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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit - Toothless Hicks Agree: We Love Obamacare, Wish a White Man Had Signed It
So the New York Times interviewed people in Kentucky who have taken advantage of one part or another of the Affordable Care Act, especially the expansion of Medicaid. Robin Evans, a 49 year-old with high blood pressure and Graves' disease, is just "tickled to death" to have insurance coverage, which she had gone without for years. Of course, she's gonna vote Mitch McConnell out of office since he has made it his mission to repeal the ACA. Said Evans, "Born and raised Republican...I aint planning on changing now."
Sorry, what now?
That's right. The backwards ass country fucks who have benefited the most, the hillbillies who are such stereotypes that Pappy Yokum would feel ashamed, don't give a pile of horse shit that it was Democrats and Barack Obama who made it possible for them to live, purely and simply. They don't like the President. And if you don't think his race has nothing to do with it, then you have never been to Kentucky.
It's a shame, too, because the state is one of the biggest successes, thanks to the Democratic governor's embrace of Obamacare. "The uninsured rate here has fallen to 11.9 percent from 20.4 percent," says one Gallup survey. And despite the fact that Democrats alone are responsible for expanding Medicaid to cover people like Teri Eisenmenger's adult daughter, they are still going to vote Republicans because they hate Obama. So they won't vote for Senate candidate Alison Grimes because they can't stand that a white woman supports a black man.
And that's the greatest motherfucking cosmic joke here: "there is little evidence that the expansion of health coverage will help Kentucky Democrats in this falls midterm elections" because obviously Kentuckians are ungrateful fucks who you just want to let loose on and say, "Go fuck yourself. We're taking the diabetes treatment and the lung disease medicine and heading somewhere more hospitable."
But the Rude Pundit can't help but think that Democrats have no one to blame but themselves here. For months, they bought into the Republican lies that the ACA was going to be a huge failure and didn't defend it when it needed defending the most. So even though Gov. Steven Beshear was a huge advocate, many Democrats allowed the narrative to be set by Fox "news" and by the goddamned cowards in our own party.
So here we are, at what should be a triumphant moment, and, instead, we get to watch the very people Democrats wanted to help spit on them and then go complain about Benghazi or the IRS or whatever other spoon-fed bullshit distracts them from reality.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/09/toothless-hicks-agree-we-love-obamacare.html
hatrack
(64,511 posts)Thanks, Meegbear!
99Forever
(14,524 posts)vi5
(13,305 posts)"But the Rude Pundit can't help but think that Democrats have no one to blame but themselves here. For months, they bought into the Republican lies that the ACA was going to be a huge failure and didn't defend it when it needed defending the most. So even though Gov. Steven Beshear was a huge advocate, many Democrats allowed the narrative to be set by Fox "news" and by the goddamned cowards in our own party. "
Summed it up. They passed the law and then ran cowering from it like they run cowering from almost every thing. And now they want to put the burden on us to make sure they retain the senate.
riversedge
(80,046 posts)News and the trickle down local wanna-be's!!
get the red out
(13,997 posts)And if the President's name had been mentioned in the Kentucky Connect ads for the health care plan, a lot of people would have rather died than sign up for it.
I am a Kentuckian, born in the mountains, living in more civilized Lexington for many years. A lot of people will do what the RW media and their preachers tell them to.
Many poor white people fear minorities might be equal to them (fancy that), and they will deny themselves something if only to deny the people they don't like.
Racists
(edit to add that I currently have all my teeth at 50)
Mr Dixon
(1,185 posts)Good post
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 17, 2014, 08:14 AM - Edit history (1)
But I guess being a democrat is not enough for some people.
The Rude Pundit is a boor and not really that fucking funny. It is no challenge to make fun of people and call them names. He represents the worst of the god damned internet. But lap it up people because yuk yuk yuk some folks were born for others to shit on.
sarge43
(29,173 posts)Comfort the afflicted; afflict the comfortable. There's no humor in ridiculing those who can't answer you. The great satirists from Swift to Bruce to Ivins knew this; they took risks. They went after the powerful, the comfortable, those who could answer in savage ways, re Bruce.
I like The Rude Pundit, most of the time, but this time he was crabbed and cruel.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)stereotype? mean? crabbed? cruel? NO! truth of the matter, period. The LW has been the cowards that forced him to the center with no loyalty or backup from the bluedogs and all the snipers who forced him to move to the center to get something done. I am so sick of this LW BS disguised as loyal opposition! BS!!!!
sarge43
(29,173 posts)Our point is demeaning people who can't answer back. Also it reinforces the perception of LW elitism.
As to The Rude's main point, couldn't agree more. There's that classic cartoon: Democratic donkeys cringing at the sight of a backbone "Sweet Jesus, what is it?!" I am so sick of our leaders folding like origami instead of bringing nukes to knife fights. We should be fighting for the soul of our country. Sunshine soldiers aren't welcome.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)on that score. My type of Democrat.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)he's telling like it is again. Democrats have been COWARDS the last six years. No unified support while the POTUS has been attacked unmercifully by the RW and LW bluedogs. Rude Pundit nailed it, again.
Hissyspit
(45,790 posts)It really is.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)I'd like to post this to the Appalachia group, if you don't mind.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)It's so important for people to understand that these stereotypes are truly oppressive and harmful. "Rudeness" is one thing. Bigotry is another. Criticize ideas and actions, not characteristics and situations.
Hissyspit
(45,790 posts)born to parents who were born to poor, working class farm people in Arkansas, and having lived in the South almost my entire life, I've earned the equivalent of two masters degrees and lecture every semester to students from mostly lower working class backgrounds, and a variety of ethnicities, on social identity and "the other." Yes, I'm clearly ignorant, and have no business "privileging" some knowledge over any other.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)Working class farmers in Arkansas did *not* have the same experience as people in the coal fields of Central Appalachia. It is a very particular, and a very vicious form of oppression and dehumanization that few other American regions have experienced in the same way.
If you are in fact aware of the very real and historically identifiable harm that has been done by the portrayal of Appalachians as degenerate, backwards, inbred animals with poor hygeine and zero work ethic, then you should know better than to applaud the invocation of said stereotype here.
There is a difference between "rudeness" and bigotry. Ideas and actions should be condemned. Characteristics and experience should not.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)voter.
Are we allowed NO insults any more in our Miss Priss world?
antigone382
(3,682 posts)bell hooks (who I have seen speak on multiple occasions and spoken with in person) agrees.
'In black feminist and native Kentuckian bell hooks book Belonging: A Culture of Place, she writes eloquently about the real world consequences of stereotyping backwoods folk. In one essay, hooks, who was brought up in black hillbilly culture (thus challenging the notion that all mountaineers are white) writes:
Are there rural, white Appalachians who are racist and patriarchal? Certainly. Do I think its important to call people out on their racism/patriarchy and engage in dialogue with them about it, if possible? Of course. But these actions must be coupled with continued examination of our own prejudices. In the essay To Be Whole & Holy, hooks writes:
Houses in the hollows close to ours [growing up] were inhabited by poor white folk, who we were taught were rabid racists . . .Even if they were by chance neighborly, we were taught to mistrust their kindness . . .Racial hatred and the racist actions it engenders are not the exclusive domains of poor whites. Class prejudice is at the core of their belief that these white people are more likely to be free of racial prejudice . . .I have found white neighborhoods in all the privileged-class neighborhoods I have lived in across the United States, including Kentucky, to have as much a presence of racial prejudice as their poor counterparts.
I see racism and patriarchy among the New York City coffee shop crowd I interact with daily, and grew up with it in the suburbs of the city, where whites are struggling with their prejudices in the face of growing and vibrant black and Hispanic communities. Id like to go so far as to suggest that, by demarcating a white other (in this case, rural Appalachians) as more racist & sexist than us (progressives/radicals living in urban, affluent areas), we avoid confronting our own prejudices. Stereotyping also carries with it an inherent classism and cultural bias that lets us privilege certain forms of knowledge, such as college degrees and careers, over traditional Appalachian skills like wild crafting, hunting, crafting and food storing. Ive found Appalachia to have as much, if not more, cultural richness as New York City, where I live now, and the liberal arts college town that I called home for two years."'
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 17, 2014, 09:37 PM - Edit history (1)
So Winky dinky (pinky stinky) - how would you feel if someone smacks you in the face and then makes fun of you while you bleed. Would that be funny????
Is it hilarious? To have suffering going on in your life???
?????????????????????????????????
How is it funny for people to work all their lives and then be economically slammed around by the insider crowd on the Beltway and their state Capital.
Rural American raises the food, the food on your plates, the juice in your glass.
Meanwhile the Congress critters see to it that the protections tariffs once offered the farming crowd are gone. Gone.
So go into any large supermarket, and notice how the apricots are from Turkey, the oranges are from Brazil, the fish is from Ecuador.
Meanwhile the unemployment rate is 18%. In rural America.
So yeah, go ahead, be politically incorrect, but don't expect to not get some instant karma.
We deserve respect, but almost every farming community in this nation has been hurt by the policies of the elite.
sendero
(28,552 posts)..... are the vast majority of those unemployed voting Republican? Because I say to the ones that are I hope they remain unemployed. THEY DESERVE NO LESS.
We have the government we deserve because of how we vote, collectively. If it were up to me, Republicans would be ineligible for the ACA since they HATE IT SO MUCH.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)turned out in Nov 2008 and voted for Obama. We have a "D" congressman as well.
However, I would say that the vast majority of those who are unemployed or who have lost their housing are not all that much interested in voting. Once you have time on your hands, to ask "Where are the jobs?" Or "Why were Big Time Bankers bailed out while 12 million Americans faced foreclosure?"you start to see that it is all one big friggin' money party of puppet-politicians.
Unemployment wise, the county I live in was starting to recover, with good paying jobs, due to all the tremendous poitical capital on the state legislation front, that allowed for med marijuana clinics and dispensaries to start operating and employing people.
But how did that end up? With Holder putting pressure on Sacramento, which resulted in about one third to two thirds of all dispensaries have been shuttered.
I don't remember Holder being a Republican or the manhwo apppointed him being Republican, do you?
sendero
(28,552 posts).... I don't think I'm comfortable conflating the marijuana issue (I'm solidly pro legalization) with the overall management of the economy or handling of ameliorants such as unemployment benefits.
And while I hold Republicans largely responsible for the mess the economy is in (caused by deregulation that was unwise and unnecessary from the start), anyone looking at the situation fairly would find Democrats playing a pretty big part themselves. Especially Bill Clinton who never saw a conservative economic agenda he didn't like.
Maybe rather than just saying that people who vote Republican sunk our economy I should say people who vote conservative did, because a conservative Dem is really no better than a Repub. And almost to a one it is politicians who claim "conservatism" that are ready willing and able to hand over the economy to monied interests at every opportunity.
whathehell
(30,395 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)I would have alerted on this OP but I think we all know by now it's okay to ridicule "hillibillies" on DU. Disgusting.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)I get so sick of the new modern DU, where one more elegant and elite class of people can dump on the other class of people, ostensibly on account of how they are not racists and they don't have the fianncial problems that cause toothlessness and they alone can state who is a decent human being.
delete_bush
(1,712 posts)He takes an everyday story, albeit one with an emotional tug to those on the left, and adds a slew of "fucks, fucking and motherfuckers", along with descriptives such as toothless hicks and backwards ass country fucks, and he becomes a g-d to many on DU.
My opinion? The posting rules on this site are so tight-assed and arbitrary that when one gets the chance to repost something from the "Crude Asswipe" that conforms to that which they WISH THEY could get by with they wet themselves with their huzzahs and kudos.
cordelia
(2,174 posts)Former Rude Pundit fan.
Response to meegbear (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)For some weird reason, 'dental' issues are traditionally not considered 'medical' in the US. We generally have to get separate 'dental riders' on health insurance in the States. If it doesn't, though, it should, just like it should cover 'vision'. We shouldn't have to consider these as being any different from any other health issues.
Baitball Blogger
(51,899 posts)Bring it down to their level. Use campaign ads that show people reaching these illogical conclusions. But don't just use their political choices as an example. Extrapolate and apply that logic to everyday circumstances.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
heaven05
(18,124 posts)CTyankee
(67,913 posts)I feel like saying to these people that they disgust me. They take the health care coverage and dis the president and brag about being republicans and how they are going to vote for McConnell.. WTF?
They shouldn't have been dissing the purchase of health care insurance and then having to nerve to show up at the Emergency Room and making ME pay for THEIR health care and driving up the cost of health care for responsible folks. What does it take to make these people realize that McConnell doesn't give a shit about them? My message to them: all he cares about is his rich donors and friends and that ain't YOU!
I gotta go calm down now...
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)CTyankee
(67,913 posts)I am sure she just doesn't ponder, tho. I guess people like her don't because it probably never occurred to her to think about why it is that she is so poor. So I have to also be sympathetic, but it is hard when you hear about the stuff she says about Obama...
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I think the plutocrats are good at their game of dividing people.
Have a good day CTyankee!
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)and playing the banjo on her porch with her eleven fingers and twenty toes.
Keep on that vituperative hatred of the rural poor, DU. I can't imagine why these people don't clasp the Democrats to their bosom...
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)Really, I'm tired of being a whipping child of people who take advantage of all our hard work to get a guy like Obama elected and then diss US!
Why should I enjoy/like/want that? If I did, would I be a masochist?
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)It has less to do with Obama that you think - these places have voted solidly Republican at the national level for a generation, and Obama has done better amongst whites than any candidate since Jimmy Carter.
Tom Hanks said it best in an interview he did for the movie Forest Gump. You could have a scientist guy with an alphabet of degrees after his name, but the minute he opens his mouth and speaks with a backwoods accent, you immediately think that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
There was once a measure of respect for these people. America once celebrated their culture. TV programs once spoke to them, before the rural purge. Authors like William Faulkner duly noted their poverty but at least credited them for their resilience.
These days, just watch childrens' cartoons and take note the characters with that type of accent - they are usually bone-ignorant morons. The places where they live are called "flyover states". Their music is shit, their food is greasy tosh, their religion is ignorance and there is nothing in their culture worth celebrating.
A good DUer here suggested people watch The Inheritance, a film about trying to organise labour in these parts. One of those labour organisers said that respect means a lot to these people. I'd second that recommendation.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)I hope folks will also take an opportunity to visit the Appalachian Group to learn more about the history and culture, as well as celebrate the many Appalachian activists fighting poverty and environmental destruction against tremendous odds.
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)Last edited Thu Sep 18, 2014, 12:59 AM - Edit history (1)
and so do I. what I don't understand is why they don't join with the fight for change instead of fighting AGAINST it! Otherwise, how will people like you make any headway to making change?
I still hope for change, anyway. For everyone...
cordelia
(2,174 posts)It needs to be said, and needs attention.
Not that it will, but thank you nonetheless.
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)I grew up with people who had distinct accents. I'm old now, but remember them well and I also remember the stories they told...
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)I read this woman's story in the NYT and the words she was saying.to describe herself. I couldn't understand why she hated Obama so much. Why is there this hatred of someone who has done so much for you, when the republicans couldn't have cared less about you?
who cares about and is doing more for them, the republicans or Obama?
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)People on here rage about toothless hicks - they can get away with it if their social circle does not comprise said hicks. There are not many black people in rural kentucky and in many ways that allows racism to fester.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-rural-kentucky-health-care-debate-takes-back-seat-as-people-sign-up-for-insurance/2013/11/23/449dc6e0-5465-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)It can be when informed citizens vote in their and their countries best interest.
It does not work when uninformed citizens are overwhelmed with mass media one sided misinformation.
Then there is the genetic influence of decades of coal and coal ash pollution and the deliberate lack of education, hence these coal ash zombies are created
There is more than one definition of slavery.
The miserable slave traders of human bodies of the 18th century have been replaced by the miserable
slave traders of human minds in the 21st century.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)There is definitely a cultural influence, mostly based on the fear of authority and of the loss of livelihood. But don't conflate that with genetic inheritance...that comes terribly close to a eugenic line of thinking. It's over the top and connected with an extremely ugly and oppressive history of stereotypes used to dehumanize people and rob them of their land and rights.
http://kasamaproject.org/race-liberation/3395-27the-hillbilly-stereotype-razing-history-leveling-appalachia
"As an anti-mountaintop removal activist currently living outside of Appalachia, challenging mainstream cultural assumptions about the region is a critical part of my work against strip mining. Admittedly, I dont always do this well. Ive sometimes found myself staying quiet when hillbilly jokes are made, afraid of seeming argumentative or overly politically correct. These are poor excuses, especially because commonly held cultural assumptions about Appalachians are not harmless. They are part of what allows destructive practices like mountaintop removal, which has leveled over four hundred peaks across the region and sullies its air and water, to occur.
Lets face it: Many Americans see Appalachian people as expendable. Consciously or not, when we stereotype them as white, poor, uneducated, backward, patriarchal and racist we are justifying our comfort (the comfort brought to us from light and heat via mountaintop removal coal) at the expense of Appalachians dying from poisoned air and water. Many Appalachian activists have suggested that if mountaintop removal were happening in more culturally important or affluent areas, it would not be tolerated.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)And that's saying something.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)LiberalArkie
(19,488 posts)death panels and other crap like that "Obama care". Just think how good it would have been if they had repealed the Obama care and expanded the Romney Care. My brain was not built to handle the logic that people use these days.
louis-t
(24,583 posts)I ask them "Why do you hate Romneycare?". It usually shuts them up.
mountain grammy
(28,813 posts)There are a large number of non rich Americans who don't believe a black man should be president. If a white Democrat had signed the ACA, the feelings would be different. Many people are racists and given credibility by their church and the right wing media and preachers on the teevee. Look, if the man of God says so, it must be true because there's all that "anti God" stuff going on, what with gay marriage and legal abortion and all. My Texas in-laws are convinced Obama is a Muslim and out to destroy all of us. They believe in their church and what their preacher tells them, cause 'God' is never wrong. They love Mike Huckabee, Pat Robertson and Bill O'Reilly, the voices of truth, justice and the American way.
Yes, the Rude Pundit speaks for me. Hatred, prejudice, and ignorance are destroying us. Call it out for what it is!
get the red out
(13,997 posts)I live in Kentucky and what surprises me is that people are at all surprised by this! People will take what they are given, but they are still completely controlled by all the RW institutions and media. They are living in fear of ebil libruls.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Then they still have one up on DU.
LondonReign2
(5,213 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Response to meegbear (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)This is the most salient post in the thread. The idea that hardcore tea partiers are the majority anywhere is FALSE. And yet, our party panders to them, giving the impression that they are all important--more important than the liberal side of the base--because it is cover for doing corporate bidding.
How about we all focus on that? ^^^^^^^^
SomeGuyInEagan
(1,515 posts)I can guess from your response, but the original message was deleted.
The Magistrate
(96,043 posts)As usual, the Rude One nails it in one.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)I have expressed my views elsewhere in the thread, nothing more needs to be said.
LawDeeDah
(1,596 posts)They are being manipulated, they are weak with poverty and helplessness and the Turtles come in for the kill with their lies and their swords made of bigotries. My hate is directed to the McConnells, far too many of them. Absolute dregs of society.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)he reminded him of a pet turtle he had as a child. Seriously.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)How much whiter do they want?
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.... and FAS-like disorders... affects millions in this country. FAS robs people of a lot of things, including the ability to connect actions with consequences. They have trouble with judgement-calls and don't extrapolate well.
16% of Americans have an IQ under 85. Many times they have trouble with complex mental tasks... like judgement.
1% of Americans have schizophrenia. The functioning ones among them - and there are many - may still exhibit paranoia. Paranoia is Republican hot sauce.
I'm trying to explain why so many people vote against their own self interest, and to me the simplest explanation is that they lack the mental capacity to make sense of all the input around them. That's where Fox steps in and makes their minds up for them.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)And calling them all 'toothless hicks' is pretty fucking obnoxious & ignorant, as far as I'm concerned.
Stonegonads
(8 posts)I agree calling them toothless hicks is kind of redundant
DanTex
(20,709 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)The kind of bigoted stereotyping I've seen throughout this thread is shameful.
cordelia
(2,174 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)and their lives, honest to God.
It's like, "Yes, I vote Republican; what's THAT got to do with my Social Security, Medicare, Affordable Care, low wage, and poor schools?"
FlatStanley
(327 posts)And this is why Democrats can't have nice things. When the Democratic candidates runs from the widely successful policies so they can appear Republican, it's no wonder constituents do the same.
It is NOT ENOUGH to have a D next to your name. You have to actually BE a D.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Progressive dog
(7,588 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Thank you, meegbear.
The Rude Pundit is willing to point out the deficiencies in the Democratic Party. Others want to go along pretending that the Democratic Party leadership is perfection on earth.
Thanks, Rude.
The Wizard
(13,632 posts)from ignorant rubes who vote against their own best interests and are bigots to boot? Lest anyone forget, Rude is his first name.
world wide wally
(21,836 posts)McConnell is an asshole
Tr it. Y'got nuthin' to lose
marym625
(17,997 posts)You expected something different?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)barbtries
(31,220 posts)at some point you have to blame the people. willful ignorance and blind hatred are choices.
Response to meegbear (Original post)
geek tragedy This message was self-deleted by its author.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts).
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)faux news and republicons to set the narrative.
daybranch
(1,309 posts)I am a very hard working democrat, working for causes to help the people of this country. I find these negative comments and the holier than thou attitude to Be one of the chief obstacles to democrats accomplishing anything. Most of my adult life I have heard from ignorants like many who post on the site that hillbillies are lazy, that they are dumb, that they are all inbred, that they beat their wives, that they are racist. I guess growing up in Appalachia, I should have acquired all those characteristics, as should most of my relatives who still live in Harlan county , Kentucky. It is not true about my family there and we never spent our days making fun of the poor, the sick , or the uneducated. In fact, we recognized long ago that the type of prejudice so many of the posters subscribe to is exactly what the KKK uses for recruitment. In other words appeals to elitism among those who have been slapped down in some fashion , whether it be due to locale, job loss, lack of health, lack of education. Yes many people want to look down on others, whether others be a different race, a different ethnicity, or from other geographic areas of the USA. But when you sanction a prejudice against a group of poor whites who have had less education maybe and been controlled by the 1 percent for generations in terms of jobs, housing and medical care, are you any different. Sometimes people from areas outside Appalachia just make me sick with their belief they are somehow better. Hell they remind me of the republicans, wanting to blame the poor and the sick for loss of jobs etc. Shame on you . Those of you who write such condescending drivel have little knowledge of what it is to be a real democrat. IOU are much of what is holding the democratic party back. You talk loudly about helping the poor and the sick, but every time things do not go your way due to other oppressions they are reacting to, you turn on them like an estranged loved. wake up and understand what the reality is and work to improve. Quit whining. They don't.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Democrats who think the people of Appalachia are just getting what they deserve. People who some here call toothless hicks, rednecks, ignorant fucks, genetically defective, etc etc etc.
This is what a caring democrat would say:
Ive seen proud men in the hills of Appalachia who wish only to work in dignity, but they cannot, for the mines have closed and their jobs are gone, and no one neither industry, labor nor government has cared enough to help
Robert F. Kennedy, 1968
So while some folks complain that Appalachians aren't sufficiently grateful for health coverage, one has to wonder just how deep that concern for Appalachian health really runs:
http://appvoices.org/2014/07/28/obama-pulls-the-plug-on-mountaintop-removal-study/
I'll bet the current administration has made more trips to and invested more in Afghanistan than Appalachia. But by all means, every election cycle do expect our vote. The rest of the time you can forget that we exist or better still, amuse yourselves by trading new pejoratives about how the Appalachian poor, aka the ignorant, toothless fucks, disgust you. Robert Kennedy would be proud.
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)change is hard and change is scary. Particularly for people where their very lives are at stake and the future of coal mining as a livelihood is dead.
So the real question is "who will take a chance on change?" Obama did do that on health care. When you do humanitarian work in Appalachia, what do the poor think about him? Is there a divergence of opinion from the poor black population in the area?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)I can understand why; the people feel as if their government has abandoned them. But that's been true for a very long time and didn't just suddenly crop up when Obama was elected. There was a real effort during the time of LBJ and Robert Kennedy to address the problems of poverty, unemployment, etc in Appalachia but that campaign pretty much dropped off the map when Nixon was elected. Bill Clinton was extremely popular in the region but I suspect a lot of that was due to the fact that he reminded many of the Kennedys. Are there some who resent Obama because they harbor racist views? Yes, that's undeniable. But I've also heard grumblings that they feel Obama is an elitist and comes off as indifferent. I don't think the President has really helped dispel those feelings because he's been virtually invisible to the people of Appalachia and that was true even when he was campaigning. Speaking only for myself, I felt as if he just wrote us off before the race even began and hasn't shown much interest since.
I certainly can't speak for the poor as if they are some kind of hive mind, nor for the poor black population for the same reason. I do know that with regards to voter registration, I've found black voters more receptive and much more likely to engage in an exchange of ideas. I suspect they comprise the last, fully loyal democratic base in Appalachia. Even some of the local miners' unions are turning away from the Democratic Party, which I find really disheartening. But that's another discussion for another day and I'm already late for some appointments.
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)differing ideas on change.
What do the poor whites say about McConnell? I can understand that Allison is an unknown to them and people can fear the unknown a lot. But when confronted with what McConnell has done/not done for them, what do they think? Did McConnell, for instance, vote for unemployment insurance extension or a minimum wage raise? If he didn't and the poor white Appalachian were confronted with those two facts, what would they say?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)You might even wish to pose that question to Appalachia Group, as some of our number really don't post to GD anymore. I can only follow some trends via the newspapers. From what I have gathered the big issue is what you might expect: COAL. There have been recent, massive layoffs of miners and people blame the democrats for eliminating their jobs. They also view Grimes as an extension of the present administration and McConnell's ads push Grimes as an enemy of coal and by extension, miners and their families. If there were alternative, well-paying, union jobs in the area this wouldn't even be an issue and had our party been smart and forward-thinking, we could have been cultivating a new Appalachian economy for the past 50 years. As it stands, if you take away coal jobs in some parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, you also take away the other well-paying jobs associated with that industry -- railroads, trucking, river cargo, etc., plus the thousands of small businesses supported by the wages from those industries. Right now there's simply nothing to take their place but fear. Fear of losing jobs, housing, fear of not being able to put food on the table. That's an incredibly powerful motivator to challenge with policy debates.
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)desperate clinging to them won't change that. I agree that there could be some fine, progressive alternatives offered to these people. If it could happen in Detroit, with its comeback, it could happen to Appalachia. But the Detroit project took a LOT of work by a LOT of dedicated people in great positions of power. I noticed today on Morning Joe they were talking to Warren Buffet, Lloyd Blankfein and Mike Bloomberg about that project, which was aided by Valerie Jarrett. Their efforts are paying off.
Why can't this group of super powerful rich people get together over the Appalachian situation? Surely there are some great ideas out there waiting to be discovered or maybe already being employed elsewhere? Have we simply given up on that part of the U.S.A?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)for saying these things there and many other places today. He's criticizing 'Murka and that isn't tolerated by the low-info crowd anymore. The Stupid Belt knows no geographic limitations and exists everywhere in this country.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)--just another DUer from the "Stupid Belt".
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)of Minnesota where RFK would be pelted with rocks and garbage for saying those things. Teabaggers are everywhere. It's an ugly fact. There have always been low-information voters, but they weren't pre-programmed into ineradicable bigotry and stupidity by right-wing radio and Faux News in RFK's day. Now they are.
And FWIW, Robert Kennedy has been one of my very few personal heroes for more than 45 years.
aikoaiko
(34,213 posts)Probably went to conference in Louisville and drank some bourbon with the other tourists.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)I don't know, but maybe its because people on our side call them "backward ass country fucks".
CTyankee
(67,913 posts)we can't let that bastard off the hook...
I think they would have a chance with Grimes. She could probably do them a lot of good in many ways and she certainly wouldn't be like McConnell...
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)I don't think the Dem's could have changed their minds if the Dem's performed life saving surgery on them personally. They need brain transplants.
merrily
(45,251 posts)"I love it and need it, so I want it repealed," must be racist, not just incredibly muddled reasoning and self-defeating, things Dems have been saying about Republicans forever? And then, to extrapolate from one dim bulb to everyone who loves Obamacare is racist toothless hick?
I don't know. I guess I need to read the NYT article the Rude Pundit is re-packaging for us.
