I Wish I Were In The Land Of Cotton

There they go again, pandering to the Confederate flag-waving Southern rednecks. What was Bush thinking when he said "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks"? Deplorable.

Whoops! It's not deplorable, it's a brilliant metaphor - the speaker was Howard Dean, and anyway, he has said it before, many times, including at a DNC cattle-call.

No, wrong again - it was deplorable. So say candidates Kerry, Gephardt, Lieberman, Edwards, Sharpton... anyone a reporter could get ahold of, apparently.

The circular firing squad continues.

INTERLUDE: There is more below, but since Max's songs are stronger songs, we are noting it right here.

Let's compare soundbites:

Mr. Kerry called Dr. Dean's statement "craven," "pandering" and "the worst kind of politics as usual." He said, "I'd rather be the candidate of the N.A.A.C.P. than the N.R.A., who understands that the Confederate flag belongs in museums."

An aide to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Craig T. Smith, called the remark "irresponsible and reckless." Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said, "to assume that Southerners who drive trucks would embrace this symbol is offensive." Mr. Gephardt issued a statement saying he planned to "be the candidate for the guys with American flags in their pickup trucks."

And the Rev. Al Sharpton said the Confederate flag "is like the swastika to a Jewish person," adding: "I think those people that wave the Confederate flag must be confronted by people who want to be president, not embraced by them."

Well, "Most Ludicrous" is probably Big Al channelling Jewish sensibilities. Edwards gets gutless points for drawing a weird, false distinction rather than addressing the issue; Lieberman wins the "Oatmeal du Jour" prize, but why compete for it? Is bland beautiful? Kerry shows his strategic insensibility - if he wants to win, he better be the candidate of both the NRA and the NAACP; and Gephardt emerges triumphant, since we all support the American flag.

Gephardt got some love from the NY Times today, too - I see a disturbing number of signs of a Gephardt boomlet, as Dems cast about for their Anybody But Dean alternative.

UPDATE: Thanks to an Alert Reader, we have the reaction of ostensible Dem Zell Miller of Georgia, appearing on Meet The Press:

SEN. MILLER: Howard Dean knows about as much about the South as a hog knows about Sunday. This must be his Southern strategy. And I can tell you right now, that that’s the same kind of stereotype, that’s the same kind of character trait that I write about in this book. I write about in this book in 1988 Michael Dukakis coming to Georgia and having this rally, and they had all these bales of hay stashed around here and there, like it was some kind of set from the television show “Hee Haw.” That’s not what the South is. The South right now, if you took its economy, it would be the third largest in the world, next to the United States as a whole and next to Japan. Fifty-five hundred African-Americans right now hold office in the South. In Georgia we have several statewide elected officials who are African-American and who were elected last year in a race where a senator and a governor were being defeated. They were being elected in a state that’s 70 percent white. This is not the South that Howard Dean thinks it is. Sure, we drive pickups, but on the back of those pickups, you see a lot of American flags. It’s the most patriotic region in the country. And you see hardworking individuals that want to instill values in their children, and you see a very, very strong work ethic in the South. He doesn’t understand the South.

Ouch. A news wire picked up the "hog on Sunday" line, and more.

UPDATE: Dean assailed at a candidate debate; Dean apologizes.

Comments

[Jon Henke]

Odd, isn't it, that they all simply assumed that somebody who had a confederate flag MUST be racist.

Did stereotyping suddenly become acceptable?

And if we're to take Gephardt at his word, the Democrats would appreciate it if confederate flag-supporters would vote for a Republican.

Funny, it strikes me that Dean was simply using a colorful phrase for "people who carry guns in their cars".....it's the rest of the Dem field who is pandering. As fast as they can.

[Brad DeLong]

Well, you can go and read the accounts of the debates of the Secession Conventions if you wish...

So Dean has clued-in to the fact that he needs the south, and needs the south badly--that he has to convince people in the south that he is an honorary southerner. Well, Vermont is a rural state. And Dean does like to shoot. Is that enough?

:-)

Brad DeLong

[TM]

Having spent time in Vermont (but not the South), I suspect that rural Vermonters are more like Southerners than they are like Manhattanites.

Which takes me back to Dean's "metrosexual" comment.

[Julia Grey]

Hey, he's a "straight-talker," right?

Hoo-boy.

[TM]

LOL.

[Gary Utter]

Residents of rural Vermont are pretty similar to residents of rural New York. Neither are similar to Manhattanites.

The biggest difference between rural Vermonters (Vermontians? ), rural New Yorkers and rural Southerners is the accent.

Plus, Northerners don't understand grits.

[Cecil Turner]

Zell Miller spoke to Dean’s statement on Meet the Press, and slammed it as an offensive stereotype:

SEN. MILLER: Howard Dean knows about as much about the South as a hog knows about Sunday. This must be his Southern strategy. And I can tell you right now, that that’s the same kind of stereotype, that’s the same kind of character trait that I write about in this book. I write about in this book in 1988 Michael Dukakis coming to Georgia and having this rally, and they had all these bales of hay stashed around here and there, like it was some kind of set from the television show “Hee Haw.” That’s not what the South is. The South right now, if you took its economy, it would be the third largest in the world, next to the United States as a whole and next to Japan. Fifty-five hundred African-Americans right now hold office in the South. In Georgia we have several statewide elected officials who are African-American and who were elected last year in a race where a senator and a governor were being defeated. They were being elected in a state that’s 70 percent white. This is not the South that Howard Dean thinks it is. Sure, we drive pickups, but on the back of those pickups, you see a lot of American flags. It’s the most patriotic region in the country. And you see hardworking individuals that want to instill values in their children, and you see a very, very strong work ethic in the South. He doesn’t understand the South.

That sums up my opinion pretty well. Whatever he was trying to say, it came across as a northeastern liberal talking down to the South. At least he’s recognized he needs to carry some southern states . . . but this isn’t the way to go about it.

[TM]

Wow. Did Zell stop there, or did he say something about Dean's mother?

Anyway. thanks very much. I actually think Dean was trying to say something sensible, like "Dems need to reclaim the rural white Southerners that have abandoned us, and cost us the governorship and a Senate seat in Georgia", but it loks like he may want to fine-tune that soundbite.

[Tom Bowler]

Now, imagine for a moment that George W. Bush said it.

[Emma]

Thanks for the good coverage. I was about to howl like a mashed cat, but then the link to Max and the sensible speech talk--well, I'm feeling mollified.

Nevertheless: Kucinich is the man!

[TM]

Hey, Max thinks so too, thereby trashing my theory that Dennis' supporters could not fill a phone booth.

[Cecil Turner]

This is a little bit off-topic, but Miller also had an article in the WSJ (link requires registration) where he lambasts the entire field. Money quote:

I find it hard to believe, but these naive nine have managed to combine the worst feature of the McGovern campaign--the president is a liar and we must have peace at any cost--with the worst feature of the Mondale campaign--watch your wallet, we're going to raise your taxes. George McGovern carried one state in 1972. Walter Mondale carried one state in 1984. Not exactly role models when it comes to how to get elected or, for that matter, how to run a country.

[....a moment with Easycure]

At this point, Gary Coleman could jump into the Democratic race and get the nomnation.

Funny thing is, it wouldn't seem all that weird.

[Emma]

Hey, Max thinks so too, thereby trashing my theory that Dennis' supporters could not fill a phone booth

Two people, full telephone booth; ah, what are you implying?

[TM]

Hmm, either a small phone booth, or that Max better get down to the gym more often; we assume all you West Coasters to be willowy.

[Max B. Sawicky]

I can easily fill up a phone booth all by myself, but if Emma wants to try to squeeze in with me that would be fine.

Whatz a "gym"?

[ross g]

as man from the south i find it an outrage that they consider us a bunch of hillbillies and as to rev. sharptons saying that the battle flag is like the swastika 2 jews he needs to open up a history book BECAUSE AFRICAN AMERICANS fought for the south, and they did because they wanted 2, rev. sharpton is a racist himself we show the flag in rememberance to the men who died to fight for what they believed in not out of racism and their are african americans that also fly this flag for the same reasons.

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