Wrong

The Way to Gut a Deer Is to Cut From Groin to Neck
By Gregory Rodriguez
Gregory Rodriguez, a contributing editor of Opinion, is an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation.

November 14, 2004

Every year, tens of thousands of American high school students and college undergraduates participate in exchange programs that take them to all corners of the globe for new experiences. The idea behind these journeys is simple. Familiarity breeds tolerance — sometimes even acceptance.

That's what Americans need now after our bitter presidential election, blue states accepting red and vice versa. How better to achieve that than a cultural exchange program between the two. Coast dwellers should spend some quality time in the "fly-over" states.

Residents of rural red America are more likely to have visited the big blue cities than the other way around. Many have vacationed in Los Angeles or New York. They've walked down Hollywood Boulevard or taken in the view from the Empire State Building. More than a few have family members living on the coasts. Though they may not love us, red staters tend to know more about us than we blue staters know about them.


Nonsense.

Red states have more opinions, not knowledge, about blue staters than the other way around.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on November 14, 2004 - 2:32am :: Politics
 
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Hmm. I'd say the knowledge/opinions/misinformation flows equally in both directions. Then again, I live in a "red" county of a "blue" state, and I think the whole "red" and "blue" geographic dichotomy is bullshit. The "purple" maps are more correct.

Southern Illinois (which to Chicago residents is everything south of I-80, to central Illinois residents everything south of I-70, and to people who identify as southern Illinoisans everything south of I-64) is generally tagged as "red" or conservative, yet has a strong tradition of voting liberals into office. The election of Barack Obama shouldn't have been a surprise; remember Paul Simon?

The margins in a lot of so-called "red" counties in the midwest were slim. Slim. The tradition of progressive populism still exists here. Jim Hightower has been yelling it from the rooftops for years. Democrats who want to win elections need to pay attention and quit allowing the ultra-right to call the shots. This is not a geographic divide. Nor is it one of "values"...unless you're going with the narrow definition of "values" offered up by the right. When Democrats stop dancing to Republican music, that's when they'll start winning elections again.

Posted by  La Lubu on November 14, 2004 - 9:08am.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.: "The public liked the conservative music more than they're going to like the words."

Posted by  George (not verified) on November 14, 2004 - 9:54pm.