Rebel flag flap shows media failure

Madison.com ^ | 4 Nov 2003 | John Nichols

[Arkinsaw]

If you want to understand just about everything that is wrong with the way American politics is practiced these days - and especially with the malpractice of the media - consider the absurd controversy about Howard Dean's comment that "I want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

For years, Democrats have been talking about how to reclaim "the Bubba vote." That's a reference to white working-class men who, among other things, attach Confederate flag stickers to the back windows of their pickup trucks. The flags are usually situated next to the image of a little Calvin urinating on another brand of truck.

Perhaps Dean would have been better off if he'd said, "I want to be the candidate for Chevy drivers who are amused by the idea of taking a leak on Fords." But that would have started a whole different conversation. So he used a conventional shorthand in the political world.

To hear his opponents and much of the media tell it, however, he might as well have said he wanted to be Strom Thurmond's running mate on the Dixiecrat ticket. Richard Gephardt claimed Dean was reaching out to voters "who disagree with us on bedrock Democratic values like civil rights." Joe Lieberman labeled it "irresponsible and reckless." John Kerry said Dean was attempting to "pander to lovers of the Confederate flag." Wesley Clark said all candidates should "condemn the divisiveness the Confederate flag represents." And John Edwards, who made a big deal about going after the Bubba vote early in his campaign, grumbled that "to assume that Southerners who drive trucks would embrace this symbol is offensive."

Edwards, who represents North Carolina in the Senate, might want to get back to the South one of these days and take a look in some parking lots. Southerners who drive trucks do embrace this symbol, as do a lot of rural northerners with pickup trucks.

Neither Edwards nor any of the other candidates really believes that Dean - who is usually accused of being too much of a New England liberal to appeal to Southerners - is a Confederate flag-waving racist. They're just trying to create that impression. In doing so, they are being ridiculously cynical. And, of course, much of the media is aiding the initiative.

What isn't being reported is this reality: Every single presidential candidate who is now expressing concern about Dean's remark has sat in meetings where political operatives, pollsters and consultants have discussed strategies for winning the votes of white working-class males. These voters, whose economic interests would be at least somewhat better served by Democratic policies but who tend to vote Republican for social and cultural reasons, have fueled the rise of the GOP in recent years. And Democrats are obsessed with figuring out how to reach them.

So why has the Dean comment proved to be so controversial? Good question. It has something to do with the desperation of the other candidates, who have had a hard time keeping up with the former Vermont governor's fund-raising juggernaut and highly effective grass-roots campaign. But, in truth, it has a lot more to do with the media.

Too many political reporters practice stenography to power. They simply take down what candidates have to say. This week, the other candidates are trying to paint Dean as the reincarnation of Jefferson Davis, and the media are dutifully reporting it.

More responsible and engaged media would stop to ask the deeper questions: Why do so many white working-class males vote against their own economic interests? Is it because they are racists who really do embrace the Confederacy's legacy? Is it because the Democratic Party has so abandoned populist economic messages that even voters in what were once traditional Democratic constituencies have lost faith in the party and its candidates? The answers to these questions are complicated; but they are at the core of any serious examination of our politics.

Unfortunately, most politicians are unwilling to engage in real discussions about race and economics, let alone the complex zones in which they intersect. And as the current controversy illustrates, most political reporters have lost the inclination, and perhaps even the ability, to demand better of the politicians.

[Arkinsaw]

I'm enjoying this. In any event, Democrats need to stop worrying about the southerner because they stick where they land. It took 50 years of crap before they abandoned the Democrats and they will not return at the snap of the fingers or for light reasons. The author of this piece seems to think that the Democrats need a dose of "populism". Nice try, but Gore couldn't make that work. It's going to take more than mentioning the confederate flag or putting an ad on a NASCAR car or putting on a fake southern accent.

They might as well write off the south. If it weren't bad enough Zell Miller has given the remaining conservative southern democrats permission to vote for Bush like they wanted to do anyway.

[cwb]

What ever happened to their "NASCAR" strategy? These people are just incompetent...and they dare question Bush's intelligence?

[Travis McGee]

What Dean meant to say was "I want to get the vote of the southerner with the GUN RACK in the back of his pickup.

The moron confused race and RKBA in his pea-brain, and shot himself in the foot.

[cwb]

I was just listening to one of the NBC cable channels and Cook and Fineman were pretty much saying that same thing...they've lost the South.

[pierrem15]

GUN RACK

If he'd said that, the EMT's would still be trying to revive the other 8 candidates.

[ysoitanly]

Metrosexuals like Dean look SOOOOO sexy in those butch Budweiser jackets, don't you think? ;)

[js1138]

So now we have General "Lightspeed" Clark vs Howard "Stars 'n Bars" Dean vs "Deeply Saddened" Tommy Daschle.

[Travis McGee]

No way. They're all trying to attract the "hunters" while keeping distance from the "assault rifles."

That's what Kerry's little pheasant hunting safari was meant to do last week.

"Rifle rack" is a safe way to say "southern redneck hunter, with a 30-30 deer rifle or a shotgun."

They really think they can get the "hunters" without losing the votes of shooters in general. I hope they're wrong. Lucky for us Dean blew it and said "Confederate flag" instead.

[Travis McGee]

Rifle rack ping.

[wardaddy]

It is amusing...watching a Vermont patrician liberal try to cover a faux paux about something he knew nothing about to begin with.

I just got back from Appalachia where CBF(s) are everywhere...which also amuses me since their ancestors were mostly staunch Union.

[Travis McGee]

The only thing funnier than watching Kerry shoot pheasants would be watching Dean in a tree stand.

[Eaker]

Now I have to put the rack back into the truck and the Battle Flag back onto all three vehicles.

I would become a metrosexual except my wife is a girl and my kids would kick my ass.

Hell, I would have to kick my own ass and then invite Humble; Curmudgeon, El Roy and Flyer to kick it too.

Way too much work.

[Shooter 2.5]

Sometimes a Freudian slip can be a beautiful thing.

The dems have treated Afro-Americans so badly it just had to come out.

[dirtydanusa]

I have the Confederate flag in my truck and Calvin is pissing on a Toyota and a Made in China Emblem.

It's interesting to watch these stuffed shirts. All just stand there in the middle of the road waiting to pounce on any comment made by one of their "fellow Democrats".

[Arkinsaw]

The moron confused race and RKBA in his pea-brain, and shot himself in the foot.

He didn't really shoot himself in the foot, he loaded the gun and handed it to the other Democratic candidates who proceeded to shoot him and themselves.

There ARE a LOT of people in the South wearing Confederate flag shirts and Confederate flag license plates and the vast majority of them are not racist. Of course every Democratic candidate came out and called them all racists today and some intimated that they didn't want their votes at all. Dean, rather than ride it out, had to come out and suggest that he reeeeally didn't mean what he said. Anybody that imagines that there are not a lot of rebel flags on a lot of trucks in the South is lying or blind. The Southern politicians of course have to come out jumping on all of them by pretending that nobody in the South has a Confederate flag anymore except a few racists. Allllll B.S. all around.

Its very funny, many of the people Dean hoped to attract by his statement are now sitting at home watching this on tv wondering why they would ever vote for candidates who have no idea who they are and instead stereotype and sacrifice them on the altar of political correctness for momentary politcal gain.

Dean's comment was not smart since he should have known that it would make a great sound bite for beating him over the head with. But the comment itself was correct. None of these jokers are going to be successful demonizing rural southerners and NRA members. The others were willing to sacrifice southern votes next November in exchange for an immediate tool to beat Dean over the head with now. I'm amused.

A lot of people are assuming that just because the NAACP and the Democratic Party view the Confederate flag as a racist symbol that everyone who has it on their truck views it like they do. Arrogance. I've got a Confederate flag, proud of it, and I voted for Muskie Harris for Governor here (black) and I supported Alan Keyes (black) and I adore Condoleeza Rice. It's anathema in their party to consider me anything but a racist because of my little car decal. Just like its common practice in their party to call everyone with an NRA sticker a "gun nut". They don't have my vote or the vote of a great many like me and are not likely to get it back.

[wardaddy]

It's funny....all we Mississippians are following the guv's race right now real time and for most of the race, you would have been hardpressed not to have found the Dem incumbent in some sort of hunting or shooting gear(NRA endorsed him).

Pheasant hunting has an elite air to it, especially for folks who don't live in pheasant country.

It would have been more appropriate if Kerry had been shooting peasants.

[Arkinsaw]

I just got back from Appalachia where CBF(s) are everywhere...which also amuses me since their ancestors were mostly staunch Union.

LOL, here also. The Ozark Mountain regions were a hotbed of Union activity here. That region supplied Union regiments and was pro-Union throughout. But go up there today and you see Confederate flags on schools and flying by the side of the road more than anywhere else. Not sure what the dynamic is.

[cavtrooper21]

Eaker, if you feel the need to go metro, just let me know and I'll make a trip down to TX just to PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY!!!
It would be the most humane thing, really.
(cause once you go metro, you never go back...)

[o_zarkman44]

This is kinda funny. Competing for the Bubba Vote? Reaching out to Rednecks? Confederate flags on trucks? Talk about stereotyping people. The indignant Democrats are inferring a level of incompetence is present in people who display these tendencys. They also forget......... most of those same Rednecks are also NRA members, sportsmen, and far more intelligent than Democrats give them credit for. And States rights were the real symbol of the Rebel Flag, not racism. Bubba knows his history too. LOL