Senator Obama was in Huntsville, AL yesterday and was insulted.

I saw this on the evening news. As he walked down the street in Huntsville two "protesters" (middle-aged white men in shirts and ties) carried signs that read "Anyone but Hilary...EVEN YOU!" Obama was cool, he may even have spoken to one of the idiots and no one remarked about the "protesters" beyond a simple statement. But I thought that it was highly insulting to Senator Obama. It was, of course, a slap at Senator Clinton, but the "Even You!" jibe was completely uncalled for and (I think) was a stealth racial hook. I was disgusted and appalled. I am not an Obama or a Clinton supporter, but this, I felt was totally uncalled for, especially since we get almost no presidential candidates in this state, ever. I understand better, now, why...

It's going to get much worse from here. We're talking about LOSING POWER, which to the 'Lican nobility is like having their spleens removed without anaesthesia. They'll do anything -- no, EVERYTHING -- to hold onto power.

Everybody duck!

After all, this state is the "Heart of Darkness". No other Democratic candidate has come, so far, but Obama did have a couple of very good fund raisers. One here in Huntsville and another in Birmingham, so maybe this will open the state up a little...maybe...

Cameras just seem to zoom in on the idiots. There were only two of them carrying childish signs. I think people can figure that out.

You're appalled at the insult to Obama but not to Clinton? :shrug:

motivated message of dislike, not unlike the ABB craze in '04. It is a statement of opposition to a particular candidate. When I first saw the signs, I thought they were just over zealous Obama supporters, but then when I saw the last part, I realized they were motivated by something else. The sentiment, "Anyone but Hilary", is not insulting to Hilary - a sign reading "Anyone but Obama" would not have been insulting to Obama, but the "Even You!" was an insult. At least that's how it struck me. Political opposition is no insult...

in other states........

Sounds like the insult was a "Double-Dip."

Did anyone hear of any problems in Birmingham? I didn't, but I could have missed something.


North Alabama is rather conservative compared to Birmingham.

And yeah, I can see the "double-dip" quality of it. North Alabama is a terribly right-wing place (what with all of the military contractors and the Von Braun legacy), but the Senator drew a pretty good crowd and I think Senator Clinton would, as well. Democrats may be in the minority, here, but I believe that it is a large minority. I hope that all of the Democratic candidates come visit...

Sand Mt. Crowd of tomato and strawberry snakehandlers!
Actually, the Bham suburbs are as red as one can get, while in Lauderdale and Madison Counties, the Republicans are largely novelty items. . . especially one considers the state legislature, of which all of these counties' delegations are True Democrats, as are the DAs, the Circuit Court judges, etc.!
You assume that Huntsville has only recently been given to wearing shoes and not eating possum. Au contraire, Florence, Huntsville and Bham lead the state collectively in education, health care, and industry!
Actually, General Clark had a huge rally in the spring at the UAW hall by the Huntsville Airport and it was capacity, SRO. Bush's trip to Brown's Ferry was barely witnessed save for a few curious children lining Hwy. 72 from the airport to Athens and on to the River.
When Jimmy Carter visited on Labor Day in 1980 the crowd in Tuscumbia was over half a million.
The problem in North Alabama is that a small cadre of real estate developers, attorneys and had beens run the state party and it is decided in closed door meetings who will run for what and in what year.
Remember that when Alabama had an open Senate seat that it was Dr. Susan Parker from Rogersville who ran against Mushmouth Sessions! It was Roger Bedford who also ran from Russellville! Where are the touted Bham "progressives"? In Huntsville State Reps. Patricia Hall is busy fighting AIDS and Senator Parker Griffith is trying to deal with universal health care for the state.

years due to my husband's job.

"Two morans in a group" should not be an insult. There is most likely a conflation of 2 in every city in every state.

There's very little you could say about Alabama that I don't know, but thanks for the lengthy dissertation.



http://www.govpro.com/News/Article/31439/

August 16, 2005

Study Ranks America’s Most Liberal and Conservative Cities

A new nationwide study released by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranks the political leanings of every American city and finds that Detroit, Michigan is the most liberal and Provo, Utah the most conservative.

236 cities with populations of over 100,00 rated
http://www.votingresearch.org.

Americas 25 Most Liberal Cities

1 Detroit Michigan

2 Gary Indiana

3 Berkeley California

4 Washington, D.C. Dist. of Columbia

5 Oakland California

6 Inglewood California

7 Newark New Jersey

8 Cambridge Massachusetts

9 San Francisco California

10 Flint Michigan

11 Cleveland Ohio

12 Hartford Connecticut

13 Paterson New Jersey

14 Baltimore Maryland

15 New Haven Connecticut

16 Seattle Washington

17 Chicago Illinois

18 Philadelphia Pennsylvania

19 Birmingham Alabama

20 St. Louis Missouri

21 New York New York

22 Providence Rhode Island

23 Minneapolis Minnesota

24 Boston Massachusetts

25 Buffalo New York



Americas 25 Most Conservative Cities(in descending order)

Rank City State

1 Provo Utah

2 Lubbock Texas

3 Abilene Texas

4 Hialeah Florida

5 Plano Texas

6 Colorado Springs Colorado

7 Gilbert Arizona

8 Bakersfield California

9 Lafayette Louisiana

10 Orange California

11 Escondido California

12 Allentown Pennsylvania

13 Mesa Arizona

14 Arlington Texas

15 Peoria Arizona

16 Cape Coral Florida

17 Garden Grove California

18 Simi Valley California

19 Corona California

20 Clearwater Florida

21 West Valley City Utah

22 Oklahoma City Oklahoma

23 Overland Park Kansas

24 Anchorage Alaska

25 Huntington Beach California







edsp

Birmingham is much less conservative than Huntsville. Again, it is just my opinion, my experience. But I think that it is very telling that Birmingham is rated as the 19th most liberal city in the whole country! That, to me, is impressive and gives me at least some hope! Thanks for sharing that! :hi:

Another one who doesn't know how to spell MORON.

the entire campaigns built around "Anyone but Bush".

support either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama. Neither is my "candidate of choice"...

Period.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/479862

Most Southern states have a large percentage of Democrats. In North Carolina, Dems outnumber Pubs by almost 600,000 people! Of course, many Southern Dems are old school segregationist types, but those folks ARE dying off and we have a lot of Northern transplants. We can't make generalizations about the South anymore. Also, the South has a very large African-American population, which should be a key reason the candidates would come here. Come on Hill, Obama and all the rest! We'd love to see you! At least Edwards shows his face in the South.

It's pretty impressive that he behaved gracefully and peacefully in the face of such bigoted idiots. Shows that he not only has the ca-honeys to handle such situations but the intelligence to recognize how important his role is in helping even the backward redneck racist illiterates, from the South or wherever to get past their ignorance and work with a great leader.

As one who lives part time in a western state full of similarly foolish and ignorant bigots, I often cringe at the embarrassing stupidity they exhibit, especially when given the opportunity to stand at a pulpit. I realize that the ones popping their heads out of the hole are not always a good cross section of the general populace in a region, but they certainly are the ones being heard.

It's kind of like every time a tornado wipes out a neighborhood in the MidWest, they only interview the white trash that lived in a single wide trailer propped up on cinder blocks, "We never thunk it wudda happent ta us!". It makes every Oklahoman look like a moron. I suspect there are many intelligent and talented people in Alabama who are equally appalled at the stupidity of the guys who carried those signs.

Yeah, it was a pretty gracious performance by Senator Obama. And it was interesting to see the two morons when Obama spoke to them. They grinned very big and hunched their shoulders and bobbed up and down - completely submissive displays - they looked foolish. But the sentiment of those signs hung in the air. I think that to a certain degree Howard Dean was right, the Democratic Party cannot write-off the south (or the west, for that matter), but must wade into the opposition and confront them. I do not think that the Party should change any of its principles or ideals when engaging in the south. I think that there may be large sections of this region ready to accept and embrace those ideals and principles (at least I hope so).

:hi:

I think that to a certain degree Howard Dean was right, the Democratic Party cannot write-off the south (or the west, for that matter), but must wade into the opposition and confront them.

:toast:

I've been a Westerner my whole life and am pretty sure that there are many intelligent progressives in even such enclaves of backward hickness as Utah and Idaho. We just learn to pick our fights carefully and drive our Subaru's quietly while the "Utards" and other locals work themselves into a froth to "Stay the course" with the absolute most ridiculous and corrupt administration in the History of the U.S.. I live in a little tiny pioneer town and at a recent 4th of July celebration an opening prayer was offered and the outstanding appeal to God was "and please bless that the Evil-doers will be run out of Dodge so that freedom can be brought to the world". I couldn't help but hope he meant that Gee-Dubya and his henchmen were the Evil-doers he was talking about and Washington was the Dodge he referred to as well, but I suspect this ignorant cowboy was referring to his version of the world and the middle east. Anyway, it was pretty funny but only a parody of what some Westerners are like.

I volunteer with Barack Obama's campaign here in Las Vegas and the response while making calls or attending rallies has been amazing. There are many people who don't know much about him but when they do hear his words or interviews are invariably impressed. He's sure amazing compared to George W. Bush, but anyone would look good next to the idiot. Barack Obama stands up well on his own, without a former famous spouse's ladder to perch upon or any other special interests to carry his campaign. I look forward to having him as the next president of the United States.

You could send it to your local dem party officials as well.

You have no proof that they meant it racially.

way things are managed down here. I know these people. I my opinion, this was racist in nature. Take that for what it is worth...

I can;t wait for AL, MS, LA, SC, FL, GA, and TN to secede.

What exactly are you trying to say there funny guy?

have yet to become fully accepting, that they have always wanted to secede!! Sort of like the fact that the South has never gotten over the fact that they LOST the Civil War!!

Hopefully that's what he means! Otherwise, it's just pure :sarcasm: :spank:

And I certainly would have to move if GA seceded. LOL

lived in the south for most of my life, even though I was born in PA! While the south has accepted "blacks" more than they once did, many southerners have never LET IT GO! As a white female I'm ALWAYS offended by this open stupidity! Also as a Boomer, I RECALL living in TX when there were white and black water fountains, and blacks DID have to ride in the back of the bus.

Obama supporters DO have an up hill trek down here, regardless if EVERY SINGLE black voted for Obama. I don't know the real numbers, but I'm almost positive there are MORE Hispanics in America than blacks today. It's hypocritical, un-American and plainly NASTY for ANYONE to STILL act in this manner. It makes my blood boil!

I recall when I first married my husband how his mother acted when I had people of color over for dinner. We actually had several dust-ups, if that what you want to call them over this issue. My parents ALWAYS taught us that we are all people, and color has nothing to do with it. I respect them for teaching that to me.

Living here in Florida is somewhat better than TX, but I have seen it here too. I had a discussion with a person, who is now my friend about why it took her so long to accept me. Her answer was very telling... she said that "in general blacks are taught not to trust white people" so I can understand that. However, I told her I wasn't "one" of those types!

I do feel that the younger generation accepts the black/white situation much better, and bi-racial couples are more prevalent than when I was young. But left to some of the Red-Necks around, it STINKS!!

the whole of your statement. The region as a whole may be much better than it used to be (and I agree that it is), but we still have a long way to go and should not shrink from the task.

I don't think he needs to worry too much...


at the same time, it is reminscent of those "anyone but bush" stickers from the last election.... :( Think they were Rep. operatives?

deceiving (especially down here - I'll get spanked for that!). I can't see how they could be Democrats, mainly because Democrats tend to stick together down here (at least in public), because of the general atmosphere. I just can't see Democrats making a negative scene like that at an Obama event and essentially bashing both candidates - no, they were definitely Republicans...

Unless Morans is a term I'm not familiar with I'd suggest you spell it as Moron, (rhymes with Mormon, though not all Mormons are Morons). There is no doubt that George W. Bush is the most incredibly stupid president the Republican's have ever puppeted into the presidency. I'm embarassed for him, his regime, and the American people for allowing him to remain in power. I wish it were possible and likely to impeach him and his administration but then we'd have Nancy Pilosi as our temporary president. Maybe that wouldn't be near as bad as what we have now, but I can't imagine it would change much since she has a history of caving on so many important issues.

Pro-B*sh, Pro-war repuke at Anti-war, Peace March.







Du members now use it instead of moron.

I think I saw that picture before but now it all makes sense. Thanks for correcting me. I once saw someone put up signs all around their house as self affirmation notes saying, "I am intellugent". When I crossed out the u and wrote an i, they were offended. Not because I corrected their spelling, but that they had no less than 20 signs that were spelled un-intelligently. I'm sure Gee-Dub-ya would never notice the difference in Moron or Moran. He'd think the sign was for someone else.

I think there is a whole 'nuther' country full of guys like this in the great Republic of Texas. Molly Ivins was from Texas though so maybe they aren't all bad. I'd sure be embarassed if G.W. wanted to put his prez-uh-denchul lie-bury in my town though. Maybe they could make it into more of a video display for the illiterate where they just have to touch a screen of the various lies they want to hear.