Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Politics / Woods Tennessee: Land of Racists and Republicans
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 9:31 AM
What may have ended on Election Day, though, is the centrality of the South to national politics. By voting so emphatically for Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama — supporting him in some areas in even greater numbers than they did President Bush — voters from Texas to South Carolina and Kentucky may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say. The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it “is becoming distinctly less important,” said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. “The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.”What a proud moment for Tennessee Republicans! They rode a wave of racism into power in the legislature for the first time in 140 years. In an oped, Congressman Zach Wamp denies race was a factor. (He also denies McCain had coattails in Tennessee. That's laughable.) Wamp points out that Harold Ford Jr. did pretty well as the Democrats' 2006 Senate candidate. But there's a difference. Obama ignored Tennessee. Ford campaigned here really hard. Tennesseans might be racist, but not so racist that they won’t vote for an African American who asks nicely. (Now there’s a silver lining!) Plus, Ford ran like a Republican, and Obama has a funny name. “Junior was everywhere,” one Democrat explains to Pith. “He talked about his guns and his God. He became one of the Bubbas because he was with them so much. It’s hard to hate someone you know. Obama was unknown.” Republicans may deny it, but they know it's true. In fact, their party did all it could to inflame racial fears about Obama with press releases casting him as some kind of Muslim Manchurian candidate. At the time, we thought it was stupid for the state GOP to go into the gutter against Obama. We thought they'd only wind up turning off independents. Boy, were we wrong. Bill Hobbs and Robin Smith knew what they were doing all along. They're a lot smarter than they seem.
Comments (18)
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Ah Jeff, my steamed colleague. I wish I could take umbrage with the Times piece. (At last I get to use the word "umbrage" in a comment!) After all, even I, a liberal Hebrew Yankee (by birth, anyway) journalist, can find the Times' condescending attitude toward the South a bit nauseating at times.
But I'm afraid Mr. Nossiter has a point. (I just had to use "Mr." because I love how the Times always uses honorific titles before names. Like when Joey Ramone died, they kept saying "Mr. Ramone.")
I particularly love how Arkansas political scientist Jay Barth says that "racial conservatism was a component of that shift away from the Democrat." Racial conservatism! That's rich.
But ultimately, the story just reaffirms the validity of Tennessee's unofficial state motto: "It could be worse. We could be Alabama."
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My Dad just had to call me this morning from DC crowing about that piece. He who helped draft the voting rights act. Yes Dad, we're all ignorant bigots down here.
And to that dumb bitch who worries that blacks will get "aggressive", what does that mean, exactly? Looking a white woman in the eye? Forgetting their "place"? GFY.
Taterman, perhaps I was being circumspect in my comment. But I have to say, your response is more direct and to the point. Though I generally avoid the "b" word in public forums, I will heartily second your GFY.
It's hard to deny that race played some role in the outcome of the Presidential election in TN. But did anyone really expect that it wouldn't. We saw Corker's subtle racial jabs ("Call me, e.g.")and the impact they had on Jr.'s campaign.
The more interesting question that Nossiter's article raises for me is this: If the Republicans lost the White House because they became "too Southernized", did TN Democrats lose the State House because they became "too Republican?" Put another way, if 2008 was a year for change, did TN Democrats lose because they stood "against change?"
Admitting I may be naive, I answer both of those questions with a yes. I hope TN Democrats seriously consider these questions before they run further to the right in an attempt to regain the State House.
Or, perhaps some southerners weren't as completely blinded by the messiah's glowing halo as those from other parts of the country.
The irony of Southerners making fun of Obama by refering to him as a 'messiah' cannot be lost on you people.
Of course some of the vote result was racism, but I think the difference between Tennessee and, say, North Carolina or Georgia, is that the white Democratic political leadership here told Obama to stay out, and ran as hard as they could away from him. Thus, they sent the signal to other white would-be Democratic voters to BE VERY SCARED of the black guy with the funny name! Contrast that with Lincoln Davis and others going all-out for a FORD and nearly getting him elected to the Senate. They worked to calm that irrational racist fear with Ford, but weren't willing to do so for Obama. At any rate, the scared racists showed up at the polls, and the more rational sort (or those capable of rationality) may have stayed home. And it was margin enough to tip our state into a new political/educational/cultural Dark Age. Watch for the bills establishing Bible in the curriculum, creationism as science, sectarian prayer in schools, and vouchers that funnel public money to private schools. We may BE the new Alabama.
Thanks for conveniently summing up what I believe all liberals think about the south. At first I thought the article was someone trying to be sarcastic. If you hate the south so much move to san francisco. Have you even considered the fact that southerns are predominantly republican b/c they disagree with the change to socialism Obama promises to bring to the government. We are a more traditional people who believe hard work deserves rewards and that it's not the governments job to take care of people. Obama wants to create a larger welfare state, take away your 401K and put it under government control, and raise many kinds of taxes. He is for amenesty and a reduction in oil drilling, new nuclear power plants and refineries. Southerners are not stupid and racist as you think of them. As a biracial person just like Obama I think you are being very ignorant.
"The New York Times is calling us a bunch of dumb crackers"
Well seeing as how there isn't anyone who is affiliated with the New York Times in any way who has ever accomplished anything in his (or her) entire life that proves they are any smarter than we are, I really don't give a damn what the NYT folks think.
It's rich that people like BJ throw out the word "socialism" after a Republican president and his treasury secretary just went to Congress for a $700 billion bailout that includes partial nationalization of banks. This was approved not only by Obama but by McCain. Spare us the hypocrisy, BJ, the GOP is into "socialism" too these days.
Gilbert:
Paul Krugman just got a Nobel Prize. That's just off the top of my head.
but what rankles us more - that we failed to be part of American's big growing up party because of race, that we are the last bastion of W bumper stickers because of stubbornness or bible thumpers, or that we now must admit that when it comes to national politics, we don't matter?
Isn't it a little early to say the South doesn't matter? Just four years ago, liberals were soundly defeated; no one could imagine that a black guy from Chicago would become president. And Obama has to actually do something to keep his coalition together. If he doesn't produce some major scores on the wars, health care, the economy, there's a good chance we'll be back to a Republican four years from now. Seems to me he has to overcome some big ifs before we're declared irrelevant.
But, yeah, the election didn't help the reputation of the South, especially when you read those quotes at the end of the Times article. It was a little too easy to find a lineup of morons whose views are frozen in 1956.
One wonders how many people this Timesman had to interview to get these particular quotes. I would bet good money that these were not typical of the responses but were the ones that fit with the story that the Times wanted to write.
As for the analysis, consider this quote:
"Those states have experienced an influx of better educated and more prosperous voters in recent years, pointing them in a different political direction than states farther west, like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and Appalachian sections of Kentucky and Tennessee."
Except that it was these voters who helped move the South to the Republican column in the 80s and 90s. Look at the voting patterns, education and income of the high growth areas of these states and you will find strong areas of Conservative / Republican support. The last two elections only demonstrate that these voters are rejecting the Bush Administration and the Tom DeLay-ization of the Republicans in Congress.
Too bad the Times' motto has become 'All the news that fits our agenda, we print.'
"Paul Krugman just got a Nobel Prize"
And he still doesn't know a damn thing about economics.
The only thing killing this country more and more each year is the amount of ignorance people insist on trying to shove down each others throats. If people would stop being so emotionally driven and use more common sense... Hmm I wonder if it's even worth... Naaa, nobody wants to hear the truth, only that which they can handle hearing.
United States of America! Confederate States of the South! The Lost Cause and the White Skin Worshipping Pagans of the southern US masquerading as Christians and Bible Thumpers! The kind of nonsense these white skin worshipping pagans in Tennessee talk is nothing to do with the Christianity preached by a carpenter from the town of Nazareth in the West Bank/Gaza.
I think it is a little irresponsible of you to classify Tennessee as racist based solely the election results. As you said in your article, Obama ignored Tennessee during his campaign. That being the case, perhaps Tennessee ignored Obama. Of course, race likely played a large role in the disparity between the votes for Obama and McCain. I just take issue with anyone who says that the election proves that political decisions in Tennessee are mad on a racial basis.
