Dead13

Bingo!

I do not believe the Southern vote was lost because they are a bunch of mindless church goin' rednecks. We lost the south because we lost touch with the south and ignored them. The south has always been a strong hold for the Democratic party and we left them behind the last four years.

A large majority of these people are not ultra-moral, right-wing liberal haters. They are poor, trying to make it, believe strongly in values, are begging someone to reach out to them, and have been the worst hurt by Bush politics. The Republicans reached out and we did not, in fact we spent the entire campaign making fun of them and demeaning their beliefs and lifestyle.

Democrats can win the south again but we have to learn to frame our arguments in terms of our values. Democrats do in fact have stronger values than Republicans but they are better at getting their message out than we are. We also have to respect these people again and earn their trust back, we are the party of the poor and the regular people, so we MUST stop acting like a bunch of intelluctual elietist and start acting like we care about them again.

The polls showed all year long that people in the south were waiting for Democrats to come bring them their message and they never did. They left the door wide open for Kerry and Kerry ignored them and never bother to go tell them his plan for them.

I grew up in the south, with these people, they do not like surprises. While most of us may be able to see the logic in getting rid of a guy who we know is a failure in favor of giving an unknown a chance, southern people for the most part will never do that in a million years. They would rather know the guy they are voting for is either a failure, or going to be a success, they will not vote for an unknown.

I'll be the first Democrat to apologize to those people too. They gave us a message loud and clear the other night and I heard it.