'Southern strategy' will be a Dem tactic in 2004

Media General News Service ^ | Aug 12, 2003 | MARSHA MERCER

[OpusatFR]

"Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts early on said in San Francisco that "Al Gore proved you can win the election without a single Southern state -- if only he'd won New Hampshire.''

Is that single most stupid statement, or what? Still trying to cover that embarrassing loss of Gore's home state?

We do have the best and brightest in there right now in this Admin. The democrats seem to be running a chin, hair, big bucks and eensy weensy minds.

[ClearCase_guy]

Kerry quickly backed off the notion that he didn't need the South, campaigning in South Carolina, saying he had killed people in Vietnam.

And also: "For Social Security Reform, I'm your man -- I killed people in Vietnam."

[Liz]

The democrats seem to be running a chin, hair, big bucks and eensy weensy minds.

LOL. That about sums up the Dim prez lineup.

[Liz]

Guy is a loon. Needs professional help.

[Huck]

In 1968, Richard Nixon wooed Southern Democrats with the idea that he wouldn't push too hard for progress on civil rights. He railed against court-ordered busing and affirmative action.

Nice media bias. "Progress on civil rights" = court ordered busing and racial quoatas. Sure it does.

[TontoKowalski]

Interesting that they fashion "killing a man" as a necessary quality in earning Southern votes.

Bigots.

[TRY ONE]

"And also: "For Social Security Reform, I'm your man -- I killed people in Vietnam."..."

And Kash & Kerry again: "Has anyone heard ....I'm a war hero???"

[.cnI redruM]

John 'Kill 'em all' Kerry is waving the bloody shirt 'down South'. What a joke. The man public threw his medals over a wall to express his contempt for the armed services. I'm finally able to classify what sort of reptile Kerry really is. He must be a chameleon.

[LakeLady]

While announcing he would not run for re-election, Hollings, 81, said Bush was the weakest president he'd seen in his 50 years in public service.

---

I am amazed, well not actually! A demonrat's jaws flappin' means a lie is whizzin' towards you. He can't deal with a strong president so he calls him weak. Now who, does Hollings think, is gonna believe that statement? Even my lib friends think W is strong. They may not agree with him, but they never question his strength of commitment and character.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Killer Kerry. Now all he needs is to name Ward Burton his running mate. Ward could say, "John Terwy is a dood man who tands fo wahts wight about Amewika".

[Steely Glint]

"The democrats seem to be running a chin, hair, big bucks and eensy weensy minds."

Hey, don't knock that as a political stategy; it's always worked well for the Demonrats in Massachusetts...

[William McKinley]

Actually, he threw someone else's medals:

NOVAK: Well, what about throwing away his ribbons, Al? What do you think of that?

HUNT: ... at this time. Well, first of all, it wasn't his medals, it was someone else's medals.

[.cnI redruM]

That's even worse!

[William McKinley]

Yep. This is a passage from Mona Charen's book "Useful Idiots" regarding the whole spiel:

VVAW did do some good for one real veteran, a decorated veteran at that. John Kerry, tall, handsome, and highly ambitious, was able to use VVAW as a launching pad for his political career. He had returned from service in Vietnam "as a rather normal vet," according to one friend: "He was glad to be out but not terribly uptight about the war."

But the ambitious Kerry quickly gauged the political mood in Massachusetts and before long became the highly telegenic spokesman for VVAW. Kerry participated in one of VVAW's attention-grabbing gambits called Dewey Canyon III, a "limited incursion into the country of Congress." Members of VVAW marched on Washington wearing tattered fatigues and battle ribbons. After circling the Capitol and being turned away from Arlington National Cemetery, they held a candlelight vigil outside the White House. While someone played taps, the veterans stood up one by one and threw their medals over the fence -- a defiant gesture of contempt for the war and for the nation that had asked them to fight it. Among those who threw his medals away was John Kerry.

Or did he? Years later, Massachusetts Democratic senator John Kerry changed his tune about Vietnam, assuring constitutents that he was "proud" of his service. And his medals turned up, framed, on his office wall. A journalist with a longer than average memory questioned him about Dewey Canyon III, and the senator acknowleged that he had thrown someone else's medals over the fence. He was also cagey about what he meant by "proud," permitting listeners to assume he no longer believed the war was immoral. But on other occasions, Kerry has elaborated. After telling a Newsweek reporter that he was proud of his service, he added, "We should not be proud of what we did as a nation." (45-46)

[commish]

The Dems Southern Strategery this election will be the RACE CARD. It will be played hard and heavy.

[Liz]

"I'll show dat suckah Clintun who de first Black president be."

[Liz]

A demonrat's jaws flappin' means a lie is whizzin' towards you.

A variation on the ol' Clinton saw:

Q. "How do you know he's lying?"

A. "His lips are moving."

[Kingasaurus]

"For decades, the phrase "Southern strategy" has had a negative connotation of Republican presidential candidates playing to the racial fears of Southern whites. "

It only has a negative connotation in the media. The reason Republicans own the South isn't just the desire of whites to try and stop things like "Affirmative Action" - which the last time I checked, has nothing to do with "racial fears", only an idealistic desire to follow the Constitution.

The Democrats lose the South on a whole range of issues. Of course the article doesn't bother to mention whether this "Southern strategy" had a "negative" connotation in every election before 1968 when Democrats could count on the South without even breaking a sweat.

-King

[gridlock]

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won Democrats in the South and elsewhere by focusing on traditional values, complaining about "welfare queens" and promising to move able-bodied "young bucks" off the dole.

I would defy anyone to come up with a direct quote where Ronald Reagan ever used the term "Welfare Queen" or "Young Buck".

If these are not Reagan quotes, why the quotation marks?