I want to talk frankly about the south hate here

[DonCoquixote]

170. Florida chimes in

Ok, I was born in Jersey, moved to Florida.

First things:
One: there are plenty of rednecks north of the mason Dixon line, many of whom are as pathetic or worse as any in the "Deep South." Neither Chris Christie, Scott Brown, Michael Bloomberg, nor Grover Norquist nor Rick Santorum nor Michelle Bachmann nor Joe Liebermann came out of the ether. The only difference is that up north, the Clergy that back and support backward solutions are often Catholic as opposed to Protestant.

Two: the Southern states have produced hard core, uncompromising liberals. Let's take Texas: Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Kris Kristofferson, Ann Richards, Willie Nelson. Nobody is going to accuse any of those folk of being weak liberals and maintain credibility, as they have all been known to be bold and outspoken, and frankly, all of them are left of the Clintons.

Three: Just like in the rest of the country, the cities are liberal, the rural, conservative. Try to find ONE southern city (note I did not say suburbs) that does not vote solid blue. New Orleans, Houston, Tampa, all blue as blue can get, with Democratic mayors. Said cities often become the punching bags for the southern states, as the politicos play the game of "Let's see how we can hurt those brown people more!"

So, for people who blithely chime off about the South, or who ever election year say "we can't we kick the south out" I say this, those who are liberal down there take more hits for the cause than many, and when you open fire on us, you do not help. We helped put North Carolina and Florida in the BLUE Column, not thanks to many save for Howard Dean.

Now, none of this denies that yes, there is a culture down here in the South that has needed a change since 1865, the culture where a bunch of plantation owners get to act like they are the source of virtue, and that we should be honored to light their cigars. There IS a culture where Pastors act like local aristocrats. However, the evil you laugh at is creeping up in your Northern cities. Do not make the mistake canada made, where they were so busy pulling up their nose at "those Merkins" that they failed to see that Stephen Harper was crawling right into their nostrils. Yes, they all say they hate Harper on here, but did they give us any slack when we said we were trying to get Bush out? In either case, the right wing, from Merkel in Germany to Harper in Canada to GOP in New York are all circling their wagomns around us...we must all hang together, or we all hang separately.