Pajamas Media

38 Comments

1. always right:

That is the basic difference of the left vs. the right.

We (small town folks) believe in rolling up our sleeves and deal with neighborhood problems ourselves. Only when it becomes too big for local resources (e.g., Hurricanes, etc.), we need federal government intervention.

Democrats believe in turning over their problems over to ‘experts’. Because they either don’t trust themselves to solve it, or they don’t trust people around them to solve it.

Sep 13, 2008 - 4:29 am 2. SAF:

I grew up in New York City and have the same work ethic as those of you in a small town. Work ethic is certainly not local dependent.

What happens in nature is that if something becomes a food source something else evolves to eat it. In the case of a big city the welfare system and other government largess become the food source and some people rise to the occasion to exploit it. Democrats are typically the ones providing the food source.

The advantage of a small town is its inhabitants realize there is no other source of funds but themselves so they tend not to cannibalize it.

Sep 13, 2008 - 5:29 am 3. Herr Morgenholz:

All of this can be summed up in one word: responsibility. Real live people, not just in small towns, have lives that take work. Mowing the lawn, fixing the car, doing the laundry, potty training the kids, and clipping our toe nails are all what my mother called the “business of life”. When Sarah Palin knocks off a caribou for the winter’s meat, she’s taking responsibility. When she makes the principled decision to bear Trig, she’s taking responsibility. And can you imagine the talks (loud ones, I’ll bet) about responsibility that greeted Bristol and Levi when the news came out? That was Sarah. (It can be assumed that Todd was in the garage slamming his head on something.) That sense of responsibility led straight into politics, and she made others in her state take responsibility.

The contrast with the Dems is glaring. I doubt a callous is to be found on The One’s hands.

What us rubes in the sticks see is somebody that mows her own lawn. It’s called being an adult.

Sep 13, 2008 - 6:08 am 4. Lisa:

Why small town girl and not small town woman?

Sep 13, 2008 - 6:46 am 5. Cal:

Yep, the elites hate her b/c she does not play golf at a country club, shop at whole foods or drive fancy cars. they dont understand there ARE two americas. they’re not interested in tolerance and open mindedness.
palin derangement syndrome has already equaled bush derangement syndrome. i cannot tell you how many snooty libs have emailed me telling me how much they hate her, how all animals willbe dead if she’s vp, how gays will be in concentration camps, how abortion will be illegal on day one, how she is evil, etc

they are delusional and scary. cant they just enjoy their wealth and admire sarah’s acheivements or at least leave her alone

maybe they should take a road trip to small towns to understand? ha, these hypocrites would never do such. it’d be beneath them. they might even see a wal-mart or an american flag.

Sep 13, 2008 - 7:09 am 6. vb:

There is something else about small-town “community organizers.” They don’t move away and reinvent themselves. In a small town, everyone knows that the nerve-wracking bean counter will actually make sure there is enough money to finish the job. He might drive you a little crazy, but you know his value. And the people know that the ingenious do-it-yourselfer will solve any problem that arises, but you may have to keep on his tail to meet a deadline. Another may be less creative but will be the first to arrive, the last to leave, and the one who unclogs the toilet without complaining.

In short, the small town tests people, accepts their imperfections, and encourages them to give their best. You can’t run away from your failures and dream that with another degree and another million dollars, you could have stopped the ocean’s rise. Nope, in a small town, you roll up your sleeves, make your contribution, and go home thinking you were part of a job well done.

Sep 13, 2008 - 8:00 am 7. Senav:

This small town is for Palin!!

Sep 13, 2008 - 8:05 am 8. BackwardsBoy:

IMHO the reason for Sarah’s popularity is that she is a “real world” person. We don’t hear her parsing words in a calculated way. She’s honest and it shows. It drives those who aren’t honest crazy.

Sep 13, 2008 - 8:27 am 9. Electric Venom » Sarah Palin’s Appeal In Small Towns:

[...] article, Why Small Town Folks Heart Sarah Palin is up at Pajamas [...]

Sep 13, 2008 - 8:41 am 10. Paul Gross:

Here’s another quote for your collection
“One of the good things about living in a small community, your character is judged every day” Cal Turner sr. founder of Dollar General, life long resident of Scottville, KY.

Sep 13, 2008 - 9:14 am 11. Dave II:

Good point about EVERYONE in a small-town being a “community organizer”.

And when you look at the values and principles people in small towns hold dear…it makes me realize the difference in judgement that comes with it.

You can bet your house on the fact that if Sarah Palin had been chairman of distributing some $100 million in education grants there would have been some RESULTS!

NOBODY knows the value of a dollar better than people who make it on their own, and who don’t need to hob-nob with wealthy elite, foreign-born billionaires, and convicted real estate slumlords to grease the wheels of their ambition.

God help us all if Obama gets his hand on OUR MONEY through the government!!

Sep 13, 2008 - 10:08 am 12. Gary Ogletree:

“Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?” (Dylan) The Dems don’t get it, the Media are outraged a nobody could be elected to high office. Could it be that Americans are tired of the elites presuming they know best how to govern our country while they enrich themselves and their buddies at public expense? I bet worse is yet to come. How about a civil insurrection? I can imagine Sarah Palin inspiring an army of honest capable people to run for office, even people who never went to an Ivy League university. Imagine.

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:09 am 13. Sandra M:

And here I thought we were returning to Ronald Reagan’s “Big Tent” Republicanism: GayPatriot was welcomed at the RNC. I’ve bookmarked their website.

But this article in extolling the real values of small towns, which I agree with, stereotypes big city people in a way unrecognizable to me. Don’t trust Hollywood’s view of small towns, big cities or Americans in general. It’s a corrupt society in which I once worked and whose products I enthusiastically boycott!!!

The problem with BIG cities and BIG housing projects is that anonymity leads to a breakdown of civil behavior. Colin Powell grew up in a Harlem which seemed like a small town, with neighbors reporting his bad behavior to his parents, which kept him in check.

Then the Democrats destroyed the Northern black family with welfare which demanded that there be no husband in the home in order to give women and children aid.

I love Sarah Palin for her brilliant articulation of the political and economic IDEAS we share: she is THE energy expert and knows its importance domestically, internationally, and financially. She supports strong national security, which the Democrats don’t and seldom have. She is probably for the flat tax as she supported Steve Forbes (as I did) who was virtually a one issue candidate).

I still share the fiercely pro-American political and economic values I learned from Ayn Rand (a Russian immigrant who escaped from Soviet Russia and who was much more effective in battling communism intellectually than everyone except maybe ex-communist David Horowitz. Buckley’s army of Roman Catholics was second.

Some people who share Rand’s belief in classical laisssez-faire economic ideas (Ludwig Von Mises) have become Ron Paul supporters. Ayn Rand did not support Reagan, but to paraphrase what Aristotle said of his teacher Plato: “Ayn is dear but truth is dearer.” In 1980, I laughed at the thought that I might be casting the only pro-Reagan vote in Berserkely, California.

This is NOT an election in which to stay home or vote Libertarian or Constitution Party. The alternative to an admittedly flawed McCain is Obama, and the people who surround him scare the hell out of me were they to get their hands on the levers of power.

I am voting — not for someone I;d like to have coffee with, or “feel comfortable with” or someone with an admittedly great-looking family or someone with my backgraound but for a Commander-in-Chief and a Reform Team to once again clean up Washington as the Reform Party tried to do in 1992 and Newt did in 1994.

The Reform Party brought together clean government democrats and Republicans because we considered abortion a private issue.

I believe an egg impregnated with a sperm is a “potential” life, not an
“actual” life, to use Aristotelian concepts. That early, there is no spine, no head, no brain, no heart — and no soul. Were it not for that definition, we could concentrate on the morning after pill to deal with the raging hormones which can alter one’s future irrevocably and do away with abortion forever.

I respect and will defend Sarah’s choices even if I don’t share them. But I am NOT a tolerant enough person to tolerate Democrats who were MIA during the fight against Communism, and I am not that thrilled by Joe Lieberman, because our Senate has been 50-50 for the past two years and he could have broken that deadlock by turning Republican and giving control to Mitch McConnell rather than the loathesome Harry Reid. I want Bolton, not Lieberman, to become Secretary of State and clean out foggy bottom as Colin Powell never bothered to. And I think Duncan Hunter would be better as Secy. of Defense than Lieberman.

I believe in the IDEAS, PRINCIPLES and virtually idiot-proof structure that make this country great, I believe it possible that God brought together intellectual and spiritual giants to create this great nation, and may have done the same in the Athens of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euripedes, Sophocles et al.

I am NOT religious because every priest who ever gave me communion had either whiskey or red wine on his breath and one may have been a pedophile. . I HATE being preached at and recoil at Bill Graham et al. I don’t need a cleric to tell me what “God” wants from me. I pray (talking to God) and I meditate (I listen for the answer).

I think Sarah is a woman to emulate, with a marriage to emulate (as American marriage was before the feminist revolution) and a career to emulate.

But this crap about how superior small-town people are to big city folk — with stereotypes galore, I find really irritating and divisive.
I have wonderful Iranian neighbors — lapsed Muslims — the only good kind. I have an Ethiopian building manager who is elegant, courtly and wonderfully kind. Much beloved by us all. Big city, small town, Black, Brown, White, all that should matter is: do you love America and the principles it was founded on?

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:10 am 14. William of Orange:

“Lacking John Kerry or Ted Kennedy’s flat Bostonian Rs, or Hillary Clinton’s gut-bellowing theatrical oratory style, Palin didn’t speak in lofty tones”

..Governor Palin drives me crazy as well — but in a good way. Aside from falling for her “sexy librarian” looks (cf. above), I feel her habit of dropping the final Gs from gerunds makes her very comfortable to listen to. It is an honest trait that underscores her everyman (”everyperson) aura that belies affectation.

Memo to Matt Damon: Yes, Matt, sometimes life is like a bad Disney movey.

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:11 am 15. Sandra M:

I made a horrible omission in my post. Reagan, as President of the Screen Actors’ Guild fought the Communists, mano a mano, day after day. Contrary to Red propaganda about “blacklisting” there was a communist cell, led by Sam Jaffe, to ensure that conservatives were blacklisted at every level. John Ford’s crew of Irish Catholics gave work to Conservatives at that time.

Reagan learned how to win against communists and that was the central goal of his administration: to defeat Communism, the first President to want victory not co-existence, not detente,. Victory.

Maggie Thatcher gave Reagan her country’s full support and the Pope threatened to resign the Papacy and lead the Polish people in battle if the Soviets went after Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement as they had crushed the Prague Spring and the Hungarian uprising. That would have put Soviet Russia at war with the entire Roman Catholic world. They backed off.

Reagan, Thatcher, The Pope. And…

Tom Clancy wrote a novel RED STORM RISING which demonstrated that a Soviet Russia that initiated WW III would lose and why. It was read in the Pentagon and more importantly in the Kremlin and with Reagan playing high stakes poker in spending on military preparedness, the Soviets couldn’t match. They folded. I think it’s time for a Conservative team to make a film of that novel. Putin needs to be educated on why his country can’t win against freedom-loving people and we need to become energy independent to cut his oil profits way, way down.

It was a Texas Democrat, to the right of most RINOS, Charlie Wilson (read the book and buy the movie: CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, who funded the Afghanis and helped defeat the Russians in battle.

Since Reagan left office, there hasn’t been a leader who could articulate our values and principles clearly and forcefully. In Sarah, we have such a leader. Her words will penetrate Russian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Red Chinese and Iranian censorship.

After all, when Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil” empire, that phrase even penetrated the dark hell holes of the slave labor camps of the Soviet Gulag, as Nathan Sharansky has testified to.

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:40 am 16. Elle:

They hate Palin because she isn’t like them. All these fakers like Obama who proclaim themselves global citizens, sooooo urbane, soooooo cosmopolitan. But one of their fellow americans is just too exotic to be accepted because she comes from a small town an isn’t an ivy league elitist like them and their argula munching friends. Their scorn marks them for the despicable hypocrits they are.

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:51 am 17. Lincoln Adams:

I loved the Truman quote!

Sep 13, 2008 - 1:19 pm 18. Rightmindedmom:

Small town values are not always found just in small towns. While I agree with your assertion that Sarah Palin IS SMALL TOWN AMERICA, I also agree that those of us that live in cities, but were raised in Christian homes, and in Christian “communities” (congregations for Christians out there)can relate to the small town values as well. These communities have been my ’small town’ in the midst of the city, and have many of the same characteristics that a small town has…including helping your neighbor in need and pitching in financially, when you can. These are values that try to follow God’s Ten Commandments, even though we know we could never do that — we are committed to aspire to be all that God would want us to be. Sarah Palin is a much more accomplished version of many of us in the evangelical community. God bless her.
Mom in Wisconsin

Sep 13, 2008 - 3:49 pm 19. Donna B.:

I certainly agree with the main sentiment that small town American values are worthy and Sarah Palin exemplifies them in many ways.

Having admitted that up front, stop dissing my Chardonnay, okay? I buy it and sip it in a medium size city full of people with small town values.

One of my favorite relatives lives in a very small town, population less than 2000. Another lives in the capital of an eastern state. When together, they share one of their passions – golf. Yes, it is possible to find tobacco-chewing country club members

Channeling Sandra M:

“Big city, small town, Black, Brown, White, all that should matter is: do you love America and the principles it was founded on?”

That may not be all that matters in qualifications to be president, but it should be the very first question asked. If the candidate can’t answer — and illustrated somewhat by his life — and emphatic yes to that one, no more need to be asked.

Obama has already accomplished the impossible — he has made people like me think, “You know, maybe Hillary and Biden wouldn’t be so totally awful as president, after all.”

Sep 13, 2008 - 4:02 pm 20. Joseph Marshall:

I wandered over here intrigued by the headline. I don’t get out much and I’ve never seen anybody heart anybody else. I’m not sure I want to. It’s not the sort of thing I’d do myself, and I’m sure that, had my mother known it was possible when I was growing up, she’d have been very strict with me had I tried to do it. She was a small town girl, after all.

As I am getting reacquainted with some of my old blogging compadres from back in 2004, I was very pleased to find the author was one of them, and that she still retained her old handle of Venomous Kate. I was also quite pleased to note that her goals over on Electric Venom were pretty much as I remembered them:

“Venomous Kate believes that life is too short to let fools suffer. She has therefore made it her personal mission to point out and humiliate idiots at every opportunity.”

So I’m sure that she lets nothing stand in her way, and when she wants to heart someone, she just up and does it.

Now I personally live in a mid-size town [about 1.5 million in its MSA] in what the pundits are calling a “battleground state”. I’m even on the reserves list for troops in the Obama campaign, not quite young and durable enough for neighborhood canvassing, but up to data entry and phone banking in a pinch.

I can’t exactly say that Obama goes over big in all mid-size towns like mine. After all, there are mid-size towns and mid-size towns, and I wouldn’t expect the people of Topeka, Kansas to be quite an exact copy of us here in Columbus, Ohio–particularly since Kansas is most emphatically not a battleground state. And in such a place it’s very easy to assume that since your opinions or your lifestyle are widely shared, they must be well-nigh universal.

Nor can I say that Barack Obama is just like every mid-size town boy. In my town at least, he’s very much like some of us, but not quite like a lot of others. So we have our work cut out for us convincing people that what he has to say and what he wants to do are good ideas. Hence all that canvassing.

It’s much easier when you just talk about a little unspecified change in Washington, a little oil drilling, and a little moose hunting–and people see clearly that you share their values and they immediately get the idea.

Now I have been back and forth in small towns, particularly those near the Ohio River like my mother grew up in, and I can confirm that Kate is quite correct and that most definitely you are what you do, and have been so for generations.

Down there Granddad made ’shine for years and ran it in Mason Jars. Dad has grown weed for a couple of decades in a little back holler, under a nice large canopy of chicken wire covered with rambling rose, for the sake of privacy from the air.

Dad’s a public spirited man and, when the County Sheriff is up for re-election, he provides the exactly one pickup load of contraband the Sheriff’s Office seizes the week before, always grown by perpetrators unknown and unarrested, and dutifully getting its picture in the local paper. He’s done this for years.

Junior? Well, he had quite a good thing going for a while with meth cooking, and some Oxycontin on the side, but the Sudafed supply dried up. Still, he’ll get by. And if you wanted straight talk from any them, all you had to do was inadvertently approach their place of business.

Everybody gets by. In the good times there’s a little money [never quite a lot of money, at least the type that goes on the income tax] and in the bad times there’s the unemployment, the food assistance, and the Medicaid, which you can usually still keep by paying a “spend down” as a “qualified beneficiary” when times ease up a little.

And strong women! Particularly the singles when daddy just can never quite get around to paying the child support.

Actually, all kidding aside, one of the strongest and best I knew got her throat cut while defending a friend against an angry husband. It wasn’t that big or that unusual a story down there. I miss and mourn her still.

It’s a long term and very American lifestyle. It’s been pretty much that way ever since the coal mines, the brick kilns, and the glassworks went belly up in Granddad’s day. Nobody much remembers them now, and there’s not been all that much to replace them. I don’t suppose there ever will be, but, by gosh, there’ll be change in Washington.

Sep 13, 2008 - 4:37 pm 21. jae:

The left’s disdain for the average American grows louder and more obvious every time one of them opens their mouth. The sexism is obvious, but no one mentions the rampant ageism they exude as well. They’re this worked up over Palin because they’re convinced McCain will fall over dead in office because of his age. The elitism really knows no bounds.

Sep 13, 2008 - 5:29 pm 22. JohnJP:

I completely agree, I am a Democrat; however, I understand Palin’s appeal and cannot help but to admire her. However, I think that she represents a grave threat to our nation. Obama is an elitist, but he does have small-town America in mind, and he will help the working class better than any Republican. Joe Biden is perhaps one of the most competent politicians in the race, him and Obama truly stand for change. I think it is disgusting that anyone from a small town like mine would ever vote Republican, big business is not a friend to small towns. Strength in the American working class lies in our Unions and our economy…neither do well under Republicans.

Sep 13, 2008 - 8:09 pm 23. Venomous Kate:

Ageism indeed, Jae. I mean, what on earth makes anyone think that a person who is under 50 years old, hunts, believes in reforming government, is a Republican, has a bunch of kids and served less than 2 years as governor actually has the qualifications to be Vice President?

Oh, that’s right… Theodore Roosevelt thought those traits of his were well and fine, and so did the majority of the country back then.

Sep 13, 2008 - 9:07 pm 24. Donna B.:

Wowww, Joseph Marshall. At least Obama said “clinging to their guns and religion” in fewer words.

Oh, that’s right, you didn’t mention religion did you? oops.

Clinging to their guns, meth, and wife-beating. I bet your message is winning over the small-town rural voters much quicker than Obama’s.

As for the moon-shining story, that’s real cute. It’s just that I don’t believe it for a minute. Not that it’s happened since the 1970s at the latest, that is.

The last time I had moonshine was in 1973. It was damn smooth, nothing mixes better with 7-up! The stuff’s hard to come by these days.

Thanks for the laughs, though.

Sep 13, 2008 - 9:53 pm 25. Anonymous:

Hey Donna, I said granddad did it. That’s my “granddad” and I’m 56. The real economy of the place went down the tubes in the 1930’s and hasn’t come back since, so the social services always carry a load.

The succulence of the annually flooded bottomland produce is legend, and I think it’s the best in America. But weed truly has been the major cash crop down there since the 70’s, the County Sheriff who seizes some the week before the election is a true story, if a comical one. So is the chicken wire covered with rambling roses to foil air surveillance–rambling rose was introduced there in the 50’s, it is invasive, virulent, and almost impossible to totally pull up or kill out. It’s now so thick in some places that you can’t get through it.

All the brush is thick down there, and though there are Whitetails enough that it’s easy to put venison in your freezer to help you get by, it’s too dangerous, and against the law, to take them with high powered rifles–bowhunting and shotgun slugs allowed only.

Even then, unsafe shooting casualties are common every Fall, when some people come under the illusion that every rustle in the brush is a deer–even if it’s wearing blaze orange.

It’s also a nice quiet place to cook meth and there was a lot of it cooked before the ephedrines and pseudo-ephedrines were made into controlled substances you have to sign for.

The real folks I knew down there were far more likely to be found in the honky-tonks than the churches.

And my good friend, did, indeed, have her throat cut in a place where there was not much in the way of a Woman’s Shelter to be found.

Kate is lucky enough to live in a small town where the soil is rich and people are riding the ethanol boom. Under such conditions it’s pretty easy to believe in the virtues of hard work, and to have and live up to “family values”, as well as keep that nice white church spire in the picture well and regularly painted. It’s not so easy other places.

It’s not quite the same after 70 years of “getting by”. That’s three generations and more. Nor are small towns the same in other places as Kansas, whether its the River hugging counties in Ohio or the high desert of Espanola and Tierra Armilla, New Mexico. I’ve been in the vicinity of both places, and I know.

Sep 14, 2008 - 7:51 am 26. Barrett:

Sandra M,

I agree! If people spent the time thinking that you obviously have, our country would be much better off in more ways than I can articulate here. The small town distinction is a bit trite and certainly a generalization.

Nevertheless, the dynamics of a community in flyover country where you can make a phone call dialing 4 numbers are quite different than New York City. Given that Obama is from the Chicago political machine and that he has articulated his disdain for the people he purports to know and serve (i.e. those who cling to their guns and religion), the dichotomy makes for an interesting structure for an essay and does emphasize how out of touch Obama is.

You are right, and I concur, that Sarah can “articulate our values and principles clearly and forcefully”.

My hope is that not only will Sarah bring new life to McCain, but that she will bring new life to the Republican Party – that she will re-establish the values that made America great to begin with. I pray for America’s light to shine brightly in the world.

Sep 14, 2008 - 10:29 am 27. Katherine Berry:

Kate is lucky enough to live in a small town where the soil is rich and people are riding the ethanol boom.

Actually, I live in a town where the economy is dependent on the military (Ft. Leavenworth) and the prison system (we’re up to our eyeballs in prisons and jails around here). The remainder is primarily retail-oriented and, as we all know, that sector tends to suffer first when there are economic downtrends.

If there’s a boom in Kansas it’s bypassed us. Driving down the main strip – 4th street – shows a new business closing every week, although usually there’s a pawn shop or paycheck loan place ready to take its place. Foreclosures are rife, houses are lingering on the market for 1+ year, and even our own home is now worth 25% less than what we paid for it 3 years ago.

Oh, and that picture? I have no idea where the editors found it but it’s pretty. Doesn’t look a thing like any church in my town, though.

Sep 14, 2008 - 12:43 pm 28. Josh:

Why do we admire her? It’s her principles and values. It’s her hard work ethic and determination. It’s her honesty and integrity. It’s her faith and family life. She’s a straight shoot and not afraid to speak her mind. She’s not going to hide anything and lets everyone know where she stands.

http://www.americaforpalin.blogspot.com

Sep 14, 2008 - 10:48 pm 29. Ohio Obama Voter:

I live in a very conservative and also racist small town. Racism exist and I’m speaking about those who are around me. Don’t try to act as if racism doesn’t exist I hear it I see it I live it everyday. No I’m not african american i’m white and i’ve heard some very ignorant views about why my community won’t vote for Obama and its mainly because HE IS BLACK! They support Sarah Palin because SHE IS WHITE. In MY community and in MY small Norman Rockwell very conservative town they are afraid of and disgusted by black people. That wasn’t the point I was trying to make I was using it as an example. My point was, the republican party are hypocrites because they have had generation after generation of young women displaced, homeless and abandoned by families and churches because they have been taught by the party that unwed teenage pregnancy is wrong and an embarrassment. Sarah Palin doesn’t agree with the teachings of SEXUAL EDUCATION in 2008! She supports the republican party’s so called values who has had a large influence on families and churches who disown their young women because of their unwed pregnancies. No. Republicans will never admit to that happening, they will just find other ways to distort that statement to accommodate their view. Go ahead support Sarah Palin, support John McCain that is your choice, but if those two get into office, believe me a lot of you McCain/Palin supporters will be sorry, just like you were with George Bush.

Sep 15, 2008 - 9:44 am 30. Al:

Small town?

Since when is a simple, small town, world view enough? I don’t want “small town”. I want a VP who has displayed intellectual rigor (five colleges over six years ain’t gonna get it) and with a proven ability to communicate (Palin didn’t leave the US until her recent trip to Iraq, where is the summer abroad?).

I don’t want “small town”. I want ambition, a drive to excel and curiosity. Others may be happy voting for the MILF down the block, but I’d like to see some substance.

Sep 15, 2008 - 2:21 pm 31. Timmer:

The left went after Palin too hard too fast with too much BS. At this point most folks’ eyes just sort of glaze over when they hear anything MORE negative about her.

Seriously, she could be indicted for just about anything and most Americans would just roll their eyes and go, “Oh just shut the **** up already. Let it go!!!!”

Sep 15, 2008 - 6:27 pm 32. Rachel Peepers:

When Barack Obama said that small town people cling to their guns and religion and believe in American ideals like an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, Barack pretty much expressed how he feels about Sarah Palin.

Barack and his buddies think that being an elitist is the litmus test to judge whether a woman is qualified to be President or VP.

That’s where all this anti-small town bias comes from. It’s more in line with the old super race nonsense of the 1930’s, but having nothing to do in 2008 with skin color.

Sep 16, 2008 - 11:03 am 33. Ohio NON-OBAMA Voter:

Dear Ohio Obama Voter:
I also live in a very small town in Ohio and I won’t be arrogant enough to speak for my whole town on the matter but I will speak for myself! Racism does still play a part in today’s America, which is unfortunate, but you make a grave mistake in alluding that it is only applied BY white people TO black people. It can and does apply both ways and to other cultures and skin colors, of which I think we are all aware. I was raised in a very conservative home and church and I find it very biased,uneducated, and downright hateful of you to press the assumption that “Republican values and the families and churches that they influence” condone disowning a woman on the basis of an unwed pregnancy. Anyone that attends ANY church knows that unwed pregnancy is a part of life, it happens, we all know it and we all have dealt with in some form or another I’m sure. People that have read the Bible in whatever version know that Christ himself said that, “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” Whatever kind of people that you have had experience with that would be hypocritical enough to “disown” a woman on the basis of an unwed pregnancy is not someone that is following Christ’s example of unselfish love, they are what Christ would have called a Pharisee and that definitely wasn’t a compliment.

Sep 16, 2008 - 12:57 pm 34. sarah Epp:

This small town “girl” from Colorado does not heart Palin. In fact, most people around here find her terrifying.

Sep 16, 2008 - 7:55 pm 35. Joseph Marshall:

Okay, Kate, here is the tale of the tape:

Leavenworth County, KS

68,691 people,
23,071 households,
148 people per square mile

84.18% White, 10.42% Black or African American, 3.81% Hispanic or Latino of any race

Married couple households 61.40%
Female householder with no husband present 9.50%

Median family income $48,836.
Males $36,953
Females $24,235
Per capita income $18,785.

Individuals below poverty level 9.1%

Meigs County, OH–

23,072 people,
9,234 households
54 people per square mile

97.73% White, -1% all other

Married couple households 56.90%
Female householder with no husband present, 10.00%

Median Family Income $27,287
Median for Males $30,821
Median for Females $19,621
Per Capita Income $13,848.

Individuals below poverty level 19.80%

Rio Arriba County, New Mexico–

41,190 people
15,044 households,
7 people per square mile

56.62% White, 13.88% Native American, 25.62% from other races,
72.89% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Married couple households 48.80%,
Female householder with no husband present 15.90%
Median Family Income $32,901
Males $26,897
Females $22,223
Per capita income $14,263.

Individuals below poverty level 20.30%

No matter how bad you think it is there, in Meigs and in Rio Arriba it’s a lot worse, and has been for time out of mind. Enough said.

Sep 18, 2008 - 6:10 pm 36. Jen:

sarah Epp: This small town “girl” from Colorado does not heart Palin. In fact, most people around here find her terrifying.

Well Sarah you’ve been listening to the insane DailyKooks, err, Kos ranting way too much. Sarah Palin is not going to ban abortion. Sarah Palin is not going to turn the US into some Theocratic state.

I love Sarah Palin and I hope and pray she wins this election. I actually donated money to McCain/Palin (a 1st for me!) and I live in a battleground state. I will be getting out the vote for McCain/Palin!

Sep 21, 2008 - 7:35 am 37. Brenna Call:

Quite frankly I believe this is a moot point…yeah Sarah Palin is like people I have met in a small town…I have lived in the Meigs County Ohio, that Joseph Marshall mentioned, all my life but I think that it’s really sterotypical to imply that we are all moose eating, football watching, conservatives. (Not that there is anything inately wrong with those things but I’ve met people like Barack Obama in my little town too. Just because I live in a small town doesn’t mean that I relate to Sarah Palin any more than I do or do not relate to Barack Obama. Sarah Palin doesn’t get my vote simply because she and I are both women nor does she get my vote because we both come from small towns….frankly, she needs to do more than that.

Oct 20, 2008 - 9:53 am 38. The Guano Bath | PoliticsMuch.com:

[...] It’s time to begin referring to the Republican Party by more accurate terminology. For example, as the White Nativist bloc of a former British colony. People who claim against all sense and reason that they’re the only “real” representatives of their migrant-saturated current homeland, while glossing over both their cruelty and fear with a dreamy sentimentality. [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 12:44 am

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