The Politics Thread

[Eric83]

You brushed it off by saying "oh it won't be on 99 percent of Conservative's cars anyway", but if situation was reversed I doubt you would be singing that tune. Then you try to throw shade at Cee Lo Green performing that song, it was a big hit that went #1 last year. I doubt many people are up in arms over it.

[Eric83]

Rick Santorum is such an idiot. Lol. Like you can really ban porn off the internet. Don't watch it and put a child block if you don't want your kids to see it. What is with this invasive and dictator-lite stance with him. Why is he worried about what I'm watching on my computer. I swear this man gets on my nerves.

[Roman]

Remember though, they all are for small government and keeping government out of people's buisness.

Ok.

[Scotty]

And they are only focusing on the most important issues like high gas prices and unemployment....oh wait.

[Scotty]

Ole Newt's all riled up again...

Gingrich Says De Niro’s ‘White First Lady’ Crack Is ‘Inexcusable’

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/gingrich-says-de-niros-white-first-lady-crack-is-inexcusable/

[Scotty]

Well the Republicans are nothing if not disorganized...

St. Charles County [Missouri] Republicans embarrassed by caucus shutdown

Read more: http://www.stltoday....l#ixzz1piI3TlZf

[Max]

That's not brushing it off, but instead making an observation that almost certainly will be true. I felt I had to make that statement because--while that bumper sticker itself was absolutely awful--it was Obama supporters that seemed to be suggesting that such sentiments were commonplace among Republicans (much like you suggested I was a Gingrich or Santorum supporter just because I oppose Obama's re-election).

To the best of my recollection, I believe that Alphanguy was the only liberal here who has ever said that racism is not what motivates all of Obama's opponents. My apologies if I left out somebody else who actually said that.

Edited March 21, 2012 by Max

[alphanguy74]

I think some is racism, some is ignorance, some is fear. Some is honest opposition of policy. I can tell you that I was working temporarily at an grocery store with all white employees (At the time of his election), and the discussions I overheard at the lunch table about Obama was quite telling. And lots of it wasn't overt "I don't want this black guy in the white house"... it was more like "Black people are ok... but running the country is too big a job for someone like that". Conservatives come in every stripe, and you may not run into the racial element in your corner of the world, therefore..it may skew your opinion as to what opinions conservatives by and large hold. And by the same token, a little town in the northwest corner of the ozarks is probably skewing MY opinion, and what I'm hearing. When you go deeper into the ozarks, the racism is much more overt. There is so much trailer trash here and all around it astounds me. Because I've grown up in a community of farmers, who are very religious, and YES... some are racist to a degree, but not trashy, cigarette smokin, beer drinkin, wife beatin traler trash. It saddens me to see that element has taken over so much of rural america.

[Scotty]

I am from the south as well and I can agree and attest to much of what you are saying. It is much the same where I live, with one person living on another street until recently still proudly flying his Confederate flag in the front yard and rednecks and junk filled yards all over town. I don't know if these types of people are really stupid, or just ignorant....or perhaps they are both.

The county seat here, which is just a few miles down the road from my hometown was the sight of a hanging of a black man almost 100 years ago on the public square on trumped up charges, and I fear that some of those old feelings and attitudes still exist down here.

And I think that much the same can be said about women across the rural south. I know that back when Hillary was running for President that, despite the fact that she carried my state in the primary, I remember hearing from people who said that if she was elected to the White House that they were moving to Canada because they didn't want a woman president.

[alphanguy74]

And when we had the gay marriage ban on the ballot back in 2004, I looked at the election results county by county. St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jackson county (St. Louis and Kansas City) defeated it handily. the county where I live, which has a university, also defeated it, but just barely (like 53-47 percent). I looked at the counties WAY down in the middle of the ozarks, Shannon, Ripley, and Carter counties... those counties passed that gay marriage ban by like 93 PERCENT. And look at this, and you see what we're dealing with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuI2LEKHGiQ

[Scotty]

Greetings from the Great State of Mississippi (hard to keep a straight face while saying that)....when I was growing up people here in Kentucky used to say "Thank God for Mississippi," because at the time they were the only state that ranked below us in education. Fortunately we have since moved on up the list (31st according to this site), while they are still dead last.

Also, it seems fitting that several people they talked to on that video were interviewed in front of a WalMart parking lot...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/01/21/america-s-smartest-kids.html#slide52

[alphanguy74]

Wer'e at number 18!!! Think it's coincidence the most conservative state in the union is dead last, and the most liberal state is number one?

[Scotty]

And this article is from 2006, but it really fits in with what you were saying...

http://www.salon.com/2006/08/01/mississippi_7/

[Scotty]

Of course it's not a coincidence.

But it does reinforce what I already knew.

Something else that is sad is just how conservative my town and county are. Almost every single local office here is held by Republicans, has been for years and years, and likely will continue to be until hell freezes over. Just makes me sick.

I tell you, you just can't make this stuff up, lol:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/mississippi_rep_wants_the_gulf_of_mexico_renamed_t.php

[Scotty]

That same year, Kentucky had a similar proposed ban on the ballot. As you can see by scrolling through the county by county results, that highest percentage of "yes" votes was 94% in one county, with the lowest "yes" percentage being 57%....which was in Fayette County, which contains the state's second largest city of Lexington. In Jefferson County, which has Louisville (the largest city), it was 60%.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004//pages/results/states/KY/I/01/county.000.html

The ban passed statewide 76%-24%. In my county it was 85-15.

I voted against it because, even though I not gay myself, I saw so reason why they shouldn't be able to get married like everyone else. Those people who argue about the sanctity of marriage obviously have not noticed that divorce rates are nearing an all-time high and that more and more people are cheating on their spouses and living together out of wedlock. And all of that hasn't already tarnished the institution of marriage? Crazy.

But the numbers here locally didn't surprise me. There was a similar dust-up a few miles down the road from me in the county seat here when people voted on serving alcohol in restaurants that seated more than 100 people and made like 70% of their total revenue from food. I don't drink, but it is better for someone to have a beer with dinner in their own town than driving 30-60 miles or more to do it and then driving back. Plus, it would help the local economy. But some churches were playing big prayer meetings around the courthouse square and one pastor claimed that God told him that if he got 500 people together to pray that the measure would not pass. Needless to say, you can buy a beer now there when you go out to eat.