“White rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us”

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/11/post_122.html

November 16, 2006
Putnam Wants To Know: Where Were The Rednecks?
“White rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us” partly cost GOPers their cong. majorities, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) told fellow Republicans today. And Putnam, seeking the post of GOP conference chair, chided ex-Chair J.C. Watts (R-OK) for ruining the conference’s ability to serve its members.

Three Republicans in the room independently confirmed to the Hotline the substance and context of Putnam’s remarks. But Putnam’s chief of staff insists that the remarks were taken out of context.

Examining the 2006 midterms, Putnam blamed the GOP defeat on “the independent vote, the women vote, the suburban vote.” He said that “heck, even the white rednecks who go to church on Sunday didn't come out to vote for us.”

Putnam used Watts’ tenure as chair to contrast his own vision for the conference, saying the GOP needed a “bolder” vision than the type of strategy preferred by Watts. According to one Republican’s notes, Putnam said that “JC Watts ruined the Conference by removing the member services functions that it offered until 1998” by turning it into only a communications and press vehicle. According to two Republicans, Putnam took the same swat at Watts during a Republican Study Conference session yesterday.

A Watts associate confirmed that he had learned of Putnam’s comments and that he was angered by them. Watts was not immediately available to comment.

Putnam’s chief of staff, John Hambel, said his boss has used the word “redneck” only in the context of sharing polling data from last week’s elections. Hambel said Putnam was listing off different constituencies and ended with saying: “Heck, we even had rednecks who go to church who didn't come out to vote.”

Earlier, and according to Hambel, not in the same context, Putnam suggested that Watts was a great communicator, but did not do enough for member services. He said Putnam believed that Watts was a “great communicator for the Republican party.”

"What he said was that when we were in the majority, J.C. Watts focused on communications and did not focus on member services,” said Hambel. “And in the minority, the conference, we need to focus more on member services.” Two ear-witnesses to this morning’s meeting say they did not remember Putnam praising Watts before he criticized him.

Putnam, the current chair of the Republican Policy Committee, is the House’s second-youngest member and an Episcopalian.

According to the Almanac of American Politics, Putnam represents a district that’s mostly urban and 72% white. His voting record is reliably conservative. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Southern Democratic budget hawks like Phil Gramm casually referred to themselves as the “Redneck Caucus.”

Though some Southerners take “redneck” as term of endearment, it is not a word that Republicans generally use to describe part of their base. Putnam, a favorite of current Speaker Dennis Hastert and Maj. Leader John Boehner, is running for chair against Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Dan Lungren (R-CA). .




Posted at 01:50 PM

[Wickerman]

1. That's the ticket, Putnam, go with even crazier

that'll play to your base. :eyes: You couldn't make this shit up.

[wuushew]

2. "white redneck" is a redundant term

Poor or rural members of other ethnic/racial groups have traits and labels that do not conform to what is popularly known as "redneck" in Amerika.

[KayLaw]

5. That;s what I was thinking.

It made me wonder if he really said (or wanted to say) White Trash because I've from a small southern town and I've never heard "white redneck," for Pete's sake. That's just not right.

[Ezlivin]

3. You might be a redneck if you were too drunk to vote on November 7

N/T

[klook]

4. It depends on what the meaning of "redneck" is.

Putnam’s chief of staff, John Hambel, said his boss has used the word “redneck” only in the context of sharing polling data from last week’s elections.

:rofl:

Are these the same people Republican leading light Michael Scanlon referred to as "the wackos (who) get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees"?

[Hav]

6. .

Lol..
And by the way, isn't redneck a not very nice way to describe certain people?
It somehow reminds me of how Repubs admitted a few weeks ago how they just use the religious right to get their votes. It seems to be the same in this case.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. Hmmm. well, I've always thought that the Republican base

was made up of 4 segments:

1. Rednecks (Confederate flag flyers, gun crazies)
2. Archie Bunker Types (Go American, Always Right)
3. Christian Conservatives
4. The ultra rich from big business who benefit from all the pro-business legislation/war machine

[GymGeekAus]

11. You left off "career criminals."

And "the uninformed authoritarian" and "those who wish for the end of days."

[grizmaster]

7. maybe the "redneck" base is just dying off

we can hope at least, can't we?

[The Magistrate]

8. Funniest Signature Picture Ever, Sir

Thank you for the laugh.

[grizmaster]

10. glad you like it

I had a version that was too large up in my sig line and another moderator resized it for me when informing me it was oversized.


here's the original larger version if you want to scoop a copy