The Appalachian Sensation

8 Responses to “The Appalachian Sensation”

1. Sean Braisted writes
   May 8th, 2008 2:16 pm

   I can’t get the deliverance song out of my head.

2. Martin Kennedy writes
   May 8th, 2008 2:36 pm

   Dualing banjos for the white hillbillies? What song do you have in your mind for the African-Americans?

3. GoldnI writes
   May 8th, 2008 2:48 pm

   “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.”

4. Sean Braisted writes
   May 8th, 2008 3:38 pm

   “We Shall Overcome”

5. Donna Locke writes
   May 8th, 2008 4:54 pm

   “Wait a Minute.” Next thing we know, Hillary will claim to be “A Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

6. Martin Kennedy writes
   May 8th, 2008 5:16 pm

   I am just enjoying that Dem Obama supporters are acknowledging, even if just implicitly, that their coalition depends on throngs of people gullible enough (other descriptors may apply) to actually buy what Hillary Clinton, and Bill before her, is selling. Something to consider when they are tempted to bang on members of the Republican coalition.

7. Sean Braisted writes
   May 8th, 2008 7:16 pm

   Martin,

   Not sure I follow you there?

8. Martin Kennedy writes
   May 8th, 2008 8:48 pm

   Sean, You brought up the Deliverence song regarding the post that spells out Obama’s struggle against Hillary in getting the poor, white, rural vote. I think we can agree that references to Deliverence have negative connotations. My question about the song in your head for the African-Americans was my way of saying that blacks are voting in a stronger, more unified bloc, for Obama than poor, rural whites are going for Hillary. So, think of a Hillary supporter who reads on a blog that 85% of blacks are voting for Obama and comments thusly… I can’t get Snoop Dog music out of my head.

   You didn’t catch the drift of my last comment. Perhaps I was not as clever as I thought. Or, perhaps you don’t yet appreciate that Obama is going to have to depend on the “Deliverence people” in order to win the general. Obama will depend on people who supported a candidate that you have excoriated (and I support your excoriation). You’ve as much as said that they’re dopes. Who else could support a woman who tells tales about landing under sniper fire and then jokes about her shameless fabrication? So the Democratic coalition has a lot of dopes. I would suggest that the Republican coalition has far fewer dopes, a smaller percentage of people who vote as strongly on identity. Sure there are identifiable demographics but the overriding ethos is that Republicans tend to want government to leave them the hell alone; they’re to busy trying to make a living. I think, based on my experience, that Republicans are far less race conscious than Democrats. The Dems tend to want the government to do things for people, to “help” people. When resources are allocated by government it is inevitable that people break down into tribal factions, to insure that their group gets a fair share.