Free Republic

Does anyone remember novelist Jane Smiley's outburst at the Bible-toting bloodlusting knuckle-draggers who re-elected George W. Bush? Why has no enterprising journalist sought her comments after the purple revolution in Iraq, the uprising of the Lebanese and the downfall of their puppet-regime? Why has no one asked her about the turnover by Syria of 29 Iraqi Ba'athist stalwarts, those Moore-ish Minutemen? Has Miss Smiley's tantrum simply vanished down the old memory hole? The darling of the EU, J-F Kerry, promised faithfully on Meet the Press four weeks ago that he would sign and submit to the Navy a Form 180...

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article in response to a Jane Smiley missive posted on Slate.com (''The Unteachable Ignorance of the Red States'') diagnosing the results of the 2004 Presidential Election. It is something to admire that Ms. Smiley’s reaction was not apoplectic as such (I had to look that big word up in a thesaurus--and, while I was at it, I discovered, having forgotten what I was doing, that there simply is no synonym for thesaurus!) As some might remember, I took exception to her reading of the results. Specifically, to put it in terms that all...

Liberals took their historic defeat in the 2004 elections quite well. They could have reacted with bitterness, rancor and hysteria. Instead they were gracious, and engaged in thoughtful introspection. I’m kidding. Actually, liberals behaved predictably. They’ve spent the past week sneering at red-state residents – remarking on the alleged poverty, stupidity and plain gullibility of Bush country (combined with neo-Marxist cant about how capitalists use faith appeals to control the masses). The more intrepid among them are talking about emigrating to Canada. The more delusional are toying with the idea of secession. Reuters tells us that the day after the...

The recent presidential elections in the U.S. demonstrated that the so-called mainstream media is beginning to lose its grip on the political landscape. George Bush won by what could easily be described as a rout of the Democrats, despite the many efforts of the liberals’ oligopoly to shape the election’s outcome. It’s about time. For four decades news media like CBS and its print counterpart, The New York Times, Washington Post, et al have shaped the political dialogue in the United States and have had way too much influence on the outcome of elections. Whenever a conservative president was elected,...

Red State Victory There is something pleasantly wacky about the response of Lefty scribblers to the Republican election victory. The obvious reasons therefor, such as the voters' estimate of the trustworthiness of the Republican candidates and of the coherence of their message never occurs to blue-state pundits as they scratch their double-domes in bafflement. At the end of their cognitive tunnel, a bulb glows dimly. Then, they begin to realize that red-state voters were ignorant dolts, deluded troglodytes, primitives, fanatical Bible-toting NASCAR retards. So intellectually deprived were these plebs that it was a wonder they managed to find their way...

Why Americans Hate Democrats—A Dialogue The unteachable ignorance of the red states.By Jane Smiley Updated Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004, at 3:24 PM PT The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. The error that progressives have consistently committed over the years is to underestimate the vitality of ignorance in America. The history of the...

The day after the election, Slate's political writers tackled the question of why the Democratic Party—which has now lost five of the past seven presidential elections and solidified its minority status in Congress—keeps losing elections. Chris Suellentrop says that John Kerry was too nuanced and technocratic, while George W. Bush offered a vision of expanding freedom around the world. William Saletan argues that Democratic candidates won't win until they again cast their policies the way Bill Clinton did, in terms of values and moral responsibility. Timothy Noah contends that none of the familiar advice to the party—move right, move left,...

I say forget introspection. It's time to be honest about our antagonists. My predecessors in this conversation are thoughtful men, and I honor their ideas, but let's try something else. I grew up in Missouri and most of my family voted for Bush, so I am going to be the one to say it: The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. (Well, almost 58 million—my relatives are not ignorant,...