The map says it all

[FM Arouet666]

As I look at the map of red and blue, I am always amazed at the distribution. Not to offend my democratic brethren in red states, but the swash of red consistently covers the back bane, rural, more ignorant bible belt, and the traditionally oppressive south. The points of light, the blue, the west, middle north, and north east correlate with the most urban areas of the US. Areas with the greatest diversity, most prominent educational institutions, and most tolerant of opposing religious and cultural viewpoints. Tolerance, education, free thinking have become the minority. Welcome to Nazi Germany.

[many a good man]

1. There's 2 kinds of Republicans: rich ones and stupid ones

Together they are a formidable force...

[pinkpops]

2. 3 kinds

you left out rich stupid ones.

[Goathead]

17. That is what I always tell Republicans that I meet

That they are not really Republicans because they are not rich enough and that the elitist REAL Republican party would never have them. It always pisses them off.

[Rush1184]

25. I actually met one who said he was one because he was ritch...

Well, at least he is an honest republican.

[chookie]

3. Bingo

I always wondered how Nazism rose in Germany -- now I know.

Well, traditionally the rock and coyote states are the ones most ready to sacrifice their young people to settle disputes with violence and war -- so they will be bearing the brunt of the blood sacrifice. We, the intelligencia, will merely see rational nations leap ahead of us in science and technology, while we are legislated to find ways to honor god in all aspects of life.

prognosis: MASSIVE brain hemorrhage to rational countries -- gee, just like back in the 30s, when "clever Jews" had to escape Nazies. Now it is clever "reality-based" folk who are going to be suppressed and marginalized.

IF people are rooting for the End Times and are drooling over the pages of the Book of Revelation, all this bad news is sexy stuff, because it means the Messiah is on his way.

Seems to me a lot of fucking ignorant peasants did very well during the Clinton adminstration, and earned enough disposable income to be able to donate to racist and wacko authoritarian groups, and bring about their bible-based authoritarian military empire. To think the Taliban was restricted to just Afghanistan, when militant Christian fascism is on the march with the biggest army in history throughout the world!

I guess this is our response to Osama: our wackos are bigger than your wackos! Maybe that makes the hearts of Bush's base swell with pride, but makes my eyes roll that our nation has fallen to this barbaric fundamentalist peasant idiocy.

[magdalena]

6. If the Messiah is on his way

does it mean that * is the antichrist? :evilgrin:

[kokomo]

27. I am a third generation German-American with ties to my German cousins.

I have been back to Germany twice and may go again next year. I have had long talks to hear my cousins explain themselves....how on earth they could have allowed the Nazi monster to take life. They claim it all crept upon them and when they realized what they had in their midst, it was too late, their borders were sealed and their men were conscripted for the military.

What is most scary, is that we are already on the Nazi timeline. We had our Reichstag Fire on 9/11, our Leni Reifenstahl/Goebbels media blitz, the jingoism with flags, "Support our Troops" magnetic car stickers, "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch, and Toby Keith singing about putting our foot in the ass of foreigners --"the American way".

Then we had 1939, the "invasion of Poland" with the Bush attack on Iraq. So we are now around 1940. Four more years may have the rest of the world warring against us and our cities looking more like Dresden.

Bush wants us to be very afraid. I am very afraid of George W. Bush.

[Sandpiper]

4. As a red state escapee

I can say that I'm happy as hell to be out of the bible belt, and have no plans of ever returning.

The hellfire and brimstone republican crowd is nuts, and I don't mean that lightly. They're honest to jeebus, one or two tacos short of a combo platter.

[usmail]

5. I do take offense...

For someone professing tolerance you seem to be going out of your way to offend those of us living in red states. Perhaps if our party talked the talk we wouldn't have lost the south...a democratic stronghold for decades.

[Sandpiper]

7. A democratic stronghold back when the party

Was willing to tolerate Jim Crow in exchange for electoral votes.

The civil rights and voting rights acts are what sent the south to the Republicans.

[usmail]

8. Excuse me...

But you don't know what you're talking about. My state, Georgia, elected the first Repug Governor since reconstruction because the democratic party wouldn't fight for this state. Instead, they came in and told us how stupid and backward we were. How are we going to regain control of the congress and take the WH if we keep alienating the south with this stupid fucking holier-than-thou attitude?

[Sandpiper]

10. I guess Lyndon Johnson didn't know what he was talking about either

Since after signing the Civil Rights Act he said:

"I think we have just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come."

And I guess the GOP "Southern Strategy" of making overt appeals to the deeply ingrained bigotry of the region was just something that political scientists made up.

[usmail]

12. Give it up.

The only bigotry I've seen is the bigotry from people professing to have cornered the market on tolerance. It's no wonder we've lost the election. Why wants to vote for someone who believes that 80% of the country is populated by redneck hicks?

[Goathead]

22. I am from Virginia originally

So I can say the south is full of racist bigots. Not everybody, but everyone I have ever met who claims to be a Republican from the south is also a racist. Very few exceptions.

[alwynsw]

9. How obtuse and offensive can you be?

Go ahead. Give it another shot. You can do better than that.

What's next? Poopie head?

BTW next time you decide to eat, remember where it came from. Dems farm, too. C'mon over and pull a teat at 4:00 A.M. for some really fresh milk. You urbanites do know where milk comes from, don't you.

This is not a good night to vent your spleen on those of us who happen to live in red states for whatever reason we live in them. WE may enjoy the fresher air and lower crime rates. We may just like the idea of being able to live without daily reminders of how backward ignorant urbanites think we are.

Think before you post something such as this in the future. We don't need division within the family.

[MaineYooper]

11. so what is the answer?

I have family that live in red states, so I understand your anger at the gross characterization.

So rude stereotypes aside, what is it that the democratic party needs to do to reclaim even a part of the big swath of red across the south and middle of the country? Or what wasn't done this time, perhaps is a better question. Apparently 60-70% of the people living in the south or central part of this country really prefer the other party- any answers for why?

(and to be fair about this- there were over 52 million people last time I looked that voted for *, and a good percentage of them don't live in red states)

[usmail]

14. Well, for one thing...

We needed another Candidate like Clinton. Someone who could appeal to rural voters without the condescending attitude. We need the red state votes and we're not going to get then as long as we continue to treat them as if they were developmentally disabled.

[southlandshari]

18. Amen! n/t

[Qanisqineq]

16. thank you

"...there were over 52 million people last time I looked that voted for *, and a good percentage of them don't live in red states"

thank you, thank you, thank you

[davepc]

21. Clinton populism

[davepc]

23. having ross peroit

to eat 17% of Bush Srs turnout or whatever it was in 1992 didnt hurt either

[ofrfxsk]

13. Well, ya have Missouri figured out perfectly.

I'm so ashamed of this state.

[alwynsw]

24. I'm so ashamed of this state

So move out to CA and further concentrate the electoral vote to an unwinnable minority.

[illuminaughty]

29. You shouldn't be ashamed of Missouri

You should be ashamed of the corruption of the local govt and the media.

I just left two parties of people that worked the polls and people that have been canvassing for months. These numbers are nonsense.

Every person that was at the polls from 6am to 7 pm said this was bullshit.

Tell me how I can leave my precinct as it is closing, drive home 10 minutes and within an hour the state has been projected for * ? And all this with a massive campaign effort by MoveOnPac, ACT and ACORN.

I have been talking to people in the predominant African American precincts. Something terrible happened in Missouri today. The people came out.

[DjTj]

15. You're not going to win us back with that attitude...

...I will always be voting Democratic, but it's this elitist attitude that turns off my neighbors...

[ThoughtCriminal]

19. Remember some of this red wash is like 52-48

Just as many blue states are marginal too.

[Judi Lynn]

I live in one of them, have lived in another, and visited other red ones.

From my perspective you couldn't be more accurate. To ignore the facts is unstable.

[usmail]

26. step back and think...

Perhaps you meant, to ignore the facts would make you appear to be unstable. I certainly hope you're not from a blue state because it would belie the assertion that blue's are more intelligent.

I'm beginning to understand why Kerry lost the entire South.

[alwynsw]

20. A message from my wife

Your broad stroke remarks show definite signs of bigotry, prejudice, and ignorance. Being from southern rural America does not preclude education, intelligence, nor open mindedness. Please note that we do not accuse you of these traits. Your assumptions are evidence of the above-mentioned traits you have assigned to those Democrats who live rural and/or southern states.

BTW, from me, would you care to join Mensa with us? Also, you do realize that John Edwards is a southern boy, don't you? Did you intend to paint him with that same broad brush?

[DARE to HOPE]

28. Dear friends, lets not fight...

Remember how John Edwards campaigned, showing us how THEY keeping trying to divide us into two Americas?

Let us NOT give in to them! I for one REFUSE to believe that all those votes were cast by all the people who voted in this election!

After all, Bev Harris and crew found the "rob-Georgia" folder after the last time, when Georgia supposedly voted Cleland out. I think that was a lie against the people of Georgia, and the same in Minnesota's treatment of Mondale in 2002.

You do not add 15 million new voters, yet have Kerry do worse than Gore did. Let's think, and STAY in this TOGETHER. We DESERVE a fair and free election!!

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

30. You need to take a good look around at your neighbors in the...

...so-called blue states because I know for a fact that racism, bigotry, and racial inequality exist there in the VERY SAME PROPORTIONS as they do in the red states.

Tell me how "tolerant" your beloved northeastern states were of the Irish when they first began to immigrate to the U. S. in large numbers? Or of the Italians, or any ethnic group arriving in America for the first time?

What do you know of the treatment of native Americans in those northeastern/midwestern states that you describe so lovingly? What do you know of the history of the KKK, particularly those subchapters located in Illinois? What do you know about the anti-draft riots in 1863 in New York City where nearly three hundred blacks were killed by rampaging mobs? What do you know about the vast numbers of Chinese that died working on the railroad gangs building eastwards from the West Coast?

Additionally, some of the finest academic institutions in the country can be found in the red states you chose to describe in such insulting terms. Just to list a few off the top of my head...University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Duke, Auburn, North Carolina, University of Miami, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Baylor, LSU, and Kentucky. I'm sure there are MANY more that I haven't mentioned.

Good Lord, but I am constantly amazed by the ignorant comments made by folks who have done little or no homework to back up their totally ludicrous remarks.

[alwynsw]

32. Don't forget Duke

and Elan (NC) has one of the premier nursing programs in the U.S. I also need to add Centre (KY), KY Wesleyan (one of the best lib arts programs in the country), Murray State (KY), one of the best pre-veterinarian programs in the U.S., Cincinnati Conservatory, VMI, the Citadel, Peabody, Louisville (alma mater of Diane Fossey)... the list goes on and on.

Count me in your corner, kiddo.