Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Insight from the conservative right..

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: Homestead List <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Insight from the conservative right..
  • Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:35:14 -0400

I wrote this before my 12 mile bike ride this afternoon and decided not
to send it, then I saw a few more posts about anger, so now I am sending
it. I'm sure I will regret this, but maybe you guys will still love me.

Mogrits wrote:


I'm wondering, should Obama win, if my friends and neighbors with more pronounced accents than myself will call him "Obamer".

Warren

<cringe> My mother already does....and worse, my stepfather says
Chicargo, which really drives me nuts....

As to the anger we are now seeing, realize that we of this list are the
ants..we have prepared and have seen this coming, we have paid attention
to our country's problems and relative decline and have eased into this
'radical' change we are about to witness and become part of. But there
are a few grasshoppers who have had their head in the sand and who are
just now waking up to see just how much things have changed, and they
are angry. Some are taking it out on Obama. Some are taking it out on
McCain, because it feels safer to do so-you are less likely to be called
a racist. I disagree that McCain isn't doing anything to stop it. I
saw him jerk the mike away from one person, and tell another person to
be respectful-basically to hush. He needs that anger, though..he needs
every vote he can get, even if people are not voting for him, but
against Obama. He is walking a dangerous line. Sad, but true.
In reality, he couldn't stop it if he tried/begged/bribed, but people
want him to make a better effort and if, at this point in the election,
that means mudslinging, then that is what they expect. I don't think
McCain personally wants to sling mud, but the Party/I suppose Rove is
doing it through Palin. The irony of this, to me, is that Palin, as she
picks up the gauntlet, becomes more powerful for a future joust with
Obama. It is all a lose-lose proposition because this election is over
before the votes are cast, and people know it. I think that also is a
source of anger and that leads me to my next point.
The other aspect of this is that people are very angry with the media.
They feel that Obama has been treated with kid gloves. I tend to agree.
I personally don't think it is appropriate to put up maps with electoral
vote counts based on small, often biased polling a month before the
election. If people think the vote is close, they will vote, if they
think there is no hope, they will stay home. If they think their
candidate will win by a landslide, they will stay home.
It is funny that as far as racism goes, the country is open minded
enough to promote a non-white guy this far, but not open minded enough
to allow the media to do it's job for fear of being labeled racist.
Also ironic, and possibly contributory to the anger being expressed, is
that black people, and some whites, in my neck of the woods at least-and
apparently in Wisconsin and Minnesota, too, don't see Obama as black,
they see him as Arab. He is certainly not like the blacks around here.
My voting district is 30% black, so don't just think I live in some
white bastion in the mountains of North Georgia. My district is,
however, very, very conservative-my rep was voted the most
conservative rep in Congress. (I did not vote for him-I just provide
that factoid as balance) Here, People are still angry with Arab
terrorists, and many have sons and daughters fighting such, so it is
shocking to them that we would elect a 'radical Arab' like Obama before
a 'patriotic black' man like Colin Powell. These are not my opinions per
se, just what I see in my area.
Personally, I am angry that I see people say 'get out and vote', but if
you ask them, they've never voted...they can't name their reps...they
have no clue about anything!!! Last night on 20/20, John Stossel did a
report on this very thing. They were talking to newly registered voters
and asked them, what is Roe v. Wade? No one knew. They had no idea of
how many states we had(many said 52), how many Senators there
were(answers all over the board) and in a picture poster quiz, people
could not identify Joe Biden! So these are the people that are going to
change this country by their vote.. Even my Obamanista daughter is
irritated by this as she sees a lot more of it than I do because she
lives in a more suburban area. At least she is trying to educate herself.
I think middle class people who have always been patriotic, who have
always been the backbone of this country, who have always been the
silent majority, are realizing that they have had their noses to the
grindstone too long and that they have been too disconnected, and they
realize that they should have taken more of an interest. Perhaps they
should have 'talked politics' more at work...perhaps they should have
discussed issues and causes more with their kids. I am guilty here...I
come from a generation where politics simply were not discussed with
kids- I never knew how my parents voted, whether they were R or
D-apparently I was just as secretive-I don't understand how either- as
my daughter recently asked me how I vote-what a shocker *that* was<g>-I
discussed things with my son, who had an interest, but not with my
daughter, who had no interest at the time, but does now.
A friend of mine described this election "like watching a train wreck
about to happen"..nothing you can do to stop it...and that helplessness
breeds anger. Add in the economic crisis-people's savings down the
toilet, which many see as the fault of the Democrats, and you have even
more anger. Add in the disappointment people feel with the Republican
party, and you have even more anger...Add in again the problems with
elections -many think they are rigged- more anger.
Yup, people are pissed off, and I hate to say this, but it will get
worse before it gets better. The media, as I see it, is in for some big
changes to come in the next 5 years or so, because I think they will
take the brunt of it..

Bev


--
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from
the government and I'm here to help.'" Ronald Reagan







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page