DUers who live in RW areas: I'm still just hearing RW talking points. You?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Granted I had a short work day yesterday. I did hear one guy who I'd usually take to be a Hilary bashing Repub express shock about what a disgrace it was that people were dying of thirst in one of America's great cities.

But from most of the usual suspects I hear echoes of the Limbaugh type talking points, even though it's a bit desparate:

-Blame the victims ("They should have left, it's their fault")
-Ignore responsibility of the federal government and focus on the mayor and governor
-Focus on the looting and lawlessness, leading to:
-"They should shoot to kill"
-No compassion for the dying and trapped heard at all.

I have no doubt that many Bush supporters are starting to see reality, through shocked and tearful eyes. But this is mostly what I'm hearing.

How about where you are?

[erinlough]

1. Same here, but

the difference is me. I'm not hearing it anymore without challenging it. I try to be logical and controlled but I leave no doubt about what I think of their talking points. I no longer care what they think about me, or if I lose their acquaintance (I can't say friendship as I wrote them off of my list long ago). I point the fallacy of their thinking out whenever I can. I'm not waiting for spineless Dem's in the congress, I'm starting my own truth-telling.

[tsuki]

3. I ask where did you get that information. FOX News, is the

unvariable answer. My new talking point: You need to start listening to something other than that Racist station. And I walk away in disgust.

Nothing makes a Bush supporter angrier than to call them a racist and then walk away.

[tsuki]

2. You forgot, we help everyone, no one offers to help us. eom

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. I talked to 2 fundie freepers

here in crazy red f*cking JOklahoma this morning. Two single women who used to be missionaries no less. One is in her mid 50's the other in her mid 60's. Ran into them at the grocery store. They were rather aggressively - and pre-emptively - spouting the talking points you cited. One commented on the racial composition of the city and its mayor - clearly implying that black is bad. Both refused to explain to me the difference between a looter and a scavenger. One said that she wasn't following the news because well, because it bothered her to hear such negative things. The other said she only watched Faux News and that she thought they were liberally biased. WTF? So despite being obnoxiously certain that they are right they also admit to being something less than well informed - though they don't think of it in those terms. No surprise there.

I have an acquaintance who lives and works abroad who sometimes stays with one of these women when she is stateside. She was here stateside in July and will return again in October. That acquaintance is from Mississippi and all of her family continue to live there. I inquired into her well-being and that of her family. These fundie hypocrites hadn't even thought about her or the well-being of her family.

I asked if one of the local fundie mega churches that currently has a $20 million building project was going to take in some of the hurricane victims. This church has a 99 year $1 lease of a state owned park that could easily accommodate some victims. They responded by mentioning the few victims that have already come to JOklahoma - as if we have already done our good deed and need not do more.

I decided it was time to end the exchange and walked off swearing under my breath. I was so angry I thought my head was going to explode. I came home and took a badly needed shower to wash off all the contaminants.

[meganmonkey]

5. Mixed out here in red Jackson Cty, MI

This morning my SO and I were chatting with our neighbor who just got back from basic training for the guard. He is about 19, nice kid, but thinks in terms of good guys and bad guys and thinks the war is a worthy cause. Very young, you know. But he was talking about NO and was quoting the mayor's rant from the other night and he seemed appalled at the rescue effort so far.

On the other hand, last night a friend of ours was over who is pretty conservative, although not a fan of Bush anymore. He is pretty smart but I don't think he has been exposed to the real world outside of semi-rural red areas much. So in some ways he is kind of ignorant. And he was totally using talking points about the looters and stuff. 'If this happened in Detroit it would be the same scene' racist stereotype crap. I gave him a hard time about his attitude, fwiw. But he DID seem to agree that it is the feds who REALLY fucked up, especially bushco and FEMA, as opposed to the mayor or governors. Especially after mistermonkey and I spewed fact after fact about the FEMA funding cuts, about the the 3 disasters FEMA had predicted and the hurrucane being one of them...and some other stuff.

He's a tough nut to crack sometimes but we usually succeed, because he knows we aren't making shit up, and he knows that folks like Limbaugh and O'Lielly do all the time. He still listens to them, but then he comes over and we debunk everything. I guess he wants to learn or he wouldn't keep coming over.

We'll get him some day :)

btw - there are MANY MANY people out here on our wavelength in general, and they don't use RW talking points ever!!!

[yardwork]

6. I've been getting yelled at by RWers on other boards

Not only are they still in denial about their Precious Leader, they're rabidly attacking anyone who suggests that he might be a teensy bit incompetent.

[leftchick]

7. I live in North Carolina

this is what happened to me last night...

:grr: :banghead: :mad:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4603433

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. My one RW friend

thinks it is "funny" that the left is blaming bush for this catastrophe. I pointed out that no way could one city and one state handle the massive rescue effort necessary and why do we pay taxes if not to help people in need. He shut up. Not that I think he agrees with me; I think he sensed how angry I am. :)

[mitchtv]

9. I am in a freeper section of Calif

News is slightly biased to the right, but dissent is loud. They will , for example , show a Demo, then spend the entire clip explaining the position of a lone Network, ex general, wing job. Of course, RW Calif is probably more liberal than a Dem dist. in GA

[NNN0LHI]

10. Guy in a restaurant said "those people are just looking for a handout"

I am embarrassed to admit that the waitress had to physically restrain me yesterday.

Don

[LizW]

11. In the red area where I live

people are really being pretty compassionate. Most of the talk is about the horror of the Superdome and the Convention Center. I do occasionally hear people say "They should have left", but I think it's out of frustration with the horrible circumstances the people are in. Most people I hear seem to understand that the poor had no way to leave.

I do notice that people seem a little nervous about the ripple effect. We live in an area that will feel the first wave, and people are talking about how we will absorb the children into the schools, and the adults into the work force.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. In my red community its running about 50-50

50% are thinking bush failed the people of NO and 50% are thinking their Gov and Mayor.

The majority all agree their was a failure of some kind. We are a 30% Dem 70% repug community.

The tiny handful that are heartless and assholes (the real freeper type) are blaming the victims. Here these are the fringe and I don't waste my time on them. Most of them don't vote (many due to being on probation) they are unfeeling, uneducated idiots. I avoid them like the plague. From my experience with them the ones who spew the worst RW talking points (Rush Limbaugh type) are not even allowed to vote. Go figure.

If you're looking for a sampling of a average red community in the south, mines a pretty good example. They are average working class people most go to church every Sunday and work their asses off all week. These are the type of people that the Dem Party has been missing when it comes to getting our message out. It's very easy to talk over their heads but some of them will listen if you can reach them. Others are lifetime republicans that, as they say, will never vote for a dem, but would rather not vote at all.

Over all this has reached about 20% of them so far and they are listening. They are angry and they are understanding that bush failed NO and them as a leader.

I'm not bashing my community. Its very small and one resort owner has opened his doors to house victims, and several people are on the list to take in people also. The commercial drivers are volunteering to drive the donated rigs that our local hauling company has provided to carry supplies to the places housing these people. Our little HEB grocery said yesterday they can't keep up with all the people coming in and donating to the food funds. The proceeds of our Labor Day fish fry normally go to the JL telethon, this year it goes to the victims of NO. The people are at least recognizing the suffering and trying.

I'm hoping that as we get some of the victims from NOLA in the community, listening to them tell the story may wake up an extra 10%-15%. That may be too optimistic, I'm not sure yet. The remainder may just decide to stick their heads in the sand and will themselves not to see.

There you have it, an update from a red southern community.