Democrats' hunt for the white working-class male voter

[whatthehey]

78. while I'm generally not much of a believer in gender politics, this is most of the problem

I am a white male of working class upbringing and habits, despite my decidedly middle class financial position. My hobbies mean I spend a great deal of time in the great bastion of white working/lower middle male social interaction, aka bars. I've been in bars as a regular and a stranger in 46 states from the bluest to the reddest, from dives to mid price "family" chains like BWW. Hundreds of them (no I'm not a peripatetic lush; while I do drink, it's not booze I go for)

They are all, without a single exception anywhere, universally filled with talk that is either a)sports or b)right wing politics of the vilest sort, fueled by misplaced testosterone and xenophobia. I've been warned for "causing trouble" just for calmly stating facts in the face of a spittle-filled rant from someone else about immigrants or liberal commie traitors. I'm warned, not the rager. He's supported, not me. Because he's stating the general opinion of the bar's regular patrons, not me.

And let's not pretend that this is about a) political advocacy b) Obama-driven white rage or c) DLC DINO 3rd way whatever claptrap.

Why?

a) They know shit. In the dozens of cases where I have been in the mood to engage such people,one, just one has even known for whom he voted in the House. None has been able to discuss politics in any detail beyond current headlines. They haven't been persuaded that the Reps are better or even that the Dems are worse rationally, any more than they have been convinced that Harley Davidsons are the best motorcycles rationally (obviously...) It's the same kind of emotional gut appeal, halo effect and imagery. We won't change that with facts. They are not voting against their interests, they do not care about their interests, or even in a political sense, know their interests.

b) Sure they are racist and xenophobic, but other than a handy target I hear no more racism now than I did when Kerry or Gore or Clinton was the Dem leader. They simply hate anyone who is not like them. Obama definitely raised some racist wave among the chattering classes, but the bar crowd would hate him no less if he looked like Brad Pitt.

c) They don't know and don't care. Warren could get them? Bernie could get them? Arrant nonsense. The mass of this cohort doesn't know what DLC stands for, thinks third way is some kind of bisexual thing and TPP is somebody stuttering about toilet tissue. It is utterly, entirely irrelevant to the great mass of white ill-informed males what the differences are between ANY Democrats.

The problem is that they ARE Democrats, and that has been drilled into their minds = weak, effeminate, unamerican, louche and limp-wristed, not real American manly and straightforward and normal. They vote testosterone, the flag and parochialism That's what they vote against, and for, with that level of introspection and rationality. Remember they don't even remember the name of the Congressman they are threatening me for voting against. You think you'll get them by talking about GINI coefficients and CU rulings?