Reply #67: "I couldn't vote for Kerry" [View All]

[Frances]

Statements like that remind me of something I heard (in Alabama) when Ike was running for President. "Right man. Wrong party."

I was young then & I don't know what the man meant by that. But I think it was because at that time the Republican party was identified with Lincoln and the freeing of the slaves. Our local paper, which was founded around the Civil War time, was called The Democrat. I am not sure, but I think the title symbolized the fact that the newspaper owner, not surprisingly, identified with the Alabamians who fought against the Republican president.

You may not remember it, but during his first presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan went to a place in Mississippi near where 3 young Civil Rights workers had been murdered in the 60s. Reagan's speech was sympathetic to the whites in that area. That speech helped move white Dems into the Republican column as did other Republican acts.

Now I think that many whites in the South feel that they are betraying their own color if they support a Dem. My closest Southern relatives are bright and well-educated. I think they identify with Republicans primarily because of social class. They thought that Clinton was beneath them socially. They think that Bush is more of their social class. I have other relatives less well educated and less well off who also identify with Republicans. They serve in the military and identify with the macho image that the Republicans project.