I don't give a damn who wins the nomination, but one meme that must be banished forever..

Liberal Veteran

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Tue May-06-08 06:43 PM
Original message

I don't give a damn who wins the nomination, but one meme that must be banished forever..

....is the inherent bigotry of the phrase "working class voters" which I've come to realize is the "socially acceptable" way of saying "middle-classed white folks".

If I hear one more time how Obama has the "black vote" wrapped up but how will he fare with "working class voters", I think I'm gonna fucking lose it.

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Catch22Dem

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Tue May-06-08 06:44 PM
Response to Original message

1. You have a good point

And I have a bumper sticker that says Liberal Veteran! :D

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KSinTX

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Tue May-06-08 06:48 PM
Response to Original message

2. Make that *bigoted* middle-class white folks nt

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Liberal Veteran

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Tue May-06-08 06:50 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. To some extent, but what is more disconcerting is the notion that people of color...

...are somehow not "working class voters".

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KSinTX

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Tue May-06-08 06:55 PM
Response to Reply #4

9. Hadn't picked up on that slam. Sorry ...

Just so much 'stereotype schrapnel' flying around this primary, I'm barely surviving the barrage. :)

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BlooInBloo

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Tue May-06-08 06:56 PM
Response to Reply #4

11. That's not new. There are people, and then there are *black* people....

... America has been that way for 100s of years. Sorry if that's news to you.

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scarletwoman

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Tue May-06-08 07:01 PM
Response to Reply #4

14. First of all, "Working Class" conjures up images of MALES.

To envision these males as WHITE males is but a hairsbreadth away, because White is the default setting of our entire society.

What it says is that "everyone knows" that BLACK males are not the real "Working Class".

It's a very clear code, imho.

sw

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featherman

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Tue May-06-08 06:49 PM
Response to Original message

3. black white race race race race.... anything but what matters

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Liberal Veteran

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Tue May-06-08 06:54 PM
Response to Reply #3

8. Demographics don't really bother me much as long as they are accurate.

I'm more bothered by the exclusion of blacks from the much coveted and genuflected to "working class voters" bloc.

There is a nasty undercurrent in the exclusion that smacks of racism.

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Rosemary2205

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Tue May-06-08 06:51 PM
Response to Original message

5. has the meaning changed?

Edited on Tue May-06-08 06:53 PM by Rosemary2205

It used to mean all white people without a college degree.

Edit - changed title to reflect the fact I didn't mean it as confrontational and previous wording was.

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scarletwoman

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Tue May-06-08 06:51 PM
Response to Original message

6. Damn straight! Anyone who doesn't recognize it for the "code speak" that it is,

is either being deliberately disingenuous, or is completely incapable of objective observation.

sw

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BlooInBloo

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Tue May-06-08 06:52 PM
Response to Original message

7. Why? White folks have agreed on that as the acceptable codeword for "bigot"...

Why rock the boat?

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NashVegas

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Tue May-06-08 06:55 PM
Response to Original message

10. Middle Class White Folks AKA the Largest Voting Block in the Country

:rofl:

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The Ghost

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Tue May-06-08 06:59 PM
Response to Original message

12. I think Howard Dean referred to them as

"guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks" back in 2003. I dont agree with that, but I really think thats what he was trying to say, when you get right down to it.

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Dr Fate

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Tue May-06-08 07:00 PM
Response to Original message

13. I think they should be called what they are: "conservative swing voters"

After all, most of the "working class" voted for Bush at least once-and they typically "vote for the man, not the party"- sure they vote DEM every blue moon- and they SHOULD be our base, but they are not.

There seems to be this rush to refer to them as "part of our traditional base"- In my estimation, if they have not been mostly straight party-line DEM voters for the past couple of decades, then they are swing voters...

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LisaM

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Tue May-06-08 07:04 PM
Response to Original message

15. But they're not necessarily conservative

and not everyone who lacks a college education can help it.

If education were free and available to everyone (or at least affordable) it would be different, but I know a number of people who, for whatever reason, did not or could not go to college. Some of them are sensitive about it.

With high school graduation rates below 50%, this demographic is only going to grow.

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JuniperLea

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Tue May-06-08 07:07 PM
Response to Original message

16. Classism is the new racism

It's been working in insidious ways for a long while now. What you note here is a clever, yet appalling mingling of the two.

Disgusting.

We need to rise above and support the party... before it's too late... just to be clear, asking one candidate or the other to step out of the race is not helpful.

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goletian

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Tue May-06-08 07:09 PM
Response to Original message

17. not middle class, but poor and uneducated. - nt

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Liberal Veteran

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Tue May-06-08 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #17

18. I think either of those could be included in that, but not limited to that.

I think working class voter is primarily middle income to poor whites.

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