Most republicans won't join Bush in Alabama

[Cocoa]

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050309&Category=APN&ArtNo=503090981&SectionCat=&Template=datelineprint

Republicans hold seven of the nine seats in Alabama's congressional delegation, but most of them won't be joining President Bush when he visits Montgomery on Thursday to promote his Social Security plan.

They cite a busy schedule in Washington as the reason for not joining the Republican president at Auburn University Montgomery, but political observers say attendance by the GOP congressmen would be much higher if Bush were promoting a popular program.

"They don't want to be associated with it at this point because it's so fluid," said William Stewart, a political scientist at the University of Alabama who voted for Bush last year.

"There's a down side for them to be here and no up side," said Carl Grafton, a political scientist at AUM and another Bush voter.

More…

[katinmn]

1. Montgomery. Home of the banned dildoes

No offense to our liberal brothers and sisters from Montgomery. :hug:

[woosh]

14. then why is bush speaking there?

HAHA... took a shot at the easy one.

[katinmn]

18. LOL. good one!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. ba-da -bump

[flygal]

53. HEY-O

:thumbsup:

[BamaLefty]

39. LOL-

I was born in Montgomery! :D

A Dem stronghold I may add...

[bunkerbuster1]

2. "because it's so fluid"

Wow. When you can't get Republicans in Ala-fricken-Bama to support the Preznit...

[Cocoa]

5. fluid with chunks of solid material

[DinahMoeHum]

6. . . .and it's not the big chunks you have to worry about. . .

it's the littler clumps that clog the sewer!!

:evilgrin:

[malachi]

29. Sounds like Santorum.

[Tweed]

11. Alabama is far from being the most Republican of states

Check out the county by county map. You will see a nice thick chunk of blue that divides the state in half. You will also notice that we have two congressional reps from there. Then take your eyes westward and look at the Great Plains states. You will see the biggest ugliest stretch of red there. No congressional reps for miles. Hell, we can't even get attorney generals elected in the Great Plains states. Nationwide we hold the edge 32-18. We have eight of the twelve attorney general spots in the entire South.

The fact that the President can't get support in Alabama isn't surprising. Now if he wasn't getting support in Kansas or Wyoming, now that would be something to make a big deal about.

[bunkerbuster1]

30. Point taken, although I wasn't saying that Alabamans

('Bammers?) were especially complacent; rather, that I'd assume local Republican officials there would be receptive to a visit by the Preznit.

And yeah, the Great Plains ain't pretty, politically. I should know since I grew up there.

[Tweed]

36. Quite true

It does seem weird that no Republicans want to be seen him or at least 'their schedule is busy'. I posted my post moreso that people keep in mind that we could make some strides in the South and we are much more likely to do than in the Great Plains and some of the Rocky Mountain states. I'm on a constant attempt to drill that into peoples' minds.

[BamaLefty]

40. I Disagree

The only counties that vote Dem anymore are the ones that are located in the "Black Belt." This is Alabama's 3rd world if you get my drift. Wonderful people though...

Alabama is a strong GOP state. But we're 'a working on it!

[Tweed]

44. Right, but at least you have a base on any kind

Some state don't even have a 'belt'. At least you have something to hold your pants up so everyone doesn't laugh at you.

[Jo March]

51. BamaLefty, hoping that it's all blue by the time I die

I want my ashes scattered off of the top of Monte Santo mountain. I'd hate for my ashes to land on a rethug's property! LOL!!

[daa]

15. Social security is the only

retirement they have there.

[katinmn]

19. they are getting so screwed by this man. It's sad.

[hatrack]

27. And they aren't going to have Medicaid much longer

And over in MS, they're really getting ready to start a barn fire with their Medicaid recipients.

[expatriot]

3. Dean needs to go down to Alabama while Bush is there!

and push his "bread and butter" Democratic message.

[Rainscents]

4. Great idea!

[katinmn]

16. Reid and a team said they'd be following him everywhere.

They did a great job in another city.

[southlandshari]

52. Dean is welcome here in Alabama

ANY TIME, ANY PLACE and ANY WAY he can get here.

He would have been equally, if not more, welcome here during the presidential electional campaign (though I can understand his failure to appear far more easily than I can reconcile the absence of Kerry, Edwards, or anyone significantly related to the official ticket). But that's an old battle and not one worth re-fighting here against the masses.

Seriously, if anyone has any contact with Dean's "people", please pass along that we Democrats are working hard in Alabama, and could really build on the momentum a visit could generate.

[CO Liberal]

7. Pretzelboy Has No Problem Going to Alabama Now....

...but where was he in '72 and '73 when he was supposed to be in their National Guard?????

[Arugula Latte]

8. Heh. Heh.

Ooops. Wait. You've been Dan Ratherized. You must go now.

[susu369]

21. They say the criminal returns to the scene of the crime

Oh, while bu$h is in Montgomery maybe he can go by and pay that old bill he owes where he trashed the house he was renting during his AWOL days - "the furniture broken, walls damaged and a chandelier destroyed, the Birmingham News reported."

"He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people's possessions," Mary Smith, a member of the family who rented the house, told the newspaper, adding that a bill sent to Bush for repairs was never paid.

[IronLionZion]

34. actually he was there

while he was supposed to be in the Texas national guard. Either way, he wasn't where he was supposed to be and he's an asshole.

[Randi_Listener]

9. Montgomery is a dogshit city.

It's the worst place to live outside of Sri Lanka. There's nothing there but goddamn economic depression.

[Roland99]

10. It's heavily black, too, at least what I saw in driving thru a few times

Those Republicans don't want to seem too much in favor of a social program lest it start forming a pattern.

[Randi_Listener]

12. Mostly GOP-supporting fuckbags live there.

[Blue_Tires]

28. you've never seen East St. Louis!

[CoffeeCat]

32. East Saint Louis...

...Isn't that where Clark Griswald had his hubcaps stolen?

[retread]

35. There is a civil rights museum you shouldn't miss. While you're

there drive to Selma and see where history was made on the Pettis Bridge!

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[Bridget Burke]

22. Yes, but even the "slack-jawed yokels" can be reached....

And it looks like they're fixing to rise up against the Republicans.

[QC]

41. But we can't reach them as long as alleged "liberals" and "progressives"

dismiss them as "slack-jawed yokels."

Anybody who wonders where people got the idea that liberals don't like the common folk too much need only spend five minutes at DU.

[w4rma]

43. True. But you can help

by doing what you are doing now and calling them out when you see them. Although the broad brush you're painting with can definitely be thrown away.

[DemBones DemBones]

46. How truly you speak when you say

"Anybody who wonders where people got the idea that liberals don't like the common folk too much need only spend five minutes at DU."

[jpak]

17. "Run away!!! Run away!!!"

Cowards

[maxrandb]

20. American Better Watch Out

Chimpy is used to getting what he wants.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

23. Uh, no, it's not that they are "busy", it's that....

Bush's Social Security Theft could ruin their careers.

[Frances]

25. I think social security is more important

to Alabama and the other red states than it is to most of the blue states. It's interesting to me that the only Alabama congressman who is openly supporting Bush is from B'ham, where there is a significant number of upper middle class people.

Congrats to the Alabama Dems for holding a rally while Bush speaks. I think social security is the Dems' best chance for winning back some congressional seats in rural areas.

The Repubs will try to change the subject to gay marriage, but I hope the Dems can keep the voters focused on the foxes robbing the henhouse.

[Javaman]

26. Moron* has got the stink on him...

Anyone with half a brain knows that this bullshit plan by moron* is political suicide.
None of these guys want to get it on then, only to try and scrape it off next time elections come up.

Just a thought, perhaps this fucked up plan by moron*, is nothing more than a smoke screen to act as a way to clean house of those repukes that follow his screwy lead.

Once it fails, then he knows who to purge and who not to. Just a thought.

[Penndems]

31. The rats are jumping off a sinking ship

As unpopular as The Village Idiot's Social Security plan is, they're not gonna put their own political careers in jeopardy.

[union_maid]

33. Quack, quack, quack!

Bush's lameness is showing. Republicans have to consider life after Bush now.

[Straight Shooter]

37. "Fluid." Interesting term. Fluid like gasoline? Fluid like kerosene?

Fluid like the raging river of disapproval that will take them down if they stand with Little Boots on the dismantling of Social Security?

[Inland]

38. Why aren't dems cornering them, asking them why they aren't with Bush?

Why let them distance themselves? Make the pubs take a stand. Since if Bush's plan wins, they'll take credit, why not plan on Bush's plan losing and taking pubs down with him? y

[d_b]

42. Awww. What are they afraid of?

Profit over people. Just admit what you're all about.

Silly pukes.

[despairing optimist]

45. Is there a Bull Connor hose op here somewhere?

[DemBones DemBones]

47. Notice that the political scientists are Bush voters but they know

Bush is in trouble over his ides to privatize Social Security. He can switch the language around (is it still "personal accounts" this week or is there a new euphemism for privatization?) but it's just putting lipstick on a pig.

Write letters to the editor of your local paper about the FACTS, including the fact that all these GOP congressmen are staying far away from Bush on this.

[Stuckinthebush]

49. It is very hard to find an admitted Bush supporter in academia

So I find it interesting that the political scientists would admit to being Bush supporters. I guess they don't have to engage in much critical discourse in the poly-sci department at UA or AUM.

[Swamp Rat]

48. Tiresias predicts a tsunami is headed your way George W. Bush.

[Firenze777]

50. Tide is turning in Bama....

I'm talking to EVANGELICALS and they are questioning Bush.....like how many bad decisions can he make? Also...don't trust the red and blue graphics....our voting machines are tampered with too. Current Rep. guv did not win fair and square.