Posted on 01/09/2005 2:03:42 AM PST by Liz
BORN FIGHTING: HOW THE SCOTS-IRISH SHAPED AMERICA BY JAMES WEBB
'TIS no doubt folly to ascribe John Kerry's November defeat to anyone cause, but there's also little doubt that the ad campaign mounted late last summer by the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth put some heavy hurt on the Democrat's presidential ambitions.
How is that?
The Kerry campaign collided with traditions that inform the largest and most pugnaciously principled American ethnic group that you probably never heard much about: the Scots-Irish.
After that, the Massachusetts liberal never had a chance.
Or so suggests James Webb, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran, whose remarkable history of his own forebears explains a lot about America — not the least of which being the country's enduring resentment of folks who carry on as if they were born to rule.
--SNIP--
Small wonder, then, that a pronounced warrior ethos can be found wherever the Scots-Irish have settled in numbers — that is, in the so-called Red states, where they are a dominant ethnic presence.
Could it have been these voters that Kerry was hoping to reach with his Vietnam-themed campaign?
His jaunty "reporting-for-duty" salute in Boston in July seemed to have reminded tens of thousands of Vietnam vets what it was that they despised about anti-war elitists like Kerry — and the Swift Boat ads strongly underscored the antipathy.
Kerry dropped like a rock in national polls; while the statisticians are still at work, post-Election Day analysis suggests that the ads were particularly damaging to Kerry in states where, perhaps not coincidentally, there is a strong Scots-Irish presence.
And how strong is that presence all across America?
Well, how popular is NASCAR, a sport that evolved from the Scots-Irish-American moonshine-whiskey heritage? In term of attendance, more popular than Major League Baseball.
E-mail: McManus@nypost.com
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Swifties are the unheralded heroes of Campaign 2004.
Kerry tried to be all things to all people and ended up pissing everyone off.......One thing that added to his long walk off a short pier was that wife of his.....I don't think many wanted to watch her go medievil on anyone who asked her questions she did'nt like....although it would have been very amusing to watch her "drop load"....
Nice post........Terayaza was a definite liability.
All in all, I do think candidate Kerry operated in a total vacume.
He could not see the collateral effects of his actions, and thus could not address them properly.
The "I voted for it before I voted it against it" statement was a prime example. Amazingly he was bragging about it. Did not see the contradictions.
And the minute Kerry's reporting for duty salute flashed on the TV screen, I told everyone I know that it would go down in political history as the dumbest move ever nmade by a presidential candidate.
>>Gen. George S. Patton was of Scots-Irish descent
Gen Patton's son George IV died recently; he (and his dad) had lived in Hamilton, MA, a town away from me. There's a Patton Park (with a tank) in that town. The park has markers that were "a gift to the town from the people of France to express their gratitude for the role Hamilton’s General George S. Patton played in the liberation of France.
"The funeral for George IV was held here in Beverly at the same church where George III was married in 1910." The Pattons have roots here on the North Shore of Boston.
George Patton IV had died last July; had he lived a few months longer, I know who he probably would NOT be voting for... :)
I am Scots-Irish on my mother's side and Black-Irish on my father's side. I guess that explains my politics. LOL
Kerry looked like such a dork doing that.
SO right-they are the heroes because-unlike Hanoi John Kerry
They stood firm for Truth.IT the veterans -not the war profiteers who model their "service" upon dreams of deception (next JFK from Mass.) Kerry had no credible
response to the men who served with him in Vietnam.And all
of the attacks on President Bush -for his Air National Gaurd service record but more deception to hide Kerrys' own
Failed record as a Naval Officer in the Navy Reserve who
chose TREASON and dishonor over honorable service to our
country.He does NOT deserve to represent our country-except
as how not to serve.
A very good book that persuasively informs just where that oh so American "oh yeah" attitude comes from.
I got the attitude and I ain't even Scots-Irish.
More people I know voted AGAINST Kerry because of those ads more than anything else. One friend of mine in particular said " Man, I don't know about Bush but my dad was in Vietnam, and he was no war criminal" I said, "well, that's a good start"
Geez, imagine if you were.
Kerry's most visible stupidity resided in the campaign to paint himself as a war hero and his fellow soldiers as war criminals.
There was a rumor circulating that one of the Swifies was going to run for Kerry's Senate seat. All I want to know is....where do we send the campaign donations?
I would venture instead that particular populations of Scots-Irish were shaped by where they lived and the circumstances of their lives - with the Scots-Irish living hardscrabble lives in the mountains receiving a certain resiliance from their upbringing, as lives in the mountains often do.
The Kerry campaign collided with traditions that inform the largest and most pugnaciously principled American ethnic group that you probably never heard much about: the Scots-Irish.
His jaunty "reporting-for-duty" salute in Boston in July seemed to have reminded tens of thousands of Vietnam vets what it was that they despised about anti-war elitists like Kerry…
Oh that silly, girlie man salute! Embarrassing, wasn't it? But even if Kerry had rendered a perfectly executed military salute, the gesture itself was so Hollywood, so self-serving, that even non-military types were offended.
How's about an invitation to a White House barbeque?
Copy that....Americans stand together.. to fight the terrorism from without and within....
Kerry went before Congress and "admitted" to "war crimes". Now,,,think, if a guy drops by the Police station and claims he robbed 3 banks bout a month ago, then a few weeks later he approaches you saying "Hello, I'm, running for Sherriff." Would you vote for him?
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Actually thought he could get away with saying that, and still be elected president.
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