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and I've lived in Georgia for many years and been surprised at Zell's "turn" to the right. Zell was a big fish in the little pond of Young Harris, Georgia, and then worked his way up to being a big fish in the state. As governor, he not only helped Bill Clinton carry Georgia, he advised him to hire Carville and Begala to run his campaign. They had just run Zell's gubernatorial campaign.
In Georgia, Zell had pioneered the Hope Scholarship (have a 3.0 average in high school and the state will give you a scholarship to help with college, the only string being that you must keep a B average in college, too.) If I remember correctly, and I think I do, it was Zell who got state-funded kindergarten started in Georgia. And, impressed by studies suggesting that listening to classical music helps people think, he started a state program to give the parents of every newborn in Georgia a cassette tape of classical music to play for their newborn. Hardly sounds like the man Roy Barnes sent to the Senate when Paul Coverdell died suddenly, does it?
But Zell is a proud man who doesn't like to be snubbed because of his roots, which are not only Southern, and rural, but "mountain" roots. He launched a small campaign against the "hillbilly" stereotypes in the "Snuffy Smif" cartoon strip and succeeded in getting some newspapers to drop it. I think he may have spoken out against Jeff Foxworthy's "redneck" humor, too. And having lived in Georgia so long and seen how many people outside the South are prejudiced about Southerners, I can't say that I blame him for being oversensitive. In the ten years I've had internet access, I have seen Southerners slandered on a variety of forums, lists, etc. You know the drill: Southerners are slow, they talk funny, they're lazy, they're racist, etc. :eyes:
I expect Zell left Georgia thinking of himself as a fairly progressive Democrat, a man who'd earned the respect of many, and found out he was a rube in Washington, a hick nobody wanted to be bothered with. He liked George Bush -- he respects him for understanding the infield fly rule -- so it was easy for him to get along with Republicans. They were glad to feed his hungry ego a bit to get his vote. The rest is history. And tragedy.
Zell HAS been trying to tell Dems that they write the South off to their own peril. It's too late to make a difference with Zell's bizarre Senatorial career, but Dems should remember that there are still yellow dog Democrats in the South, and a lot of other voters who've voted for both parties and will vote Democratic again, as long as the Dems don't insult them by patronizing them or by buying into the stereotypes.
If Democrats are capable of understanding that not all Muslims are terrorists, why can't they understand that not all Southerners are racists?
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