Posted on 03/23/2009 8:14:37 AM PDT by ikeonic
What follows is a slightly edited version of an email I sent to a a couple of close friends back in January 2008 about Mike Huckabee as an example of the GOP's rise in the New South. I didn't have a blog back then and I found it again while cleaning out my email today. I think this post still rings just as true today as Southern Governors like Bobby Jindal and Mark Sanford rise to prominence as leaders of the GOP.
The GOP's complete reconstruction of the New South
By Ikeonic
Remember Bush 41 smearing Bill Clinton as "the failed governor of a small, Southern state?"
I had just turned 18 when I heard those words and it really ticked me off. The year was 1992. At the time, I was a lifelong resident of an adjacent small Southern state that many outsiders still consider a failure. I considered the Bush team's tagline to be quite insulting to residents of small states, Southern states and especially those dastardly small, Southern states. There were many reasons (and still are) to dislike Bill Clinton. I didn't think ostracizing him because he presided over a small, Southern state was a very wise political strategy.
Fast forward 16 years and we have yet another Arkansas governor from Hope vying for the White House. Like Clinton, he carries the message of hope and has a folksy charm that connects with Heartland voters. Like Clinton, he also shows off his musical talent and even has his own band. Like Clinton, he also had humble origins and meager resources.
Unlike Clinton, he talks about Ronald Reagan, the fair tax, faith and his conservative philosophy. Unlike Clinton, Huck shed his spare tire and now runs marathons. Unlike Clinton, he is a former preacher and remains faithful to his wife. Unlike Clinton, Huck actually grew up in Hope and didn't move away at 4 years old and never return. He not only graduated from Hope High, he was the president of the student council. To top it all, Huck came to power because Clinton's successor was forced to resign as governor because of the Whitewater scandal.
Huckabee may sound like a hick, redneck name, but his conservative convictions are for real and he represents the face of the GOP in the New South. Huckabee became governor in the mid 90s, as the South experienced a sea change that swept the GOP into power in state after state across Dixie. History was made in 2003 when the GOP won the governorship in every Deep South state except Louisiana. In 2007, Louisiana corrected that mistake and elected Bobby Jindal, America's first Indian-American governor. The Solid South was always conservative, but now it is solid Republican territory. This was unimaginable 30 years ago, still not quite believable 16 years ago.
I did not originally support Huckabee for President. My first preference was Rudy Giuliani. I still like Rudy but it's hard to see Rudy doing well in the South and Midwest or ever getting the support of evangelicals and social conservatives. Huckabee may have the opposite problem and have trouble on the two coasts. Rudy has his issues, but is a great leader and I hope he serves his country in some capacity, win or lose.
Obama is clearly the best choice for Democrats and it's his race to lose. He'll have to make a serious blunder or let the Clinton machine destroy him in order to lose the nomination. The media will fawn all over a viable African American candidate. I have to wonder if they will even notice that Huckabee would represent a historic first as well: with the exception of Texas (it's like a whole other country), the GOP has NEVER nominated a candidate from the South.
One hundred and fifty years after the conclusion of the Civil War, the South has come full circle and learned to embrace the very party that was once despised and purged from the voting booth using terrorism. The Deep South still has many problems as the whole world saw when New Orleans' wounds were opened raw by Katrina's wrath.
Jindal's election in 2007 was in large part due to the failure of his Democratic predecessor, Kathleen Blanco. Blanco's stock sunk so low after Katrina that she declined to run for re-election. Outside Louisiana, many blamed Dubya. Inside Louisiana, where locals know the real story, Blanco rightly took most of the blame for the failure of local government to provide a competent disaster response.
Successes in the New South are slow in coming and easy for an outsider to overlook. You can't correct nearly 150 years of Democrat mismanagement overnight. Progress is being made, in large part because of people like Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee. Those small, Southern states are now a force to be reckoned with and the heart of the GOP. As Fred Thompson (yet another Southern Republican) likes to say, the rise of the New GOP South may be "the greatest story never told".
I'm proud to have grown up across town from the GOP's boy wonder, Bobby Jindal, and grateful for the changes he and his predecessor, Mike Foster -- the man who put Jindal in charge of the state's hospitals and universities, have brought to Baton Rouge. The word Republican is synonymous with reform in Louisiana. Thanks to Jindal, folks in Baton Rouge have something to be proud of other than LSU football and the best cuisine and culture in the country. Geaux Bobby Geaux!
Ikeonic, is a Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican, a Catholic conservative and has no tolerance for fair weather Susan Eisenhower Republicans. Read more at modernconservative.com
Huckabee helped get Juan McCain nominated. I somewhat like him but I think he helped Juan beat Fred and Mitt.
Sanford may be the real conservative.
Agreed, but Sanford is not as Conservative as we would have wanted. I am pleased to say, however, that this article is true. For the first time since reconstruction, TN went completely red...picking up both houses. The GOP is gaining momentum here, but it will take time and good leadership to maintain a permanent foothold in the South.
Agreed, but Sanford is not as Conservative as we would have wanted. I am pleased to say, however, that this article is true. For the first time since reconstruction, TN went completely red...picking up both houses. The GOP is gaining momentum here, but it will take time and good leadership to maintain a permanent foothold in the South.
Sanford is fine. He flirted with the warmer nonsense, which I do NOT like at all, but most of the people saying he ‘isn’t conservative enough’ are actually agitating for a liberal trojan horse named Mitt Romney.
It’s funny because I think Thompson got in to help McCain win.
New York 54,555 sq mi
Pennsylvania 46,055 sq mi
Georgia 59,425 sq mi
Arkansas 53,179 sq mi
Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River! The Mercator projection that everyone is first exposed to in primary school gives a false perception of actual size and, I believe, actual importance to the puny little New England and Mid-Atlantic states above the MDL.
Amen! I would put Sanford’s conservative record up any day against Mitt Romney. That’s not even a contest folks.
Michigan and Wisconsin might beg to differ. 97,990 and 65,498 square miles, respectively.
Virginia was the biggest state east of the Mississippi River until the western counties were detached in the 1860s.
If you just count land area, Michigan’s territory is 56,804 square miles and Wisconsin’s is 54,310...Georgia’s is 57,906.
This is humorous, but in politics, small and large state has almost always referred to population, not area. Clearly that's what the founding fathers meant by large vs. small states. Otherwise, Alaska would currently be the most powerful state in the country instead of having 3 electoral votes and the GOP would outnumber Democrats in Congress by 2 to 1 since most of the liberal states are much smaller in area than the GOP Heartland states in the Plains, Rocky Mtns, and South.
Yup. Other than a great speech at CPAC after he pulled out of the race, Romney has zero credibility and believability as a conservative.
Huck's 2008 campaign was significant for one reason and one reason only.. with very little in the way of money or resources, he surged and performed much better than anyone expected. Romney did the opposite.
We need candidates who generate that kind of positive momentum that snowballs into an avalanche in the polls. The less known they are to the mainstream media, the better... they just better be prepared to defend themselves with their mouths and not look like a moose in the headlights when interviewed by Couric and Gibson.
I did only mention the inflated importance of New England and the Mid-Atlantic States above the Mason-Dixon Line.
Everyone knows the grand majesty of the Great Lakes states!
bttt
Well, I do agree that small population states deserve greater representation. The founding fathers were wise to give the small states a greater voice. California and New York should not rule the roost any more than Texas and Florida should. The US Senate was always meant to be the true center of power in Washington, D.C. so that all states had an equal say in the nation's affairs. When the President exceeds his Constitutional authority and upsets the checks and balances, it is small states that lose the most.
I had just turned 18 when I heard those words and it really ticked me off. The year was 1992. At the time, I was a lifelong resident of an adjacent small Southern state that many outsiders still consider a failure."
This makes you and I the same exact age, and I also live in an adjacent state, and I can tell you that Bush, Sr's quote WAS dead on the money. Bubba was a failed Governor of a small Southern (and VERY corrupt) state. And for the record, Huckster was a terrible Governor, too. It's going to take years to repair the damage he inflicted to the state GOP (contrast that with the growth in the other Southern states during the time he was Governor).
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