'King of the Hill' Democrats?

NY Times ^ | June 26, 2005 | MATT BAI

[neverdem]

If you watch a lot of cable news, by now you've probably heard someone refer to a bloc of voters known as '' 'South Park' conservatives.'' The term comes from the title of a new book by Brian C. Anderson, a conservative pundit who adapted it from the writer Andrew Sullivan, and it refers to the notion that Comedy Central's obscene spoof of life in small-town America, with its hilarious skewering of liberal snobbery, is somehow the perfect crucible for understanding a new breed of brash and irreverent Republican voters. In truth, aside from its title, Anderson's book has very little to say about ''South Park'' itself; it's really just a retread of the argument that the mainstream media is losing its grip on world domination, marketed rather cynically to appeal to the same red-state radio hosts and book clubs that make so many right-wing polemics best sellers.

If politicians and pundits are really so desperate to understand the values of conservative America without leaving their living rooms, then they should start setting the TiVo to record another animated sitcom, which Anderson mentions only in passing and which, despite its general policy of eschewing politics, somehow continues to offer the most subtle and complex portrayal of small-town voters on television: ''King of the Hill,'' on Fox. North Carolina's two-term Democratic governor, Mike Easley, is so obsessed with the show that he instructs his pollster to separate the state's voters into those who watch ''King of the Hill'' and those who don't so he can find out whether his arguments on social and economic issues are making sense to the sitcom's fans.

For those who have somehow missed ''King of the Hill'' during its nine-year run, here's a lightning-quick primer: It revolves around a classic American everyman, the earnest Hank...

[Squantos]

So he's fired Miss Cleo ?

[wingnutx]

The term comes from the title of a new book by Brian C. Anderson, a conservative pundit who adapted it from the writer Andrew Sullivan

Sullivan got the term from an article on TechCentralStation.com.

He didn't coin it.

[neverdem]

So he's fired Miss Cleo ?

I don't watch the show that much. I posted the article to show how the left tries to analyze the right: clueless as usual.

[tophat9000]

Hank Hill is a Republican (Hank Hill on Reagan with a tear in his eye.."I love that man")

Peg might be a Dem

and Dale is a Tin Foil hat Black Helicopter nut job most likely was once a FReeper and got ban and now is hanging with the Micheal Moore/DU type conspiracy nuts...Think former FReeper Michael Rivero

[vpintheak]

If I was a cartoon, Hank Hill would be my heroe, hands down.

[DeFault User]

Luanne is too airheaded to ever have a political thought one way or another.

On one episode Luanne joined the Communist Party because the candidate was handsome and made cute promises. Hank was appalled, needless to say.

[Southack]

The Heartland doesn't "... vote against Democrats because Democrats haven't sold their policies well enough. They vote reflexively against people whose leaders clearly hate their religion and their lifestyle."

Precisely.

Think about it; Democrats want to raise our taxes. That's harsh, and that works against Joe Everyman who is working to get by.

Democrats don't want children to have to tell their parents that they are about to get an abortion.

Democrats don't want religion displayed in public (unless its the "religion" of secularism, athieism, or socialism).

Democrats want everyone to resolve their problems by suing each other...dragging all of us into courts and running up countless legal bills.

Democrats want gay marriage, though they keep denying it whenever they run for national office.

Democrats want to ban law-abiding citizens from owning guns, so that only criminals are packing heat.

Democrats want to limit home-building permits so that home prices keep escalating (i.e. supply and demand).

Democrats don't want new oil drilling because they want high oil prices so that they can limit how much we drive...ditto for Democrats not wanting new highways (they've banned new highway construction in California already).

New taxes, high oil, high home prices, guns only for criminals, abortions on demand for our children, gay marriage, sue everyone, crappy roads (due to not enough new highways being built), and no religious displays in public.

That's the Democratic Party.

Walk into *any* bar in America and start demanding all of the above and you'll get your face smashed and your butt tossed out.

So Democrats *don't* openly advocate all of the above. They take baby steps, nipping and tucking and hoping to get it all in over time...denying anything in the above list whenever the Public gets wind of the Dems' hidden desire for any particular aspect.

Democrats win elections, at least, outside our nearly gay, Greek city-states of the day, when they say conservative things during campaigns (e.g. former Senator Daschle), no matter how liberal or leftist they actually *vote*. Look at the new Senator from Colorado for example. He promised to vote against judicial filibusters during the 2004 election campaign (never for a moment meaning a word of it).

But when word finally gets through the Corrupt Old Media's filter...word that the local "conservative" Democratic Party politician is actually a flaming socialist (e.g. Daschle), these guys get voted right out of office.

And since the Corrupt Old Media isn't gaining new ground (but rather, is shrinking), I see this trend accelerating in our favor. Their ability to cover for their favorite leftists is declining.

Consider that the LA Times put 28 more reporters on the trail of so-called "Arnold groping" prospects than they did on Kofi Annon's war-inducing oil-for-food scandal, Michael Jackson's trial in Santa Barbara, the bogus "sexed up" charges against Blair, or French President Chirac's corruption.

Likewise, what a shame that for *decades* Dakota newspapers refused to print the liberal votes of Senator Daschle, instead only mentioning his conservative rhetoric.

But this sort of double-standard has an ever-declining power to influence national politics. It also points out that Democrats can't win in the Heartland with a level playing field. They have to have aid from a corrupt news media to even be competitive...because the Dems' ideas/policies aren't the least bit popular with most Americans.

[csvset]

C'mon if any of the KOTH characters votes 'Rat, it'd be John Redcorn.

[FreedomForce]

"Hank is clearly a Republican, but he's hung out with Willie Nelson, so there may be a slight RINO streak."

Hank named his dog Ladybird. That also raises suspicions.

[LibertarianInExile]

Well, there were some people who really liked Ladybird's wildflowers-on-the-highway initiative. Maybe he figured she'd be a pretty bitch. 8^)

[Alia]

North Carolina's two-term Democratic governor, Mike Easley, is so obsessed with the show that he instructs his pollster to separate the state's voters into those who watch ''King of the Hill'' and those who don't so he can find out whether his arguments on social and economic issues are making sense to the sitcom's fans.

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[Vision]

They're on the web

[IronMan04]

Hank Hill is a Modern Day Archie Bunker.

[harpu]

"KOTH isn't a conservative show, it's simply a fair and honest one..."

Duhhhh...you speak in riddles, or 'moderate' speak. Is it so hard to say; 'King of the Hill' is middle America and is why it is so very popular!?!

[Shooter 2.5]

I don't know who that is. Is it a cartoon character?

[avg_freeper]

Look at the episode where Hank had to drive across the country to pick his son up who was traveling with his boss Strickland.

When he passed through Hope Arkansas and saw the sign stating "This is the Birthplace of Bill Clinton" he shuddered, rolled up all his windows and locked the doors.

[HateBill]

This is just another liberal media wet dream about Dems. capturing "red state" America. They know that the only Dems. to win the White House in (now) two generations were Southern Governors so they attribute to Dem. Southern Governors the "magic" powers to make red states run blue. This article could have just as easily been written about Mark Warner of Virginny, but he's too much of a Yankee elitist tax-raising phoney for it to have rung true (those articles, are, however, written about his advisors one of whom sleeps with a Confederate flag bedspread!).

Well, keep on dreaming, Matt Bai, about how a left-wing "alternative lifestyler" like Hillary can convince a bunch of low I.Q. mental midgets like Hank Hill and his buddies that she's a Southern Democratic Governor who prays, shops at Walmart, buys American, loves Nascar races and sits around with her buddies drinking beer and then using empty beer cans for target practice...

[sauropod]

Matt Bai the snot.

[avg_freeper]

"Hank Hill is a Modern Day Archie Bunker."

No, AB was just a silly leftist strawman argument used to ridicule conservative thinking. While there's a few exceptions, the Hank character's conservative tendencies are generally shown in a good light.

[FreedomPoster]

Good. I glanced at this story, and wondered what dimension I'd dropped into. You guys confirm that it's just the "Liberal Cluelessness Zone".