“Southerners know exactly what Ted said and meant, and their strong propensity for Social Conservatism was the target Ted wanted.”
I am a Southerner and I do know what Ted said and meant. He said and meant that phrase “New York values” to pander to the voters in Iowa. His organization did research on that phrase in Iowa before it was rolled out. He never mentions that he goes to those same people in New York that he sneers at in Iowa — homosexual donors, and pledges not to fight gay marriage.
Later on, he will come South and talk about deportation of illegals, which he finally, half-way, talks about and will neglect to mention that he is taking large sums from the open border crowd of donors, who are smart enough not to throw their money away on a candidate who opposes their “values”.
I am a New Yorker (NYS, not NYC), and I didn't know at first what Ted said and meant. My hackles went up immediately. People outside of NYC don't automatically add the word, "City", every time someone says, "New York".
So, even though every person in the remaining 49 states KNEW he meant NYC, he pissed off an entire state who are New Yorkers.