Is It Just Me, Or Do Southerners Who Come from Confederate States Tick You Off with Claims of Being More Pro-American?

The picture in this entry is of Rusty DePass, a South Carolina Republican GOP activist, who recently made some news by claiming that Michelle Obama's ancestors were gorillas, and then trying to claim that Michelle actually started that joke with a supposed comment about evolution. The Michelle comment, while obviously racist, is not what has drawn my attention. What has drawn my attention is another stupid comment this bigot made about New York City and the events of 9-11-2001.

Apparently, in the 2008 Republican primary, this guy was supporting Rudy Giuliani. In comments made once when introducing Rudy to some South Carolina Republicans, DePass stated that most of the time South Carolina Republicans didn't care what New Yorkers thought, but that the events of 9-11 had "made them Americans again."

Think about that line for a second. Here is a Republican coming from the state that led the secession movement in the South, starting with John Calhoun. The state that started the Civil War to defend slavery. The state that gave the nation the racist Strom Thurmond. And he has the gall to imply that New Yorkers aren't "real Americans?"

I am so tired of this kind of crap from Southerners. Just because you like to brag about how pro-American you are doesn't change the fact that many Southerners are still pissed off about losing the Civil War. Are still pissed off about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and are really pissed off that an African-American is President.

Here's some suggestions for such Southerners: 1. Stop putting Confederate flag bumper stickers on your cars and trucks; 2. Stop whining about how you are entitled to celebrate the culture of White America, and that flying the Confederate flag is "not about the hate, but about the heritage." Stop implying that Americans who don't agree with you are somehow less American than you are.

Giuliani Leads McCain by 22% Among Republicans in New Poll

A new poll from Quinnipiac University has McCain trailing former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani by 22 points, 40% to 18% among registered Republicans. If you click on the link in this entry's title, you can see the results of this poll and others on the Republican nomination race posted by Polling Point. It will be interesting to see what political commentators based in D.C. make of this poll.

Our analysis is that Republicans don't want to nominate any candidate who is linked so closely to Bush's Iraq War. Guiliani is linked to the events of 9-11, but not nearly as much to the Iraq War. Registered Republicans may want a candidate for president who can recall the heroism of the events of 9-11 without carrying the baggage of the mess that Bush has made of the Iraq War. The question then becomes whether the Democrats will nominate someone who can be labeled as a supporter of the war, at least at its inception.

Washington Post Shows Bush At Record Low

The Washington Post and ABC News released a poll showing that Bush's approval rating is at 33% while his disapproval rating is at 65%. It also shows that there is no issue on which they poll that his approval rating is above 50%. 71% of those polled think the country is on the wrong track, up 12% since 11/4/2006. Meanwhile 54% of those polled approve of the job that Nancy Pelosi is doing as Speaker of the House.

The poll also asked about preference among Democrats for President for 2008 and the results were as follows:
1/19/07 12/11/06
Hillary Clinton 41 39
Barack Obama 17 17
John Edwards 11 12
John Kerry 8 7
Al Gore 10 10
Wesley Clark 1 1
Tom Vilsack * 1
Evan Bayh NA 1
Bill Richardson 1 2
Joe Biden 3 2
Chris Dodd * *
Dennis Kucinich 1 NA
Mike Gravel * NA
Other (vol.) 1 *
None of these (vol.) 2 2
Would not vote (vol.) * 1
No opinion 3 4

The poll also showed Clinton beating either McCain or Guiliani in head to head trial heats, with Clinton polling 49% to 47% against Guiliani and 50% to 45% against McCain. Obama polls stronger than McCain at 47% to 45% but is trailing Guiliani by 45% to 49%. What is interesting is that McCain's attempt to get closer to Bush by supporting him on the war is driving his popularity down with the public at large. Smart move, John.