Kerry brilliant in response to Reagan's death.

[jfxgillis]

Here is why.

In the post-New Deal realignment that began with the Civil Rights/Vietnam disruptions of the old order, working-class whites who were culturally conservative but populist or even left or center-left economically were (or believed they were) alienated. Over the last 35 years, they moved towards:

George Wallace first.

Then they supported Reagan.

Then they voted for Perot.

They drifted a bit in elections wherein those choices were not so viable (some '68 Wallace voters went for Nixon, some '84 Reagan voters went for Dukakis and they seem to have split dead even in '00), but basically you can draw a straight line of "Reagan Democrats" from 1968 to the present--1966 if you count Reagan's ascendency to the Governor's mansion in California.

In Dixie, I would judge that most "Reagan Democrats" have since become "Reagan Republicans," as they actually should have been all along. Most of those Democrats were far FAR more conservative on ALL issues (including economics) than many Republicans anyway. Their transference of loyalties strengthens BOTH parties.

However, everywhere else in the country, "Reagan Democrats" remain up for grabs. If we can convince them that the cultural conservatism which drove them away is either not relevant to their lives (gay marriage, for example) or is a settled issue (racial intergration, for example), there's no reason why they cannot be enticed back into the Democratic coalition.

To do so, however, requires that they be treated sympathetically. And that's EXACTLY what's Kerry's response to Reagan's demise signals.

If Kerry can pull "Reagan Democratic" states like Louisiana and West Virginia back into the fold, the Dems not only cinch the Electoral College for one Presidential election one time in the year 2004, they have a real chance at assembling a governing coalition.

YOWSER. I'd say that's worth the gamble.

[Mattforclark]

1. No doubt this is something that Kerry's "doomsday team"

was working on. They were prepared for it, and when the time came, they knew what to do, already. Ready to go with a well thought out response. Forward Advance Planning ---> Rapid Reaction taken to the next level.

[jfxgillis]

2. I think it went even deeper than just Forward Planning.

I think their idea was to make sure that someone who might lay a flower or a packet of Jelly Bellies at the Reagan Library see no contradiction in voting for Kerry next November.

[vickie]

5. I couldn't agree more and shows that the Kerrys are classy people.

If I'm not mistaken, when watching the Reagan family service this morning, I noticed the name Heinz on one of what must have been the donor walls.

I would assume that the 'donation' was from the late Senator John Heinz and the then Mrs. Teresa Heinz (before her marriage to Kerry). The camera picked it up and I noticed it immediately. The camera shot sowed "Mrs. Heinz" which I assume to be Teresa.

[whistle]

3. They be treated sympathetically about what?

...Segregation? Right to work anti-labor union laws? Dis-enfranchisement of voters? Moving education curriculum back 150 years by removing science and math courses? Allowing confederate flags to fly on top of all buildings? Erecting granite slabs with quotations from the bible in all public buildings? Burning crosses in peoples front yards and painting Nazi swastikas on the homes of people who don't agree with these kinds of policies? Fostering KKK marches through the main streets of towns and cities? I have lived in the south for 35 years and this still goes on today.

I don't get it. The GOP and their hypocritical candidates allow this to happen by speaking in code and turned our attention away from the agenda that supports and feeds this type of political thinking. The south wants this country to be ruled by an aristocracy and they are perfectly happy to keep the masses illiterate and and ignorant. It is the master/slave mentality and white supremacy rule. It is corrupt and decaying. I for one would never support that kind of political back-sliding.

[jfxgillis]

4. Did you read what I wrote?

I said we need to convince them that Segregation is OVER.

The rest of your issues are mostly Southern and I specifically exempted that category.