printAn analysis of the divided democrats by the always-edifying William Schneider, CNN senior political analyst:
Well, we are seeing a red/blue split in the Democratic Party, and that could create a serious problem as we head towards the general election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice over): You’ve heard about the red/blue divide in American politics. Barack Obama condemns Republicans for exploiting it.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: … to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states, blue collar and white collar, white, black, brown, young, old, rich, poor.
SCHNEIDER: Well, it’s happening already inside the Democratic Party. Barack Obama is winning the blue Democrats, young voters, upscale urban professionals, well-educated liberals and African-Americans.
Hillary Clinton is getting the red Democrats — seniors, whites, blue collar and rural voters, and more conservative Democrats. The split has gotten bigger since Clinton became a gun-toting, whiskey- drinking, street-fighting, tax-cutting populist.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I know how hard you’re working, working for yourselves and working for your families. And I will never stop fighting for you.
SCHNEIDER: In Indiana, nearly half the Democratic primary voters said they have a gun in their household. They voted for Clinton. And the half of Democrats who did not own a gun? They voted for Obama.
Red versus blue means left versus right. In Indiana, lost liberal Democrats to Obama. They are the blue voters. Clinton and Obama split the moderates. Conservatives, or red Democrats, voted heavily for Clinton.
This is the first time this year we have seen such a sharp ideological division among Democratic voters. The deeper that split becomes, the greater the risk to Democrats in the fall if Obama wins the nomination. Among Clinton voters in North Carolina on Tuesday, fewer than half said they would support Obama over McCain, whereas 70 percent of Obama voters said they would vote for Clinton over McCain.
SCHNEIDER: Red Democrats, older, more blue collar, more conservative, are the most likely to vote for a Republican in the fall.
“Conservative” Democrats? Has media become THAT dishonest with the way it uses terminology? Was Schneider (who seems to love dumbing the news down into dichotomies with every chance he gets) concerned that the word “populist” was too smart for his audience? Because that would be the appropriate term.
Gun owning Democrats for Clinton? How completely blind do you have to be to ignore that Clinton is the candidate most likely to end all remaining gun rights? In my judgment social democrats (small or large “d”) are almost ubiquitously people that hold fundamental fallacies about the way politics functions and what government is capable of accomplishing, so they chose the political position in this country that feels “safest” since Lincoln and certainly FDR. And such people are the primary benefactors of the God that Failed, the tool of the Gang of Thieves Writ Large.
Let’s get real: Obama’s supporters are latte-sipping kids with Che tee shirts (reading Chomsky is optional, but highly corollary). Clinton’s supporters are sub-100 IQ small-towners and soccer moms who want the government to steal your money and give it to them (and/or their ethanol farms).
It is a good thing I can write in Ron Paul’s name this November and maybe affect the outcome in 2012. I am anti-war which would make me “blue” but pro-gun which would make me “red”. I guess I am “purple”, combining the best of both sides.
This is nothing new whatsoever. There were George Wallace Democrats, Democrats for Nixon,
“Archie Bunker” hardhats, Reagan Democrats, social conservative Democrats, … always have been – especially in areas where the local politics is Democratic. Many of them will vote for McCain.
It will still be an amazing feat if the Republicans can retain the Presidency in spite of 8 years of war, spending orgies, inflation, incompetence, etc. My favorite chutzpah statement was Laura Bush (last week) berating Burma for their incompetent response to a tropical cyclone (hurricane). Perhaps she should have said, “Than Shwe, you’re doing a hell of a job”.
Anyway, the Democrats have generally had trouble winning the Presidency. Only 3 Democrats in history ever won with over 51% of the vote – Jackson, FDR, and LBJ.
I guess since Bill Clinton governed as a centrist, the conservative democrats fear Hillary less than Barry Hussein Obama.
The combo of McCain and a Democratic Congress, however, may be the continuation of the War (Mc Cain’s # 1 cause) WITH additional socialistic programs domestically.