RINO Tom/Rockefeller GOP v. Santander/Southern Gothic

[IceSpear]

I think Tom may need a new running mate. Rocky seems to have disappeared into the abyss ever since Trump and Cruz have taken over his party. He must be taking the news pretty badly.

[IceSpear]

Wow, couple of RINOs in this thread!

You're the third.

Gotta love when Indies anyone calls anyone at all a RINO, LOL.

There ya go!

Touché!

But yeah, I think Rocky went crazy, haha.

He's your Thomas Eagleton.

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I can't wait to see his reaction when WV is the most Republican state in the country.

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I can't wait to see his reaction when WV is the most Republican state in the country.

I don't hate entire states of people, so I won't really care and will appreciate how remarkable of a shift the state has made politically and not chalk it up to some lame reason like "it just took them a while to change their registration" or "they were racist conservatives all along!"  WV was a stronghold for progressive economics for a long time, and after it failed the state year after year after year, they're willing to try something different, I guess.

Do you seriously believe WV has become a GOP state because they find the free marketer part of the GOP programm appealing?

Hahaha

If the Crook County RINO wants to know why we REALLY switched parties, he can PM me.

[IceSpear]

It is WAY too important to you guys' self-inflated images of yourselves and your party to believe what you currently do about Southern realignment, and I'm fine with letting you continue to believe that.

Your social PM score is disgusting! I think you should probably join the Demoncrats. You'd fit in much better with their deviancy.

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I mean, they probably just got tired of voting for a party that had kept them poor for decades.

In that case, Mississippi should dump all their Republicans that have kept them poor for decades.

But we all know why that won't happen...

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I mean, they probably just got tired of voting for a party that had kept them poor for decades.

In that case, Mississippi should dump all their Republicans that have kept them poor for decades.

But we all know why that won't happen...

MS did dump the party that had kept it poor for decades, and it now enjoys GOP control.  If we're going to give both parties an equal shot to fix the mess that is MS, we can check back in in about 80 years.

In all my experience regarding elections in the South, economics is rarely an issue that is stressed. The social divide between Democrats and Republicans is really what it comes down to in our elections. When you look at the platforms of the individual Republican parties, there are entire novels written about opposing the President and pushing for conservative social reform. With maybe a line here or there thrown out about the free market.

Aren't you a self-described socially conservative Democrat?

Socially conservative compared to the national Democrats. Socially liberal compared to Louisiana Democrats

Okay, but did you not just disprove your point?  If LA Democrats are socially conservative, especially compared to a Democrat who's socially conservative compared to the national party, then obviously statewide elections (which is what is relevant here) aren't completely about social issues and highlight at least some economic differences.  People seem to gloss over the '70s, '80s and '90s, but the South was effectively a battleground region.  Republicans didn't gain control of the region until into the 2000s, and they were running against Democrats and losing ... in any election, anywhere, the two candidates are going to highlight their differences.  The Republicans of 2016 I can't speak to, but the Republicans who slowly started defeating Southern Democrats were convincing voters to try something new, and both candidates were pretty much the same on social issues ... eventually, many Southerners did try something new.

Whether you want to deflect this or not, there is a direct relationship between Republicans gaining more power in the South and the region becoming more developed, less poor and less backward.

I didn't disprove my own point. The social conservatives in the South are ridiculously to the right regarding social issues. Look at Oklahoma and the wackiness that is going on over there. Now, I can't speak for elections in the last century, but I know that the rhetoric today in Southern elections is still centered around social issues.

While there has been plenty of work done by the SoCons in the South to push their platforms, there has actually been very little economic reform in either direction, conservative or liberal. When Southerners started casting their votes for Republicans, they didn't give a rat's behind about the free market. Southerners are the most reliant on welfare and government funding than any other Americans, and they are well aware of it. They aren't going to vote for the candidate who wants to cut Maw and Paw's Medicaid, they want the candidate who will end abortion, SSM etc.

This is very true. Me and my fellow white male working class blue collar Reagan Democrat coal miners were so displeased with the Republicans who passed that right-to-work law that we considered switching back to the Democrats. But then we all remembered the disgusting creature in the White House, the Democratic Party becoming an anti-white hate group, and the best presidential candidate in decades winning the GOP nomination, and dispelled that notion from our heads. We are Republicans for life now.

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I mean, they probably just got tired of voting for a party that had kept them poor for decades.

In that case, Mississippi should dump all their Republicans that have kept them poor for decades.

But we all know why that won't happen...

MS did dump the party that had kept it poor for decades, and it now enjoys GOP control.  If we're going to give both parties an equal shot to fix the mess that is MS, we can check back in in about 80 years.

In all my experience regarding elections in the South, economics is rarely an issue that is stressed. The social divide between Democrats and Republicans is really what it comes down to in our elections. When you look at the platforms of the individual Republican parties, there are entire novels written about opposing the President and pushing for conservative social reform. With maybe a line here or there thrown out about the free market.

Aren't you a self-described socially conservative Democrat?

Socially conservative compared to the national Democrats. Socially liberal compared to Louisiana Democrats

Okay, but did you not just disprove your point?  If LA Democrats are socially conservative, especially compared to a Democrat who's socially conservative compared to the national party, then obviously statewide elections (which is what is relevant here) aren't completely about social issues and highlight at least some economic differences.  People seem to gloss over the '70s, '80s and '90s, but the South was effectively a battleground region.  Republicans didn't gain control of the region until into the 2000s, and they were running against Democrats and losing ... in any election, anywhere, the two candidates are going to highlight their differences.  The Republicans of 2016 I can't speak to, but the Republicans who slowly started defeating Southern Democrats were convincing voters to try something new, and both candidates were pretty much the same on social issues ... eventually, many Southerners did try something new.

Whether you want to deflect this or not, there is a direct relationship between Republicans gaining more power in the South and the region becoming more developed, less poor and less backward.

I didn't disprove my own point. The social conservatives in the South are ridiculously to the right regarding social issues. Look at Oklahoma and the wackiness that is going on over there. Now, I can't speak for elections in the last century, but I know that the rhetoric today in Southern elections is still centered around social issues.

While there has been plenty of work done by the SoCons in the South to push their platforms, there has actually been very little economic reform in either direction, conservative or liberal. When Southerners started casting their votes for Republicans, they didn't give a rat's behind about the free market. Southerners are the most reliant on welfare and government funding than any other Americans, and they are well aware of it. They aren't going to vote for the candidate who wants to cut Maw and Paw's Medicaid, they want the candidate who will end abortion, SSM etc.

This is very true. Me and my fellow white male working class blue collar Reagan Democrat coal miners were so displeased with the Republicans who passed that right-to-work law that we considered switching back to the Democrats. But then we all remembered the disgusting creature in the White House, the Democratic Party becoming an anti-white hate group, and the best presidential candidate in decades winning the GOP nomination, and dispelled that notion from our heads. We are Republicans for life now.

Please don't get involved with this. RINO Tom and I were actually having a good discussion. You really aren't adding anything to this, brother.

But it was my post that initialized the discussion.

Even fellow Southerners look down on us West Virginians.

[IceSpear]

Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha

I mean, they probably just got tired of voting for a party that had kept them poor for decades.

In that case, Mississippi should dump all their Republicans that have kept them poor for decades.

But we all know why that won't happen...

MS did dump the party that had kept it poor for decades, and it now enjoys GOP control.  If we're going to give both parties an equal shot to fix the mess that is MS, we can check back in in about 80 years.

In all my experience regarding elections in the South, economics is rarely an issue that is stressed. The social divide between Democrats and Republicans is really what it comes down to in our elections. When you look at the platforms of the individual Republican parties, there are entire novels written about opposing the President and pushing for conservative social reform. With maybe a line here or there thrown out about the free market.

Aren't you a self-described socially conservative Democrat?

Socially conservative compared to the national Democrats. Socially liberal compared to Louisiana Democrats

Okay, but did you not just disprove your point?  If LA Democrats are socially conservative, especially compared to a Democrat who's socially conservative compared to the national party, then obviously statewide elections (which is what is relevant here) aren't completely about social issues and highlight at least some economic differences.  People seem to gloss over the '70s, '80s and '90s, but the South was effectively a battleground region.  Republicans didn't gain control of the region until into the 2000s, and they were running against Democrats and losing ... in any election, anywhere, the two candidates are going to highlight their differences.  The Republicans of 2016 I can't speak to, but the Republicans who slowly started defeating Southern Democrats were convincing voters to try something new, and both candidates were pretty much the same on social issues ... eventually, many Southerners did try something new.

Whether you want to deflect this or not, there is a direct relationship between Republicans gaining more power in the South and the region becoming more developed, less poor and less backward.

I didn't disprove my own point. The social conservatives in the South are ridiculously to the right regarding social issues. Look at Oklahoma and the wackiness that is going on over there. Now, I can't speak for elections in the last century, but I know that the rhetoric today in Southern elections is still centered around social issues.

While there has been plenty of work done by the SoCons in the South to push their platforms, there has actually been very little economic reform in either direction, conservative or liberal. When Southerners started casting their votes for Republicans, they didn't give a rat's behind about the free market. Southerners are the most reliant on welfare and government funding than any other Americans, and they are well aware of it. They aren't going to vote for the candidate who wants to cut Maw and Paw's Medicaid, they want the candidate who will end abortion, SSM etc.

This is very true. Me and my fellow white male working class blue collar Reagan Democrat coal miners were so displeased with the Republicans who passed that right-to-work law that we considered switching back to the Democrats. But then we all remembered the disgusting creature in the White House, the Democratic Party becoming an anti-white hate group, and the best presidential candidate in decades winning the GOP nomination, and dispelled that notion from our heads. We are Republicans for life now.

Please don't get involved with this. RINO Tom and I were actually having a good discussion. You really aren't adding anything to this, brother.

But it was my post that initialized the discussion.

Even fellow Southerners look down on us West Virginians.

lol at WV being Southern.

A recent poll showed a majority consider it a Southern state.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_WV_50416.pdf

Question 18.