You know how some people react to being helped.
They're in need so you give them a hand up and they're grateful at the time. But from then on you've changed a friend or relative into someone who resents you, obstructs you, talks about you behind your back. Not nice, but that's human nature sometimes.
There's a theory that this phenomenon may help explain many of the Red states.
The Red states are America's heartland and pride themselves on their independence, on going it alone, on standing on their own two feet.
But most of them are freeloaders, benefiting from federal handouts, charity paid for by the Blue states.
Because when you look at the taxes sent to Washington and compare that to the federal money spent in the states, you find that Blues pay more than they get, Reds get more than they pay.
Here's a map of the situation. The states in red receive more than they pay. The blue states pay more than they get. The white states don't fit the theory, and Florida gets a buck back for every buck it sends in. [Federal Taxing and Spending] (Story links open in new windows)
Matches the electoral vote pretty well, doesn't it?
The ingrates.
Okay, back to reality. Fun is fun but that's clearly not why Bush won.
The Democrats simply lost through ineptitude and incompetence.
They started in the hole with the wrong candidate, and it went downhill from there.
Sure, the right lied, but the Dems had no idea how to respond. The original lying swift boat vets ad is a good example of their inadequacy.
For starters, Kerry and the DNC should have known O'Neill and his gang were going to do something because they've tried to nail Kerry every time he ran for office.
The DNC should have been prepared with a strong, overkill response when the first lying ad appeared.
Instead, they sat around with their thumbs you-know-where for weeks while Kerry got pounded into the ground.
There are numerous other examples, but you name it and the Dems were constantly on the defensive, reacting not acting, and didn't even come close to ever having the right on the run.
They were like a farm team suddenly finding itself in the majors.
And they may not have learned a thing from the experience - this morning I heard talk about running Hillary in 2008.
Might as well get those Canadian visas ready now.
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Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I'm thinking I might get a seat on a Canadian Immigration Hearing Board, just so every-time I hear somebody from the States who tries to pull the whole fleeing from Republican oppression schtick, I can send their sorry ass back to the Excited States.
Screw you, like you screwed the rest of the world. Now you know what it's like elsewhere like Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, and so on.
2 - Lawrence Kennon
I am not sure I believe that the Swift Boat Veterans folks lied about Kerry. As a Vietnam era Navy veteran (USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63) I think they may be telling some truth. Just my opinion .... :)
3 - andy marsh
Hal - you really crack me up! You give me grief about so many words and nothing to say and then you write this!!!
I thing that's why I look forward to what you have to say Hal. You most definately keep it interesting around here!
4 - Hal Pawluk
Does your comment mean anything, andy?
5 - andy marsh
Not a thing Hal...just that I get a kick out of YOUR view of the world!
6 - Marc
Hal you start out exactly correct - "They started in the hole with the wrong candidate, and it went downhill from there." - A worse candidate couldn't have be found.
But your SBVT assertion is way off base, what's the matter, drinking too much NYT kool-aid? I suggest you take this challenge, if you can meet the requirements with documented proof the SBVT are liars I might take you seriously, til then you're nothing more than a partisan hack.
7 - Hal Pawluk
Good job on names and attempted slurs, Marc. Glad to see that you're not losing it.
Bye, now.
8 - Marc
I take that as a no, you can't prove the SBVT's are liars?
9 - Jim Carruthers
So, Marc, when the Nixonoid weasels who are going down in corporate scandals in the next year, are you going with them? Because that would be the honorable thing to do. Unless, of course, you are just a coward like the rest of your ilk.
10 - Marc
So can you name a time frame that didn't contain corporate scandals? So what, they happen on a regular basis with little regard to who is in power.
Will I go down with them? It's doubtful, being a non-owner of stocks or any other financial interests in the US it's not likely.
11 - JR
Hal, this information does not help the secessionist movement. If the red states think they are the ones carrying the tax load, they will be more willing to let the blue states secede. You can do your part to balance California's budget by putting an initiative for secession on the ballot.
And the unattractiveness of the Democrat's candidate does not excuse voting for the guy who let Osama bin Laden get away. So the Dems don't respond well to smear politics; but why should they have to? Maybe blue-staters should just dump that part of the electorate which continually falls for the sleaziest campaign tricks.
12 - Hal Pawluk
Apparently I wasn't clear, JR: it's the Blue states carrying the tax load. They pay more than they get back.
As far as smears go, that's just the real world: there will be smears and they do have to be dealt with or you lose.
The situation, though, isn't really Red/Blue states, it's Red/Blue counties. When looked at from that perspective, the picture is Urban vs. Rural or "city slickers" vs. "farmers."
California is Blue in its net vote, but the map by county is mostly Red.
13 - JR
But see, if the red states realize the blue states are carrying the load, they'll less willing to let us secede.
You may see more and more CA counties turn blue as the urban population looks for cheaper places to live. In particular, keep an eye on the counties east of the Bay Area and L.A.
14 - Mac Diva
Ohio voter Anita Campbell has an entry explaining why she thinks the GOP carried Ohio. Much of it relies on the mythology of the stolid, white independent Midwest. (Cleveland is wished away.) Information from the Democrats about economic issues is dismissed as 'talking down' to the voters. The Swift Nuts ads are cited approvingly. I believe Anita's entry should be read in juxtaposition to Hal's. The contrast tells us something about the cognitive dissonance going on.
I don't blame Democratic voters for the loss. We are right. But, unfortunately, many voters go to the polls and vote against their own best interests because of a shallow understanding of the issues. Others vote their bigotry.
15 - Marc
Mac: "The Swift Nuts ads"
I also suggest to you to take the above linked challenge.
16 - marc
RJ "And the unattractiveness of the Democrat's candidate does not excuse voting for the guy who let Osama bin Laden get away."
Care to cite your proof that
OBL got away at Tora Bora? All indications at the time gave three possible locations, Tora Bora, Kashmir, or in Pakistan. The Commanding General at the time, seems to have other ideas about Kerry's "outsourcing" the job, not to mention Kerry was in full support of the military tactics being utilized at the time.
And I guess a candidate that gave an anti-war speech at his commencement ceremony, didn't want to go to Vietnam and when faced with a disallowed deferment, chose the Navy as the path of least Resistance, then chose to join the Swift Boat organization only to find their mission had changed. Faced with being close to the action he concocted his first purple heart, received two more, then bugged out 7 1/2 months early leaving his "band of brothers" behind.
And certainly meeting with the communists in Paris while either, A)being a member of the Naval Reserve and violating the UCMJ. Or B) being a civilian and in violation of the Logan Act wouldn't be cause to "vote for the other guy."
Being aligned with and meeting President Ortega in direct violation of then government policy and without official government sanction also wouldn't be cause to "vote for the other guy."
To design a nomination convention that completely ignored his Senate [non]record and centered itself on Vietnam also wouldn't create an environment of doubt about presidential qualifications. Well maybe it would!
Given all the above, and much more unstated, the Dems now validate their loss on the participation of "Jesusland," what a crock!
17 - JR
Care to cite your proof that
OBL got away...
I saw the guy on TV a week ago.
18 - Jim Carruthers
I know that given enough effort, ODB will be brought to justice. Oh, wait, I just realized OBL doesn't translate to Ol Dirty Bastard! Or Big Baby Jesus, either!
19 - Natalie Davis
Jim, you'd let me move to Canada, wouldn't you? I'm prepared to pass the skills test. I'm determined to take the five years it takes to show my appreciation to a land that offers legal equality and health care to all. You wouldn't block me because fate treated me so cruelly at birth, would you?
20 - Hal Pawluk
If you have no objection the "the F-word" here's a link that will have you laughing your ass off:
F--- the South (opens in new window)
If you do, just don't click the link.
21 - Mac Diva
Funny. . .and true.
22 - Hal Pawluk
I quit using language like that, oh, maybe a couple of years ago, but I'm still laughing:
Slightly more florid than my post :-)