Are Southern Rethugs more obnoxious than other Rethugs?

[Cyrano]

Yeah, I know I'm opening a real can of worms here. But Richard Shelby from Alabama really pissed me off today with his attitude (and very existence) while questioning the friggin auto execs.

I can give you a list from Tom DeLay, to the late Jesse Helms, to Dick Armey, to Haley Barbour, to Saxby Chambliss, to, well, you name it. But somehow, they always piss me off more than most other Rethugs. (Of course, there's the occasional exception like John Boehner from Ohio who could piss off even Gandhi.)

It's not the southern accent. But somehow, there just seems to be a meanness of spirit in some of these people. Further, I can't help but picture Haley Barbour on a roasting spit with an apple in his mouth. And Dick Armey sounds like a production number in a gay review. (I stole that Dick Armey line from Dick Cavett.)

In any case, I know that I'm stating a personal, visceral reaction. So I've put on my flame-proof jacket. Fire away.

[JVS]

1. That's like asking if diarrhea would taste worse than regular feces.

If they're rethugs, both are way too vile to even want to investigate comparative nature.

[rudy23]

2. As a Southerner, I agree that there's something about strength in numbers

that makes Repugs even more arrogant down here, than elsewhere. It's also more deeply rooted in traditions down here.

On the other hand, the nastiest, most racist Repugs I ever met were from Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, and Boston. There's this syndrome where they think that once they come down here, they can just LET LOOSE without getting as much flack as they did back home.

Here the nastiness seems more pervasive, but not as keyed up as individual Repukes from the North.

[Xipe Totec]

3. The born again are the worse

They're the ones lying in the gutter some fine morning, who wake up disoriented and yell:

JESUS CHRIST! WHERE THE FUCK AM I?

I call them sudden Baptists.

[Ian David]

4. I can name plenty of horrible Northern Repukes. Marilyn Musgrave, Jean Schmidt, Man-on-Dog Santorum

[Cyrano]

6. I can't argue with you that these are really repulsive people. However,

as I said in the OP, there just seems to be a more open, "prideful" hatred, (and perhaps a more honest hatred) in the South than exists elsewhere.

It goes without saying that this is a vast generalization that does not apply to all Southern politicians, nor excludes all Northern politicians.

You know, what I find so sad, frightening, and totally insane, is that the American Civil War has not yet ended.

[Warpy]

7. There's a very different culture down south

and this might be what you're picking up on. It's no better or worse than it is anyplace else, but it is very, very different.

I couldn't manage to live in the south. They didn't like me, either.

However, ignorant people all over the country will vote for the meanest, dumbest SOB of either sex out there just to piss off those fancy pants college boys in New York City and that's what you're picking up on.

It's just not restricted to the south.

[wryter2000]

8. Michelle Bachman

There's a real winner.

[rexcat]

5. Not really...

I have lived in SW Ohio for the past 20+ years and find the northern species of rethug just as annoying and stupid as the southern species. Prior to Ohio and as an adult I have lived in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and Arizona. And just for clarification the eastern and western species are not any better. All four species reminds me of cockroaches but that is very harsh on the reputation of the cockroach.

[Cyrano]

10. Well, ... but, ... Jeeeeez, I just find it soooo hard to disagree, rexcat.

Then again, there's Joe Lieberman who needs to be an object of derision because he lives on our planet. And to top it off, this particular piece of excrement doesn't even claim to be a Republican.

[rexcat]

29. Lieberman is officially an Independent...

who supported the rethug candidate for President for more than a year. That makes him the lowest kind of person there is, a traitor. He is no better than any other traitor in American history. He speaks with a forked tongue and is not to be trusted.

[Enthusiast]

23. Cincinnati is particularly bad.

But all Republicans are repulsive. They all listen to Rush Limbaugh so as to have their talking points ready.

[Lasher]

9. I know what you mean. Here, maybe this will help:

LBJ
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Al Gore
John Edwards
Robert C. Byrd
Jim Webb

[Cyrano]

15. Nice try, Lasher.

Nowhere in my OP did I ever say that every Southern politician was a dolt. I mereley stated that some of them were.

To one degree or another, I admire most of those you mention.

However, one of them invokes ambiguity in me and many others: LBJ.

He is simultaneously one our best and worst presidents.

He is responsible for elevating the Vietnam War into one of the greatest crimes in American history. And he is also responsible for pushing through the Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act, and so much more that, perhaps, no one other than a Southern president could have accomplished.

Lyndon Johnson represents both the heaven and hell of American politics, values, beliefs, and, perhaps, American history.

[Lasher]

18. No, LBJ was not perfect but nobody is.

You summed his presidency up pretty well, although I believe he deserves specific mention of Medicare and Medicaid. He was Richard Nixon insofar as the Vietnam war is concerned, and an excellent president on other respects.

[Cyrano]

21. Yep, I don't know how I could have left out Medicare and Medicaid.

The man was such an incredible enigma.

He gave us the most humane social programs since FDR. And he also gave us the hell of Vietnam.

Does any of this label him as "good," or "evil?" I don't know.

Some days, I am grateful to be a devout agnostic who seriously questions the existence of any heaven or hell. However, a biblical injunction that I have always taken to heart is "Judge not that ye be not judged."

Until you come across a man as complex and inexplicable as Lyndon Johnson, it's difficult to truly understand that biblical quote. I will never forgive Lyndon Johnson for Vietnam. Nor will I ever be grateful enough to him for Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

As I said, the man is an incredible enigma.

[Thothmes]

28. Not even close

Richard Nixon did not bump a local insurgency into a major land war in Vietnam. By 68, LBJ at 30 warships in the Gulf of Tonkin, 3 full corps of USA,USMC troops and almost all of the non-strategic assets of the USAF making war on the Vietnamese. By he time he left office, 36,000 Americans dead, 200,000 wounded and untold millions of Vietnamese dead, wounded, missing, homeless, napalmed, bombed, straffed,and covered in agent orange. This man was a bigger war criminal that Nixon or Bush combined. Yes, the accomplishments of his administration as far as helping all of the American people are impressive and laudable. But LBJ must be condemed for the misery and destruction he inflicted during his presidency. JMO

[endarkenment]

11. No.

But perhaps it is my expectations that are different. When in the south I expect that the average person is confused regarding evolution, the iraq war, the human rights of LGBT people, the role of religion in government and government institutions such as schools, etc., while here in new england my expectations are much higher.

[TroglodyteScholar]

14. Nice attitude. n/t

[Kalyke]

32. And, as a Southerner, my expectations are that you New Englanders

are arrogant, pushy assholes who think you know what everyone else should do. My expectation that Southerners will wish you a good day and stay the fuck out of your business are higher.

[mitchum]

12. Yes...because I am surrounded by them

[damntexdem]

13. No, just more upfront about their true feelings.

[bluedawg12]

16. The most extreme versions Palin & Santorum are indistinguishable

the repigs are now a really, really, small tent party.

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. I'm from the South and Shelby

makes my teeth hurt. I want to slap him silly!

[DevonRex]

19. They embarrass me more since I was born there and have family

just like them.

So, my vote is yes. With Oklahomas rethugs coming in a very close second.

[Alexander]

20. No. Nothing is worse than Arizona Republicans.

[saltpoint]

22. The GOP is anti-citizen and it's a Democracy Deficit Disorder

that doesn't seem to be region-specific.

[DFW]

24. In a word, no.

First of all, Armey is a transplant from New Jersey, or somewhere like that.
And most convincing piece of evidence I can offer: Rep. Peter King, R-NY, mean
Jean Schmidt, R-OH, and Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minnesota. As disgusting as
some of our local Republicans are (and that's pretty disgusting, coming from the
district of Pete Sessions), the ones from north of the Mason-Dixon line can hold
their own in any competition for the top of the obnoxious scale.

[Gemini Cat]

33. Don't forget Mike Pence aka, the boil on the ass of Indiana

I know I'd like to forget Mike Pence from Indiana!

[saltpoint]

25. Ya gotcher Ted Stevens, yer Conrad Burns, yer Ken Blackwell, yer Rick

Santorum, yer Jon Kyle, and on and on down the list of corrupt, thuggish, philistine yahoos and jerks.

All no-Southerners.

[Ganja Ninja]

26. No.

Take it from me, in Florida we have both types and they're all equally obnoxious.

[Cyrano]

38. Actually, I don't find Charlie Christ very obnoxious. Yet.

But perhaps he just needs a bit more time. Meanwhile, he's a tremendous improvement over our last governor, Jeb Bush. While I don't agree with much of what he has done, Christ actually comes across as fair, evenhanded and sane.

[JHB]

27. Only the ones who still cheerlead for the Confederacy. The others are only...

...as obnoxious as every other republican.

[KamaAina]

30. Is Wasilla, Alaska part of the South?

Not sure you could see Russia from the South...

[Kalyke]

34. You can see Moscow from Tennessee...

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&q=moscow,+tn&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

:hi:

[KamaAina]

35. ...and St. Petersburg from Florida.

:P

[lame54]

31. Yes...they are more successful at electing assholes

[Aristus]

36. Situationally, Southern repukes are no worse than the Northern variety.

But add the sweat, the twang, the condescending "boy" or "darlin'", the creepy pornographic fetish for guns and the slavery flag, and the ubiquitous cowboy boots, and they take odiousness to new lows...

I was born and raised in Texas, so I know whereof I speak...

[tnlefty]

37. I'm biased, but I say yes.

I'm surrounded by them and they are a nasty, mean species.

I wish that I could find the Washington Journal transcript of Allen Raymond, convicted in the NH phone jamming in '02 and author of How to Rig An Election. Anyway he was asked by the c-span host 'who are the knuckledraggers and cretins that you refer to in your book?' Raymond dodged and mentioned that he would describe himself as a moderate republican, blah, blah, blah.

The host asked him again, Raymond tried a dodge - something about not wanting to name names, then said, 'any southern republican.'