We're from the South...so just ignore us, insult us, condescend to us...

Act like we aren't and never have been a vital part of this party. Pretend that we're all racist Dixiecrats.

Make decisions about the party without considering us...after all, we're just stupid Southerners and you know what's best for us.

Disregard the fact that we gave you LBJ, Clinton, Carter, and other influential national leaders.

Act as if your voices are the only ones that matter, that extreme leftist strategy is winning strategy EVERYWHERE ELSE but in the South.

We are just racist, mindless rubes--Dixiecrats who wrap ourselves in the flag of yore, looking longingly backwards to the Old South.

:eyes:

In case you didn't know, people who vote DEMOCRATIC in the south are as progressive as YOU are...you want to call Republicans here Dixiecrats, then fine, but you need to educate yourself on what a present-day Southern Democrat is. And last time I looked, Democrats weren't doing especially wonderful on a national level--oh, but I forgot--it's the South's fault.

And the way to win on a national level is to insult, condescend to, or plain out ignore the progressives here who are polling 45 to 50 % in state elections, and actually ELECTING many Democrats--we lost the Governor's race and the Lt. Governor's race, but did you happen to look at the results in other statewide offices???

The last thing the Democratic Party needs to do is write us off. If you do, it will be to your detriment.

I have said all I am going to say on this topic. I'm not even going to respond to posts on this thread. And if I have to continue investing the majority of my time on this website defending myself--a Southern Democrat that some people here love to call a Dixiecrat--then I am going to leave DU. Keep on with these attitudes toward us--it doesn't bode well for the Democratic Party.

And on edit: We are just as much a part of this party as you are, so, quite frankly, it isn't YOUR decision what to do about the South.

..life always presents choices.

didn't you????????????????????????

poster is tired of the "Southern Bashing." And tired of the condescention that's displayed by "some" here about a region of the country which is much more diversified than it's given credit for.

We can't even have a sense of humor about regional foibles and eccentricities because people are getting so uptight on this board about "their own point of view" being the PC one.

I agree with you almost always Q, but thought your comment on this was below the belt. :-(

We need to eliminate that option of jumping ship ... and talk about other options (choices).
I'm not a Dean supporter, but he only said what all the other Oh-so-PC candidates would not say. As a Southerner, I have no problem with Dean's statement which is cause of concern to many.
I feel that we are sometimes so edgy about every little word. I personally wish the Dem Party and DU would lighten up a lot.
Leaving the party is not a palatable choice for most.
...O...

and I agree, the Dems should not give up on the South. There are plenty of good Democratic voters down there. On top of that, one shoudl not be afraid to bring their message anywhere. I guess to a point I can see actual candidates not wanting to spend out of their campaign accounts to travel to a place they feel they have little chance of winning, but somebody has to step up. That's why I had no problem with Dean mentioning how he wants to attract southern voters back to the Democrats. All we need to do is at least show we know these peopel exist, and they will resist the urge to jump ship.

"is it wise to have the DEM convention in Boston?" or "A northeastern liberal will never appeal to those in the south" so WE in the northeast are pegged also as being despised by the south...it goes both ways,right or wrong...

How many times will I have to hear the likes od Dick Armey diss New England and Boston. The only New England state any Repub candidate visits is New Hampshire for two obvious reasons. #1 It is the first primary, and #2 it is the most Conservative Northeast state. Republicans are jsut as guilty of ignoring the Northeast as Dems are in the South. I just hitnk we need to spend some time showing some love down there. If we could take jsut one major Southern State from Bush, the Republicans are screwed.

there exists a double-standard here on DU. A few weeks back an anti-New York flamebait thread that basically said there are no real Dems in New York, only DINOs, went on forever. I've seen similar sentiments expressed toward the Northeast in general.

I don't condone regional bashing, but you're right about it going both ways...

stereotyping and condescending.
I also happen to support a candidate from the South. ;-)
I think there's a bit of a skewed representation of membership here these days . An extremely vocal minority monopolized the discussion and it feels a bit freeperish. Do what I do: take a break, come back.
It's still a crowd of mostly great people.

What makes you think you are being ignored? Is there something in the current makeup of the national Democratic party that is different from Southern views? I can't find a lick of sense in what Zell Miller is saying. He uses as an example JFK. JFK? The results of an election in 1960? What not use 1932, or 1832?
I am serious. The idea that the South is being ignored befuddles me.

the national feeling here (mucho military) is rethuglican.

Posters here urge the DNC to "abandon the South". Well, the folks who live here, fighting for the same progressive ideas that people in other parts of the country fight for don't care much for being abandoned.

The other part of our defensiveness comes from the fact that all too often we are lumped together with racists, homophobes and other bigots simply because we live south of the Mason-Dixon line.

cause for it, or did you just feel the urge to throw a childish self-centered tantrum? Who do you imagine you are "threatening" by announcing that you may leave DU?

as if everyone here is exactly the same

Most answers just prove the existence of what the original post said.

what j.child is talking about. I've seen it! And, I'm getting sick of it. And I'm a born Southerner who has lived most of my life in the Northeast, and knows both areas very well. There's much to attack about any area of the US, but the South here on DU seems to get most of the criticism and it's driving many off DU.

I've sat here this morning and read the anti-southern posts and it makes me sick. Myself, as a democrat, already feel like we have lost our country and reading the posts today makes me feel like I am losing my party as well.

There was a thread earlier today that proposed trying to win the presidency while ignoring the south. A lot of us were against such a notion, but apparently not enough!!


:evilgrin:

and it's horribly frustrating. I know that there are liberals here, but we are few and far between. This smarmy little weasel jackass won for the state senate here, and he has no qualifications, he's racist, he's hateful, and all he did was prey on fears, give winks and nods to the racists, and he'll do nothing to help an area in economic depression. He won with 65% of the vote. How can you not lose heart seeing that happen?

I'm in the South. And I hate it.

There are two very different southern democrats. I, on the one hand am very progressive. But older democrats in NC are far more conservative. Remnants of the days when democrats were on the other side of the idealogical fence.

This is a one-way communication from a "southern democrat" who thinks every party needs two agendas: 1) American and 2) "southern".

Whatever.

I think it's from frustration watching an area vote over and over again for RW a-holes like Helms, Lott, Bush, Barbour, etc. That and wondering why the Democratic Party should invest efforts in states that would vote for Satan himself if he ran as a Repuke. That's why I sometimes think the electorial college should be abolished. It'd make EVERY state inportant because in a popular vote a Democratic vote in South Carolina is worth as much as a Democratic vote in a swing state like Michigan and it'd be worth it to a Democratic candidiate like Dean or Clark to campaign in the urban pockets of Democrats in even the most repuk states.

The Democratic Party bends over backwards to accomodate the people of the south. Does the fact that we absolutely have to have a southern candidate on the the ticket mean that the south is ignored? If there were two southerners on the ticket the north would have no qualms about voting for them (clinton/gore). What would happen if we had a ticket with a candidate from say vermont and massachusettes? Would they win many states in the south? :nopity:

I lived in the South for four years-it served to update my sense of the region. Growing up in Vermont taught me nothing about the South that helps to understand.

Please see rule #4 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=463744

4. If you wish to start a vanity thread (ie: a discussion thread in which the sole purpose is to share your personal opinion) you must state your opinion in a non-inflammatory manner which respects differences in opinion and facilitates actual discussion.

Thanks,


kaitykaity
DU Moderator