Posted on 11/16/2005 5:35:26 PM PST by WinOne4TheGipper
One can't help but laugh at this DUmmie, who gets so close to the truth about his party, but unfortunately spread4s myths about the South in the process... ........................................................
Sapphocrat (1000+ posts) Wed Nov-16-05 07:29 PM Original message Need feedback on different approach to winning back the South In a recent thread on how to reach Southern voters (which didn't get locked! gasp!), there was an almost off-the-cuff remark (sorry, poster, I can't remember who wrote it) that finally struck a nerve with me -- in a good way. I'll never claim I understand Southerners (or even Midwesterners) -- I'm just one of those native Californians spoiled rotten by the luxury of growing up in the most liberal area west of the Rockies.
The point that hit me was: You can't tell Southerners to do anything. Initially, I thought, yeah, but that applies to just about everyone... until I realized that I myself have been willing to hold my nose and vote for Democratic candidates I really didn't like. So maybe there is something to the idea that some folks are more stubborn than I am when it comes to being told what to do...
Another poster took the idea further and wrote that s/he knows folks who, if you try to tell them what to do, will vote Repuke just out of spite. I'm not so sure how fair a remark that is, but again, what do I really understand about Southerners? I don't -- which is why I pay a lot of attention to all the "Southern" threads, especially those started by Southerners.
It was the "spite" post that really hit me. I can't imagine voting for a Repuke just because I was sick of the Dems telling me I must vote Dem. But I guess some people will cut off their noses to spite their faces.
So far, we've been trying to convince potential swing voters (generally socially conservative / low-income / rural voters) that the whole "God, guns, and gays" tack of the RW is bullshit. How do you make them understand that by voting for Repukes, they're really voting against their own best interests?
I don't think we can. Or, if we can, nobody's found the right approach yet. We know that, say, the economically-disadvantaged are getting a royal screwing from *Co. -- but we haven't found a way to make them understand it... or even admit they understand it.
IOW, what we're doing isn't working.
I let all this sink into my brain for a while. What I kept coming back to was this: If there was any truth to the "spite" post, I thought, maybe there's a way to use it to our advantage.
And suddenly, I was struck by an idea for reaching Southerners. Not all Southerners, of course (no broad brush from me!), but those who are stilled pissed off about the Civil War, who don't see anything wrong with flying the Confederate flag...
So I did what I do best these days -- I created a batch of bumper stickers in my Cafepress shop. Big deal, you say. But this time, I did something a lot different: I prefaced the section of stickers with an entire essay on the subject, explaining the problem as I see it, and the thinking behind these stickers.
I'd like feedback -- especially from Southern DUers. Am I out to lunch on this thing, or do you think I have the seed of a good idea here?
The thing is, nothing we (Democrats) have done so far to win back a region that should be ours has worked. And maybe appealing to the "Johnny Rebs" won't convince any hardcore, church-going, homo-hating Repug voter to flip their vote for the right reasons -- but even a vote for all the wrong reasons is still a vote for us.
Here's my essay (stickers are at the end):
http://www.cafepress.com/lavenderliberal/982394
I'm a southerner and I'm totally, totally transformed by the argument.....
/NOT!
"Republicans destroyed the south in 65, don't vote for them now"
Oh yeah attacking the civil rights supporters will go over real nice.
Breathtaking!
I just don't know what to think.
Although I do notice the usual DUmmie elitist attitude is still alive and well at the DUmp.
How rediculous, thanks for pointing this out. It is good to see what the demowhacks are up to from time to time.
Uh, it was southern Democrats who supported segregation. Senator Byrd of West Virgina was a member of the KKK, and Gov Wallace of Alabama ran as a Democrat in the 1972 presidential primaries.
Well obviously.
Giving my guns up to the state, under the assumption that it can and will protect me when I need it to is in my best interest? Huh, could've fooled me.
And nothing's funnier than Dems picking up and lovingly hugging things that they spent the last few decades wiping their rears with (the Southern Battle Flag, the Constitution, the military).
"Vote for us, you backwards, slack-jawed, inbred, knuckle-dragging fascists!"
Oh, and that last line from me is free for DUmmie use. It's a much more honest and true statement about how you really view Southerners. Since you seem to be big fans of honesty and truth all of the sudden.
Mostly spinning of the lib agenda. "Living wage" when they really mean "confiscate from the successful". One realizes that there really isn't that much Lincoln hatred. One thinks that Dems create good economies and once people "feel comfortable", they vote Republican. That explains a "Draft Carter in 2008" (yes, Jimmy "malaise" Carter) thread I saw yesterday. As someone else on another board said, "That kind of stupid should hurt".
You just have to see this. LOL
helpless.
I read the thread, expecting to see Sapphocrat gettin' flamed for her idea of going after the racist vote.
What a surprise. Only one person went as far as saying the bumper stickers were "ineffective".
The thread devolved into a bunch of posts attempting to explain the psychology of the South. It's like they were trying to figure out how to communicate with an alien species.
Maybe we don't have to fret about 2006 after all. Carry on, DUmmies...
With a name like Sapphocrat, I doubt it's a 'he'. ;D
Yikes. Sorry for the mistake.
I took it to mean 1865...
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