(almost) one week after
Before I start ranting again, I want to share a cool election map site. It has votes by county (pictured below), maps adjusted for population (cartograms), and these odd purplish maps where they interpolate the colors from red to blue.
OK, back to the rant...
good old Mark Shields pointed out that Kerry lost the south (the eleven states of the Confederacy) by five million votes, but he lost the popular vote by only three and a half million votes. Exactly what that means is debatable, but one conclusion is that without those redneck retards (my people, of course as a son of the South) he would be president.
Then Sunday, Lawrence O'Donnell (who has become my favorite among the chattering classes) pointed to the coming class and regional warfare. The blue states - east, west, upper midwest - are the economic engine of the whole country. The red states (in particular the Old South again) are the states on welfare. Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky and other of those sturdy, self-reliant red farm states survive mostly on farm subsidies paid for by us godless blue-staters. So the Kerry voters pay the bills for the Bush voters, essentially enabling their self-destructive behavior.
O'Donnell went on to point out that it was 150 years ago that the South tried to secede. Lincoln stopped them then, but as far as he is concerned they are welcome to leave now anytime and take Texas with them. Then the rest of us can get on with our lives, making progress and engaging the world. I fully endorse this idea!
This leads me to a modification my "it's the 60's again" take - it still IS the 60's again, but whereas last time it was an age divide (remember the Generation Gap? boy, I sure do!), this time it's a regional divide. I remember not standing for the national anthem at ball games and risking getting my butt kicked. boy what fun (not!)
OK, back to the rant...good old Mark Shields pointed out that Kerry lost the south (the eleven states of the Confederacy) by five million votes, but he lost the popular vote by only three and a half million votes. Exactly what that means is debatable, but one conclusion is that without those redneck retards (my people, of course as a son of the South) he would be president.
Then Sunday, Lawrence O'Donnell (who has become my favorite among the chattering classes) pointed to the coming class and regional warfare. The blue states - east, west, upper midwest - are the economic engine of the whole country. The red states (in particular the Old South again) are the states on welfare. Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky and other of those sturdy, self-reliant red farm states survive mostly on farm subsidies paid for by us godless blue-staters. So the Kerry voters pay the bills for the Bush voters, essentially enabling their self-destructive behavior.
O'Donnell went on to point out that it was 150 years ago that the South tried to secede. Lincoln stopped them then, but as far as he is concerned they are welcome to leave now anytime and take Texas with them. Then the rest of us can get on with our lives, making progress and engaging the world. I fully endorse this idea!
This leads me to a modification my "it's the 60's again" take - it still IS the 60's again, but whereas last time it was an age divide (remember the Generation Gap? boy, I sure do!), this time it's a regional divide. I remember not standing for the national anthem at ball games and risking getting my butt kicked. boy what fun (not!)