Saturday, December 13, 2014

GOP Holds Solid South As Democrats Sneer At Region

With Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's wipeout loss in the Louisiana special election this past weekend, Republicans now hold every governorship and every Senate seat from Texas to the Carolinas.
This has been one of the most remarkable political turnabouts in American history. It wasn't long ago that most of the South was solidly Democratic, with these Senate seats held by centrist Dixiecrats like Sam Nunn of Georgia and John Breaux of Louisiana.
After the 2008 election, liberals sneered that Republicans were merely a "regional party confined to the South." But the party in severe danger of regional isolationism is the one headed by President Obama. Democrats still have a firm grip on the Northeast and far western states. But most of the states in between are red. Even the battleground Midwestern states went overwhelmingly Republican in November, though in presidential races they have leaned blue.
What is strange is that Democrats have come to view the modern-day South, not just as unwinnable, but unwantable. Many liberal commentators view white Southerners as racist — as MSNBC's Chris Matthews pouted on election night — or culturally backward. The New York Times op-ed page never seems to miss an opportunity to trash the quality of life in the South, as if it didn't have plumbing, home heating and modern schools.
No Help For Landrieu
Democrats have shown little inclination to moderate their ideology to try to win back at least some of the South.
Senate Democrats last month blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, less than two weeks after voters demanded that jobs be Congress' top priority. Instead of tossing a lifeline to Landrieu ahead of her runoff, soon-to-be-ex Majority Leader Harry Reid and his highbrow colleagues worried more about their deep-pocketed green donors than losing the seat.
All but one of the 28 state legislative chambers in the South are now red. In the 1970s, they were solidly blue. The region's biggest electoral plum is, of course, Texas. Democrats were boasting this year about turning the Lone Star State purple. But in November there were more than a dozen statewide offices up for election, and not only did the GOP sweep them all, but no Democrat got more than 42%.
Read the rest of the story HERE.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The South is ANTI abortion. Hurray for the South.