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.

[Travis McGee]

I can't hardly wait for the revolution or the SHTF or whatever's coming, just so's I can go out and KICK SOME METRO-SEXUAL A$$!

[FreedomPoster]

I'd suggest setting up the ambushes outside of tanning parlors. Ought to be a good place to find them.

[lorrainer]

Bump for Wednesday read....

[Travis McGee]

I was only kidding. The metros are just little fairy boys who have not come to grips yet with their gayness. As if I could be bothered. (Unless one goes after my 11 year old boy.)

[cavtrooper21]

Bring it on, fish-boy!!
I'll get to you as soon as I finish my latte and whole grain bagel...
You brute!
(ok, thats enough of that)
I think setting up about 300m from that tanning salon front door idea has some merit. ;^)

[Travis McGee]

Bring it on, fish-boy!!

[.45MAN]

I wonder if Kerry puts ketchup on his pheasant. But remember he's a war hero he was in viet nam. And his wife has no idea what everyday people even look like.. The whole bunch of them are really out of touch as is their party..

[Ispy4u]

It would seem unfair, but like me you probably could use an attitude adjustment.

But who the hell can do it? Let me know if you find someone that can handle the job, I havn't yet.

[FreedomPoster]

Oh, I know. Believe me, anyone making references to South Park's craaaab peeeeeple is taking this whole metrosexual phenomenon pretty tongue-in-cheek. Wait a minute, I don't think that's a metaphor I should employ here.

On a serious note, this whole metrosexual thing is just another move by the media elites to attempt to normalize aberrant homosexual behavior. If it is genetic, where are the twins studies? I suspect they don't give the answer the agenda requires.

[FreedomPoster]

>>But remember he's a war hero he was in viet nam.

My reply to that argument is "Adolph Hitler was a war hero, he fought in WWI."

While I appreciate Kerry's service in the military, that does not ensure a politician has what it takes to lead the country or even to look out for U.S. international interests from a hardheaded, Realpolitikal standpoint. You see flacks making the "he's a war hero" statement all the time, as if that's relevent to the discussion on his fitness to be President, when it's simply not.

With an Eisenhower, you had someone who had directed the activities of hundreds of thousands and who had operated at a very political level with foreign governments. His military service had substantial direct relevance to the activities of a President. You can't really say that about Kerry's, or Bush's.

Is it desireable that the President have served? Sure, of course. But it simply isn't the huge factor Kerry fans try to make it.

[.45MAN]

I agree with you.. I also think that Dean,hopefully, will slit his own throat with his comments and beliefs. He better stay away from that rebel flag issue he might end up in a snake pit..

[Vigilantcitizen]

Thanks for the ping, neighbor.

Yeah, it's comical watching this act of desperation by Dean and the other dims trying to do something to capture some Bush votes down here, when they know it's hopeless.

It's shows how much they don't know about us southerners that they'd even attempt such a charade, thinking we'd fall for such a weak attempt at pandering.

[Vigilantcitizen]

BTW...The only sticker in the back window of my truck contains the stars and stripes beside the words,"God Bless America".

[FreedomPoster]

I've got a flag on a side quarter-window, and my son's school on the back, and that's it.

Though a Calvin peeing on "Made in China" is tempting.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Though a Calvin peeing on "Made in China" is tempting."

Or a Calvin peeing on the word "liberal", or a picture of hitlery.

[js1138]

"Dixie" Dean. I like that.

[humblegunner]

Is that you?

Yep, thats me hunting the vicious west Texas feral attack deer.
Looks like I borrowed your hat!

[Travis McGee]

Hey, that's a COOOL hat!

[Travis McGee]

At least Hitler didn't pretend to throw his Iron Cross away as a publicity stunt. (While actually throwing away someone else's.)

[Ditto]

What Dean meant to say was "I want to get the vote of the southerner with the GUN RACK in the back of his pickup.

Then the other 8 dwarfs would have jumped him for being in the pocket of the NRA. The Dems PC pandering over the last 20 years has them to the point where they simply have no appeal outside of large urban areas.