally - in determining the future of both parties, say political observers and historians who are closely watching Barrow's uphill battle.
If Barrow loses, every Democratic congressman from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia will be black. Every Republican will be white, save Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was elected in 2010 with Tea Party backing.
Barrow finds himself working hard for votes in Georgia towns swept by a tide of Republican Red - towns like Baxley, where, among many folks, saying "Democrat" is like taking the devil's name.
Barrow has attended the "Redneck Games" in Dublin and recently hosted a barbecue dinner at the American Legion Altamaha Post 26, where he bought five raffle tickets for a Mossberg Model 500A 12-gauge shotgun.
He might belong to the party of his daddy and his granddaddy, but his public persona stands far removed from Washington's Democratic leadership.
"A Democratic label is a killer in that district," says Emory University political scientist Merle Black, an authority on Southern politics. "The Democratic Party across the Deep South is in real trouble with white voters."
To make matters tougher, the GOP-controlled Georgia legislature redrew the boundaries for Barrow's 12th District following the 2010 census, making his constituency even redder.
Barrow knows he can't win without a chunk of conservative Republicans crossing over.
But those who have followed his career say if anyone can defy political odds, it's Barrow.
"This is a district that went for (John) McCain and it will go for Mitt Romney this fall," Black says.
Theoretically, it should be virtually impossible for Barrow to win a fifth term. But he's done it before.
He's known as a survivor.
And he acts like one on the campaign trail.
'Made in Georgia'
On a muggy October morning, Barrow is on the second leg of his "Made in Georgia" tour.
He's determined to get to know manufacturing companies in Appling and Coffee counties. They are new additions to a district that sprawls north along the Savannah River to Augusta and westward into towns like Vidalia, as in sweet onion fame, and Dublin, home to a VA hospital and plenty of shamrocks.
The territory feels familiar - same land, people and values that dominate counties that were already in Barrow's district. But many here don't know his name, except maybe through the barrage of television commercials.
"I don't know if you know about my politics," Barrow tells Jimmy Cook, owner of a Baxley nursery that grows everything from peppers to poinsettias.
"Actually, I'm an independent," Barrow says. "If Obama is doing what's right for Georgia, then I'm on his side. If he's not, then I'm not."
Down the road, folks like Stephen Worthington, director of Southeast wood procurement at lumber giant Rayonier, are fans of Rep. Jack Kingston, the Republican who represented these counties until redistricting.
Worthington talks timber with Barrow, giving him a hard-hat-and-safety-glasses tour past menacing machinery that makes 1,200-pound pine logs look as light as toothpicks.
"We need your help getting the housing economy back up," Worthington says.
Later, after Barrow leaves, Worthington ponders the chances of a Barrow victory.
"Is anyone a Democrat around here?" he says, looking around a room full of Republicans.
Barrow knows well that he's facing the challenge of a lifetime around these parts.
He's counting on making personal connections that will help him bridge the political gap.
Like with Philip Smith, the manager of aluminum maker Elixir Industries in nearby Douglas.
In a chat in his office, Smith tells Barrow two things right off the bat: that he pretty much votes Republican, and that Barrow's GOP challenger, Lee Anderson, is also getting a tour of Elixir today.
Not one to show a great deal of emotion, Barrow nods his head and lets Smith continue.
"Here's what people around here don't like about Washington," Smith says. "People are tired of bickering between Republicans and Democrats."
Barrow leans forward in his armchair.
"I'm a party unfavorite," he tells Smith. "I am one of the most independent people up there.
"You should never surrender your own good judgment to someone else."
A politician's true measure of independence, Barrow believes, is how often he disagrees with his own side and votes with the other. On that scale, Barrow's a clear voice down the middle, he tells Smith.
That's exactly how a television ad portrays Barrow to prospective voters.
"Hi, I'm John Barrow. Some people like me. Some people don't," starts the ad.
He says the Democrats don't like his "A" rating with the NRA, which endorsed him in the race. Republicans, he says, don't like that he voted against the plan to privatize Medicare. He says both parties were wrong on the Wall Street bailout.
"I approved this message because folks in Washington don't like me being independent, but you're the one who counts."
It's that kind of courting of conservatives that wins Barrow points. He makes headway with Smith.
The plant manager tells Barrow he is tired of young people who ought to be working taking advantage of entitlements. He's had enough of the country's massive deficit.
"You can't spend more than you earn," Smith says.
"That's right," Barrow says, telling him how he has been working with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition in Congress to reduce the deficit.
It's apparent that it will take a lot for Smith to cast a ballot for a Democrat. But Barrow, it seems, has gotten his ear.
John Barrow greets aluminum plant employees in Douglas, Georgia, a town that was added to his district when the GOP-dominated legislature redrew the lines.
Kith and kin
Smith takes him on an exhaustive tour of Elixir's vast plant, which spits out shiny new aluminum products in seemingly every shape and size known to man. The workers here make shower doors, side rails for golf carts, even field-hockey posts.
Barrow says hello to many of the employees on their 11:30 a.m. lunch break, greeting them with a fist-bump and flashing a toothy smile.
In one of the small break rooms, he sits down to eat a Subway Italian foot-long he's brought along for his tour. Most of the employees have brought food from home: sandwiches, chicken and rice.
Barrow talks a language lawmaker and worker have in common: football.
The Coffee County high school team just beat Tifton 24-7. They play Lowndes County later in the month. Barrow asks if the Valdosta school is still a formidable foe.
"Nah," the employees respond in unison.
"They ain't no good no more," adds one.
With others, he talks land.
His grandma was born in Baxley. Lived here in the 1880s when white folks in Dixie were fiercely proud to be Democrats.
He grew up in Athens, the son of Judge James Barrow and Phyllis Jenkins Barrow, who both served in the military during World War II.
When he was "itty-bitty," Barrow says, he drove through Appling County on his way to Jekyll Island for family vacations on the Georgia coast. That was at the height of the struggle to end segregation.
He studied political science and history at the University of Georgia - his blood runs Bulldog Red and Black - before studying law at Harvard.
By then, the South had already turned the corner in going from blue to red.
After President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law, he reportedly told an aide: "We have lost the South for a generation."
Johnson was right. Conservative white Southerners turned Republican in droves as the national Democratic Party championed equal rights and was seen as increasingly liberal.
That perception remains an obstacle for Barrow to this day.
"The Democratic Party is now defined by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. These are very liberal Democrats," says Emory's Black.
"And that's a nonstarter for a majority of whites in the South."
As Barrow makes his way past machines that melt and mold aluminum, Mark Sibley comes running out of a glass office. He wants to shake Barrow's hand.
"I vote for anybody who's good. I don't care about party," Sibley says.
He tells Barrow he likes his commercials and his promises to end wasteful spending.
Mark Sibley ran out to shake Barrow's hand during a tour of Elixir Industries.
Sibley has worked at Elixir for 2 1/2 years. That was after he lost a job at a chicken plant that shuttered its Coffee County operations in 2009.
Sibley says it means a lot to him that Barrow came to visit Elixir and took the time to meet with voters.
He and others here say they aren't much impressed with Barrow's opponent.
Lee Anderson, a state legislator and former head of the Georgia Farm Bureau, stamps his campaign placards with an image of a tractor. He has a Southern accent so pronounced, says Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Galloway, that it ought to be bottled up for posterity.
Anderson has played up his rural Georgia roots. But some people around here don't think much of his farming background. "He ain't never cut anything but hay," Anderson's critics like to say.
A weak opponent could save the day for Barrow, and so far Anderson has not shown to be otherwise, Emory's Black says. The Rothenberg Report, a nonpartisan political handicapper, is now characterizing the 12th District race as "toss-up/tilt Democrat."
"This district is one that should have never been a headache for the GOP, but after getting a weak nominee in state Rep. Lee Anderson, reality is setting in for many Republican operatives," Rothenberg said. "Anderson's weakness isn't the only factor in this race. Rep. John Barrow has run a good race with terrific TV ads meant to demonstrate his political independence and get voters to focus on him and not on his party."
The report cited Barrow for distancing himself from the "the stereotypical Democratic label."
Anderson has refused to debate Barrow, demanding that he pronounce his presidential choice in front of a camera so as to not deceive voters.
"I want him to tell the truth," Anderson says. "Sometimes he's an independent. Sometimes he's a Democrat. Sometimes, who knows?"
Barrow says he has already said he will vote for Obama and that Anderson just doesn't want to talk about the issues.
Bob Young, a well-known Georgia Republican who served as mayor of Augusta in the early 2000s, says Anderson is making a mistake by not confronting Barrow in a public face-off.
"From my perspective, I want to see my Republican candidate take on the opposition head to head, toe to toe, here in the district," Young says.
"This campaign is not being waged in front of the people," Young says. "At the end of the day, I'm a Republican. But (Anderson) makes it hard."
It's not as hard for Young's wife, Gwen Fulcher Young, who made up her mind not just to vote for Barrow but actively solicit votes for him.
"My wife has gone rogue," Young jokes. But he adds that he can see the attraction to Barrow.
"He has built a reputation for constituent service," Young says. "People relate to a congressman who relates to them. Barrow's a known quantity."
The presidential vote could also affect the outcome of Barrow's race, says Galloway.
"In Georgia, Mitt Romney was the second choice for many Republican voters," Galloway says. "There are some indications of a lack of enthusiasm. And that means a disenchanted (GOP) turnout."
Barrow looks at it differently: the more voters, the better.
"Presidential turnout is always the best no matter who's on the ballot," he says.
It's like every church that has members who show up only one time of the year, he says. On Easter Sunday.
Black and white
Barrow's campaign sent out more than 500 invitations for an early evening dinner at a rented event space in Douglas called The Atrium. It's a building that was recently rehabbed by developer Francis Lott, who hung up his Democratic credentials for the GOP about 15 years ago.
About 30 people show up for pulled pork barbecue and green beans just as dark clouds begin to scatter in the sky. Many are African-Americans who make up Barrow's core support in rural Georgia.
John Barrow shares a meal with supporters in Douglas, Georgia. Some black voters perceived Barrow as distancing himself from the Democratic party to win votes.
They don't care much for the fact that Barrow voted against the president's Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Or that he voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas related to the deadly Operation Fast and Furious scandal.
They don't think Barrow ought to be distancing himself from the president the way they thought he did by not attending the Democratic National Convention.
If you're going to be a Democrat, then be a Democrat, says Johnny Roper, who served on the Douglas city commission for 27 years.
"We really want someone more devoted," he says as caterers begin to serve the meal.
But, he asks, what's the choice? There's a big difference between Barrow and his Republican opponent, who Roper says is "no good for poor folks."
But minority votes like Roper's have been diluted in Barrow's newly drawn district.
The Georgia General Assembly had redrawn Barrow's district once before.
Barrow was first elected to Congress in 2004, the same year Republicans took control of both houses in the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.
Two years later, Barrow's hometown of Athens was cut from his district in an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting, and the congressman moved to Savannah. He had to move again to Augusta when his district lost Chatham County, which includes a chunk of core Democratic voters in Savannah, and gained large swaths of rural areas populated by conservative whites.
Georgia Republicans say the lines were redrawn to reflect the state's population changes.
But civil rights groups say Republicans are trying to further empower themselves by isolating black voters in majority-minority districts represented mostly by black Democrats.
"They are using race," says Anita Earls, a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
"The Republican strategy is to try to make the Democratic Party a party of black people," she says.
That will make it more difficult for Democrats to win races in the near future, Earls says, but changing U.S. demographics - in which minority populations are growing at faster rates than whites - means that eventually that strategy will be doomed.
"They don't have a long-term formula for success," Earls says. "Maybe, they get a decade."
Emory's Black says the Republicans are doing what the Democrats did to them when they dominated the state assembly: drawing them out of power.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said as much when he spoke to the Georgia delegation at the Republican convention in Tampa.
There was only one Georgia Republican in the House when Boehner first entered Congress in 1991.
"We're going to have 10 after November - two more," he said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He was talking about Georgia's population gains that led to the creation of a new 14th District that's overwhelmingly GOP - and, of course, about Barrow.
"I can't speak to the motives of the people who drew the lines," says Young, the former Augusta mayor, "but we all know that the Supreme Court has set a pretty high bar in maintaining communities of interest. These districts have passed the muster of the Obama Justice Department."
But Barrow says he feels like a target, a poster child, he says, for gerrymandering.
"No question about it," he says - the Republicans are trying to force him out.
"But I made a promise to my voters."
It's a pledge he intends to honor - to represent the people who have looked to him in Congress since he was first elected.
Lowell M. Greenbaum, chairman of the Democratic Party in Richmond County, says the idea that the Democratic Party can no longer attract Southern white voters is incorrect.
Barrow agrees.
"Look, voters are up for grabs and parties have always responded one way or the other," he says.
"The problem is that voters have had their votes taken away from them without them realizing it," he says, referring to the creation of minority-majority districts.
Greenbaum doesn't begrudge Barrow's strategy of playing up his independence, playing it down the middle and not always advertising loudly that he still belongs to the party of his daddy and granddaddy.
"He does cast a vote at times with which the Democratic Party is not happy," Greenbaum says. "But when we invite him to explain his votes, he always comes. He is in direct communication with us all the time, which we feel is very important for a congressman."
Barrow has a way with people, Greenbaum says. And that's why a white Democratic congressman from the Deep South could still have an office in Washington after November.
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There's more to this story than meets the eye. The whole reason the Republicans could not get together in the house on anything is rooted in the way the south is deeply segregated. If you are a Republican in one of these districts you cannot approve of anything a black President has to offer. It would be political suicide. Even if the legislation is Republican legislation. The administration gave the House 3 dollars in spending cuts for every dollar it collected in tax revenue and they balked because it was a Black Democrat in the White House. The GOP has been stoking this hatred and fear for nearly 40 years and they are becoming the minority , it's no wonder we see voter disenfranchisement , they can't win a national election any other way.
WOW, the CNN comments sections ARE grandstands for bigotry and hate, aren't they??
Yep. Disgusting, isn't it? (And yet this region invariably has the lowest wages, worst health care, shortest longevity, etc. in the country. You'd think they'd figure it out, but I guess that's the problem, isn't it?)
Certainly...you should go to Fox News for that kind of commentary...only difference is it 1.) is included in the Fox News articles, and 2.) there is NO public commentary because Fox News can take care of all the biased reporting and commentary to your hearts delight...
The voting tendencies of the Deep South reflect the sub-par education that folks there received when growing up. A large number of southerners are simply not very smart. In fact, I'll go uot on a limb and say there are far more dumb people there than smart people.
And yet here you are…. Apparently unaware of the difference between education and intelligence.
There's that liberal bigotry! I knew it wouldn't take long. What a jerk.
I have kin in Baxley from my father's side. I'm a Dem from the deep south – I was born in AL. Hang on there buddy!
Not to worry Dems. There are plenty of non-white Democrats in the south, courtesy of Bill Clinton's shrewdly dropping our border security to allow the illegal immigrants to flood in through Mexico. Their anchor babies, who are citizens by virtue of being born here, are now starting to vote Democrat... all by Clintonian design.
You are a citizen by virtue of being born here.
And my parents didn’t have to break the law to make that happen.
The Obama administration has deported more illegals than the Bush administration. Maybe you should switch parties.
Or maybe you should stop allowing Rush Limbaugh and Faux News to do your thinking for you. "Anchor baby"...LOL...freaking hilarious. Stop being a robot.
Yes, sadly hilarious, and true.
And yet these deep red states get more money back from the federal government than they ever paid in taxes. California and NY are supporting these rednecks and that needs to end.
I'm sure some coward will flag my comments, but it makes it no less true. California has 1/3 of America's welfare cases, and California is the biggest recipient of Medicaid (my source is Kaiser, by the way).
California cities are going bankrupt, and the state government is insisting on wasting BILLIONS on a useless high-speed rail from one spot in the central valley to another spot in the central valley.
Trust me, California isn't carrying anyone...
Tsk, Tsk, all I hear about is whining Union obsessed Yankee Democrats wanting more pay for less work.
Southern folks work hard and think for themselves. Folks I know don't buy into the Union rep's orders to vote Democrat. Don't fool yourself...Rednecks take care of their own and respect God and Country Rednecks DO NOT depend on any government program or false promises from a paper socialist dictator president. The Obama culture of government dependence is ruining America. Please good people of America, let's take a chance with someone new.
Take a chance??? A CHANCE??? At least we know what we are getting with the president. I don't know about you but I'd rather know what I'm getting then throw it all away on a guy who hasn't explained anything he wants to do in detail! I'm way to young to take a "chance" like that with the country I love living in.
Se, vote for Romney's "10 year plan" – because, you can't stand another 4 years of Obamas plan? Give me a break - what is Romney's plan anyway? His whole campaign is like a snowball preceding and avalanche of hate and regression. 47%, overturn ROe v. Wade, close Planned Parenthood (which serves the poor). Who do you think pays for the haelthcare of the poor NOW? Those who cannot pay, their cost of service is spread back across those who can pay - that's business 101. So, healthcare is not "FREE", someone pays, and that is all hard working people.
Romney offers nothing and has shared nothing. The Republicans have stalled for 3 1/2 years and now claim new leadership is needed. What kind of leadership can be expected from a group of Pubs and Tea Partyer's whose sole focus has been consevative "values" - all else and everyone else, be damned.
please people on both sides dont be fooled. dem or republican. it about the 1% percent baby. they dont care about any of you people writin on this page.unless you making -dallas cowboy owner money.wake up. its about have and have nots. and the haves are millionares. not someone who went to yale and making 90 thousand a year. but 20-100 mill a year no the difference. you living a bit better than poor but u not bill gates or buffet . wake up
Yes, and the south should stop providing their sons and daughters to the military to protect you whiny liberals in NY and CA. Then you can see how Sharia Law fits in with your leftist philosophies.
@ Jason – Sure, and California should stop designing the most sophisticated fighter jets, guided missiles, computer technology et al that keep this country leading the free world. Use your brain for something more than a sponge for beer and NASCAR fascination. Red states have the highest rates of state-aid and unemployment paired with the lowest paying / skilled jobs, lowest rates literacy and higher education. You sir are why we are a representative republic and not a democracy.
RR, did you not read my comments above about CA? I wouldn't tout that cesspool, son...
It's a sad commentary when people like John Barrow have to sell their souls just to hang on to the remnants of their political careers. The John Barrow I knew as a lawyer, local commissioner and later my Congressional representative was a proud Democrat who worked hard to make people's lives better. I'm so disappointed to see him resorting to gimmicks like calling himself an "independent" and voting with the NRA in order to win support from racists and rednecks who think the term "democrat" is a synonym for "socialist" or "terrorist". (What's really frightening is that these same voters consider themselves good Christians and patriotic Americans, but that's another topic.)
John, some things are just not worth the loss of self-respect.
Much the same as people like you thinking that the term Republican is synonymous with racist, xenophobe, and uneducated? What's frightening is that these same voters consider themselves enlightened, open-minded, intellectually superior, and (gasp) tolerant.
See how that works? For all of your ranting and raving, you can be cast in a similar light.
Nice try, Fletch, but that is NOT what I said. My comment about racists and rednecks spoke only to ONE segment of Republican voters Barrow is courting. NOWHERE in my comment did I say all Republicans are such. But if you need to pretend so, then that's a reflection on you and not me.
I can rephrase it any way you like, but my point is still valid. You are making a negative commentary about a certain segment of the population – which is, essentially, a form of bigotry and discrimination. Since we're talking about white people – about Southerners, you think it's okay to use derogatory terms. They're not people – they're rednecks, right Sport? You come off as if you are more enlightened and forward thinking, but you are simply the opposite side of the idiotic coin.
Steve Cohen is a democratic congressman from Memphis TN. And Memphis is the DEEP south!
No it's not part of the deep south...it's considered the mid-south.
Memphis is a deep south as they get.
Have you ever been there, Cindy? If you have, you should know that Memphis is as Southern as Southern gets.
This is a prime example of why we need voter exams. Without making folks aware of the things each party bring to the table it is left to likeability and black folks will vote black and Latino will vote latino. Sorry its the truth I have witnessed it myself and you can see it in any town with a majority of a particular race. I live in Hartford and we have had the last two mayors be corrupt Latinos. And they still defend them even though they have admitted guilt. So when the weak minded are allowed to vote they vote for putting our country further into more trouble just because they dont care about the smartest person for the job
Agreed. When people vote along race lines, nothing good will come from it. Drive south of the border, look at the corruption, filth, disorganization. That will be what America looks like soon because that's the only way a Mexican knows how to live. Its true and anyone that disagrees with me, just move to Texas. It's happening here and will propagate north as the culture of the Latinos spreads with them.
This article should really be about Rep. Tim Scott and how he was elected. I think that it's very significant that the Tea Party supported him and helped him get into office. It kind of shatters the stereotypes. I noticed that the article had nothing more than a sentence about it. I would like to see an article about him. That to me would be newsworthy.
Wow. The tea party supported a white candidate. Yeah, that's big news.
Clicking the link you will see that Tim Scott is black. Reading the context clues in that paragraph would have also given you that impression.
Yeah, Steve, but you can't expect the far-left sycophants do actually do research that might undo their preconceived notions and talking points. Stop being silly...
Well they have to have at least one candidate they can refer to when defending their outright lies of not voting along race lines
While they're covering Representative Tim Scott, why not mention mormon black female republican candidate Mia Love why they're at it? Might as well thrown in the few members of the gay community who also came out publicly to support Mitt Romney. We should also hear from the loyal racial minority republicans who somehow appear directly behind Romney during nearly every campaign speech.
C'mon, do you honestly think the minority voting public falls for these shams? If anything, I suspect these types of thinly veiled propoganda would drive these minority groups away. We're a country with more than 300 million people – if you look hard enough you'll find exceptions to the rule on virtually every political issue out there. This CNN article points out the large racial divide with party representatives in the South. If I wanted to hear about sham token exceptions I'd go to Fox news.
Republicans are on their way out if they don't change. Time is running out for them.
What about Mary Landrieu? She's a white Democratic senator from Louisiana....
The headline says "congressman", as in House of Representatives, not "senator".
Don't quarrel online, it is useless. Yes, the 2 parties switched places on many basic issues. It makes the discussion very confused. Vote and while doing so please consider things other than abortion. If only because the abortion rate has been decreasing since the 1980s regardless of what the Presidents say or do.
The parties switching places on issues is exactly why I switched parites after 20 years as a Republican. As long as the GOP continues to be the NRA/Big Business/Tea Party/Jesus party, I'll watch the insanity from the sidelines.
Democrats are domestic terrorist
Democrats know that the plural of "terrorist" is "terrorists".
Come and get me Ryan! Bring your NRA buddies with you!
I live in Georgia and I'm a VERY rare breed... a white male democrat. There are simply too many sheep in the South, a significant portion of the electorate are voting on one of two issues, race or abortion. Racism is sadly alive and well in the South. There is also a large block that vote exactly how their pastors tell them to.
The last white representative discussed in this article may potentially lose the election and put the final nail in the coffin for white democrats but the handwriting has been on the wall for many years.
I admire your honesty.
Read the handwriting. Move to a different state. You don't belong there. Leave those filthy people to die in their own hate and ignorance.
Notasheep, every word you said is true. I say this from 20 years of firsthand experience.
I grew up in the South, and I have lived literally all over this country. Racism is not the exclusive domain of Southerners, white people, or even Americans. So I suspect that, if you are having a hard time living in the South, it's because you act like a d-bag – not because of anyone's political or racial biases.
I'm sure some coward will delete this post, but oh well...
I wouldn't think of reporting your comment Fletch.You make a valid point and I agree that racism is not exclusive to the South. However after living in the North for about 20 years and the South for about that long I can safely say, from my experience, that I've seen MUCH more racism in the South.
I haven't had any major issues living in the South personally. There are some genuinely good folks that live down here and the points I mentioned earlier were generalities. If anything I've learned tolerance and patience with those whose views differ from mine because ~95% of people from my demographic vote differently than I do. I have my share of conservative friends, racist friends on the other hand... no.
I still find it funny that black people align themselves with the party that fought to keep slavery. It's a perfect symbol of what liberalism means today. It doesn't matter how horrible we were to you in the past, just vote for us and we will keep unions and government controlling your lives and paychecks!! God bless the democrats. Lol
The Republican party is not the same party as your grandparents and that is true for democrats.
Today, if you are a racist, you are a Republican. Not all Republicans are racist but All Racist are Republican these days and that is the irony.
This is the reason why most blacks and hispanics will not vote for the Republican.
All racists are republicans? You do realize that there are many racist black people as well and they are certainly not republican.
You are a perfect symbol of someone who stopped thinking a lifetime ago. This is 2012. The GOP has become the party of anti-intellectualism and religious extremists.
Jc – your comment completely omits how republicans morphed from Lincoln's time to today. Try searching about the "republican southern strategy." In the 60's republicans made a clear choice to abandon their past and target the white vote in the south. The racial lines were drawn in a very clear way. In Lincoln's time, Republicans were the very definition of what a modern conservative would call big federal government radicals.
Tripod, Republicans like JC are not capable of researching actual history and accepting any facts that conflict with their distorted worldview.
Funny how you can't point to anything in the past 100 plus years that republicans have done for black people. You have to go all the way back to the civil war to show that the republicans have done anything for them – lol. Black folks are probably asking "What have you done for me lately!"
Forget about losing the last white Southern Democrat. When are we, the United States of America, going to lose the South for good? Lincoln should have let them go in 1860. Sherman should have killed them all in 1864. Nevertheless, here we are in 2012 with these parasitic drunken pig farmers still holding the rest of us hostage to their pathological racism and irrational religious intolerance. We need to dump the deep South. These people will starve to death and/or kill each other off in 10 years tops.
What's the matter Guillaume? Cat got your tongue?
but if you vote Obrama, like Jesus I will forgive you. I will turn the other chek
I am relieved to know, in advance, that I have your forgiveness. Tuesday's going to be a long night for you my friend...
You can't kill the south. Even though they lost the war and were out numbered 20 to 1. The north had almost twice the amount of casualties, so the south are better fighters and they won't starve either because they grow and hunt their own food and they have better food. Probably why they have more fat people
Southerners (and Mid-westerners and Texans and too many others) are fat not because they have such a healthy and strong food supply; they are fat because they have forsaken a healthy and strong food supply. Now we grow animal feed, fuel, and corn for industry; we don't grow much people food anymore. Hmm. High fructose corn syrup or blackstrap molasses; McD's or collards; candy bars or rabbit-eye blueberries....on and on and on. What a shame.
Ryan, I can see you've never actually lived in the South. Your view of Southerners living off the land is like something out of a cartoon.
Don't like to say it Will, but you hit the nail on the head. Ever since the republican party got southernized and the religious right took over, true limited government conservatives got the boot by southerners who want the government to legislate morality. Taliban lite
Will,
I admire your statement "When will the United States of America lose the South for good?". I agree that Lincoln should have let the South go. Chances are, racism might not have been a big problem even today if slavery in the country back then died a slow and painless death, and not the forced death it got. And it's high time I saw somebody use the term United States as our country's name! If the name was really "America", then the country would have both North America and South America under control. But it doesn't!
By the way, I've seen just as much racism in the North as anywhere in the U.S.
Like Zell Miller (D) said, the Democrats are "A National Party No More". Current Democrat leadership is nothing more than commies in drag. They have pushed the party so far left that they have awakened the sleeping giant, the "moderates". When you move as far left as the Democrats have moved, even the moderates sit up and take notice....
.....and that is exactly why the GOP is going to pick up massive gains in 2012, just as they did in 2010.
You can take that to the bank!
LMAO that you're resorting to crazy Zell Miller as a "credible" source. Those of us who knew him before his big speech at the Republican convention know better.
Did anyone ever tell you that you are totally nuts. boy talk about mental deficency. it is you and the people like you that are the problem with america today. the republican party is made up of nut jobs like you.
whether guy stays or goes won't make any difference
Right on the dot. Elections have just become a charade, giving the citizens of this country the illusion that we are really in charge here. Rain or shine, the big business interests owned by an elite few own everything, a small club running this country, and we ain't in it.
I'm in this district. Lee Anderson is a pure embarrassment. His unlikely victory in the primary was due in part to the Sherrif's primary in Richmond County (Augusta) where many Republican voters crossed party lines to vote for a conservative (white) Democrat. These voters were unable to participate in the run-off for the Congressional race, and Lee Anderson was the beneficiary. The man doesn't know what the Federal Reserve is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl6z_0piTJc.
I'm a blue dot in a red ocean, but the notion that Lee Anderson may be my representative to the rest of the country is saddening. And, I completely agree with the tone of the article. Georgia Republicans have no qualms about the aim to, for lack of a better term, to paint Democrats black. Where I'm from, it's evil to be a Democrat and it's this mindset that may make my congressional representative a man whose intellect is only slightly above "Honey Boo Boo."
Let me be a soothsayer tonight....Frank, you are black and view your skin color above all else....Religion, family, culture have nothing on race... You are foremost black and that is your team! Keep that mindset and you might( I say that in hope) someday realize party affiliations has kept you in bondage.
I'm white. I have no way of proving this, but I am. Lived in rural Georgia my entire life. And if you think racism isn't alive and well in the South, you're living in a fantasy.
What did he say that made you think he was black? He sounds more like a Kennedy democrat. My father thinks he is a democrat, but he is referring back to the 60s. The Democratic Party was hijacked by the radical progressives of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuch Schummer, and on and on and on, years ago. This is the big problem in this country. The left has gone further left and the right, further right. There is no middle ground. Obama was elected on the hope he would cross the aisle and gain cooperation, but he has turned out to be the worst president in history. The sad thing is almost half the country think this goof has done a good job.
I think you're wrong William. I think Frank is white. And I think Anderson is an idiot....
Typical liberals!!! Pathetic! Let me soothe you tonight.... Black is your team, but white is mine! When will we get to the REAL bondage? Look me up in South Beach – you want it French-style, do you deny it?!!! Vote Romney, strike a blow against Burkas!
The South is holding America down.
Peny has spoken so it is so!!!! Pathetic!!!
Yes, thank God we have the folks in NJ crying for help on tv, but turning away help from Non-union workers that have come free-of-charge to provide that help. Thank God for the folks in California who have decided the only way to improve the performance of their school systems is to dumb down their requirements even more. And thank God for those in Chicago who feel like the way to help those being murdered in the streets is to take away the elements of self-defense of the honest, law-abiding citizens so that only the gangs and thugs have guns. God Bless them all. Thank God for a president who refuses to poo-poo any information about his past dealings with terrorists and race-baiting preachers and self-avowed communists, and has the progressives eating out of his hand because he knows celebrities and makes jokes about people who are hurting, and pats his own on the head and says "just vote for me and I'll give you what you don't want to work for yourselves". God Bless them all.
hey but what do I know? Gitanes, Jerry Lewis, escargot – whoopdeedo!
Dave...you are pathetic. Is that the best you got?
Here's a question for all the so-called red blooded, patriotic, christian Americans who just love fox news. Isn't it kinda hypocrital to support a network that airs the most brain numbing garbage on the air today? That
s NOT to include the so-called news the peons are absorbing for an extra helping of tripe; And to make matters worse? It's completely owned and operated by foreigners! Not only is ol Rupert a foreigner, but so is the other largest share holder of the network....Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. Google his name why don't cha. to see where all your support is going.
What kind of garbage are you referring to? The way your hero sacrificed 4 Americans in Benghazi so he could keep the Al Queda is in retreat story alive? Pick your story that you think isn't true and tell us all about it.
Base your political afilliations on emotion and you fall into their trap. No one has challenged me on my dare and I surmise it would have to do with weak reasoning. I am from Quebec and now live in the South and can speak to acual motives and predispositions without any bias. Southerners don't hate blacks...they hate ignorance, unbridled violence, and the propensity for everyone to blame them for everything that is wrong in America. if you want a serious conversation please forget your brainwashed ideas and actually listen and formulate your own opinions
You are an outsourced troll living in Mumbai.
Wow...what a ridiculous comment...the only reason I'm responding is because I'm bored right now. BTW is your mom keeping you nice and snug?
Just what we need – an ignorant Canadian commenting on American issues....
Liberals! It useless taking to you. I don't even know why I'm still here, except my bidet is broken and I have nothing else to do.
Just one reason I don't live in the Deep South.
Me too. No matter, I'd still never vote for the cowardly sell out DINO.
Is it time for write off white Southerners? Yes. Except when they come begging for federal relief, sure, as caring Christians we'll help them out. Otherwise, who cares.
I am from the south, have degrees in the sciences from prestigious universities in Califormia and I both agree and disagree with you.
My parents moved us west when I graduated high school to give us a better chance at opportunities. I moved back after 30 years leaving a graduate program at Stanford. I found that where I received my education was a drawback for being accepted to the same type if program at UT Memphis. Being over 40 didn't help either. Tried teaching high school chemistry but quickly found students were never prepared even honor kids like they were when I taught out west.
I live in the small town where my family is from (they all left). We've endured violence, false accusations about a federal lawsuit against our town over crosses on public places with violence and vandalism against us, our pets and my little organic produce business. Our mayor publicly calls me "that uppity woman scientist". We've had to hire lawyers and talk to state and federal law enforcement. They've backed off save a few who make rednecks seem like a liberal term.
Still, we have found great people here who accept us and stand by us. Some are like us and some aren't but they are accepting
I live northern California but I did run into a couple of biased people who thought I was bright especially for being from the south.
But, I do wonder why it is mostly so backwards. Seems to have worsened in my absence
Excuse me. I meant when I lived in northern California
You answer your own question by talking about the educational system (or lack thereof) in the deep South states. Or the poor economic growth which, like a vicious cycle, prevents state investment in education.
Maybe I didn't read the article carefully enough... What's so important about him being the last white Democrat? I understand the importance of highlighting the strong right bias in the south, but that he's white doesn't seem important or relevant.
If he loses, there will still be southern Democrats in Congress. All of them will be black.
Wow!!!! Just vote people......I will, and its going to be for the President that in the oval office now...And you know what its my right.. So do the same and good luck!!!!!!!!
I've been in John Barrow's district since he was elected and and this is a guy who works hard in Washington and spends a lot of his personal time visiting people in his district when he is home. He works with both parties for the good of the people, that makes a lot of people angry, but I appreciate it. Also, whenever I've needed to call his office in Washington to give my opinion or ask where he stands on something, I always get a prepared response and one time someone took the time to call me back to make sure all my concerns where handled. Pretty sweet.
Plus, when they redistrict you twice to get you out of Washington, what does that tell you?
good ppl all over
Look...Liberal children...If you think you are sooo intelligent please make a an argument for any positions you hold dear ND i will gladly refute and put you in your place. Your place??? Oh, that is sitting in the corner because you are a DUNCE!!! Batter up children!
Pay no mind here.. I see Joe Biden is trolling again.
Alright then, it is my position that you are an instigator and lack the necessary grammatical proficiency to be taken seriously in a debate.
Your arrogance is repulsive.
Hey! Don't try and stick us conservatives with this loon. Sounds like a closet liberal to me.
As I expected...Ad hominem atacks with no substance. Typical and sad.
what are your so-called brilliant positions? you are so full of yourself you are a joke...I dont vote exclusively for any one party because I know both have major issues and dont represent me, but when I read arrogance like yours I understand why our country is so brainwashed no one can compromise.
Guilaume, I've never met you, so I can't say I know anything about you but the tons of replies you are putting on this article.
One thing that strikes me is... do you really think this election is only about a person' skin color or genetic make up?
Don't you believe in a world where you can take the time to listen to someone of a different background or a different upbringing and not make a sweeping judgment based on ONE thing you see in them? Can't you agree to disagree without calling someone "wrong".
Look, just make your vote on election day, millions across this country will do the same, and have a little faith, that no matter who wins, we are still all Americans and we can work together.
We need diversity in this world, Guillaume and let me be the first to say, "You are a good person and we can still to agree to disagree without thinking less of each other".
Think about it, Guillaume. I honestly believe you are more open minded then your words indicate it.
A fellow American – Walter
Boy, you talk about a fruit cake this one takes first place. i pose a question. if all these so called religous consertavies are true christians how can they vote for a cultist like romney that says the devil is jesus brother. and that there are several gods not just the true god. and then there is that magic underwear. seems that if they do vote for romney then they are against their own beliefs.
I don't understand why he's running from the word "democrat"; he should run on the party's apparent disrespect for all things religious....run on that Health Care albatross, the debt Congress has saddled our unborn grandchildren with....the endless warmongering...the handouts. This is great stuff. He should be trumpeting it............./sarcasm off.
Debt and warmongering? Look a few years back in history. Bush (Republican) inherited a surplus and ruined it with two unfunded wars and tax breaks for the wealthy (i.e. not me and you). Economic growth was the slowest it had been over Bush's 8 years since WWII. Economic disparities in the country grew. Obama, on the other hand, inherited a rapidly sinking economy and a mortgage crisis which necessitated short-term big spending in the form of bailouts and stimulus (which BTW, included more tax breaks for the middle class which you may not have noticed because they involved decreased federal withholding). The Affordable Health Care Act comes with a big price tag but significantly changes the way the country invests money in one of its largest growing expenditures, health care. Instead of throwing money trying to keep up with the growing cost of health care, the Health Care Act largely funds preventative care and ensures that more people have a variety of affordable options to retain health insurance. And as a nurse I can tell you, from watching the expensive, recurring hospitalizations of those with preventable, chronic disease, that an ounce of prevention is worth way more than a pound of cure – and thus will save us money in the long term.
Not to mention, Obama's energy plan is radically different than Romney's, which puts money back in the hands of oil companies and will slash the subsidies that Obama put in place for renewable energy. Anyone watching the latest natural disaster in NYC can plainly see how cutting back on global warming may potentially prevent the expensive (financially and in terms of lives) disaster brought upon us by rising sea levels and temperatures. Even if you refuse to believe this science, you must still care about changing our economy to be more energy independent? You must if you, like me, put gas in your car every day and are at the mercy of OPEC. These are some of the reasons why I am voting Democrat this year, white or black. Romney will do nothing for anyone in the South or anywhere else to lead us out of the economic rubble.
Oh, and by the way, I go to church too.
Very true, you see that and i see that but you will never make a republican believe the truth.have you noticed the absence of Bush ? they act like the 8 years of bush never happened and it is all Obamas fault. i am a 74 year old disabled veteran and i have seen the republican party go from a half of america to a bunch of radical dishonest lying cheating theifs. they love to call them selves consertive christians but there is not a christian among the whole sorry lot.
The folks in the deep south had better keep their Repubs in power because they have a goodly amount of federal funds coming in every month from all the military bases and defense related businesses. Per capita I would imagine a dis-proportionate of dollars coming in as to tax dollars going out. They are also at the bottom of the list when the poorest states in the union are compiled.
Do your filters actually just post idiotic liberal rantings??? If I send a conservative comment with "too much" reasoning, it doesn't get posted...I wonder why. Are you afraid I can reach out to people? Cowards!!
I'm sorry. I came here from Quebec because I saw photo of david duke and he is sooooo hot y'know? I was hoping for a good bangin' from a strapping southern boy but no one will have me so I've been a right b1tch lately. again sorry.
The truth is that as a whole we have evolved socially a great deal. We don't accuse people of being witches and burn them at the stake, we don't have public executions we don't allow slavery etc. These are all things that were socially acceptable. I fear we are not moving forward and possibly going backwards. Why should religion trump any humans rights.
"Why should religion trump human rights". Excellent point. I believe Eve bought that up.
Nice...don't show my comment because it might intimidate some liberals...Sadly it is expected from CNN
Hey! I live in South Beach now and we do not like the blacks here. Just the gay clubbing all night long – same as with Quebec and Montreal. Party down you know? Only eurodisco not the r&b. Obama is the black man therefore too much R&B! Romney/Ryan is more my types.
Why don't you just go play in the traffic for awhile. that way we will not have to put up with your idiotic ravings.
The deep south has always been predominantly Republican. That is the main reason that the deep south has the highest poverty levels in the country. The governments their simply do very little to help those in need, and provide the least in support as far as education. The schools have the highest dropout rates, and produce the most illiterate students in the country–that is fact. The republican governments in the deep south states do keep taxes low–that is why schools and other basic services are at bare minimal levels. I do not know if the people do not understand this or why they keep voting as they do. They do not seem to understand that their "quality of life" could be so much better if they would vote out the republican represenatives that take in federal money and use it to give breaks and incentives to big business and the wealthy in their states.
"The deep south has always been Republican". Sounds like you're a product of the public edumacation system.
Maybe not always Republican but the rest of it is dead on and provable. The deep South are taker states, lat in education, and poor compared to the North, and I have lived in both.
As a matter of fact I am puplically educated. Of course being from the South, that is considered a crime for you–from what it sounds like. Let me guess, you have benefited in some way either being a wealthy business person or a political figure and are a product of private school. Oh and also very religious too. That is a very strong point down south and if your preacher tells you to do something–like vote for someone–its done without question. Got to get into heaven you know. And make sure you put a little extra in the plate too–the reverend needs a new caddie, oops I mean the church needs some repairs.
Right on!
The south was largely democrat until Reagan took office. The dropout rate is a growing epidemic in all of america. The fact people tend to ignore about the South's bad stat's is that it is driven by the large African American population. The south has much more by proportion and it skews the numbers. Wherever African american's are poverty, obesity and drop rates are up. That is a fact. Drop out rates in urban areas are also ridiculously high.
Jared, you need to get your facts straight. The South used to be predominantly DEMOCRAT, not Republican. Apparently your "puplic" education didn't teach you much.
When Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law he told Democrats "We have lost the South", but he did the right thingg whether racist white southeners like it or not.
Have you ever read anything about LBJ? You'd know what he called black-people when the microphone was off. Lester Maddox was a nice Dimocrat as was Senator Half-bright–Clinton's self-professed mentor. Nice people these libs.
Those racist white southerners were Democrats!
And now reborn Republicans and Mormons...
Most KKK members now adays are from AZ, CA, and NJ. But please keep saying how it's the south that's only racist. Also don't forget first black senator, govonor, and mayor of major city all from the south.
The south, where America's poor and stupid go to breed. They don't believe in science and they cling to religions of hatred. A truly awful place we'd be better off without.
wow – ignorance and predjudice intersect here. You really should not be allowed to breed. Go die in a fire.
Thank you for not living down here with us. As a native Californian (San Diego) who moved to Houston years and years ago, it's nice to live in a state where the employment is high, homes and cost of living is low, and people are just about as friendly and carying for one another as you can ask for. I think perhaps its because of the large number of us who happen to believe in the Bible, are really trying to follow Jesus Christ, and doing our best to love one another. From your comments, you've obviously never lived here (and please, don't sin by lying and say that you have). If you think you might have an open mind, then we invite you to come and enjoy real life here with us. But, if your mind is closed and you have no intention of repenting from your bigotry and arrogance, then please stay where ever you are. We're doing great down here. God bless! (Go Romney / Ryan! REAL CHANGE for a CHANGE)
then I think we will win, because Jesus wants it. but.... if O'Muslim wins what then? it must be a test from Jesus himself. but I'm not worried because Jesus is on our side so Romney/Ryan will win. they must win. everybody go vote – vote the choice of JEsus!
Yeah real change and for the worst. and i am a native texan not a immigrant like you. i am a 74 year old disabled veteran and me and my fellow veterans have had enough of republican lies to last a lifetime. and if you were a true christan you would not vote for a cultist and that catholic nut running mate. romney believes that the devil and jesus are brothers and that there are several gods and then there is that magic underwear.
Yes we hate science so much is that why we have some of the best universities in the nation here(Emory, lsu, duke, and uga to name a few), most NASA buildings, the CDC, and Some of the largest and highest rateed zoos and aquariums in the nation.
Decision-making tainted with conservative values - that's not priceless, it's careless, it's reckless, it's devoid of compassion (outside of those with different viewpoints). Evidence? "Conservative values" have include midwestern school districts adding "intelligent design" to textbooks; dilluting the importance of evolution. Other "conservative values" include outlawing stem cell research for decades; fighting back on cloning...(both have important medical advances that could help permies survive earlier and healthier; fight/cure alzheimers; grow new organs for humans. Denying this medical research is NOT compassion - it is blinded by a conservative "value" that would deny you that hope of quality of life. What other advances in science and medicine have we been denied because of this narrow view of choice "they" inpose on us all?
hello long lee writing from china to say we are happy here that you want romney because of jesus and he is white. we want romney too because of jobs. do not let obama the democrats win! please!!
k bro.
ok.....and how much for a happy ending?
CNN is again showing
itself to be a pig network
by running articles emphasizing
race.CNN is run by a group of
sophisticated Klansmen.
Sure, go to Fox News for concerted biaed and one-sided reporting. At least here, we can "debate' the merits fo an article. I guess Fox News doesn't believe in Free Speech - just "Seen and not Heard".
Even if your claim had some truth to it, at least CNN is not afraid to submit their articles to public scrutny in thesse comment sections. Ask yourself, why doesn't Fox News provide that same opportunity?
I live in Louisiana, and I still remember what a great job Bush did after Hurricane Katrina. It only took him a few months to get FEMA down here to start cleaning up the bloated bodies floating down the streets.
Them Republican fellers are the best. They really care about us folks.
I live in NYC and I still remember what a great job Obama did after Hurricane Sandy. It only took him a few months to get FEMA down here to start cleaning up the bloated bodies floating down the streets.
Them Dimocrat fellers are the best. They really care about us folks.
Except Sandy only hit five days ago and the National Guard and FEMA have been on the ground from day one.
Elliott i do believe that you are not only a liar but a racist also.Obama had fema there in a matter of hours.
Zeb, I live in Houston. And just months after Katrina came through, Rita hit our shores. I found it amazing how the Galveston / Houston area (which is probably 4 to 5 times larger than New Orleans) managed to evacuate the entire region (millions of people) and avoid the disaster that hit New Orleans. The difference? Well one that I can think of is this – our State and our city (at the time) was led by Republican administrators who actually knew how to accomplish that most basic job of government – protect its citizens. While New Orleans, ever the center of corruption and Democratic-led, liberal pie-in-the-sky crazy ideas that never work, left their citizens to fight it out, and sadly, die in the Superdome. I also remember how after Katrina, thousand and thousands of our Louisiana neighbors were welcomed here into Texas - the majority to the Houston area - and were treated to real Texan hospitality and generosity (even though there were lots of you who took advantage of us and broke our laws, stole things we were giving to you anyway, and basically made a nuisance of yourselves). Thankfully, after all these years, I think most of the bad apples have gone back across the Sabine River. A lot of the good ones, the thankful ones, stayed here to enjoy being part of one of the greatest states in the nation. A state that is still proud to call George W. Bush a friend and patriot (regardless of the lies that the liberal media and liberal loons can't seem to quit obsessing over).
wow, twisted that just a little. New Orleans was ordered to be evacuated and some didn't leave. In addition, Galveston didn't have the flooding from the levees breaking and pumps failing. It was a little different of a situation, and yes, Bush took forever to sign off on funds. And guess what? Texas is at the bottom of education, poor paying jobs, doles out the Welfare (which is a state thing, not federal – capped under Clinton), and has huge immigration problems that your Repubs can't seem to fix.
David, I live in Houston too and you're a complete idiot. Your version of history bears no resemblance whatsoever to reality. Without getting into the dozens of different fantasies that you have floating around in your empty head, I will remind you that Houston's mayor at that time was LIBERAL DEMOCRAT Bill White. If you don't even pay enough attention to know the political parties of your elected officials, I really think you should refrain from further comment. You're just embarrassing yourself. Deeply.
I've lived in LA for 12 years and I can't believe your portrayal of LA, the people who live here, and/or their politics. I guess we got the thieves back and TX, the state that hasn't had a competent governor for years...the home of Karl Rove...kept the good LA people who sought shelter there.
Oh yeah, who are all these liberals in LA? Surely not Ray Nagin.
Do you even recognize the name?
you are spouting more republican lies. and as a 74 year old disabled veteran who happens to be a native texan if you republicans are so damn proud of bush then why isn't he out stumping for the republicans running for office. you are keeping him hid because you don't anyone remembering his 8 years. in fact i think the consertives have mentaly blocked him totally out of their minds. G.W. was the worst thing that has happened to this country since hoover. and now you are trying to push another nut on us. and if you claim to be a christan you sure would not be voting for a mormon cultist.
No, he's too busy campaigning.
Come to think of it, that's about all he's really done for the past 4 years!
Nobody cares about racist stories. If they're all black democrats are all white republicans so be it. Just balance the dang budget and don't wasteful spend.
I agree. You have my vote.
The Reagan and Bush years when we where on the right track?! .I hope you were being sarcastic because that is factually far from the truth economically. We are still paying for the economic mess created by Bush and his greedy cronies!
Yikes!
I'm from the South and I'm for Obama. The last 4 years have been fine compared to the previous 8. Also I remember Bush Senior's term and the recession we had then too. Looking back it seems that for the most part Republican President = Recession. But Democratic President = Economic recovery. Look what happened when Clinton got a second term: everyone did well. Even the Republicans seem to vote against their own best interests. I say 4 more years and no more Republicans in office, then we might get somewhere. Even the Republicans could find work powering Hot Air Balloons.
Glad to hear you are doing fine. Guess you do not care about the 25 million others who do not have a job.
Duke–the South takes in more Fed money than any other area. Rep policy means we sink deeper into poverty. I live in the Amarillo Tx. area, as Republican as one can get, they hate the Fed spending and would vote for Stalin if he ran as a Rep. Right now unemployment is around 4.5. The reason–FED Money. They just hate high gasoline prices as they go to work each morning in the oil fields because 100 bucks a barrel puts lots to work, or along I-40 producing lots of jobs associated with travel and trucking (midway across the country), or they go dismantle nuke weapons, or put together Bell V-22 or refit Blackhawks. They turn red when you mention green energy –yet we have aleast 1000 wind turbins producing electricty and jobs. They hate welfare as they to the bank to deposit the CRP checks and price support payments, or collect crop insurance. Cattle feeders cuss the government about the poor and collect about 200 million a year off school lunches. They hate the Mexican illegals each day they hire them and scream when they have an ICE raid. We rank 35 in Fed money spent in a Congressional Dist. and want it stopped. Stupid people .
I am confused about the "deep south." Is there a "shallow south?"
More voting based on racial lines across both parties. How fantastic for the country.
I here there is a Civil War brewing.
damn I can't believe I spelled hear wrong must be the republicans rubbing off on me.
Since blacks only vote race anyhow, this is a non story. Put any dem black candidate against a dem white candidate here in the south and the black is gonna win. Blacks in the south don't even know what the issues are and apparently they don't care. this guy might go ahead and pack those bags.....go on GIT! Yep I'm a southern belle!
You can say the exact same thing about whites in the south and many other parts of this country.
Your post is an insult to blacks and whites alike. You sound like a Romney voter. Believe the lies, the flip flopping and everything else just because he is not black. Never mind that he is not presidential material.
96% of blacks voted for Obama in 2008. Politico.com
Democrat Ted Strickland (white) got 77% of the black vote vs. Republican Ken Blackwell (black) who got 22% of the black vote!
Why won't a BLACK vote for a BLACK.... republican?
Tom, with the state of the country in 2008, you would also vote from someone of your nationality if your nationality had never had that opportunity. I'm not saying it was right but the bigger issue is that minorities have never had that opportunity.
A southern belle and a true credit to your white trash racist culture. What a gigantic piece of fecal matter you are.
I imagine that if there were a GOD looking over us, he/she would be so ashamed of what we have become, the way we treat others as well as animals and most importantly this planet that he/she would decide to start over again by first ridding the earth of the human viruses that we are.
I believe there is a God. However, i'm ashamed to say that when I vote, it is not based on moral values but financial. I feel that morally there isn't any hope for society. So because I can support my family financially by working, I choose to deal with moral issues within my family and not by relying on changing society. Is this terrible???
Your ideals for morality are driven by your conservative faith. Morals are common sense based you don't need a GOD to help you determine them.
Not really. Contrary to what you liberals believe, the Od who saw the Middle East 2000 years ago in the person of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ would have other concerns looking at North America and Western Europe today. Unlike there and then, we have mastered the "taking care of people" theme as best as could be done without actually living for people, what we have failed at is acknowledging the Lord and living according to His values. See Hugh Hefner can care for as many poor people with his millions as he wishes to but his morally repugnant life would get him no where with the Lord. Remember we are saved by grace NOT works as the bible says so that no man may boast.
A man whose lifestyle is straight and pleasing to the Lord goes further towards he Lord's favor than does an overly generous man who rejects the Lord's teaching. Reason being, were are ALL sinners! So based on what the bible ACTUALLY says I believe your assertion to be wrong.
I guess you missed my point. We have gone backwards and are trying to invoke ideals from centuries ago.
I also recall the mass murder of Muslims as well as "Native Americans" done in GODS name via the Christians. Yes the crusades were 1000 years ago but the killing and raping of the Native Americans are less then 300 years ago.
When compared to other groups there are less white males than there are white females, latinos and blacks. And if the white women continues to resort to contraceptives and abortions the white males, as a group, will be less than the natives and orientals.
yeah it'll be all polygamy and the Tabernacle Choir right? grow up! Romney is the smart choice for business – he knows how to downsize: too much baggage on the payroll. once we get rid if the lazy freeloaders the rest of us will be doing fine and get back to the Reagan & Bush years when the country was on the right track.
There's a difference between downsizing for the overall company's future because it's fiscally responsible and downsizing only so management can profit despite the company or its employees.
What freeloaders do you mean? General Electric, that paid no taxes last year? The big banks? The corporations with phony off=shore addresses to avoid taxes? Wall street hedge fund managers, with their tax breaks? Romney, paying 13% of his income in taxes- and that's for the year he's NOT ashamed to show? THOSE are the freeloaders that are killing us. Your "get rid of the freeloaders" argument is simplistic, untrue, and worthy of a 3rd grade intellect.
Did you know that GE owns MSNBC? The most liberal left wing media news group out there? Go figure.
Narcotics Anonymous can help you with your drug problem. Just give it a chance.
WOW – Race is never bought up until a minority is in leadership. So many people say RACISM in america is not an issue but those same people sure get nervous and oppose it when a minority or someone that supports minorities runs for office (STRICTLY ON RACE). Also, can you truly be upset for a minority for voting for thier race when they've NEVER had that opportunity before????
Do you think Obama was elected in 2008 without white support?
He was elected as a result of the white vote. I beleive we need more people – both Black & White – that vote based on their values not racial lines. It truly made me proud when this happened. Tough decision need to be made to get this country back on track and I honestly don't think one man (whomever gets elected can do it) without everyone on the same page. I got a call this week asking me to support funding for the Potomac River – How dare them in the economic turmoil this country is in.
To: empty-suit-in-the-white-house: Sheeple? What other words to nursery stories
do you know, seeing as you live in fantasy land?
I'm waiting for one of you so-called "conservatives" to explain why almost all blue states are net contributors of federal revenue and most red states are net recipients of welfare from the blue staters. I guess conservatives like to complain about welfare even more than they depend on it for their economies.
Post a link to data that is not 5 years old, so we can see if you have something valid to say.
Really? You think that NY and California are big contributors because they're blue? Exactly what in NY is contributing-it's RED Wall Street. How's Michigan doing on that contribution? How about California teetering on bankruptcy? You know absolutely nothing about finance.
sqeptiq, your wrong, it appears the blue states as far back as 1996 have received 12 trillion in fed money whereas the red sates have received only 5.6 trillion. I am afraid you got your facts mixed up. Blue states take more than red states.
Wingnuts, meaning Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and those who don't
give a crap and don't vote, should put a plug in your mouth, shut up, and work to
improve things. Pointing fingers like little spoiled brats, and bawling "somebody
else did,it you're to blame" is getting old. You share a common country, why are some
of you trying to destroy it with hate and anger? Grow up, and behave like you age should.
The doers, and positive people have no use for you in your present condition.
Obama is a liberl and wants to turn us in to a socialism scandanavian country and thats no good I bought some of that Ikear furnature once and it fell apart in like 2 days. worthless peace of crapp and thats what you get from a socialism country.
learn to spell first if you want people to take you seriously. I hear you about socialism but I don't want a mormon running the USA, that's blasphemy. Obama isn't perfect but at least he is not a dreadlocked alien from another planet fighting an interstellar war.
And there's the fact that you're referring to Christian Science created by L Ron Hubbard, not Mormonism, duh.
But the people of Scandinavia are much happier with their lives than Americans...but then, you evangelicals believe we were put on this earth to suffer, so I guess happiness isn't important.
America: home of the loudmouth conservative crybaby...waah!
I bet you eat grits you foolish an. Because some furniture you bought from the world's most successful furniture "fell apart"
well were in the North (West?) here in West Virginia but we support Romney too because less taxes means more meth
The problem with Today's Democrat party is that the moderate/conversive democrats have allowed THEIR party to be HI JACKED by the Left wacko liberals!!! The Pro Abortion and gay marriage agenda will not fly in the south. I know many DIE HARDS Democrats who will will NOT vote for OBAMA this time.....they may not vote for Romeny either...they will still govote for their local and state demo candiates....but they will NOT vote for Obama.
Do you enjoy your freedom to do what you want with your body and marry whomever you wish; I am going to guess you do. Why would you assume it is up to you or anybody else to decide for another person what rights they have. I don't really care that your religious beliefs hold you back but lets not continue to impose them on others. You can continue to let your conservative decisions be guided by old fairy tales but you dont have the right to impose them on others.
Like I was saying....HI JACKED........you just made my point.
LOL... nothing in what I said helped make your point, just shows how delusional you are.
There is no such thing as the "Democrat" party. And what the heck is a conversive?
We should've evacuated and repopulated the South.
don't have a job? boo hoo! go wash dishes, always hiring. NO MORE welfare state. it's your family's fault – pater and mater made sure we never went without so we could play water polo and when we were of age there was the family shipbuilding business to attend to. tax us not, vile commoners!
This suggests that Republicans only come in one color.