Why did Little River County, AR swung so hard to the Republicans in 2008?

[Ilhan Apologist]

Huh. I didn't even realize there was such a large bloc of Kerry-McCain voters. I thought that the financial meltdown would have prevented any WWC erosion in 2008, but I guess I was wrong.

[Ilhan Apologist]

You see folks what we have here above is a classic example of subverting history towards one's political ends and throw in a little bit of excessive passion behind it to the point where you misread or complete ignore what the other guy is trying to say and then you have this mess.


The South Hated Lincoln? You don't Say! There used to be a pic for this but we cannot have nice things anymore, because money.

What I said had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the South hated Lincoln, it talked about how Lincoln's politics and temperment were one of moderation. Lincoln initially ran on just restricting slavery to where it already existed, this moderation was not aimed at making the South like him for various reasons this was even more offensive to the South than abolition, but that is a story for another post.

This moderation was aimed at the very swing voters that would decide a state like Illinois and also Pennsylvania, where the Republicans had strong bases in the Northern parts of these states and in PA, in the Philly area, but were getting drowned elsewhere in these states. Lincoln being a border stater with a more moderate position, could peal off enough votes and also get a few hold out former Whigs to hop on board with his economic nationalism (yes Lincoln was a committed economic nationalist) and allow him to narrowly eak out a win in these crucially decisive states.

Towards the end of the war, Lincoln desired to try and restore the union, extermination was neither realistic, nor on the menu for even the most radical Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens and thus such represent little more than the fanciful delusions of extremists.

Racism, bigotry and nativism and economic nationalism are not exclusive to the South and as much as you can hate on Southerners for being on the wrong side of history, just remember it was the South that ensured Freedom of Religion through Thomas Jefferson, it was the South that routinely opposed the interests of banks, it was the South's Representatives the produced Glass Steagal and it was the South that made the Populist and eventual progressive takeover over of the Democratic Party possible.

The south is historically the most economically left-wing, populist region of the country. Arkansas and Oklahoma were hotbeds of socialism. There would have been no New Deal without the South. Poor whites of southern origin, the people that RP McM wants to exterminate, were recognized by Black Panthers and similar groups as an oppressed people, and a natural ally of the revolutionary rainbow coalition. Maybe what has driven them toward right-wing politics in recent decades is that the American "left" regards them as the scum of the earth and is obsessed with destroying their cherished cultural symbol, the Confederate flag? Most are still left economically.

Many of the poorest do not even vote at all.