Burnt Orange Report

My point is that winning a presidential majority in 2008 is unlikely to include the south.

I am a native Texan, though. I love this state. I love this country. And that's why I'm most likely to stay here and fight to make us better. But I'll be critical when I think Texas or the South deserves critisism. It does. And I think it's more effective coming from someone who has lived in Texas his whole life than a bunch of people up north that don't know very much about us.

NEW: Another Thing... *PIC*
Andrew Dobbs -- Thursday, 11 November 2004, at 4:48 p.m.

I put this together today. Still a little rough, I'll perfect it in the future, but I like the sentiment- let's stick it to the hippies.

http://www.contumacy.org/bbs/pics/pic39042.jpg
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"Peace is overrated." Wow. So now Andrew is "anti-peace"? What a fucking tool.

Thank you for rejecting this F* the South horrid garbage.

First of all, in Texas, for example, 40% of us DIDN'T vote for Bush. So, I, as a Texan and a Southerner, resent this diatribe against Southerners.

Second, those of us who live here are related to and are friends or acquaintances with people who voted for Bush. And we know them as people, not as 2-D objects, and we know they have much more going for them than this one thing. We might pity them for it, but more often than not, they are part of our lives and we love them.

Third, when we generalize about a group of people and then hate them, that makes us bigots. And if we hate THEM for being bigots, it's a lot like looking in the mirror. And WE become part of the problem. And THAT adds to the polarization.

It's okay to be angry about the election, but if we're going to make necessary changes, we have to work through the anger. And calling names and insulting people, either red or blue, isn't going to help. That's Rush and Ann territory.

We should know better. And if we don't know better, we should pretend that we do. Progress, not perfection!

At some point this was bound to happen. When a whole region has become as self-righteous as the South you had to expect the other regions to eventually react to it. And some northerners finally decided they had enough of this crap from southerners.

How would you feel if northerners said "No southerners need apply" which is basically what the south is saying to everybody else in the country regarding the presidency. "We will only vote for our own." is what the vast majority of southerners are saying at the polls. And this is a part of the country that is the poorest, most poorly educated and lacking in basic worker's rights, civil rights (just pretty much throw in any "rights" here.)

How would you feel if you the proverbial horse kept biting your hand as you fed it? The South really needs to open its eyes because eventually they may decide to stop feeding us.

And, I live in Texas too. And I had a discussion with a coworker a few years ago about how dependent Texas was on federal money. We eventually started to argue about jobs in Texas and I made the claim that the federal government was by far the biggest employer in the state. He said he'd lived in Texas all his life and knew for a fact that the oil business was the biggest employer. Then I saw in the Star-Telegram (I think it was there) a few months ago that I was right those years ago. The government accounts for almost 30% of jobs in Texas.

Jim D--

It's time to concede. I'm not saying that the Democrats will never win a state-wide election in Texas again. But the South started throwing a tantrum in 1850 and they've never quit.

I've lived nearly my entire life in Texas and Louisiana so I've seen those people up close. And yes I consider them "those people"--the older I get, the less I identify with them even though I AM them.

Concentrate your efforts on making the rest of the country a place of freedom and equality.

Demo Memo

I'm an 11th Generation Texan. I'm not giving up on this state.

Come on. The author was making a funny. I've lived 23 out of 25 years in Texas and Louisiana, and I was rolling around in hysterics.
Not being able to take a joke is for the GOP.

Screw the south. We should work on the western states like Colorado, Nevada, and Montana. We can't compete with people who love Toby Keith.

While I think and hope Bryon has his tongue planted in his check in saying F... the South, I agree with Jim that its not fair to paint the entire South with that broad brush. Its not fair to say that we should concentrate on the Midwest and Western states and not the South because that is a false dicotomy that turly threatens the ability of progressives to build up our base everywhere.

I'm not willing to concede the South, least of all Texas. While it is a tough road to fight to turn Texas purple and then back to blue, its necessary. The Republicans did it. Think they had an easy time? Democrats didn't start losing seats in the Texas House until 1972, though the fallout from Sharpstown and the targeting of members of the Dirty Thirty (my uncle included) for defeat certainly aided the Republicans. It took 30 years from that election before the Republicans were able to overcome the Democrats in the Texas House. Even with the gerrymander of the house districts done by the LRB in 2001, the Republicans likely still would have won the House. We turned that tide this election. We picked a net of one seat, but we can't let it end there even if it takes us 30 years to win it back.

Jim is right about the lack of true pride on the part of many Southerners. But that is not how I was riased and I'm Southern through and through. Almost all of my family has been in the South since the time of the American Revolution (one of the exceptions being a line that was in New Jersey where the head of the family was busy hosting Committee of Correspondence meetings and sending his sons to fight for General Washington) and a few lines for probably atleast a thousand years before that. That's not to say there are parts of out history we are not proud of, but tru pride means seeing those parts for what they were and moving forward.

I am in complete agreement with your view on what "pride" really is. It is an interesting account, and I like your point of view.

Is Texas even part of the south? I've always thought of us as part of the southwest.

It sure does look like the "angry white men" y'all called the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress from Democratic control is now properly describing y'all. Lots of anger here.

Its not just the south, its the southwest, interior northwest, and midwest. Look your guy broke President Reagan's record of 54,455,472 votes. He set the bar very high for y'all, 56,949,003 votes. The only problem for y'all is your guy came in second. Back in 92 and 96 we heard all this stuff about the lack of participation. Our President recieved 60,418,140 votes! Thats a lot participation. Your involvement in registering the youth was great. Many of those voted, all time high. Great job!
Are you oppressed if you lose. Are UT students oppressed every time OU wins? Your scholarship has the same value as OU grads. You are not oppressed. This is America!

Y'all need to fix your message, and get a better candidate. You were forced to take the man Iowa picked out for you. Then this state doesn't even vote for him. Then he picked a Dan Quayle for a running mate. No where near a Lloyd Bentsen.

Now about pride. I am proud to have voted for our President. I am proud that America voted for our President. In 2000, 60% of America slept under Republican Governorships, now its 65 %. Even Washington State looks to be Republican(up by 3915 votes). Republicans sit in the four biggest state governorships in the land.

Your party needs to find its heart and build from there.

Like Byron, I love being a Texan. I've lived here my whole life and I don't really plan on moving any where any time soon. In fact, I posted on my blog several months ago that it pissed me when a Republican I know suggested I move to "the North" because I'm a liberal Democrat.

But, electorally speaking, yeah, "fuck the south." Face it, we are not getting wins in the Deep South. Even if our national party shifts far to the right, The majority of southerners are going to vote GOP. They now identify themselves as Republican, for better or worse.

So, there is really no point in trying to win southern electoral votes. Democrats should spend more time and money trying ot increase our standing with the emergin Hispanic majority in the Southwest. We had close numbers in New Mexico and Nevada, Arizona could swing our way if we tried hard enough as well as Colorado. That is 29 more elctoral votes, we wouldn't even need Florida and Ohio.

This non-southern strategy does not reflect down-ballot races. The DNC should definitely be putting resources into electing and re-electing Democrats for office here in the South. My own home county of McLennan has just re-elected Chet Edwards and Jim Dunnam, two prominent Democrats right in Bush's backyard. We can turn the tide in the South, but not by presidential campaigning. We need state legislators and school board members who are Democrat. Grassroots campaigning to change party ID.

Until then, our presidential nominee should campaign where his message is more accepted, not wasting resources on Alabama.

You guys like the fact that Kedwards raised funds here and did not fund your party here, well i guess they did send $5,000. back to help the state party out. I like the fact that y'all are conceeding the south to Republicans. And i guess if it ain't broke don't fix it works here. Doesn't it? Thats not the approach Republicans took here. Only 74 Republicans in 1974, now more than 1966. National, i saw y'all had a 6 person lead! As far as registration goes its now 37 to 37. In 1979 it was 51 to 21, your way.

I have to agree that, while Texas may be Southrrn, it certainly is not the South.

yeah, Texas is tight. It should never be equated with the likes of Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, etc.

i say "Fuck the DEEP south."