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To: Zionist Conspirator
He just played the Scots-Irish for saps.

Correct. The Republicans would do well to look at the demographics of the most recent election. Much, though not all, of the Republican slippage last week occurred in areas of the lower Midwest and Upper South where voters of Ulster Scots descent are a major electoral factor. The differences are but a few percentage points, but were significant enough to pull Republicans down to defeat in marginal districts. By and large, Scots-Irish are fiercely patriotic (with a few exceptions such as Bill Clinton). Were issues such as outsourcing jobs overseas, inaction on border control, and what looks like a no-win war in Iraq reasons for culturally conservative voters such as the Scots-Irish to stay home or vote for a pseudo-conservative Democrat?

As for Scots-Irish "liberation", don't forget that they are partially Anglo-Saxon, with many of the Lowland Scots and northern English being Anglians.

30 posted on 11/13/2006 11:54:58 AM PST by Wallace T.
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To: Wallace T.
Correct. The Republicans would do well to look at the demographics of the most recent election. Much, though not all, of the Republican slippage last week occurred in areas of the lower Midwest and Upper South where voters of Ulster Scots descent are a major electoral factor. The differences are but a few percentage points, but were significant enough to pull Republicans down to defeat in marginal districts. By and large, Scots-Irish are fiercely patriotic (with a few exceptions such as Bill Clinton). Were issues such as outsourcing jobs overseas, inaction on border control, and what looks like a no-win war in Iraq reasons for culturally conservative voters such as the Scots-Irish to stay home or vote for a pseudo-conservative Democrat?

The trouble is, if Republican candidates started making an open play for the Scots-Irish vote, can you imagine what the liberal press would say? "Southern strategy!" "Republicans fish for bigot votes!" Etc., etc., etc. Even Howard Dean got creamed when he said he wanted the votes of "those people with Confederate flag decals on their pickups." But it looks like the Dem honchos took a second look at that strategy and okayed it for the "blue dogs" (none of whom I trust). But a Republican candidate still wouldn't be able to get away with it.

As for Scots-Irish "liberation", don't forget that they are partially Anglo-Saxon, with many of the Lowland Scots and northern English being Anglians.

I know, I know! I'm usually the one who points out that Scotland is a more bi-national country than Ireland (and that the Angles were in Scotland a hundred years before the Scots arrived from Ulster). In fact, the "Scots language" is a form of English spoken by lowland Anglo-Scots, even though it (and the country) are named for the Gaels who don't speak it. But that doesn't stop the Maoist "Scottish National Liberation Army" (yes, there is such a thing) from threatening to run everyone with an English surname out of the country and making it lilly-pure Gaelic.

It's also interesting to note that the "union of the crowns" took place under a Scottish king (James I) and the Act of Union in 1707 took place under Queen Anne, who was of the same House of Stewart. Also forgotten is that when England finally officially annexed Wales in 1536 it was the act of a King (Henry VIII) of Welsh descent.

36 posted on 11/13/2006 12:15:33 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Vayihyu chayyei-Sarah me'ah shanah ve`esrim shanah vesheva` shanim; shenei-chayyei-Sarah.)
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