Real Americans?

brianthebard

Last week Palin made a speech in which she talked about some part of America being more pro-American than others (link)
I would've written this off as another gaffe by Palin, but after Colin Powell's endorsement was announced, one of McCain's spokesperson's stated that northern Virginia has gone Democratic, but the rest of the state is "real Virginia", (video)

How much of this is campaign rhetoric and therefore pretty meaningless in the long run? Do partisan politics run so deep in the US at this stage? Is there a real ideological gap between certain regions, peoples, etc? The interviewer seemed shocked at the real Virginia statement and offered her the chance to "climb back off the ledge" but she didn't take it. Thoughts?

CtrlSource

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17764334/detail.html

The folks that Murtha refers to are the 'real Americans' that McCain-Palin talk about.

Note the headline and then the actual quote attributed to Murtha: "This whole area, years ago, was really redneck..."

Years ago, he said. 5 or 10 years ago. Not now. The media are playing semantics with this one

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

what they mean is americans europeans don't like. Europeans love the democrats and socialism, and that puts alot of 'real' americans on edge.

brianthebard

Lawls, the dems are nowhere near socialism.

CtrlSource

Try telling Sarah Palin that

Black Swan

What happened to the meaning of the Statue of Liberty quote? Have they forgotten their origins? Or did they allow Bush to toss this out with the French fries?

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Methinks Sarah Palin has had a bit too much Northern Exposure!

Hobbes

brianthebard wrote: »

one of McCain's spokesperson's stated that northern Virginia has gone Democratic, but the rest of the state is "real Virginia", (video)

I saw that interview a few days ago. What I found funny was the McCain spokes person was completly oblivious to the McCarthyism links in her comments and even the presenter gave her a chance to correct what she said.

I like the fact Powell brought this up as well to point out the comment.

brianthebard

Yeah she was one step away from saying unamerican. If you watch the daily show from yesterday there's an interview with someone (I think she is a congresswoman) asking for an investigation into the number of congressmen and women who are not real Americans??? its gone way beyond any sort of campaign rhetoric imo.

SteveS

brianthebard wrote: »

Yeah she was one step away from saying unamerican. If you watch the daily show from yesterday there's an interview with someone (I think she is a congresswoman) asking for an investigation into the number of congressmen and women who are not real Americans??? its gone way beyond any sort of campaign rhetoric imo.

That Congresswoman is Michelle Balkman and she is nuts, though considering some of the people we have in politics, I am not all that surprised. I doubt her plan will go anywhere, but you never know.

brianthebard

Don't you think the fact that she said it is bad enough though?

metaoblivia

The Daily Show has been having a lot fun with this "real American" thing. Balkman sounds like the next incarnation of McCarthy, and it's really hard to take anything she says seriously, but it's also hard to ignore the fact that she's a member of Congress, so apparently, some people do take her seriously.

In all honesty though, as one of those "fake," liberal Americans, I find the "real American" angle of the McCain campaign really insulting. :mad:

irish_bob

sean hannity of fox news often refers to nancy pelosi with the line , nancy pelosi and her san francisco values

FatherTed

metaoblivia wrote: »

The Daily Show has been having a lot fun with this "real American" thing. Balkman sounds like the next incarnation of McCarthy, and it's really hard to take anything she says seriously, but it's also hard to ignore the fact that she's a member of Congress, so apparently, some people do take her seriously.

In all honesty though, as one of those "fake," liberal Americans, I find the "real American" angle of the McCain campaign really insulting. :mad:

Ah yes, the real americans are in Alaska:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188638&title=Understanding-Real-America-in-Wasilla

CtrlSource

irish_bob wrote: »

sean hannity of fox news often refers to nancy pelosi with the line , nancy pelosi and her san francisco values

Hannity panders to the lowest common denominator on the right. He doesn't have the wit of Limbaugh and is pretty objectionable to listen to imho. Colmes is pathetic as his liberal foil.

Whatever people might think of Bill O'Reilly, his programme can be interesting. Both his Clinton and Obama interviews were pretty good. Over the past year or so, or since the primaries began, he seems to have toned down the bully-boy rhetoric a smidge. But with Fox News, you always know they'll revert back to their default right-leaning position in the end