Rebel flag flap shows media failure

Madison.com ^ | 4 Nov 2003 | John Nichols

[Arkinsaw]

If you want to understand just about everything that is wrong with the way American politics is practiced these days - and especially with the malpractice of the media - consider the absurd controversy about Howard Dean's comment that "I want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

For years, Democrats have been talking about how to reclaim "the Bubba vote." That's a reference to white working-class men who, among other things, attach Confederate flag stickers to the back windows of their pickup trucks. The flags are usually situated next to the image of a little Calvin urinating on another brand of truck.

Perhaps Dean would have been better off if he'd said, "I want to be the candidate for Chevy drivers who are amused by the idea of taking a leak on Fords." But that would have started a whole different conversation. So he used a conventional shorthand in the political world.

To hear his opponents and much of the media tell it, however, he might as well have said he wanted to be Strom Thurmond's running mate on the Dixiecrat ticket. Richard Gephardt claimed Dean was reaching out to voters "who disagree with us on bedrock Democratic values like civil rights." Joe Lieberman labeled it "irresponsible and reckless." John Kerry said Dean was attempting to "pander to lovers of the Confederate flag." Wesley Clark said all candidates should "condemn the divisiveness the Confederate flag represents." And John Edwards, who made a big deal about going after the Bubba vote early in his campaign, grumbled that "to assume that Southerners who drive trucks would embrace this symbol is offensive."

Edwards, who represents North Carolina in the Senate, might want to get back to the South one of these days and take a look in some parking lots. Southerners who drive trucks do embrace this symbol, as do a lot of rural northerners with pickup trucks.

Neither Edwards nor any of the other candidates really believes that Dean - who is usually accused of being too much of a New England liberal to appeal to Southerners - is a Confederate flag-waving racist. They're just trying to create that impression. In doing so, they are being ridiculously cynical. And, of course, much of the media is aiding the initiative.

What isn't being reported is this reality: Every single presidential candidate who is now expressing concern about Dean's remark has sat in meetings where political operatives, pollsters and consultants have discussed strategies for winning the votes of white working-class males. These voters, whose economic interests would be at least somewhat better served by Democratic policies but who tend to vote Republican for social and cultural reasons, have fueled the rise of the GOP in recent years. And Democrats are obsessed with figuring out how to reach them.

So why has the Dean comment proved to be so controversial? Good question. It has something to do with the desperation of the other candidates, who have had a hard time keeping up with the former Vermont governor's fund-raising juggernaut and highly effective grass-roots campaign. But, in truth, it has a lot more to do with the media.

Too many political reporters practice stenography to power. They simply take down what candidates have to say. This week, the other candidates are trying to paint Dean as the reincarnation of Jefferson Davis, and the media are dutifully reporting it.

More responsible and engaged media would stop to ask the deeper questions: Why do so many white working-class males vote against their own economic interests? Is it because they are racists who really do embrace the Confederacy's legacy? Is it because the Democratic Party has so abandoned populist economic messages that even voters in what were once traditional Democratic constituencies have lost faith in the party and its candidates? The answers to these questions are complicated; but they are at the core of any serious examination of our politics.

Unfortunately, most politicians are unwilling to engage in real discussions about race and economics, let alone the complex zones in which they intersect. And as the current controversy illustrates, most political reporters have lost the inclination, and perhaps even the ability, to demand better of the politicians.

[Eaker]

It would have been more appropriate if Kerry had been shooting peasants.

LOL!!!!

We shoot back

[Arkinsaw]

So now we have General "Lightspeed" Clark vs Howard "Stars 'n Bars" Dean vs "Deeply Saddened" Tommy Daschle.

You remember that big cigarett butt following Bush around? Just wait, it won't be long before someone starts following Dean around with a band cranking out "Dixie" at his campaign stops. LOL, can't wait.

Surely his opponents are smart enough to do that one.....well, maybe not.

[GeronL]

The Democrat Party seems to be imploding and I don't know if they can stop it. They'd lose their base and they won't gain anything if they tried to pull this thing back toward sanity.

[wardaddy]

I woulda pegged you as armed bourgiosie.

[tet68]

The author is so so lost, just like the party he belongs to.

Just try to figure out this little gem.

: Why do so many white working-class males vote against their own economic interests?

Voting democrat is in their economic interest?
Higher taxes are in their economic interest?
Re-educating their children into socialist robots is in their interest?

As Zell said, they didn't leave the party, it did a left turn and left them to discover how they had been used and abused since FDR.

The whole flag thing, most of these so-called "white working class" males work with "black working class" males,
they know their families and their histories, the political
"elite" of the democrat party doesn't have a clue about how
they think OR feel.............but one thing they don't like is being lied to.

Noticed on the xpressway now more flag signs saying "Sonny Lied". They wouldn't take it from Barnes and they won't take it from Purdue.

The "Elite" just don't get that the south was and is a part of the United States of America and isn't about to deny it's history or it's heritage to appease some sniveling socialists.

[Arkinsaw]

They also forget......... most of those same Rednecks are also NRA members, sportsmen, and far more intelligent than Democrats give them credit for.

I'm a software engineer, I know that there are 4 or 5 others at my building who have a Confederate flag of some sort on their vehicle. I'm the only one who has a Civil War interest at all. The other guys just have it because it indicates a sort of individual rebellious nature that they want to portray. They are all high paid engineers who like to hunt, fish, and ride ATV's. I am the only one with a real interest in politics. I am certain that they are not racists.

In other words, 4 out of 5 have no real interest in the Confederate flag as a political or historical symbol in any way. But hey, the Democrats insulted them anyway. I love it.

[Eaker]

Granny borrowed my teeth to go down to the Luby's Early Bird, but when she gets back yer gettin' a talkin' too!!

[wardaddy]

lol

[humblegunner]

Hell, I would have to kick my own ass and then invite Humble; Curmudgeon, El Roy and Flyer to kick it too.

Don't worry, pard. I'd kick your ass just for the sport of it.

[Arkinsaw]

you would have been hardpressed not to have found the Dem incumbent in some sort of hunting or shooting gear(NRA endorsed him).

We had a 60 year old liberal female Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor a few years ago. Her campaign commercial consisted of her stepping into frame and jacking a big old shotgun. Never seen anything so stupid in my life. She lost to quiet and dignified Republican Win Rockefeller.

[CFC__VRWC]

Pheasant hunting has an elite air to it, especially for folks who don't live in pheasant country.
Somehow, the word "elite" doesn't come to mind when looking at this display of hunting prowess.

We ripped this one up pretty good when it first came out - the consensus was that Frenchy looked like he needed to take a dump and forgot to unbuckle his pants.

[Chapita]

I'd bet that the birds would have preferred someone to be armed with an assault rifle rather than a shotgun!

[Eaker]

He doesn't look like he could hit a lawyer hiding behind a skinny tree!!!

[wardaddy]

Note the foregrip...the gun is not "palmed" properly for wingshooting.

My elite remark is because here in Nashville where we have no indig pheasants, the only folks I know who go north to hunt as such are moneyed....shame, it's about gotten that way with duck hunting as well.

What is that orange crap he has on?

[CFC__VRWC]

Substitute "watermelon" and "fried chicken" for "pickup truck" and "Rebel flag" and apply it to blacks instead of white Southerners, and the crowds at these debates would have run these guys out of the arena, found a tall tree and a piece of rope, and strung 'em up. And the media would have cheered the crowd on.

Nope, no double standard here.

[CFC__VRWC]

My elite remark is because here in Nashville where we have no indig pheasants, the only folks I know who go north to hunt as such are moneyed....shame, it's about gotten that way with duck hunting as well.

I hear you - I was just having a little fun at Frenchy's expense. He makes it so easy. :)

BTW, take a look at the dog in the photo.

[Eaker]

Looks like his feline retriever is beating feet the other direction!!!

[humblegunner]

Shhh.. be very very quiet!

[wardaddy]

Good Dog!!

or he is working birds away from Kerry and Kerry is simply posing.
...or the dog is with "us".

..probably the latter.

[CFC__VRWC]

Isn't that just great? What's even funnier is the ignorance the media shows in thinking that picture would be taken as "real." They must have thought they finally had the Kerry pic that would make all the soccer moms forget about Bush in that flight suit.