Strider Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 My America Forty years ago, in 1972, Richard Nixon crushed George McGovern to win re-election as President, even with significant evidence that he was a liar, a war criminal, a burglar...in short, a crook. I remember my parents and their friends, and the older siblings of my friends all being amazed at how people could vote for Tricky Dick Nixon. But we lived in Southern California..and Southern California was not representative of the country at large. We listened to rock and roll, my parents and their friends smoked marijuana and were supportive of civil rights, equality for women, etc. In short, in the eyes of the rest of the country we were freaks. Nixon had swept into office on the wave of the Silent Majority. These were the blue-collar workers, the middle-class, the religious folk who were tired of all the protests and disrespect for the law. Nixon and his strategists had already in 1968 devised the 'Southern Strategy' as a way to appeal to racist redneck southerners and make inroads into formerly Democratic strongholds. By 1972, his paranoia had caused him to cast his net wider and now the whole anti-war, pro-feminist, gays, blacks, marijuana crowd was a commie-controlled plot. It worked for the most part because 1) McGovern was inept; and 2) most of the country still looked more like Mayberry than the Sunset Strip. Forty years later, the chickens are coming home to roost. Years and years of Republicans following the Nixon Southern Strategy playbook, tweaked in the 80s by Reagan adding the far-right Evangelicals in the circus, has come to haunt them in two straight Presidential elections. And it will hurt them forever more if the GOP doesn't do something. This country is only going to get less whiter...not more. Women have been the majority of the population for some time and will continue to make up the majority of voters. Romney's problem wasn't black voters...it was the fact that women preferred Obama by a 10% margin. Yes, it was the economy, stupid...women are tired of not receiving equal pay for equal work. The GOP has painted itself into a corner...it has become the party of uptight, white people who pray for the rapture. That's a shrinking demographic...getting older by the minute. You cannot spend decades demonizing and denigrating women, gays, minorities and then wonder why they won't vote for you. In my daily life I come in contact with all sorts of people from all walks of life...whites, hispanics, blacks, heteros, gays, single, married, jews, muslims, mormon, catholic, christian...even a scientologist or two. My godson is the product of an interracial relationship...something the Republicans used to criminalize. What I've learned is that most people just want to be left alone to live their life and be happy. They want to work and don't mind paying their fair share of taxes because they know that the schools and roads and police/fire depts. need money to operate. And they don't want Government sticking their noses into people's bedrooms. While they may be spiritual, they are tired of organized religion telling other people how to live and how to vote. In short, there's a new Silent Majority. The environment I grew up in in the 70s which seemed so different has now become the norm. Most people work and interact with minorities and gays. They are friends or have family members that don't fit into the narrow WASP category, and so aren't as apt to believe the GOP and religious freaks who demonize them. My America has become Our America. An America that is becoming more equal for all, no matterr your sex, race or creed. Congrats to Maryland for becoming the first state to pass gay-marriage rights! Congrats to Colorado for legalizing marijuana. Looking at the electoral map, especially by county, I do see good news for the Republicans. While Obama won the 'people vote', particularly the cities, educated suburbs, and college towns; Romney swept the 'tumbleweed vote'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3hrsoflunacy Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Romney swept the 'tumbleweed vote'. Orange County is "tumbleweed"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ledded1 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 My America Forty years ago, in 1972, Richard Nixon crushed George McGovern to win re-election as President, even with significant evidence that he was a liar, a war criminal, a burglar...in short, a crook. I remember my parents and their friends, and the older siblings of my friends all being amazed at how people could vote for Tricky Dick Nixon. But we lived in Southern California..and Southern California was not representative of the country at large. We listened to rock and roll, my parents and their friends smoked marijuana and were supportive of civil rights, equality for women, etc. In short, in the eyes of the rest of the country we were freaks. Nixon had swept into office on the wave of the Silent Majority. These were the blue-collar workers, the middle-class, the religious folk who were tired of all the protests and disrespect for the law. Nixon and his strategists had already in 1968 devised the 'Southern Strategy' as a way to appeal to racist redneck southerners and make inroads into formerly Democratic strongholds. By 1972, his paranoia had caused him to cast his net wider and now the whole anti-war, pro-feminist, gays, blacks, marijuana crowd was a commie-controlled plot. It worked for the most part because 1) McGovern was inept; and 2) most of the country still looked more like Mayberry than the Sunset Strip. Forty years later, the chickens are coming home to roost. Years and years of Republicans following the Nixon Southern Strategy playbook, tweaked in the 80s by Reagan adding the far-right Evangelicals in the circus, has come to haunt them in two straight Presidential elections. And it will hurt them forever more if the GOP doesn't do something. This country is only going to get less whiter...not more. Women have been the majority of the population for some time and will continue to make up the majority of voters. Romney's problem wasn't black voters...it was the fact that women preferred Obama by a 10% margin. Yes, it was the economy, stupid...women are tired of not receiving equal pay for equal work. The GOP has painted itself into a corner...it has become the party of uptight, white people who pray for the rapture. That's a shrinking demographic...getting older by the minute. You cannot spend decades demonizing and denigrating women, gays, minorities and then wonder why they won't vote for you. In my daily life I come in contact with all sorts of people from all walks of life...whites, hispanics, blacks, heteros, gays, single, married, jews, muslims, mormon, catholic, christian...even a scientologist or two. My godson is the product of an interracial relationship...something the Republicans used to criminalize. What I've learned is that most people just want to be left alone to live their life and be happy. They want to work and don't mind paying their fair share of taxes because they know that the schools and roads and police/fire depts. need money to operate. And they don't want Government sticking their noses into people's bedrooms. While they may be spiritual, they are tired of organized religion telling other people how to live and how to vote. In short, there's a new Silent Majority. The environment I grew up in in the 70s which seemed so different has now become the norm. Most people work and interact with minorities and gays. They are friends or have family members that don't fit into the narrow WASP category, and so aren't as apt to believe the GOP and religious freaks who demonize them. My America has become Our America. An America that is becoming more equal for all, no matterr your sex, race or creed. Congrats to Maryland for becoming the first state to pass gay-marriage rights! Congrats to Colorado for legalizing marijuana. Looking at the electoral map, especially by county, I do see good news for the Republicans. While Obama won the 'people vote', particularly the cities, educated suburbs, and college towns; Romney swept the 'tumbleweed vote'. nicely put. As a foreigner I feared Romney getting in, both for Americans and the rest of the world. He would have isolated the US to it's detriment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Orange County is "tumbleweed"? Actually, a few tumbleweeds have been spotted rolling down the streets in Mission Viejo and Santa Ana from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinkerbelle Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Wonderful post up there, Strider. Here's a thought. Would it not be possible to partitiion the USA, so that all the knuckle-dragging, self-interested bigots could inhabit their own territory, and revert to the Law Of The Jungle/Survival Of The Fittest ethos they espouse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Did you vote today? If so, how long did it take? Several of my coworkers told me they were in line for way over an hour because there were so few machines at the polls. We had about 20 machines in my polling place in Maryland, so I was really surprised there were only 3 or 4 at their places. I did; it took about 45 min. Took a while to find a parking space; I had to circle the lot about 5x. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstork Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 the healthcare bill is no longer unpopular. the health care bill was the biggest reason given by republicans and non political types for voting for Obama based on the ones i talked to. because it affects them personally and to take that away would hurt them. there were no death panels and other things republicans used to scare voters with. things like abortion rights, gay rights matter to people. these things are not unrelated to many people when it comes to issues like jobs and economy. and here is a problem , Romney never gave where he stood. people understand things aren't so simple. so Obama not creating a perfect world is not going to get them to vote for a guy they know nothing about and switched positions so many times. people still trust Obama. i have no idea why Romney ran for President. Romney was not going to be able to reverse Roe v. Wade even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to. It was an effective democrat scare tactic, certainly helped along by some kooky Republican senate candidates. And to be honest, when you can't find a job and you have a family to feed social issues take a backseat. Obama "not creating a perfect world" is trite. He has a record that would sink almost anyone else. That's why I said, give the Devil his due. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstork Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 the healthcare bill is no longer unpopular. the health care bill was the biggest reason given by republicans and non political types for voting for Obama based on the ones i talked to. because it affects them personally and to take that away would hurt them. there were no death panels and other things republicans used to scare voters with. things like abortion rights, gay rights matter to people. these things are not unrelated to many people when it comes to issues like jobs and economy. and here is a problem , Romney never gave where he stood. people understand things aren't so simple. so Obama not creating a perfect world is not going to get them to vote for a guy they know nothing about and switched positions so many times. people still trust Obama. i have no idea why Romney ran for President. Sorry, double post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstork Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 the healthcare bill is no longer unpopular. the health care bill was the biggest reason given by republicans and non political types for voting for Obama based on the ones i talked to. because it affects them personally and to take that away would hurt them. there were no death panels and other things republicans used to scare voters with. things like abortion rights, gay rights matter to people. these things are not unrelated to many people when it comes to issues like jobs and economy. and here is a problem , Romney never gave where he stood. people understand things aren't so simple. so Obama not creating a perfect world is not going to get them to vote for a guy they know nothing about and switched positions so many times. people still trust Obama. i have no idea why Romney ran for President. Holy triple post! Problems reaching the server from the bus... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles J. White Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 I would like to congratulate our American brothers and sisters for a re-electing a President who started a unprovoked war in Libya (instead of Iraq), and doubled the Bush deficit – looking forward to the next four years because the last four were so different... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstork Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 I would like to congratulate our American brothers and sisters for a re-electing a President who started a unprovoked war in Libya (instead of Iraq), and doubled the Bush deficit – looking forward to the next four years because the last four were so different... Defecit, shmefecit, Colorado legalized pot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles J. White Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Defecit, shmefecit, Colorado legalized pot! Rocky mountain high. Just don't smoke it when you are standing in a restaurant line because I don't want my clothes smelling like pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstork Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Rocky mountain high. Just don't smoke it when you are standing in a restaurant line because I don't want my clothes smelling like pot. Just kidding man. Mocking the fact that people who can't find work should be celebrating legalized pot or gay marriage today (no offense to my pothead and/or gay friends, seriously). Be sensitive to gays who vote self interest. But people who are affected by this horrible job market and vote self interest are considered selfish at best, racist and narrow-minded at worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishhead Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Congrats to the USA and President Obama. Best of Luck to ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingo Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Eight years of Obama still won't undo the screw-up of eight years of Bush, but he will put us on the right course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Eight years of Obama still won't undo the screw-up of eight years of Bush, but he will put us on the right course. Yep..Paving the way for Hillary Clinton. No more Republicans in the White House for at least twelve years....But then I'm an Englishman, what do I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE12 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 My AmericaThis country is only going to get less whiter...not more. Women have been the majority of the population for some time and will continue to make up the majority of voters. Romney's problem wasn't black voters...it was the fact that women preferred Obama by a 10% margin. Yes, it was the economy, stupid...women are tired of not receiving equal pay for equal work. The GOP has painted itself into a corner...it has become the party of uptight, white people who pray for the rapture. That's a shrinking demographic...getting older by the minute. You cannot spend decades demonizing and denigrating women, gays, minorities and then wonder why they won't vote for you. In short, there's a new Silent Majority. The environment I grew up in in the 70s which seemed so different has now become the norm. Most people work and interact with minorities and gays. They are friends or have family members that don't fit into the narrow WASP category, and so aren't as apt to believe the GOP and religious freaks who demonize them. My America has become Our America. An America that is becoming more equal for all, no matterr your sex, race or creed.. Love these points, Strider! Although some of us in growing up in the Midwest have been liberals (parents included-although I'm guessing they didn't smoke pot:) ) all along. LBJ said it best when he said he knew by passing the Voters Rights Act in 65, he was delivering the Democratic South to the GOP. And the rise of Lee Atwater foreshadowed the politics of hate on offer from Karl Rove and his group. Women have 1 more woman representing them in the Senate. That makes it 17 out of 100. The US ranks 90 in 186 countries with regard to women's representation in gov't. We can do better and we will. For all of you who think a woman's right to choose and "social issues" like these have no relationship to the economy and how we fare in it - have no idea what it means to be a woman in 2012. I'm lucky to be born in the West but if you think we're going to do nothing while all of you waving the banner for smaller government except when it comes to women's bodies... well you see how well that hypocrisy worked in this election. And the "kooky" Republican who tried to pass a bill defining "personhood" was the GOP's VP candidate. So not just a "scare tactic." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 LBJ said it best when he said he knew by passing the Voters Rights Act in 65, he was delivering the Democratic South to the GOP. And the rise of Lee Atwater foreshadowed the politics of hate on offer from Karl Rove and his group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryingbluerain Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Congrats Marxists/Statists/Leftists. I guess now we'll get to find out what "more flexibility" means. Awesome. (sarc/off) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Historian Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 ^ Yes....... cryinglotsofbluerain right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LedZeppfan77 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Strider this election was won on the Latino vote and the votes of young people that are clueless. Romney played too nice. He should have thrown the decietfull acts of Obama overseas that led to deaths of our people right in his face. But I do not think these voters have the intelligence to know better. They think they have won? They just fucked our country. Let them keep coming in and immigrating in droves and re-electing the type of people like this asshole Obama. If Isreal bombs Iran tomorrow maybe it will open some eyes to what this guy is really about. He sucks. And this country's leadership sucks. He has to walk in 4 years and if anyone thinks Hillary would beat Rubio they are nuts. I myself was a Hillary supporter. I do not think she will get the nomination. Doubtfull. We know Biden wont. If he does, they would be throwing him to the wolves. Just hope that this guys doesn't fuck us all totally on health care and the economy with four more years in office. More than half the population of this country do NOT want this guy in. 65 percent of white working males that built this country do NOT WANT this guy. And Oh Gee, what a surprise that illegal votes occured in Ohio. This is a president that had black panthers at polling places showing their "muscle". And anyone that is for this is no friend of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bong-Man Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 When I was a wee Catholic raised lad, I received training in public school AND from my Church (render unto Caesar ring a bell ?) about the "Separation of Church and State", and why it was such an important concept to our gov't and personal freedom. There is nothing I found more dispicable and Un-American during this election than the people who seem to lack or accept this basic understanding. God isn't on your party's side any more than he roots for Tim Tebow's football team or mine. Amen.....Now someone please pass the potatos ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Historian Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Strider this election was won on the Latino vote and the votes of young people that are clueless. Romney played too nice. He should have thrown the decietfull acts of Obama overseas that led to deaths of our people right in his face. But I do not think these voters have the intelligence to know better. They think they have won? They just fucked our country. Let them keep coming in and immigrating in droves and re-electing the type of people like this asshole Obama. If Isreal bombs Iran tomorrow maybe it will open some eyes to what this guy is really about. He sucks. And this country's leadership sucks. He has to walk in 4 years and if anyone thinks Hillary would beat Rubio they are nuts. I myself was a Hillary supporter. I do not think she will get the nomination. Doubtfull. We know Biden wont. If he does, they would be throwing him to the wolves. Just hope that this guys doesn't fuck us all totally on health care and the economy with four more years in office. More than half the population of this country do NOT want this guy in. 65 percent of white working males that built this country do NOT WANT this guy. And Oh Gee, what a surprise that illegal votes occured in Ohio. This is a president that had black panthers at polling places showing their "muscle". And anyone that is for this is no friend of mine. Amen!!!! pure passion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagittarius Rising Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Strider this election was won on the Latino vote and the votes of young people that are clueless. Romney played too nice. He should have thrown the decietfull acts of Obama overseas that led to deaths of our people right in his face. But I do not think these voters have the intelligence to know better. They think they have won? They just fucked our country. Let them keep coming in and immigrating in droves and re-electing the type of people like this asshole Obama. If Isreal bombs Iran tomorrow maybe it will open some eyes to what this guy is really about. He sucks. And this country's leadership sucks. He has to walk in 4 years and if anyone thinks Hillary would beat Rubio they are nuts. I myself was a Hillary supporter. I do not think she will get the nomination. Doubtfull. We know Biden wont. If he does, they would be throwing him to the wolves. Just hope that this guys doesn't fuck us all totally on health care and the economy with four more years in office. More than half the population of this country do NOT want this guy in. 65 percent of white working males that built this country do NOT WANT this guy. And Oh Gee, what a surprise that illegal votes occured in Ohio. This is a president that had black panthers at polling places showing their "muscle". And anyone that is for this is no friend of mine. Please, tell us how you really feel, and don't hold back this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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