Haley Barbour For President
Haley Barbour (AKA Boss Hogg) is now one of the frontrunners for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012, thanks to the moral turpitude of the rest of the contenders. I couldn’t think of a better representative of the contemporary Republican philosophy. For those of you who haven’t been following Haley’s carreer, here’s a little background from the Institute for Southern Studies.
Before being elected governor in 2003, Barbour worked as a lawyer and lobbyist, founding Barbour & Rogers LLC, which went on to became one of the most powerful lobbying firms in Washington and earned millions working on behalf of the tobacco industry.
Barbour has sparked various controversies during his time in politics, particularly around race and class issues. In 1982, while running a race for U.S. Senate that he eventually lost, a press aide complained to him that “coons” were going to be at a campaign stop at the state fair. In front of reporters, Barbour warned the aide to stop using racist language or he would be “reincarnated as a watermelon and placed at the mercy of blacks.”
During his 2003 run for governor, Barbour again raised eyebrows when he spoke at the Blackhawk Rally, a fundraiser for a council school in Blackhawk, Miss. Also known as academies, these private schools were created by the White Citizens’ Council movement to avoid racial integration. The rally was hosted by the Council of Conservative Citizens, which fought school integration.
What Rush Limbaugh’s party needs as a frontrunner is a corpulent closet racist who made his money fighting for the Tobacco Industry.
dream on–and Barry Franks will run for the dem’s
dream on–and Barry Franks will run for the dem’s
dream on–and Barry Franks will run for the dem’s
Barney
Barney
Barney
He’s got about as much chance of getting elected as a dimwit silver spoon who’s never done anything but fail miserab….
OH CRAP.
He’s got about as much chance of getting elected as a dimwit silver spoon who’s never done anything but fail miserab….
OH CRAP.
So you’re saying Ralph Nader might actually get 5% of the vote in 2012?
So you’re saying Ralph Nader might actually get 5% of the vote in 2012?
So you’re saying Ralph Nader might actually get 5% of the vote in 2012?
Haley, RIP.
Speaking of RIP, if any of you happens to miss Michael Jackson, I recommend listening to Miles Davis’ 1985 rendition of “Human Nature”, a version that works as a tribute to Jackson as well as a nod to Steve Porcaro, the songwriter, and, as ever, to Quincy Jones. In its regard for Michael Jackson it now feels quite elegiac.
Haley, RIP.
Speaking of RIP, if any of you happens to miss Michael Jackson, I recommend listening to Miles Davis’ 1985 rendition of “Human Nature”, a version that works as a tribute to Jackson as well as a nod to Steve Porcaro, the songwriter, and, as ever, to Quincy Jones. In its regard for Michael Jackson it now feels quite elegiac.
Haley, RIP.
Speaking of RIP, if any of you happens to miss Michael Jackson, I recommend listening to Miles Davis’ 1985 rendition of “Human Nature”, a version that works as a tribute to Jackson as well as a nod to Steve Porcaro, the songwriter, and, as ever, to Quincy Jones. In its regard for Michael Jackson it now feels quite elegiac.
As a former Mississippian (I haven’t lived there for over 40 years but still have family there) I have seen at close hand, while visiting my family, the idiocy that passes for political smarts in that benighted region. While Mississippi struggles mightily to maintain it’s last-place in most every measure of economic, educational, and social success, Mississippians never seem to grasp the idea that they might be doing something wrong, as far as electoral politics is concerned. If any group is determined to vote against its own best interests, it’s Mississippians. Therefore, Haley Barbour is popular in the state, and he, and his supporters, obviously interpret his popularity in this throwback to the 1930′s as a mandate for national leadership.
Notwithstanding the above, I do love most of the state and its people. “Southern hospitality” is still alive and well in Mississippi, and the people exhibit a graciousness and generosity not often found in the more socially advanced states. But their politics is just nuts.
As a former Mississippian (I haven’t lived there for over 40 years but still have family there) I have seen at close hand, while visiting my family, the idiocy that passes for political smarts in that benighted region. While Mississippi struggles mightily to maintain it’s last-place in most every measure of economic, educational, and social success, Mississippians never seem to grasp the idea that they might be doing something wrong, as far as electoral politics is concerned. If any group is determined to vote against its own best interests, it’s Mississippians. Therefore, Haley Barbour is popular in the state, and he, and his supporters, obviously interpret his popularity in this throwback to the 1930′s as a mandate for national leadership.
Notwithstanding the above, I do love most of the state and its people. “Southern hospitality” is still alive and well in Mississippi, and the people exhibit a graciousness and generosity not often found in the more socially advanced states. But their politics is just nuts.
As a former Mississippian (I haven’t lived there for over 40 years but still have family there) I have seen at close hand, while visiting my family, the idiocy that passes for political smarts in that benighted region. While Mississippi struggles mightily to maintain it’s last-place in most every measure of economic, educational, and social success, Mississippians never seem to grasp the idea that they might be doing something wrong, as far as electoral politics is concerned. If any group is determined to vote against its own best interests, it’s Mississippians. Therefore, Haley Barbour is popular in the state, and he, and his supporters, obviously interpret his popularity in this throwback to the 1930′s as a mandate for national leadership.
Notwithstanding the above, I do love most of the state and its people. “Southern hospitality” is still alive and well in Mississippi, and the people exhibit a graciousness and generosity not often found in the more socially advanced states. But their politics is just nuts.
Patrick,
Please say more about what’s nutty in Mississippian politics. A couple years ago I looked into trying to help with their educational reconstruction, post-Katrina. While it seemed that they were better organized, with respect to reestablishing schooling, than Louisiana was, still I found Mississippi’s politics as impenetrable as Louisiana’s.
I write from Georgia.
Patrick,
Please say more about what’s nutty in Mississippian politics. A couple years ago I looked into trying to help with their educational reconstruction, post-Katrina. While it seemed that they were better organized, with respect to reestablishing schooling, than Louisiana was, still I found Mississippi’s politics as impenetrable as Louisiana’s.
I write from Georgia.
Hugo,
When I last visited in Mississippi, in December of 2008, I was seriously advised to remove the Obama bumper sticker from my auto. My sister, who has been a high school band director in Mississippi for about 40 years, and who should know better, still considers most black teachers in her schools to be underqualified and holding their jobs only as a result of some sort of preferential treatment. This despite the fact that most black teachers nowadays have attended the same schools and colleges as their white colleagues. Regardless of all the codswallop in the press about the “new south,” Mississippi is still a racist society, just not as overtly so as during the ’60s. I believe this racism is an inextricable part of Republican-style “conservatism” as it has evolved in the South since the 1960′s. Nixon, with his southern strategy, led the way. Reagan made one of his first campaign stops as the Republican nominee in 1980 at the Neshoba county fair, a big political event in the state. There, he rambled on about “states rights,” clearly understood in Mississippi as code words for segregation. And it goes on today, when a popular governor, who did respond fairly effectively in the aftermath of Katrina, sees this “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” attitude toward race as a key to maintaining power, and perhaps advancing his own cause. While this strategy based on racial politics is fairly transparent, white Mississippians tend to ignore it publicly, while many endorse it privately.
While the racial atmosphere does seem to have improved a bit (you’d have to ask a black citizen to be sure) this lingering taint of bigotry still predominates in a state with much larger problems. And this is what I mean about Mississippians voting against their own best interests. Candidates with progressive ideas or who try to see beyond race and who think its about time the Civil War was ended, are consistently defeated by conservatives who bleat about the Bible and “Christian values” while ignoring the interests of the large percentage of the state’s citizens who could use some help working their way out of poverty. Education is one key, and real progressive leadership another. Neither seem to be high on the list of priorities for most Mississippi voters.
By the way, my wife and I also have numerous relatives in Louisiana, as well, and the politics of that state are beyond understanding.
Hugo,
When I last visited in Mississippi, in December of 2008, I was seriously advised to remove the Obama bumper sticker from my auto. My sister, who has been a high school band director in Mississippi for about 40 years, and who should know better, still considers most black teachers in her schools to be underqualified and holding their jobs only as a result of some sort of preferential treatment. This despite the fact that most black teachers nowadays have attended the same schools and colleges as their white colleagues. Regardless of all the codswallop in the press about the “new south,” Mississippi is still a racist society, just not as overtly so as during the ’60s. I believe this racism is an inextricable part of Republican-style “conservatism” as it has evolved in the South since the 1960′s. Nixon, with his southern strategy, led the way. Reagan made one of his first campaign stops as the Republican nominee in 1980 at the Neshoba county fair, a big political event in the state. There, he rambled on about “states rights,” clearly understood in Mississippi as code words for segregation. And it goes on today, when a popular governor, who did respond fairly effectively in the aftermath of Katrina, sees this “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” attitude toward race as a key to maintaining power, and perhaps advancing his own cause. While this strategy based on racial politics is fairly transparent, white Mississippians tend to ignore it publicly, while many endorse it privately.
While the racial atmosphere does seem to have improved a bit (you’d have to ask a black citizen to be sure) this lingering taint of bigotry still predominates in a state with much larger problems. And this is what I mean about Mississippians voting against their own best interests. Candidates with progressive ideas or who try to see beyond race and who think its about time the Civil War was ended, are consistently defeated by conservatives who bleat about the Bible and “Christian values” while ignoring the interests of the large percentage of the state’s citizens who could use some help working their way out of poverty. Education is one key, and real progressive leadership another. Neither seem to be high on the list of priorities for most Mississippi voters.
By the way, my wife and I also have numerous relatives in Louisiana, as well, and the politics of that state are beyond understanding.
Patrick,
Thank you kindly for your good heads-up on MS. Some of it mirrors GA, wherein also the South is dying hard despite the rhetoric.
In fairness to Southern Republicans, I’d make a couple of minor points. Many of them are rebadged Democrats–a phenomenon resulting from Reagan’s successes but also from the Nixon Southern Strategy you cite. (When LBJ determined that he’d collected the senate votes necessary to pass the ’64 act, he called Russell and gloated that at long last, they could “kiss the crackers good-bye.” What he meant was that the Dem tent had become big enough to forfeit Southern bigots to the GOP.) Yet the Democrats have had their own “southern strategies”; the late Hamilton Jordan, an otherwise good man, was Carter’s architect in that regard. So, I got the feeling, from my brief dealings with the Mississsippi power structure, that, while GOP membership functions as a kind of pass key, still a certain kind of veiled practice of dat ol’ time religion trumps all. I’m saddened to read your confirmation of this suspicion.
What I couldn’t begin to navigate in Louisiana was its Rube Goldberg device of bribery, racketeering, subborning and opportuning. Had Ike or JFK been president when Katrina hit, they’d have taken advantage of the opportunity to drain that swamp–in Eisenhower’s case, with the 101st Airborne, bayonets affixed, if necessary.
Thank you again for your telling points about Mississippi’s virulent racism, and its connection to the politics of “Christian values”.
But how bloody sad.
Patrick,
Thank you kindly for your good heads-up on MS. Some of it mirrors GA, wherein also the South is dying hard despite the rhetoric.
In fairness to Southern Republicans, I’d make a couple of minor points. Many of them are rebadged Democrats–a phenomenon resulting from Reagan’s successes but also from the Nixon Southern Strategy you cite. (When LBJ determined that he’d collected the senate votes necessary to pass the ’64 act, he called Russell and gloated that at long last, they could “kiss the crackers good-bye.” What he meant was that the Dem tent had become big enough to forfeit Southern bigots to the GOP.) Yet the Democrats have had their own “southern strategies”; the late Hamilton Jordan, an otherwise good man, was Carter’s architect in that regard. So, I got the feeling, from my brief dealings with the Mississsippi power structure, that, while GOP membership functions as a kind of pass key, still a certain kind of veiled practice of dat ol’ time religion trumps all. I’m saddened to read your confirmation of this suspicion.
What I couldn’t begin to navigate in Louisiana was its Rube Goldberg device of bribery, racketeering, subborning and opportuning. Had Ike or JFK been president when Katrina hit, they’d have taken advantage of the opportunity to drain that swamp–in Eisenhower’s case, with the 101st Airborne, bayonets affixed, if necessary.
Thank you again for your telling points about Mississippi’s virulent racism, and its connection to the politics of “Christian values”.
But how bloody sad.
Patrick,
Thank you kindly for your good heads-up on MS. Some of it mirrors GA, wherein also the South is dying hard despite the rhetoric.
In fairness to Southern Republicans, I’d make a couple of minor points. Many of them are rebadged Democrats–a phenomenon resulting from Reagan’s successes but also from the Nixon Southern Strategy you cite. (When LBJ determined that he’d collected the senate votes necessary to pass the ’64 act, he called Russell and gloated that at long last, they could “kiss the crackers good-bye.” What he meant was that the Dem tent had become big enough to forfeit Southern bigots to the GOP.) Yet the Democrats have had their own “southern strategies”; the late Hamilton Jordan, an otherwise good man, was Carter’s architect in that regard. So, I got the feeling, from my brief dealings with the Mississsippi power structure, that, while GOP membership functions as a kind of pass key, still a certain kind of veiled practice of dat ol’ time religion trumps all. I’m saddened to read your confirmation of this suspicion.
What I couldn’t begin to navigate in Louisiana was its Rube Goldberg device of bribery, racketeering, subborning and opportuning. Had Ike or JFK been president when Katrina hit, they’d have taken advantage of the opportunity to drain that swamp–in Eisenhower’s case, with the 101st Airborne, bayonets affixed, if necessary.
Thank you again for your telling points about Mississippi’s virulent racism, and its connection to the politics of “Christian values”.
But how bloody sad.
Patrick,
Thank you kindly for your good heads-up on MS. Some of it mirrors GA, wherein also the South is dying hard despite the rhetoric.
In fairness to Southern Republicans, I’d make a couple of minor points. Many of them are rebadged Democrats–a phenomenon resulting from Reagan’s successes but also from the Nixon Southern Strategy you cite. (When LBJ determined that he’d collected the senate votes necessary to pass the ’64 act, he called Russell and gloated that at long last, they could “kiss the crackers good-bye.” What he meant was that the Dem tent had become big enough to forfeit Southern bigots to the GOP.) Yet the Democrats have had their own “southern strategies”; the late Hamilton Jordan, an otherwise good man, was Carter’s architect in that regard. So, I got the feeling, from my brief dealings with the Mississsippi power structure, that, while GOP membership functions as a kind of pass key, still a certain kind of veiled practice of dat ol’ time religion trumps all. I’m saddened to read your confirmation of this suspicion.
What I couldn’t begin to navigate in Louisiana was its Rube Goldberg device of bribery, racketeering, subborning and opportuning. Had Ike or JFK been president when Katrina hit, they’d have taken advantage of the opportunity to drain that swamp–in Eisenhower’s case, with the 101st Airborne, bayonets affixed, if necessary.
Thank you again for your telling points about Mississippi’s virulent racism, and its connection to the politics of “Christian values”.
But how bloody sad.
Hugo,
My wife’s people in Louisiana are mostly Cajuns, in my experience the most gracious and generous folk to be found most anywhere. But they pay little attention to politics. They seem resigned to the corruption and chaos, and just don’t see what they can do about it. Maybe Ol’ Silver Tongue, Bobby Jindal, can fix it. I’m not optimistic.
Hugo,
My wife’s people in Louisiana are mostly Cajuns, in my experience the most gracious and generous folk to be found most anywhere. But they pay little attention to politics. They seem resigned to the corruption and chaos, and just don’t see what they can do about it. Maybe Ol’ Silver Tongue, Bobby Jindal, can fix it. I’m not optimistic.
Hugo,
My wife’s people in Louisiana are mostly Cajuns, in my experience the most gracious and generous folk to be found most anywhere. But they pay little attention to politics. They seem resigned to the corruption and chaos, and just don’t see what they can do about it. Maybe Ol’ Silver Tongue, Bobby Jindal, can fix it. I’m not optimistic.
If this guy wins the nomination then America’s most expensive presidential election may be followed by one of it’s cheapest.
If this guy wins the nomination then America’s most expensive presidential election may be followed by one of it’s cheapest.
If this guy wins the nomination then America’s most expensive presidential election may be followed by one of it’s cheapest.
If this guy wins the nomination then America’s most expensive presidential election may be followed by one of it’s cheapest.
I’ve heard the names Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney bandied around as possible presidential contenders.
We’ve all known for years that Conan O’Brien is a desperate man who will stop at nothing, but engineering the most absurd campaign in human history merely for the sake of cementing his role as the new host of The Tonight Show is a step too far.
For shame, Mr. O’Brien!
I’ve heard the names Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney bandied around as possible presidential contenders.
We’ve all known for years that Conan O’Brien is a desperate man who will stop at nothing, but engineering the most absurd campaign in human history merely for the sake of cementing his role as the new host of The Tonight Show is a step too far.
For shame, Mr. O’Brien!
I’ve heard the names Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney bandied around as possible presidential contenders.
We’ve all known for years that Conan O’Brien is a desperate man who will stop at nothing, but engineering the most absurd campaign in human history merely for the sake of cementing his role as the new host of The Tonight Show is a step too far.
For shame, Mr. O’Brien!
I’ve heard the names Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney bandied around as possible presidential contenders.
We’ve all known for years that Conan O’Brien is a desperate man who will stop at nothing, but engineering the most absurd campaign in human history merely for the sake of cementing his role as the new host of The Tonight Show is a step too far.
For shame, Mr. O’Brien!
Everyone in opposition to Barbour:
Being that none of you have ever seen first hand the work of Governer Barbour take it from a lifelong citizen of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: he is a man of greatness.
For your information “Mr. Patrick”, Mississippi has one of the top running economical positions in the entire country, as well as several other surrounding southern states. This is because of the fact that Governer Barbour knows how to be a leader and manage money. Mississippi has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and a realestate market that has faulted very little compared to the rest of the country.
Everyone needs to wake up out there and realize that Mississippi is not as racial as everyone thinks. Mississippi is a down roots state, but everyone doesn’t go “colored huntin’ ” everyday as depicted in the above statements. Grow up and put the stereotypes behind you.
For the rest of the stupid idiots who oppose Mississippi, take a look at your states goverment. While you sit in a state with a horrible economic standing, extreme statewide debt, drooping bank market, and sky high unemployment, I am sitting at home in Mississippi. A home in which I pay for with my job, a job that is secure because of Mississippi’s economic strength and stability. So whenever your state goes bankrupt and its time for you to move, you are NOT welcome here.
PROUD MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT:
Riece
Everyone in opposition to Barbour:
Being that none of you have ever seen first hand the work of Governer Barbour take it from a lifelong citizen of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: he is a man of greatness.
For your information “Mr. Patrick”, Mississippi has one of the top running economical positions in the entire country, as well as several other surrounding southern states. This is because of the fact that Governer Barbour knows how to be a leader and manage money. Mississippi has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and a realestate market that has faulted very little compared to the rest of the country.
Everyone needs to wake up out there and realize that Mississippi is not as racial as everyone thinks. Mississippi is a down roots state, but everyone doesn’t go “colored huntin’ ” everyday as depicted in the above statements. Grow up and put the stereotypes behind you.
For the rest of the stupid idiots who oppose Mississippi, take a look at your states goverment. While you sit in a state with a horrible economic standing, extreme statewide debt, drooping bank market, and sky high unemployment, I am sitting at home in Mississippi. A home in which I pay for with my job, a job that is secure because of Mississippi’s economic strength and stability. So whenever your state goes bankrupt and its time for you to move, you are NOT welcome here.
PROUD MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT:
Riece
Everyone in opposition to Barbour:
Being that none of you have ever seen first hand the work of Governer Barbour take it from a lifelong citizen of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: he is a man of greatness.
For your information “Mr. Patrick”, Mississippi has one of the top running economical positions in the entire country, as well as several other surrounding southern states. This is because of the fact that Governer Barbour knows how to be a leader and manage money. Mississippi has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and a realestate market that has faulted very little compared to the rest of the country.
Everyone needs to wake up out there and realize that Mississippi is not as racial as everyone thinks. Mississippi is a down roots state, but everyone doesn’t go “colored huntin’ ” everyday as depicted in the above statements. Grow up and put the stereotypes behind you.
For the rest of the stupid idiots who oppose Mississippi, take a look at your states goverment. While you sit in a state with a horrible economic standing, extreme statewide debt, drooping bank market, and sky high unemployment, I am sitting at home in Mississippi. A home in which I pay for with my job, a job that is secure because of Mississippi’s economic strength and stability. So whenever your state goes bankrupt and its time for you to move, you are NOT welcome here.
PROUD MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT:
Riece
Riece,
I DO NOT oppose Mississippi, but rather wished to rush to its aid whatever I might’ve brought. Your state is forbidding of outside assistance, however, and I don’t frankly know whether to commend that or condemn it.
Neither do I “hate” your Governor. I just think he’s dead-in-the-water as a GOP standard-bearer.
If y’all can crawl out of the Gulf sludge faster than most, then that makes me salute from both sides of the brim. What you report of the real economic conditions on the ground really is what so many of us had wanted for the recovery of Mississippi, But for whom? And who gets right-of-return thence?
Please don’t count me among those who might wish anything but the best for your state, but I stand by my report that y’all’ve got some work to do on the race front as well as the waterfront.
Incidentally, as I write this I see by the weather reports that you are engulfed in a storm as big as your state. I hope you’ll remain safe and dry.
Riece,
I DO NOT oppose Mississippi, but rather wished to rush to its aid whatever I might’ve brought. Your state is forbidding of outside assistance, however, and I don’t frankly know whether to commend that or condemn it.
Neither do I “hate” your Governor. I just think he’s dead-in-the-water as a GOP standard-bearer.
If y’all can crawl out of the Gulf sludge faster than most, then that makes me salute from both sides of the brim. What you report of the real economic conditions on the ground really is what so many of us had wanted for the recovery of Mississippi, But for whom? And who gets right-of-return thence?
Please don’t count me among those who might wish anything but the best for your state, but I stand by my report that y’all’ve got some work to do on the race front as well as the waterfront.
Incidentally, as I write this I see by the weather reports that you are engulfed in a storm as big as your state. I hope you’ll remain safe and dry.
Riece,
I DO NOT oppose Mississippi, but rather wished to rush to its aid whatever I might’ve brought. Your state is forbidding of outside assistance, however, and I don’t frankly know whether to commend that or condemn it.
Neither do I “hate” your Governor. I just think he’s dead-in-the-water as a GOP standard-bearer.
If y’all can crawl out of the Gulf sludge faster than most, then that makes me salute from both sides of the brim. What you report of the real economic conditions on the ground really is what so many of us had wanted for the recovery of Mississippi, But for whom? And who gets right-of-return thence?
Please don’t count me among those who might wish anything but the best for your state, but I stand by my report that y’all’ve got some work to do on the race front as well as the waterfront.
Incidentally, as I write this I see by the weather reports that you are engulfed in a storm as big as your state. I hope you’ll remain safe and dry.
Riece,
I DO NOT oppose Mississippi, but rather wished to rush to its aid whatever I might’ve brought. Your state is forbidding of outside assistance, however, and I don’t frankly know whether to commend that or condemn it.
Neither do I “hate” your Governor. I just think he’s dead-in-the-water as a GOP standard-bearer.
If y’all can crawl out of the Gulf sludge faster than most, then that makes me salute from both sides of the brim. What you report of the real economic conditions on the ground really is what so many of us had wanted for the recovery of Mississippi, But for whom? And who gets right-of-return thence?
Please don’t count me among those who might wish anything but the best for your state, but I stand by my report that y’all’ve got some work to do on the race front as well as the waterfront.
Incidentally, as I write this I see by the weather reports that you are engulfed in a storm as big as your state. I hope you’ll remain safe and dry.
I think Barbour may have a really good chance. He has experience in politics (everyone likes that). He has been a lobbyist (read:whore) in Washington. He has in eight years accomplished absolutely nothing in moving Mississippi up in any category which they were last in on the day he took office. He sounds like a Jeffro from heehaw. He is morbidly obese as a result of his”Lets go walkin’ Mississippi” campaign. I guess he walked to the C store and got a slushy and a little debbie. He was chairman of the republican national commitee, a really pristine org. If you want the same crap we have had in DC for for too long….. VOTE HALEY