The South may have inched toward Democrats in November, but that progress isn’t showing in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet selections. Obama hasn’t nominated a single Southerner among his 15 Cabinet secretaries. So far, Obama’s only pick from the region is a borderline Southerner in a relatively low-profile position: former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk for U.S. trade representative.
The disparity isn’t an accident — critics already are calling it a snub — and that perception could slow the pace of recent electoral gains Democrats have made below the Mason-Dixon line.
“Southerners need not apply,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga. “It’s hard to believe that there wasn’t anybody qualified for something from the South.”
Watch this video of Jack Kingston:
Finding qualified southerners must be harder than anyone thought if this is the kind of clown they are choosing to send to Congress.
(via)
robertdsc
I honestly don’t understand how or even why people would keep tabs on this kind of thing.
JL
Kingston was again on the local news spewing his "why not pick southerners crap".
Sasha
Well Jack, it’s hard to believe there aren’t any qualified Jews either. Get over it.
Fencedude
Instead of Flag Lapel Pins, all government employees should wear flag armbands.
JL
Maybe the next time they could send out Westmoreland to whine. I hope that he practices the ten commandments beforehand though.
DougJ
It’s really not that hard to believe. There’s a lot of things I like about the south — the food, the music, the hospitality. But everyone there is a fucking Republican, so why would a Democratic president pick them?
donovong
Jesus fucking christ. The only way he could satisy every fucking klan, geographic area, ethnic group, special interest group,cabal, tribe and teh gays is if his cabinet and staff totaled 15,000 people.
Fencedude
@Sasha:
Rahm Emanuel begs to differ.
DougJ
Isn’t Summers jewish?
Snail Darter
Maybe Obama will create a White House slot for Court Jester and appoint Mr. Minutia to it. He could dance around and play the Kazoo and make everyone smile . Much like this video did for me.
demimondian
@DougJ: What about the African American population down there? What are they, chopped liver?
bago
Can I buy some stock in some fainting couches?
4tehlulz
So the GOP is pro-affirmative action now?
Perry Como
This is a red on the neck!
DougJ
Where’s Holder from?
Tonal Crow
@4tehlulz:
Orcs have feelings too, you know.
eric
this is the best these guys have right now???? add palin as superstar, mix in incompetent leadership and Obama looks like he is ready to steamroll these effers. The only saving grace for the repub buffons is that the media is bought and paid for.
demimondian
@DougJ: The Bronx
Snail Darter
@DougJ:
He’s from the Bronx, or the belly of the Lieburl beast.
Halteclere
The problem with the south is that
A) everyone from here still has a chip on their shoulder 150 years old, and
B) the South isn’t – except for a few enclaves in the big cities which were overrun by northern transplants – a hotbed of progressive, forward thinking that embraces the future.
partisan
Fuck the South.
The next five years, at least, in this country will consist of trying to shovel out from the hideous mess that the Gingrich-DeLay-Bush-Frist GOP have created.
We depend on the South for agricultural products. Bad enough that we called off Reconstruction 100 years too early; it was a catastrophic, deplorable accident for ideas and people from the South to have come to actually run the country for a decade.
Let’s never repeat that mistake again.
djork
NYC. He’s a damn yankee.
Tonal Crow
And, of course, Washington has been saturated with Southerners for pretty much the last 30 years….
RandyH
Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is from Alabama and has the twangy accent to prove it. Maybe he’s not a high-level cabinet position, but he will be the daily face and voice of the administration. So maybe these southerners ought to just STFU or consider voting democratic in the future.
demimondian
@RandyH: Umm…dude.
North Carolina.
Virginia.
Of course, the real reason this concern troll wants Southern appointments is so that Republican governors can make replacement appts. But I guess we can ignore that, amirite?
Snail Darter
@RandyH:
Yes, but Gibbs is not a real American that Kingfisher was talking about. He is an avowed Obammunist with a pointy head and chocked full of shady minutia.
calipygian
Maybe they could send this guy to the cabinet
If that ain’t some bizarre shit, I don’t know what it.
RandyH
@demimondian:
Umm… dude.
Robert Gibbs was born and raised in Alabama. He went to college in North Carolina. Maybe he now lives in Virginia.
Whatever.
JL
This is one of my favorite comments..
. My goodness, Kirk is only a borderline Southerner. Lisa Jackson doesn’t count either because although she was born and raised in New Orleans, she moved away. How dare she move from the south.
MobiusKlein
What about Hillary? She lived in the South for a long time after all.
The Moar You Know
I must confess an ugly secret. I was born in the South. Alabama.
I’ve lived in California since I was three, but I was born in the South and in fact, my entire family is from the South.
So I can say without any hesitation that this:
Isn’t hard to believe at all. And in fact, if Obama is deliberately excluding Southerners from his Cabinet – all I can say is more power to him. The South is a great place to find blustering, unserious assholes, like Mr. Kingston. It’s a great place to find serial sexual harassers, like Bill Clinton. It’s the first place to look if you’re looking to find someone to bribe – William Jefferson being a fine example. It’s a wonderful place to find demagogues of all stripes. It’s a fine place to find fascists. It’s the best place on earth to find anti-science ignorant idiots who couldn’t finish the eighth grade in a non-Southern high school (except for a few in Huntsville at the Space Flight Center).
The South is a wonderful place to find all these kinds of people, but it is the very last place on Earth I would look to to find sober, serious statesmen who are interested in the success of government and the overall health of the nation.
Tymannosourus
I think we all have to come to grips with the fact that the South always has been, and always will be antithetical to what most of the people on this blog believe in.
This will not change.
demimondian
@RandyH: Um..dude.
The south should "vote democratic or STFU", right? What about Viriginia and North Carolina?
JL
Obama should appoint Jimmy Carter as a Peace envoy to the middle east. He’s a southerner.
Jon H
"Well Jack, it’s hard to believe there aren’t any qualified Jews either."
Peter Orszag. His position is cabinet-level.
At the White House, on the other hand, you won’t be able to swing a cat without hitting a Jewish person.
demimondian
@JL: Yeah.
Or there’s this guy…Clintoon? Bubba? Sompin’ like that…you know, big guy, Arkansawyer, can’t keep his pants zipped?
Used to be…dunno…president? Didn’t they like appoint his wife to some position?
And this fellow, Gore, from Tennessee? Didn’t he publicly turn down a role in the new government?
Yeah.
Fencedude
@demimondian:
But they don’t count, obviously. They’re Democrats, and thus not "real" southerners.
Rick Taylor
As much as it’s entertaining to hear a Republican bemoan the lack of diversity in Obama’s administration and call for a sort of affirmative action, I’m not into bashing southerners; I’m sure there are plenty who’d be great in his administration. Besides, my favorite political commentator of all time, a secular saint as far as I’m concerned, Molly Ivins, may she rest in peace, was every inch a Texan.
Radon Chong
He didn’t pick anyone from the Pacific Northwest for his cabinet either. Speaking as an Oregonian, "WAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAH! We want a cabinet position! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Tymannosourus
Where’s James Carville in all of this?
I could talk to that guy for hours.
RSA
Here’s a funny thing: Google tells me that the phrase "borderline Southerner" only appears in this specific context of Obama’s pick. Notably, over the past eight years George W. Bush has never been referred to as a borderline Southerner, despite being from the same state of Texas. Not that there are double standards for Southern-ness being applied here…
JL
@RSA: Bush will now be known as a born again borderline southerner. babs. Not to be confused with born again fiscally conservative repubs. bafcr.
Sean
Sweet mother of god I hate fucking republicans, and I am soooo happy that Eric Cantor and Jack Kingston are their rising fucking starts.
Two of the whiniest bitches ever.
Leo
Fixed.
Disproportionate political influence is a Southerner’s God given right, don’t you know.
Jennifer
Knock off the south-bashing. Yes, there are plenty of troglodytes here, but there are also plenty of smart people. The issue, of course, is that the troglodytes outnumber the smart people and elect other troglodytes (read: Republicans) to public office, and if you tap one of the few elected non-troglodytes to a cabinet position, a troglodyte will be the one appointing a troglodyte replacement.
Not to mention that the troglodytes the south has sent to Washington over the past 20 – 30 years have completely fucked everything up beyond all recognition. This, however, was not because they were Southerners, but because they were troglodytes. Other regions of the country have sent plenty of their own, who helped completely fuck up everything beyond all recognition.
JL
@Sean: Don’t forget "I don’t know the ten commandments that I want posted" Westmoreland. He’s another proud GA native.
John Cole
I may be alone in this, but I really don’t think of Texas as the “south.” I think of it as Texas, because it really is completely different depending where you are in the state.
When I think of the south, I think of Alabama, SC, GA, MI, MO, KY, etc.
r€nato
I’ve seen Jack repeatedly in the media – CNN, Bill Maher, MSNBC, etc.
He is one smarmy sack of shit. He pukes forth some of the most vile GOP talking points in a really folksy, down-home manner with a sleazy grin on his face the whole time.
Anyway, I’m taking off for the night but I thought I would leave you all with a little local color from last month’s election:
GOP legislator charged in fight over campaign sign with 78 year old woman
Litlebritdifrnt
OT – but if anyone wants even the teeniest inkling as to how utterly and completely stupid our government is please look at this:
https://s044a90.ssa.gov/apps6z/FOLO/fo001.jsp
I needed to use teh googles to find the local Social Security Office so my step-daughter could get a new SS card (long story don’t ask, not in the mood for telling I will stick with cats). Anyhoo…., so I gets to this page and as I scrolled down I see (as you will)
hyperlinked "Special Instructions for Users Who are Blind"
I am now going to dial the 1-800 number to see if the voice options include "if you are deaf press 3"
GSD
When Obama creates a Secretary of Segregation we’ll give your cracker asses a call.
Fuck off Jack-off.
-GSD
CD
JL@46: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Kingston was the guy who couldn’t name the Commandments when interviewed on the Stephen Colbert show…
DougJ
I live upstate so that counts as the south to me.
Singularity
Fuck the South. They didn’t vote for us anyway.
JL
@John Cole: True, Texans do not think themselves as Southerners. The only time that it was included as a Southern state was when George W Bush ran for President. It was kinda like the Supreme Court decision that decided his presidency. It was a one time rule.
Fencedude
@John Cole:
I’d agree, along with Florida, which gets less southern the further…south you go.
Litlebritdifrnt
PS) clicking on the link gives you a wonderful page full of written instructions……
John Cole
@DougJ: And to folks from NYC, anything north of Yonkers is “upstate.”
JL
@CD: It’s hard to keep all the whacko GA repubs straight. It was Westmoreland. I’m fortunate to live in Tom Price’s district because although he is an ass, he’s no Westmoreland or Kingston.
Tymannosourus
@Jennifer:
with all due respect, the south has been on the wrong side of nearly every major issue since the start of this country. When we talk of the south, I think most of us are able to make a distinction between the south and someone from the south.
Goethe has one of my favorite quotes ever about the germans, and I think it applies here: ‘never has there been a people more estimable in the individual, and more wretched in its generality.’
Zuzu's Petals
Well, I do believe Washington D.C. – birthplace and home of UN Ambasador-to-be Susan Rice – is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Isn’t it?
Snail Darter
@John Cole:
Texas is really two states, east and west. The piney woods east part is pretty much another Alabama, and the west is like no other place I’ve been. It’s wingnuts are like Data’s bad brother Lor. A whole other kind of right wing nuttery with a mean streak. And it is where the Bible Belt becomes a Carnival of Fools IMO. Unfortunately, this has bled over into the SE quad of the otherwise Great State of Billy the Kid. Without which NM would be Massachusetts on the Rio Grande.
Shawn in ShowMe
Some feminist leaders also got beef:
Washington Post
"So far the numbers of women don’t look great," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said of Obama’s picks. "George Bush started off with this many, and Bill Clinton, at the height of his presidency, had nine out of 19."
Ellen Malcolm, president and founder of Emily’s List, said Obama "obviously started off with a bang, with Janet Napolitano, Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice." She added: "We’ve been disappointed to see women suggested for some positions and not chosen."
Perry Como
You misspelled "Bronx."
John S.
@Fencedude:
You are correct. Florida is a topsy-turvy sort of state, where the South only exists in the North. We would be a full-on Democratic stronghold were it not for the Cubans in Miami, and even their Republican tendencies are waning.
Jennifer
‘never has there been a people more estimable in the individual, and more wretched in its generality."
I’d not disagree with that sentiment, but I kinda think it applies to the entire human race.
r€nato
well… actually…
there are ways to author webpages so that the disabled can use them and I believe, IIRC, government web sites are required to meet these standards.
liberal
@John Cole:
Hmm…MI?
Zuzu's Petals
@r€nato:
I had a co-worker who was blind. His computer read things to him out loud.
liberal
@Zuzu’s Petals:
IIRC the M-D line is at the northern border of MD, so, yes.
Zuzu's Petals
@John Cole:
MO?
James Jones was born in MO.
Bio
tammanycall
@partisan: Watch it now!….My home town (New Orleans) is a gem and I’ll not hear a word against her.
As to the "Why didn’t he pick a [insert member of Democratic coalition here]?" That line of thinking is moronic. The best person for the job should get it. This is the freaking country we’re talking about, not a Benneton photo shoot.
John Cole
I think I meant MS instead of MI.
Michael D.
I took your advice. I tried, and…
I will never try anything new again.
Shawn in ShowMe
Well Lahood and Kirk certainly weren’t the best people for their respectives job based on expertise. Those look like "people who I already know and will carry out my orders" kinda picks.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Zuzu’s Petals:
does that mean they have to scroll through everything on the page to get to the one linky dink that says "for blind people click here?" It would appear to me (but then I am an idiot) that the most efficient way to deal with blind or deaf people would be to suggest that they come into the local office and be served there by either people familiar with braile or people familiar with sign language. I mean come on how hard could it be to have a hooman in each social security office trained in braile and sign language? They already have them trained in fuckwittery and douchebag, how hard could a couple more classes be?
Zuzu's Petals
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Uhm, interesting points.
Litlebritdifrnt
and before anyone says "how is the blind person supposed to get to the office" I would respond the same way they get everywhere else they need to go, they get a ride (local counties usually provide such services).
passerby
@Michael D.:
Michael, you’re using Vista IIRC? Is it possible they engineered Vista to undermine Firefox? I use WinXP-SP2 and got no problems using FF2. It’s sooo much faster that IE.
Laura W
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I can tell by your carefree and irreverent mood that your Babe is home and the orange boy stays.
Amirite?
Zuzu's Petals
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Well I guess I sort of wonder why the worker would have to be trained in braille.
demimondian
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s a lot more efficient than taking a day off from work to go downtown. Yes, it’s a clumsy solution, but there’s no elegant one that’s generally available. (Mobile tactile pads cost too much.)
demimondian
@passerby: Get past the paranoia, dude.
If FF3 went belly-up, it’s going to be due to a bug in Firefox.
Oh, and, yes, it’s probably exploitable.
Comrade Kevin
@Litlebritdifrnt: Screen reader software for the blind (such as JAWS and Home Page Reader, mentioned in the special instructions), will read out the contents of an ‘accessible’ website, pointing out the links, and the like. Government websites are required to be put together in a way that makes them easy to navigate for the blind.
Your suggestion, directing them to go down to their local office, would actually be illegal.
The Grand Panjandrum
I lived in NM for 25 years and never once met a Texan who considered themselves a southerner. Perish that thought; they are Texans. It’s a whole ‘nother country, ya know.
Litlebritdifrnt
@demimondian:
Generally people visiting the social security office do not have a job to take a day off from. Those who do would more than likely have a boat load of concessions from an employer otherwise the *cough* accommodations word would be bandied about and then all hell would break loose.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Laura W:
Haven’t broken it to him yet. I am plying him with gourmet pastries given to me by a client for Christmas and Harp beer, I may wait until about three nano seconds after he falls asleep whereupon I can then say tomorrow "but I told you ALL about it last night, I can’t believe you don’t remember" However if said orange cat pees in the bedroom again there may be no getting away from it.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Comrade Kevin:
"mentioned in the special instructions" but how do they get to the website to begin with, how do they navigate the links, how do they get to the "special instructions"?
Laura W
@Litlebritdifrnt: If I ever get me one of them there "marriage" things they are fussin’ about over in that other marathon thread (26 hours, 25 min…), I am going to be emailing you for advice 24/7.
You are one smart gourmet pastry.
Comrade Kevin
@Litlebritdifrnt: They use this thing called a "Web Browser". You’re using one right now.
There are also special web browsers for blind people; JAWS is a popular one.
Litlebritdifrnt
Oh and Cueball is beside himself, he can smell that strange cat under the bedroom door. I found him yesterday with his nose stuffed as far under the bedroom door as it would go whining fit to bust. I can see an "introduction" in my future whereby I am going to have to stick the cat’s butt into Cueball’s nose so that he is aware it is one of his. (I do that with all the newcomers) how said Orange Cat is going to handle this intrusion into his nether regions is as yet undecided.
Shalimar
In at least partial defense of southerners, Kingston is one of our biggest clowns so it isn’t really fair to judge the rest by his ridiculously moronic standard.
Fencedude
@John S.:
For serious.
Right now I’m stuck in pretty damn red Polk County, but I’d lived in Volusia County for 8 years previously.
lol Volusia.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Laura W:
Met July 14, 1990, he proposed July 28, 1990, married July 14, 1991. We have been together ever since. (lots of little things like me being in the WRNS and him USMC and the Gulf War got inbetween those dates, from meeting to marrying we spent a total of 6 weeks together). 17 years later we are happy as clams. I don’t think I am smart, I think we both chose wisely :)
demimondian
@Litlebritdifrnt: Not true. Blind people, in particular, are often covered by various disability programs, so need to make direct contact with the social security office, *particularly* is they’re employed.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Comrade Kevin:
Kevin, I am not trying to be a smart ass (I am usually not) but I perhaps am simply alien to the technology. I am very familiar with the telephone technology for deaf people (it is advertized on NC tv all the time). But I am at a loss as to how anyone who is blind even begins to access the internet to begin with. I am a dinosaur I know. But considering how easy it is for me to surf the web I cannot imagine how hard it must be for someone who is blind. I just cannot fathom a life without sight.
demimondian
@Litlebritdifrnt: And, trust me, I know the *cough* accommodations word. I’ve got a severely disabled child, and a significant medical disability. Believe me, I know all about the accommodations word. As you know if you deal with it, accommodations are limited to providing access, not to compensate for all aspects of the disability.
AnneLaurie
Maybe Obama should appoint Jimmy Carter as a Peace Envoy to the Southerners; he speaks their language as his
mamaloschenmother tongue. Since he overcame the handicaps of growing up in the heart of Plantation Patriot territory, he might be able to convince some of his bitter fReichtard cousins that clinging to their bitter 18th-century dreams is not the way to keep America strong & healthy today.Although I hope whoever referred to the Bronx as "the heart of Liebrul territory" was joking, because if you really want a place where bitter blue-collar workers cling to their guns and their religion, just take the D train. Of course there are not so many "true evangelicals" in the storefront churches along the Grand Concourse… plenty of Evangelical churches, but most of the congregants prefer Spanish, Vietnamese, or Creole when they’re not channeling the Holy Spirit, so I doubt Jack Kingston would be comfortable with them. However, my informants assure me things have not changed so much since I left my native soil 30 years ago that any attempt by al-Queda, the People’s Republic of China, or the Lizard People to overrun our proud borough would not be quickly quashed by sheer force of arms!
Comrade Kevin
@Litlebritdifrnt: I didn’t actually think you were being a smart-ass, perhaps I was a bit smart-alecky.
I am not blind myself, but I do have experience with some of the screen-reading software and web browsers, as the company I work for requires its websites meet the same accessibility standard as the government.
DougJ
Obama’s real weakness in the last election was with southern jews who couldn’t warm to his anti-Israel, Chicago-style politics. Any chance he’ll appoint a southern Jew?
Litlebritdifrnt
@demimondian:
And if they needed to visit said Social Security Office then their employer would be insane to deny them the paid time off to enable them to do so. I do not see any advisor telling an employer "hell yeah you can tell your blind employee that he cannot have a paid day off to go to the local SS office, no liability there pal, you are covered, no problem, when the Jury comes back with a million dollar award call me and I’ll tell you how surprised I am"
demimondian
@Litlebritdifrnt: Not at all. Accommodations don’t reach that far if a different mechanism can be provided.
E.g. if the website is accessible, then time off? Uh, yeah…no.
BC
There’s a group of southern congressmen – Kingston from GA (I think he has MD); Fox from NC; Blackburn from TN – that are just batshit crazy. They must all decide ahead of time what the talking points are (must go to LGF or Jonah Goldberg or someone like that to get their ammo) and they stick with them long after they’ve been debunked for the stupid they are. In the last Congress, you’d have these 3 on debate on any issue – they are multi-ignorant. Can only be worse in new congress, since there are fewer Republicans to talk in the debate.
Reverend Dennis
Speaking of the South(From Salon):
The economic Civil War
Excerpt:
The South is leading an economic race to the bottom. Southern workers aren’t the ones who will benefit, the gangs of thieves in Southern statehouses on the other hand…
J.D. Rhoades
Good idea.
Fuck Virginia and Senator Webb. Fuck Florida and its electoral votes for Obama. Fuck North Carolina and its new Democratic Senator.
Fuck whatever progress that’s been made, the progress that Southern Dems have fought for and continue to fight for, all so you can feel superior to the rednecks.
Rainy
Was Kingston suggesting himself? Good God, no! Why would Obama put a guy on his team that repeated said Obama was anti-patriotic because he didn’t wear a flag pin.
kay
@Reverend Dennis:
Southern autoworkers are going to see lower wages. The only force propping those wages up was the "transplant" automakers mortal fear of unionization.
You’re going to see "parity", all right. Lower across the board.
And lousy sales in the whole sector due to the credit crisis and the lousy economy are going to offer the market timing for the wage cuts.
I’m not sympathetic, though. I’m bitter.
OriGuy
106 comments and no one said it?
There’s nothing in the USA further south than Hawaii.
Chris
"that perception could slow the pace of recent electoral gains Democrats have made below the Mason-Dixon line."
Sorry, but democrats of the non-thurmond variety don’t thrive regardless of whether they’re appeased or not.
Obama should pick the best people for the job regardless of home region of the US. Who gives a damn what the rebel flag wavers who concern troll over this think?
The priorities of this country should not involve stroking the egos of the ignorant and vain.
Reverend Dennis
@kay:
At least one of the southern auto plants (Toyota?) has its line workers wages tied to UAW wages. Their own beloved Republicans just fucked those guys.
There’s also the huge irony that the same party that for years has fought any form of regulation for business as impeding the supreme cleverness of the American system is now micromanaging wages at the behest of the Japanese and Koreans.
kay
@Reverend Dennis:
I don’t even know where to begin with THEM and THIS.
Remember why we couldn’t rewrite predatory mortgage terms? It was three months ago.
Because of the Sanctity of The Contract. That’s in the big book of conservatism. Contracts are sacrosanct, because both sides rely on them, and that makes our economy go ’round and ’round.
Unless you’re a UAW member. Then any random cracker Senator can rewrite contract terms as a condition of a loan.
It’s the second time, too. I live in the rural rust belt. Remember "let ’em freeze in the dark" way back in the 70’s? I was just a girl, but I remember.
Screw them. As I said, I’m a smidge bitter.
Calouste
@Reverend Dennis:
Ireland gave a good go at strangling the European computer industry in the 1980s when they gave massive tax breaks to IBM, Microsoft and a host of others. But before the European Community changed into the European Union and the Common Market came into effect, countries were a lot more independent, and dare we say, anti-social.
And of course Ireland didn’t stop government subsidies in other countries while handing out there own.
Has anyone worked out yet how much in subsidies the South has given to foreign automakers over the years? From the number I have seen, 2-3 billion is the lower end of the scale.
Reverend Dennis
Don’t know how much the South has given in subsidies but I do know that they’re partially funded with our money just because every Red state gets back more from the gov than it pays in in taxes. Every one of those cracker motherfuckers going on about "bailouts" and "subsidies" should have the words turn to ashes in their mouths. We’ve been bailing out those bastards continously for decades.
Jasper
The biggest problem the South has is all the damn liberal yankees moving down here when they retire. The saying goes for those that don’t like it here, or want to change it in the northern image, "Delta is ready when you are!"
We’re proud of our region. If you just reverse the rankings and start from the bottom, we lead many categories. Divorce, obesity, school performance, school spending, educational attainment, average wages, nursing home quality (new rankings!), meth and oxycontin abuse – those are just the highlights.
And Dennis is right, we actually do lead the country in getting more in federal tax revenue than we pay. I like to think of us as the regional version of a welfare queen. Alaska does extremely well in that category too, but they could be southerners if they wanted. We’d take them, if nothing else for the hunting and fishing.
Chuck Butcher
Almost 2 years ago I had the opportunity to have a pretty good look at race relations in Columbus, GA. as a life long yankee. I am an observant sort and know how to be so without being obtrusive. What I saw convinced me that a lot of self-congratulatory northerners could learn something about how to do it.
I don’t propose that Columbus is Georgia as a whole, but it also points up the dangers of making blanket statements and assumptions based on information that is incomplete.
Voting patterns occur for a lot of reasons, not some narrow set and what is being put forward here is about a narrow set. I know a lot of people whose personal lives belie their Republican votes, there are triggers they react to and they have nothing to do with being ignorant bigoted hicks. I don’t know enough about the South in real terms to try to take apart what they’re reacting to, my experiences are rural Eastern Oregon, but it makes me wary of this stuff.
If you misidentify triggers out of laziness or prejudice or flat ignorance you don’t know how to address them. Any place you go there is a set that you cannot ever reach because the stereotypes presented here are true of them, but that isn’t a real broad group.
Michael D.
I live in the South. And while there is plenty to make fun of, I would not want to live anywhere else. With the exception of eastern Canada, I have never lived anywhere in my life where the people I meet are, in general, unfailingly friendly and helpful.
Yes, we have hics and backwards people, but on the whole, they are no worse than the stereotypical snooty New Englanders who, while they too aren’t representative of the population, are as much a reason to stay away from the north as the hics and rednecks are to avoid the south.
Try living here before judging the people. I have for ten years. When I first came here in 1999, I had the same misinformed opinions as a lot of people, The first night I got here, I assumed, incorrectly, that I could walk from the train station to my new apartment. I was stuck near a mall parking garage with no idea where I was. All I had was an address, a key to my new place, and an address. And it was 10 at night. As I walked around the parking lot, a white SUV drove by, and someone yelled “Look, a white speed bump.” I was scared.
About an hour passed when mall security drove by. Long story short, the officer, a white man in his early 50’s put my suitcase in the back of his security truck and drove me to my apartment, about 5 miles away. I don’t think it even remotely occurred to him that he would do otherwise. I find that to be fairly typical in these parts.
I get pissed at the politics, but the people are second to none.
Michael D.
Except rural Florida. Avoid that. But Florida is not really part of the South anyway. In Florida, the further south you go, the more north you get.
Comrade Napoleon
I love the fact that not one single white southerner is in the cabinet or other high position with the Obama admin (Kirk is southern, but black). F the south. I hope they get the message.
I remember after the 06 election reading that for the first time in like a zillion years no Texan was going to be in an important position in Congress. F’n great.
kay
@Michael D.:
I have lived there. I lived in Atlanta for a brief time and then North Carolina. Coastal North Carolina is beautiful. To be fair, I didn’t really LIVE there. I was early twenties and essentially a transient. I knew I wasn’t staying.
There are helpful people all over the country. I think midwesterners are genuinely helpful. Stoic and sort of grim, but they’ll stop and help when you’re in trouble.
Southerners are chatty and they ask a lot of personal questions. My favorite was "who WERE you?". I had to ask for clarification. They’re assuming a maiden name and looking for one they recognize. What’s with the fascination with last name? I spent a lot of time running through my no account forebears.
kay
"Those and other concessions would essentially erase the significant distinctions between union and nonunion auto workers, and the lack of such union worker advantages would render moot the union’s fundamental purpose, some industry analysts and labor experts said."
The southern Senators succeeded in making belonging to a union all but useless. There goes the leverage non-union autoworkers had, and down go wages and benefits
They won, and they screwed their own voters in the process.
Not that I have a lot of sympathy. I don’t.
Luddite
I get pissed at the politics, but the people are second to none.
You might want to talk to the good folks at the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have lots of data on KKK, neo Confederates, neo Nazis etc… You’re right about one thing the South is second to none when it comes to violent hate groups.
Hyperion
@Michael D.:
i don’t see much difference in the rural parts of the south, except when it’s a university in a smallish town.
and regarding the way you were treated: you are a white man. that counts for a lot. did you happen to mention that you are gay? i think things might have changed then.
i was sentenced to a year in upstate SC in the early 90s. every time i saw a trooper pullover a motorist, the trooper was white and the driver was black.
there are good and bad people everywhere. but the dominant culture in the rural south is ungood for non-whites and non-straights. not very good for women either, come to think of it.
liberal
@Michael D.:
I thought the crime rate was higher down there.
liberal
@Chuck Butcher:
Maybe not "ignorant hicks," but certainly ignorant. It’s either that, or evil (or both).
Terri
Having grown up in Atlanta, I agree with Michael.
Having lived in the hell that is Florida for 10 years, I also agree with the poster that said Florida is not the South. Not even close. And the bigotry here would put a klansmen to shame. I guess it’s just a funny coincidence that most of the people you run across in Fla, are from somewhere up North.
Mike G
There’s nothing in the USA further south than Hawaii.
There’s American Samoa, the only US territory south of the Equator. And depending on your definition, Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole.
Tim Fuller
This guy looks, sounds, and acts in exactly the same manner as Ted Haggard. Are they related?
Enjoy.
Tim Fuller
The main reason the Democrats aren’t going to put in a Southerner is that they know it drives the Southerner’s crazy so they’re gonna continue NOT letting them in. The Democrats enjoy hearing those southerners squeal about it. Payback for Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, or are the Dam Yankees just now getting even for their treatment in Deliverance?
Enjoy.