Posted on 06/25/2005 8:43:16 PM PDT by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Boomhauer strikes me as a staunch Libertarian."
I love Boomhauer, he's my favorite character. My second fave is the ill-tempered Laotian neighbor. He's definately modeled on the George Jefferson character originally from "All in the Family".
I love the episode where he became a redneck. That's when Tom Petty started being a regular voice actor on the show.
Okaaaaay. Is it just me, or does that sound a tad condescending?
And Judge's "Office Space" is simply classic.
Weasley is such a twink.
I think it's "Butane is a bastard fuel." and, iirc, it's Bobby who utters it. We all know where he gets it from.
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
You nailed it.
From watching Camp Hillary at a distance, I gather the following:
She plans on "Talking tough & saying the right things" on illegal immigration. IE: "It's enough for a politician who at least recognizes a problem that is severely impacting the quality of life in the Southwest US."
The other angle she is going to take is coming out against gay marriage - the same angle Bill suggested Kerry take - but didn't. Just lip service mind you. Or is it a foundation of lies? If you lie - doesn't that make you a liar?
I watch a couple of episodes.
It is a republican "surrounded" by a left wing family. His wife is a closet feminist and a son who is growing up to be a poofta. The friends of the central character are all loosers of the leftist stereo vision of conservatives.
It seems to be the tripe of show where the republican ends up agreeing with the left wing position.
It is no different than any other left wing offering of a "conservative show". Even spike tried the faux conservative cartoon show which was just lefter than left.
I read the posts where he was identified as Bill. I don't watch the show enough to know the character's names. I have to admit, I did watch enough to know I met people like this in a Texas small towns. They're all good and decent people. The last dem they voted for was LBJ.
"King of the Hill" Dems. LOL, it's an oxymoron. The Dems are so desparate to assign a popular cartoon to their party, they are grasping at anything. Hank Hill seems Republican to me, even if he doesn't really know it, but I think he does. Good luck, Dems, finding a popular cartoon to fit your party because there aren't any. Nobody would watch the kind of cartoon about the DU!
>>The last dem they voted for was LBJ.
Bingo! Also explains why Hank can have a dog named "Ladybird" (another comment on the thread), but still be very much a Reagan Republican.
Peg is voiced by actively liberal actress Kathy Najimy (from Veronica's Closet and the Sister Act Movies), so yeah, she's probably a Dem. But Mike Judge has admitted to being socially conservative like Hank.
That was funny.
And is it so hard to say that KOTH also takes *shots* at Middle America, and can be viewed as much as a parody of the Hills and Boomhauer and Bill (especially Bill) and Grandpa? Others in previous posts suggested that Bill was probably a conservative. Why would any conservative want to brag that he shared the same values as Bill Dauertrive?!?
Bill's a loser and in the military to boot. Isn't Bill the fulfillment of the "Maher-Sullivan" criticism of the modern military--that it's formed of the dead enders of our society with limited skills and education? The most devout regular character on the show is Luanne--the one you actually see praying regularly and refering to the Bible--and she's dumber than a pile of bricks. The consistent gun owner, the one who attends an NRA-esque gun club, is a freaking nut, and is the post-OKC bombing media stereotype of the right wing conspiracy theorist (keeping in mind the show started in early 97 and thus was in production around the time of the Atlanta Olympics bombing). So you have the military, the religious Christian, and the gun enthusiast, all parodied and mocked on a consistent basis. A conservative who can't see this, can't see he's being laughed at instead of laughed with.
KOTH does not take conservative values (at least conservative *political* values) and attempt to validate them week to week. It prods conservative values as well as leftwing values. That probably makes it a "moderate" show, as you snarkingly and snearingly refer to, keeping in mind it's a fictional *cartoon* and not a politician or a political party.
Wile E. Coyote Democrats
Brought to you by: ACME Inc., CEO Carl Rove
Also starring: President George Bush as the misunderestimated road runner.
Yes I know but I don't think the characters and an actors politics have to be the same;just don't be dishonest with the characters and set them up as straw men as most in Hollywood tend to do with characters to there right
Of characters on TV Hank Hill (King of The Hill) and Red Forman (That 70's Show) are the two main "conservative" types that are well developed characters and not setup conservative straw men like Norman Lear's "Archie Bunker" foil written to loose ever round to the correct thinking Liberals around him
Oddly Hank, Red and Archie at some point were most likely Blue Collar Dem's...
Hank is a from the South where at one time being a Dem was just a required(only a Yankee would be a Republican)
Red's a Union man (in a first year show Red did give some grief to Pres. Ford at a Ford 76 rally...but in a later show went Eric made a small Rep. crack, Red gave him the "foot in you ass" look and asked "What did you say" To which Eric correct to "Nixon was framed and Kennedy was a commie?"...Red "That right"
And Archie in a show with Maude reveled he voted for FDR , but only the first two times ..."I didn't know he was running for Pope!"
My recollections of the All in the Family show are very vivid and they are these .... in the early shows Archie came off as good hearted, if out of step, curmudgeon, and was generally well liked and related to as the slightly off track but albeit still loved neighbor or relative.
When Norman Lear and his minions recognized this they hurriedly altered Archie's personality to the nasty, hard edged, dim wit that could be appropriately scorned (as they had planned).
A conservative that can't laugh at himself is about as useless as every other human of that stripe.
KOTH is a hilarious and entertaining show. If reconstructed to your specs it would have you and about three others for an audience.
It wouldn't last 10 episodes, much less 10 years!
We had a whole thread on the wit and wisdom of Hank Hill a while back it was awesome, you should search it up. My personal favorite?
Bobby: Whah is it ok for boys to have sex but not for girls, dayd?
Hank: That's because of a thing called "The Double Standard", Bobby, and we kinda got the long end of the stick on that one.
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