Excuse me? Did I do this?
Allow me to become a little self-righteous msyelf here. I disntinctly said that we should not give up on the South. All I am doing is pointing out how severe the situation is for the Demcorats int he south, and that it will take a lot more than a southern governor and some talk about values to turn it around.
Last year I wrote a pretty ardent diary at Dailykos calling people out for their anti-southern bigotry during the Dean flag flap. Now that I am simply pointing out how dire the electoral situation is for Democrats in the south, I do not think that means I am calling people in the south backwards.
I do not take kindly to accusations that I am bigoted, and that I am being predujiced against others.
Asshole.
But we can't just ignore his/her badly-communicated point - there are someDems who think this way about the South, and rural voters in general. Hell, even I've done it in my darkest moments, and I was born and raised in a rural county. Even worse, there's a widely-held perception that ALL Dems think this way.
This sort of contempt for "hicks," real or not, is hurting us, and our new message and communication need to focus on it. These people aren't going to vote for us if they think we hate them.
The Republicans want us weak and divided, gnawing over silly things like "do we defend gays or cast them aside", "do we nominate southerners so we have a better chance at winning", "do we move more to the left or the center".
They aren't as divided as we are. The moderates are shunted aside. The far right holds all the keys and they appeal to peoples fears and hatreds.
We can not be persuaded to play to their level. I believe Chris was saying, simply, that nominating from the south won't solve our problems. Some folks here have noted that there is a high-handed approach from the north (I'm from Michigan, for example), that generally speaking our region has a condescending view of that region.
We are a party of all regions. We need to change the focus, as has been said, on getting the message out; We are proud to be Liberal. Liberal is not a dirty word in the north, south, east or west. The kind of bigotry embraced by the far right is dirty.
Okay, I've said my peace. I personally respect my fellow Liberals in the south and agree with something Chris said earlier; in those Red held districts we "can't" win, we need to spread a little money to generate a candidate, build inroads, and siphon off their resources. And maybe, just maybe, take a few seats from the Radicals!
