GOP’s white Southern men problem: Why they can’t hold Democrats down any longer

[phantom power]

The days of the left humiliating itself in an effort to woo these voters are over. They're the right's problem now

In a very famous (and possibly apocryphal) quote, Lyndon Johnson said upon signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act that the Democrats had lost the South for a generation. And there’s little doubt that the Republicans immediately saw a path to a new majority. That realignment took more than a generation to gradually happen, but happen it did. The GOP marched through one election after another burning down every Southern Democratic stronghold in its wake.

And the Democrats have been bemoaning their Lost Cause ever since. For decades it was an article of faith that the only way for the Democrats to achieve a real majority again would be to recapture that Southern white vote. They agreed that they had to only nominate sons of the South who could speak the lingo. And they had to ensure that they never again spoke ill of guns, only spoke ill of gays and always praised God as if every day was an evangelical revival meeting.

...

The problem was that Democrats just couldn’t thread that needle. The party of people of color, feminists, urban dwellers and gays was not going to be particularly appealing to Mudcat’s Bubbas regardless of how often Democrats like Howard Dean excitedly exhorted them to vote for their own self-interest:

“White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals in the back ought to be voting with us and not them, because their kids don’t have health insurance, either, and their kids need better schools, too.”

You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Entire books have been written about this strange phenomenon in American political life that explains in great detail why they don’t. Let’s just say they would rather die than vote for a Democrat. Literally.

...

It turns out that you can no longer assume that “rural” and “Southern” align, at least not when it comes to healthcare. Across the country, people are starting to warm up to the healthcare reforms and want to see it successfully implemented. But Southern, rural white voters are still opposed. And they aren’t budging. These are unattainable voters for the Democratic Party and have been for a very long time.

...The Democrats can finally put their dreams of re-creating the Roosevelt coalition behind them once and for all. That coalition required that the Democratic Party ignore any commitment to ending Jim Crow and there’s no going back to that kind of politics. There are seats outside the rural deep South they could contest.

And if those conservative, white Southern male voters ever wake up to the fact that their enemies aren’t feminazis, African-Americans or Latinos and figure out just who it is who’s really keeping them down, I’m quite sure the Democrats would be proud to have them back in the fold. Until then Bubba’s going to be the heart and soul of the GOP. He’s their problem now.

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/30/gops_white_southern_men_problem_why_they_cant_hold_democrats_down_any_longer/

[msongs]

1. deaar "South": slavery is not coming back, get over it nt

[1000words]

2. Turd Way will fuck them over just the same

[JPZenger]

3. Dems do well in southern cities

Take a look at Presidential or US Senate election results by county in the US. The Dems do very well in southern cities, and they lose rural areas in blue states.

Meanwhile, Dems have recently taken control of all 3 statewide elected offices in Va. (including Governor) as well as the State Senate, and hold both US Senate seats (which were held by Repubs in most recent years). Part of the reason is a large infusion of people from outside of Va. into the state, as well as an increasingly well-educated population.

Also, across the US, African-American women were motivated to vote in high numbers. (We still need to work on the men). Part of the reason was backlash against Repub voter suppression laws. "You can't tell me I can't vote. My parents fought in the streets for that right."