I want to talk frankly about the south hate here

[JoePhilly]

81. The GOP's Southern Strategy is called that for a reason.

And liberals from the North did not come up with that name.

The GOP's Southern Strategy was named by the GOP. Its target was on rural, lower class white communities in which the GOP anticipated an audience that would be receptive to blaming minorities for all of the ills lower class whites faced.

The GOP spread their message through the white protestant and evangelical churches. And they had particular success in rural areas.

Importantly, the name "Southern Strategy" limits the reach of this approach. Xenophobic lower middle class rural white folks exist in pretty much every state. And they tend to internalize the messages presented within the GOP's "Southern Strategy" model.

The reason the South continues to suffer from a more negative perception on this point is not because of the people in the South ... but because of the representatives who they tend to elect. They tend to elect state senators who promote the GOP "Southern Strategy" messages.

I'd contrast this with PA. PA tends to be a blue state, sort of. Its been described as Pitt to the west, Philly to the East, and Alabama in between. That's because the folks to the east and west will vote for Dems, and those in the middle would probably elect Boehner, Cantor, McConnell, so on.

Fortunately, Pitt and Philly tend to balance the crazy part of PA. Many Southern states don't have such counter balances. NC is started to develop some ... around Charlotte, Ashville, Wake County.

So this really is not a north or south thing ... its more a rural, lower middle class, white xenophobe thing. But the GOP would never call it that.