For a Conservative, Life is Sweet in Sugar Land, Tex. (Free Republic mentioned)

The Washington Post ^ | Monday, April 26, 2004 | David Finkel

[kristinn]

SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby."

Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. He lives in a house that has six guns in the closets and 21 crosses in the main hallway. His wife cuts his hair with electric clippers. His three daughters aren't embarrassed when he kisses them on their cheeks. He loves his family, hamburgers and his dog. He believes in God, prays daily and goes to church weekly. He has a jumbo smoker in his back yard and a 40-foot tree he has climbed to hang Christmas lights. He has a pickup truck that he has filled with water for the Fourth of July parade, driving splashing kids around a community where Boy Scouts plant American flags in the yards. His truck is a Chevy. His beer is Bud Light. His savior is Jesus Christ. His neighbors include Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the House majority leader, who says of Sugar Land, "I think it is America."

SNIP

And now his version of the real world is a two-story house in a neighborhood of like-minded people, where he begins every day by turning on his computer.

Time for the news.

Some people get their information from the TV networks or the paper. Stein starts with the Drudge Report Web site, where he scans the headlines and clicks on one that says, "Rallying Cry For Dems: Vote Bush Out of Rove's Office." "This is the kind of stuff that pisses me off," he says. "They don't give Bush the respect he deserves. Not only because he's president, but because he's a helluva good man."

Next he goes to a Web site called WorldNetDaily.com. He clicks on an article that says, "Poll: Bush's Approval Sinking," but dismisses it as untrustworthy when he sees the poll was done by CBS. "Of course I have a suspicion of CBS," he says. "Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw -- they don't have any credibility with me."

Next he goes through a site called FreeRepublic.com, which calls itself "the premier conservative news forum," and then moves on to a site called sftt.org. "Soldiers for the Truth," he says, scrolling through another list of articles and watching a video of what the site says is a U.S. Apache helicopter targeting and obliterating three Iraqis. "Another guy moving right there," one voice on the video says, all business. "Good. Fire. Hit him," another voice says.

SNIP

[kristinn]

The Washington Post goes to Texas and hangs with conservatives like Margaret Mead once did with her studies. Funny thing is, folks like Mr. Stein are all over the country--even in The Post's backyard.

[WVNan]

I refuse to register for the WP. What was the gist of the rest of the article, Kristinn? Was it as positive as the first, or a condescending hit piece?

[petuniasevan]

And remember how Margaret Mead looked down on the Samoan "natives"? They knew it too. So they told her what she wanted to hear and that's what she wrote.

The Washington Compost editors, as most if not all liberals, have the same "ubermensch/untermensch" mentality.

Guess we are the Samoans. Let's keep the Meads of the world off-balance. Let them think what they want.

[ride the whirlwind]

Most of the time, publications like the Post want us to ignore the fact that the Mr. Stein's of the world even exist.

[tioga]

It was just an article describing life in any red area -- even to the point where he turns on the computer to read the morning news and logs onto FR. Only negative was that they implied (or flat out stated) that he gets his news from only one side. LOL, we see it all here on FR, we just all agree it's hogwash coming from the dems....LOL

[Agnes Heep]

His truck is a Chevy. His beer is Bud Light. His savior is Jesus Christ.

I guess if you're a Jew who drives a Subaru and drinks Sam Adams you can't be a conservative. And all this time I thought it had to do with a political philosophy.

[Conservababe]

For some reason this article reminds me of the Archie Bunker show. When it was introduced way back when, the writers and producer really thought it would be a parody of conservative ideology. They were amazed when the live audience cheered Archie's views. LOL

[dead]

On the third month of our observations, a previously undocumented guntotter was seen moving towards Finkel’s group. He displayed continuously, beating his chest, sucking on lit vegetation sticks, and making pro-life noises. Bucky, a young guntotter in Finkel’s group, was the first to react. He moved straight towards the unknown guntotter, followed by Dwayne (also a young guntotter). Both Bucky and Dwayne displayed vigorously towards the intruder, showing NRA cards and NASCAR tickets. Darnell, the dominant guntotter in this group, moved towards the scene of interaction but then, as often occurs in these situations, he returned to the main group for the period of the beer drinking, leaving the hard work to the younger members of the group.

After approximately one hour, the young guntotters of Finkel’s group returned to the main group, having effectively fended off the intruder with a couple of beers and directions to Shoney’s. On the day following the interaction, our trackers were able to follow the lone guntotter and take photos. After comparing these photos with those in the archives of the Harvard Research Center, it appeared that the same lone guntotter has made previous appearances at local watering holes.Our scientists are now searching the photo and nose-print records to determine the origin of this individual.

After the above interaction, Cody, a young guntotter from Finkel’s group left the group and spent two weeks with his offspring Lyle, who he sired with Jolene, a guntottress from the Buckley City group who Cody tends to ignore, occassionally getting frustrated and grunting at. This was not too unexpected, since he had done this the previous three years. Before returning to Finkel’s group, Cody had a chance encounter with another young guntotter named Clyde. They engaged in two days of activities which included excessive beer consumption while using string and bent pieces of metal to catch fish.

However, after this encounter Cody did not return to Finkel’s group. Trackers tried to trace his movements but no sign of him was seen until the end of the month, when he was observed back in Buckley City at an outdoor feeding ritual. He interacted with the group but failed to attract any of the females and left alone…

[Wheee The People]

OK what's his Freeper screen name? Fess up whoever you are...

[Esther Ruth]

"His three daughters aren't embarrassed when he kisses them on their cheeks."

This part jumped out at me. They always want to show parent and children in media and tv and despising and having such contempt for each other, more divide and conquor. Like the norm is hatred of parents. They never show families who absolutely love and adore each other and love being together.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

This character is based on me! Except I live in Arizona, drive a Ford pick-em-up and have a jumbo smoker in my FRONT yard.

Does the Washington Post have a problem with this? Hey, WP, guess which finger I'm waving in your general direction.

[tellw]

I don't think the article was quite as bad as the circa 1994 article talking about how the Congressional victory by the GOP was achieved by "angry white men" who are held under sway by evangelical church groupthink. However, the article definitely falls into the Margaret Mead-esque "Let's-deep-look at-these-strange-creatures-in-flyover-America-called-conservatives" style.

Interestingly, the print paper article had a big graphic showing that in 2000, Tom Delay's Congressional District went 65% Bush, 35% Gore. Would that Washington DC could even come close to that in terms of two-party competitiveness! Maybe that will be looked at in a similar "blue America" profile. I'll be waiting to see that one.

[an amused spectator]

Only negative was that they implied (or flat out stated) that he gets his news from only one side.

This is a recycling of Cass Sunstein's Republic.com, a hitpiece written by uber-liberal Sunstein during the impeachment wars.

Sunstein's problem is that he didn't realize that he was actually writing about the stultifying homogeneity of the alphabet networks, NPR, the universities, the grade schools and the other organs of communications captured by the Left.

[MissAmericanPie]

I read an underlying fear, and contempt, on their part regarding the lack of trust for the alphabet news agencies and their pimps like Brokejaw, Lemmings, and Blather.

They have no idea of what to do about the fact that so many are not buying their snake oil anymore, no matter how they package it. The public stampede to Fox News and their airing of conservative views had to have come as such a shock to the socialist propaganda machine.

They had no idea that the majority of Americans were so ready to reject them, and continue to reject them. I'm sure they thought their job, destroying all traces of American culture and spirit, accomplished until dawn broke and the real deal hit them between the eyes. The fact is, they are really too evil to come to any other conclusion than Americans are dumb and badly in need of their leadership to the lofty state of enlightenment that they themselves inhabit.

I can't pity them, because, I can't find a bottom to the depth of contempt I feel for them.

[wildbill]

IMHO it was very subtle, but the condescendsion was there.

[jjm2111]

"I guess if you're a Jew who drives a Subaru and drinks Sam Adams you can't be a conservative. And all this time I thought it had to do with a political philosophy."

I agree. But what's always interesting is the urban conservative, esp. a northeastern urban conservative is a lot different than your average red stater.

[Agnes Heep]

I agree. But what's always interesting is the urban conservative, esp. a northeastern urban conservative is a lot different than your average red stater.

I know. I always take the stereotypes with a grin and a grain of salt.

[KarlInOhio]

The Washington Post goes to Texas and hangs with conservatives like Margaret Mead once did with her studies

Hmmm. Whenever I hang out with liberals, I feel like Jane Goodall. I watch them in all of their hairy, screeching, poop-flinging strangeness.

[FeliciaCat]

"I guess if you're a Jew who drives a Subaru and drinks Sam Adams you can't be a conservative. And all this time I thought it had to do with a political philosophy."

I hear you...Nothing against Mr. Stein but why does the media always focus on the truck driving, beer drinking, country living conservatives? (there is NOTHING wrong with these..its how I grew up!) There are lots of us in cities who prefer wine and our only ride is a yellow cab! I think the main-stream press would rather cut off their right arm then admit there might be a conservative living in one "their" liberal meccas (LA, NYC, San Fran, Boston)

[Rocky]

I'd rather live in Sugar Land than in Washington, D.C., or any of its suburbs.