why'd indiana go to Bush?

[UpsideDownFlag]

what the hell part of his base is there??

[dave123williams]

1. Many, many rednecks.

[lanparty]

17. Stop this !!!!

The use of the term "red neck" in a deragatory fashion is no different than explaining Democratic dominance on Illinois to "niggers".

These are good folk. They're simply lied to and misled by the "press" and all the right wing goons on the radio.

Sorry, but Indiana is pretty conservative. Our successfull Senator Evan Bayh is little different than a Republican. Indiana has voted Republican in presidential races for 30 years!!! Thats just the way it goes!!!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

18. I was born and raised in Indiana

Trust me. "Redneck" applies. Big time.

[Cuban_Liberal]

20. I lived there for 6 years.

'Redneck' is right. If the shoe fits, etc. ...

[lanparty]

24. How do you appeal to a demographic ...

How do you appeal to a demographic if you serially insult them!!! Yeah, must of those rural voters are out of reach. There are some pretty wacky pockets of ultra-conservative religions in Indiana like those depicted in "footloose". Those folks are out of reach forever!!!!

However, there are lots of great folk in Indiana who have been serially deceived that Republicans have their best interest at heart. This is a lie. And we need to work at breaking down that lie.

You do NOT convince anyone by saying "Hey REDNECK, your an inbred moron who doesn't understand politics from your bunghole." You need to talk to people with respect and gently prod at their viewpoints by asking questions.

You're a Democrat and you take that impression into the world with you. Try to be the BEST democrat you can be and you'll help our cause!!!

[kcwayne]

35. Here is an example

I belong to a golf club in Indianapolis. It is integrated, so people don't say nigger or spic in the club house, but they are lax about it when they think no one is in ear shot.

One guy who plays in a group that I play with is a devout Catholic. He will come straight from mass on Sunday, and start bitterly complaining about blacks and Mexicans because they are poor, lazy, and irresponsible, and he has to pay taxes to keep them on welfare. He manages a bank branch that is located in a minority neighborhood, and he hates it, and hates his customers.

The club is frequented by similar upper class professionals and business owners. Not a farmer among them. And just like the devout Catholic racist, an overwhelming majority of them are rednecks.

They are not inbred morons, they are college graduates, successful professionals. But they are rednecks through and through, and feel they are superior to minorities.

It was a big deal for these people when Mike Davis (an African American) was given the head basketball coach position at Indiana University. They are itching to see him fired so a white guy can take the helm again.

Rednecks, peckerwoods, and crackers. They practics racism with a smile and prayer.

[thinkingwoman]

32. I live there now...

seriously redneck.

and inbred.

[lumberingbear]

31. Right Prisoner!!!

All redneck, except Indianapolis.

[Occulus]

39. Bullshit. They're rednecks. They hate me, and people like me.

FUCK em.

[Carla in Ca]

23. No Obama coattails for Kerry? Why?

n/t

[RunningFromCongress]

26. Most likely b/c Obama is in Illinois

[lanparty]

28. Obama is not from Indiana ...

Look, the Northwest portion of the state votes Democratic. This is partially because of the cultural/political spillover from Chicago. Go 90 miles down the road to South Bend and it's a completely different story!!!!

The only other region tht I'd expect to be influenced by Illinois politics is Terra-Haute which can receive broadcast signals from Champaign-Urbana!!!

[Carla in Ca]

29. Sorry, sorry...so nervous...

n/t

[Metatron]

2. Indiana is very religious

[JPJones]

3. The Klan used to be huge in Indiana n/t

[JHBowden]

4. Have you ever been to Indiana?

I've heard they have more KKK members than any other state.

[lanparty]

21. No it doesn't ....

Though, we probably have the most KKK members above the Mason-Dixon line. One town in Indiana (Martinsville) is notorious for it's intolerance.

It's actually amazing because the hardest conservative areas ring the MOST liberal center of the state, Indiana University Bloomington!!! NPR really hasn't affected these folks much and I don't expect it ever will!!!

In future years, we need to get Air American into inter-urban areas like Terra Haute, South Bend, Indianapolis, Evansville and Fort Wayne. Swinging large portions of Indianpolis and Terra Haute alone could swing the state!!!

[President Jesus]

5. crypto-fascists.

[psunitlions1]

6. they spell AMERIKKKA this way

!

[blackcat77]

7. Hey! Cut out the slander, okay?

Indiana is a socially conservative state. That doesn't make us klansment or anything like that. The state has a Republican tradition but there are still places where Democrats run well.

[Metatron]

10. Exactly.

And we have had Dem governors for many years (hopefully continuing tonight)

[psunitlions1]

13. not trying to slander

Historically very conservative and the largest klan base

just fact

im sure there are many dems there just like many repug in cali

[KingChicken]

8. Indiana was easy bush territory, no surprise....

[grace0418]

9. No offense to Indiana DUers

but Indiana DUers are the exception not the rule. On the whole Indiana is a RW ARMPIT.

[kcwayne]

25. No offense taken, you are dead on right.

[QC]

11. The last Democrat Indiana supported was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

No one expected Indiana to go our way.

[not systems]

12. America Nazi party stronghold.

So was Ohio and Illinois at one time.

[Pobeka]

14. Ex-Hoosier here. It's the kool-aid. They drink it by the bucket.

My parents live there. Thoughtful people. But they only have a ultra-conservative source of information.

The GOP is therefore, and always will be, good.

There may on occasion be a Dem worth voting for, but all in all the Dems are evil, for so says everything in the Indiana info-stream.

Indiana is a case study in why having a functioning media is critical to a successful democracy.

[harpo]

15. BINGO

[Cuban_Liberal]

16. Indiana is to the Midwest what Mississippi is to the South.

Most Hoosiers thought Ronald Reagan was 'too liberal' on most social issues, if that helps clue you in.

:)

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

19. Very strongly Protestant

In the rural areas, information about local races is considered uninteresting and pretentious. The national races are viewed as important, and are talked about in terms of their religious import as the single most important factor. Abortion rights are usually the one set of issues that determines the presidential votes in these parts.

[kcwayne]

22. The people in Indiana are "nice" racists

They are more polite than your average lowbrow Georgia cracker, but the animosity to blacks and Latinos is higher than what I experienced in Texas.

There are a lot of fundamentalists here. One of the biggest conventions in Indiana is Promise Keepers, and they fill the RCA Dome to capacity.

There is no intellectual tradition that I can discern. The only people that I have met here that aren't goose-shit brained stupid are libertarians. That is not to say there are not clever people here, but I have not had an intellectual discussion with one person in the 10 years I have been here. I have heard alot of gay, black, and latino jokes though.

[lanparty]

34. You've never been on a campus ....

If you step onto a college campus community, things can change pretty fast. People in rural areas are isolated. And that isolation tends to breed apprehensiveness and ignorance.

The hip hop generation will come of age. The same satellite dishes that deliver Fox News also deliver MTV and Comedy Central. The culture is changing and things are getting better, not worse.

We will NEVER be able to escape the stigma of racism. But each generation becomes more accepting. The sure and steady voters of today were voting in the days of segregation and reactions to de-segregation.

[kcwayne]

37. I have been on many campuses

although I have not visited Indiana campuses for 20 years, I have interviewed numerous IU and Purdue graduates in the last few years, and I don't see the spark of progessive values in their speech or mannerisms.

What is the biggest rallying point for IU in the last few years? The students rioted and made death threats against students that accused their "beloved" basketball coach Bob Knight of striking them, which led to Knight's firing. Those morons convinced me that I will not send my daughter to college amongst a bunch of flaming assholes that are that incredibly neanderthal.

I am biased. When I was in college, we protested the war in Vietnam, the profiteering of Brown and Root (a Halliburton subsidery) on war contracts, the CIA assasination of Allende, and the killing of students and Kent State. I guess I am jaded, but I think those were more important values than a fucking basketball coach's job.

[karlrschneider]

27. Gawd, gays & guns. It's that simple.

:grr:

[lebkuchen]

30. Never been there

don't plan to go in the future

[mountainvue]

33. Inidiana

is the most Repuke state in the union

[baltodemvet]

36. It's about as Bush base as you can get

I went to college in Indiana. It is very conservative. Traditional values prevail in part because there's very little exposure to diversity and it's true that the local media have a very parochial outlook. There are good people there to be sure (some of whom I know lead unconventional lives)but I can't say I ever felt at all at home there.

[AngryHoosier]

38. We're not all bad, trust me.

My fiance and I are huge liberal vegetarians and we're not alone. BUT we're surrounded by corn fields. I went to IU Bloomington and it was very liberal, but outside of Bloomington or here in Indy it can get a bit scary. Martinsville to the south is terrifying! There's just more bad than good here unfortunately...

We'd love to move to Chicago, but the cost of living is great here in the capital.

[chaumont58]

40. Indiana is the old Southern state above the MasonDixon line

The KKK was a huge power in Indiana, years ago.