Kentucky, I know you can do better than this

I am laughing too hard,

  I know these people exsist and they vote.  Perfect example of Joe-Six-Pack and Jane-Twelve-Pack.  As someone pointed out in a different post, the Panhandle of Florida is L.A. Lower Alabama that place is loaded with these loaded people.  I-10 from Tallahassee Florida to Houston Texas is full of these towns.

 

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:17:50 PM CDT

as I said over at Pandagon

I definitely wasn't laughing when I saw it. My jaw just dropped. For some of The Base, they simply cannot be reached with education or common sense. But they can and do vote.  

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:48:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

These folks are my kin and they're not a satire

The political problem is that they insist on voting.

The ugly truth is that no strategy designed to 'reach out' or 'include' can meet them halfway. You can't reason with the hill folk and they ARE the Republican base.

But wait, there's more!

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by: PhoenixRising @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:02:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yep

I have a background filled with people like this.  They're real and they're frightening.  There's reaching people and then there's the need to quarantine. I don't love saying that, but the truth is the truth.

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:16:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And, these people can vote and have children?

...........These people can vote and have children?  We are doomed.

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by: Swampfox @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:29:45 PM CDT

Sadly, yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

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by: Denabeth @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 21:58:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That guy does sound like the King of the Hill dude

I wish he had talked more.

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings

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by: popsiclestand @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:30:48 PM CDT

Trash is as trash does

Sadly, we've got a fair amount of this mentality in Maine, too- and McCain is banking on that.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

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by: Louise @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:42:56 PM CDT

I want to move to France

I want to move to France, I want to move to France, I want to move to France.  Sorry I just thought if I said it enough times it might actually happen.  I want to move to France, I want to...

Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

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by: Kiera_Lynn @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:45:20 PM CDT

Sorry Dorothy

Just click your the heals of your shoes ........ Sorry, France has its problems, too.  And, those problems seem to be growing every day.

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by: Swampfox @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:58:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

These people not only vote

But they spawn more such idiots to vote.

This is what our Framers fought and died for, drooling mouthbreathers unable to think for themselves voting for corrupt tyrants. Crying shame. Ben Franklin would be into his second bottle of whiskey by now trying to blunt his despair right before escaping to France.  

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:56:09 PM CDT

you know....

she at least knew Spain is our ally....  which is more than you can say for McCain.

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by: Rae @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:37:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I wonder...

This is so over-the-top that I wonder if it is real?  Not that I don't know people like this having grown up in northeastern Kentucky.  Fear of outsiders and anyone who is different is what keeps this state poor and unhealthy.  If I didn't live in Louisville, I certainly wouldn't still live in Kentucky.

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by: ChristopherM @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:56:40 PM CDT

when I was passing through eastern TN

I encountered folks like this at a gas station. Needless to say, I really wanted out of there fast.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:59:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Knoxville, TN is the only place

I've ever let my kid pee by the side of the road in the woods within sight of the interstate.

Because we got lost looking for the UT gift shop and scared ourselves too badly to wander inside the KFC, the best choice was to learn the emergency 'open both doors' method.

But wait, there's more!

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by: PhoenixRising @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:05:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Take a deep breath

This is unbelievable! Someone tell me this isn't real.  

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by: Alvin McEwen @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:00:19 PM CDT

Careful of the Ecological Fallacy.

I am from southeast Kentucky, and proudly so.  But few things hurt me more to see my friends and family and their sort have such truly ignorant opinions.  Their stupidity is not merely insulting; it is a form of willful ignorance that I think is a hellworthy trespass.

I can assure you that my family, friends here at Murray State, and friends in my southeast KY home (I travelled across state for college) aren't this stupid.  There are plenty of us Obama fans out in the Boonies too.  

Cumberland Falls will have at least a handful of intelligent, moral people, I promise you.

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by: general_pepper @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:04:49 PM CDT

sitting here in NC

The existence of these people wasn't a shock at all - I live in NC for goodness sake; if I drive far enough outside the Triangle area, one can certainly encounter folks with these views. You're right -- this is willful ignorance at work. It makes me sad about the state of education in this country, and makes it that much harder to defend the region to those outside the South who say to just write it off politically, which is a big mistake. A lot of the South is going to turn out for Obama, and the bigots are dying out -- but I doubt these homogeneous communities will see much cultural change. It will be a matter of further isolation.  

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:17:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Isolation by choice or circumstance

I think some people get trapped in places like that through no particular fault of their own, maybe just a lack of socioeconomic opportunities.

But I suspect others prefer to live in a place they know and over which they might feel some control... nobody except maybe Donald Trump feels in control in a city, but I can easily imagine people taking the attitude of, "Well, it ain't much out here, but it's mine." That's not my preferred way to approach the world, but for some, there could be some comfort in that.

As we see with the fundy nutties, when newfangled ideas from outside come around, it can be profoundly threatening to this (false) sense of security, and the backlash is swift and thoroughly embarrassing.

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by: dewdrop_world @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:48:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

being the child of two alcoholics and both brothers in recovery

The footage gave me SUCH ICKS.
Now, granted my parents weren't racists or stupid, but the UNCLASSY drunken woman is just painful to watch for me.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:41:45 PM CDT

Like any of these idiots could get into Harvard

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by: gnushell @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:45:37 PM CDT

"Sand -------"????

I cannot believe people actually...SAY that.  Are you serious?  

The stupid, it burns.

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by: Nikaia @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 20:47:02 PM CDT

Nope, this is all too real

I have literally hundreds of customers like this...

And the Uber Patriotism and Jingoism encouraged by the Hannity's and Rove's has made this sort of thing acceptable to a growing part of our society.

I watched a chilling documentary on the Klan last night...at one point in the mid 1920's they has 350,000 members in Indiana and essentially usurped the entire state government - remerkably they all were elected as Republicans.

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

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by: Snooky Ookums @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 21:00:24 PM CDT

I watched the same on the history channel

  It is amazing how much the Klan sounds like the jesus freaks today that want to keep LGBT people secomd class citizens.  All that hate because of the bible.

 And what scares me is the part where the young kid was lighting the cross, that was what I did when I was 13 or so.  I recall how easy it was to get sucked up into that garbage.

 I wonder how crazy the religious right would go if that was a mandatory program to be taught is schools.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 22:36:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not all rural KYans are like this, but many are.

Our brother and advocate, gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, hails from a tiny town in rural KY.

Many people transcend their backgrounds.

And remember, urban areas have equally bigoted people - the sheriff on the south side of the bridge in New Orleans, threatening to shoot any black that crossed - the blue collar white neighborhoods that are being settled by blacks - you know the drill. Urban people are a little more circumspect about appearing racist in public, but it doesn't mean that they are any less racist.

WHY was someone trying to convince a REALTOR that Obama is on his side, using the argument, McCain is for rich people. The realtor may well consider himself rich. He might not be at the level where he would gain from McCain's tax policies, but he might not bother to actually examine the two candidates' tax policies.  

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by: NancyP @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 21:46:27 PM CDT

We need to understand who is voting

I was going to post a diary about senior citizen voters. But, I think what I was going to write applies here.

My father was born in this farmhouse in 1934. The walls are made out of sod brick.

Here's Dad in 1955, right before he went into the Army.

Why is this important? Because Dad and millions of senior citizens like him grew up in a very different time.

He grew up during the era of racial segregation. He didn't have any black friends when he was in his youth. They were something foreign and scary.

I wanted to show these photos because to many younger people, they look like something out of ancient history. It is difficult for them to believe that the man in the photo -- who was born in that old farmhouse -- is still alive, vital, and VOTING!

Dad may have two expensive homes and luxury cars today. But, he is very much the product of the era in which he grew up.

Dad didn't go to college. He's not what I would call a sophisticated or intellectual person.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had to reassure Dad that Obama isn't a secret Muslim. That's what he and the other 70-somethings talk about on the golf course. He was terrified that there' a secret Arab plot going on.

We can make fun of these folks in Appalachia. But, they aren't much different from millions of senior citizens from all over the country. Senior citizens are one of our largest voting groups.  

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 22:11:49 PM CDT

I hear you, Fritz

Many of those who lived in isolated homogeneous communities, unexposed to so much diversity we take for granted now, with the world smaller because of the Internet, are people who often cannot be reached with reason. For some it's too late, for others it is willful ignorance and fear of the unfamiliar. And much of it has to do with a lack of intellectual curiosity -- and that has little to do with formal education. Look at our current president and his  worldview, and his boorish behavior when he goes abroad.

People can and do make their way out of these communities and seek to learn more about the world around them; others are content to remain in their comfort zones and soothe themselves about the changing world with bigotry.

What's disheartening is that the GOP has focused on fomenting the ignorance and fears of these people in order to gain votes. The party has stubbornly refused to be forward thinking in terms of appeal to a more diverse voter base and clung to continuing to hoodwink poor, bigoted people like those in the video. They've managed to piss off the Latino vote, and well, Katrina told you all you need to know about the black vote and the GOP, despite Queen Mehlman's outreach. Just look at the sea of aging white faces populating their convention, and who they nominated - it's a fossilizing party in decline. I don't know when they will finally realize rebranding has to take place.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 22:33:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

In my dad's case

Most of the people he grew up with in a small town in Nebraska have retired to the same neighborhood in Arizona.

When I visit my folks in Sun City West, they point out the homes of people who they went to high school with in the 1950s. They still socialize together after all these years. They all belong to a club that is exclusively for people who grew up in their town. (This is really a sly way for them to have a club that keeps out minorities.)

It is really amazing that they've maintained these relationships all of these years. They are very loyal to the people they grew up with back home.

This is another way that shows how very different they are from younger generations.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 22:43:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

One thing that will be amusing is the aging Repig women being a permanent minority

I probably won't see it, but most of you will. The women like Elaine-puss-face DADT fanatic, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingram will all survive their repig males, and be old and dependant on a Socialized government.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 23:00:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

By looking at a county by county voteing map from 2004

  The republicans know their target areas.  This site has many maps.  And Hannity is feeding the fear more on his Hannity's America Faux news program.

 I'll post that later if I get the chance.  But it is exactly what they do, target people they can put fear into with the claims that Obama is a radical and a secret Muslin.  

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 23:13:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sign

"About 20 miles away is Hendersonville, and look at what a local real estate agent decided to place on his business sign:"

Actually Pam, I surprised we haven't seen more signs like that outside of "Christian" churches.

The only difference would be that it would say Obama's not welcome because he's the Antichrist, or some dumb shit to that effect.

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by: Jon Michaels @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 22:32:48 PM CDT

Ugh

I was born and raised in Kentucky, and I can tell you all Kentuckians are not like this LOL

These guys are either from Green County or Stinky Hollar!

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by: bluegrassfool @ Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 23:07:52 PM CDT

My Family Is From Kentucky

But luckily they escaped and moved to California.  My family is a bunch of tobacco farmers, and everyone that I ever encountered in Kentucky was deeply racist.  My sister, when she was 8, was whipped badly because she was talking to the black neighbor next door.  She was instructed that in Kentucky, you do not be friendly with other races.  People in my family would say nasty stuff when the votes for the King Holiday came up like "A good black person (not the word they would use) is a dead black person" or joke about how slavery needs to be brought back.  The racism sickened me, and I was only there on summer or winter holidays.  And it was everyone.  A distant aunt had a child with a black father.  The child has never been allowed anywhere in terms of family--grandma and grandpa refused to ever help the child or give presents for Christmas.  When my grandma learned I was gay, she barricaded the door to her room because she figured I would try to rape her.  SHe prayed with a Bible curled up on the floor all night and took off the next morning--never talked to my family again.  Now, you state it might just be the people I met, and maybe that is true, but I suspect those feelings are pretty universal there based on the way people talked and whined.  Be very afraid of Kentucky.

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by: Johnnywhynot @ Mon Oct 06, 2008 at 04:07:23 AM CDT

Just sayin' it again...

Just gotta say again what I said up there:  so many people are in those insulated communities out here, where new ideas change all the old comfortable ideas that surround you.  Furthermore, when you're trapped in a poor rural area, you tend to become hateful.

On behalf of my state, I apologize.  We aren't all bad, and even in the racist folks there's a lot of good.  And the number of people who willfully keep themselves ignorant and foolish is dropping.  If only we could drop the goddamn "git r done" mentality that reinforces our perception as ignorant rednecks and show the world what great Kentuckian ingenuity can do!

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by: general_pepper @ Mon Oct 06, 2008 at 09:20:55 AM CDT

UGH! we had a nightmare day yesterday in NOLA

We got invitations to the Saints game, (and we both could care less about pro-sports.) We were told to meet one of our hosts, SEVEN hours too early for a night game, they confused it with a Sunday day game time to arrive, so we were stuck in a rat hole section of town, paid 45 bucks to park, and had to walk MILES to even reach a McDonalds to be in some air conditioning, and grab a bite to eat. Then the UBER Nationalistic fawning over the Star Spangled banner and the sheer noise of FANATICS Booing as poor sports or jumping up and down in clostrophobic inducing private boxes...and then 2 hours of driving home.
We were also around pro-Mccain rich folks all night.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 09:26:06 AM CDT

the rotted cherry on the turd sundae that yesterday

when we got home around midnight, just as I got my laptop turned on, we had a three hour power outage.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 09:28:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]