Can you tell the difference between Kentucky and San Francisco?
Filed by: Alex Blaze
November 5, 2007 4:48 PM
There's a radio ad being run right now in support of the Republican candidate for governor from Kentucky, with special celeb narrator Pat Boone. Polling predicts that the Democrat's going to sweep the race, so they're getting desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures gay-bashing:
Hello friends this is Pat Boone a fellow Kentuckian by descent from grandaddy Dan'l. I've always been proud of Kentucky's stance on patriotic, military and moral issues; a great heritage. Now, as an American and a Christian I am very conservative about the upcoming governor's election. Ernie Fletcher is a typical Kentuckian, he's worked long and hard for the state, its people, and its traditions. And, of course, he has come under attack by political opponents and now he faces a man who wants his job who has consistently supported every homosexual cause: same sex marriage, gay adoption, special rights, to gay, lesbian, bisexual, even transgender individuals.
The problem (inaudible) gay advocacy groups (inaudible) enthusiastically endorse Bashear, knowing he's their guy. Kentuckians have already voted to amend the state constitution to prohibit same sex marriage. Now, do you want governor who'd like Kentucky to be like another San Francisco? Please reelect Ernie Fletcher.
This message paid for by the Kentucky Republican Party.
Too bad the strategy's losing effectiveness. People are beginning to call this sort of politics for what it is: mean-spirited. (via P1Q)
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9 Comments
it's a cheap tactic, not unlike some i have seen in Texas....
You have exposed the good news, that after a while dogma yields to reason.
Good to hear.
Take care
Sue Robins
Sue Robins | November 5, 2007 6:07 PM
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Not only did they pass the amendment but when U of L (university of Louisville) attempted to extend benefits to same sex partners of staff & students they beat that down too.
Now the "big" problem on campus is that the library has become a safe haven for the homeless. God forbid. This is cause for alarm to many here ("Homeless Should Not Use U of L Computers" blares one editorial headline).
And, of course, there are the muggings in the parking lots.
Can someone please get me out of here!!!!
R | November 5, 2007 7:14 PM
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To fill in some background a bit: In addition to the GOP being nationally unpopular because of the Iraq war, specifically in Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher ran his election campaign by declaring "I'll clean up Frankfort" --- and then, almost from Day One of his administration, has been embroiled in one corruption scheme after another, the largest being the firing of certain staff members so that his political friends could be hired into positions that are not traditionally political-reward positions. Thus, the fact that Bashear is expected to be a shoo-in is no mystery to most.
Comparing Kentucky to California is not that far-fetched, however: Like California where the large cities are liberal but the vast, rural areas are conservative, Kentucky's largest cities (Louisville, Lexington, and Covington, Cincinnati's south-of-the river suburb) have HRO's similar to the one here in Indianapolis, and are becoming gay-friendly at a progressive rate --- but the rural areas and the Kentucky "hills" are not moving forward socially nearly as rapidly.
(I remember being a young I.U.-Bloomington student with my family's home in Southern Indiana in the mid-1970's, and contacting gay people in Louisville was like finding the Underground Railroad. No more --- the GLBT community is a routine element in the political scene, even if they do lose a battle every once in a while.)
I think we should take the Pat Booone routine in stride ... after all, if the GOP is going to lose the Governor's election anyway, what have they got to lose? ... considering that such a tactic might be ineffective at worst and not likely to generate a significant backlash.
A. J. Lopp | November 5, 2007 8:27 PM
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I am originally from Kentucky and am so embarrassed about this. Please do not think all of Kentucky to be like this. Take care and be careful.
Jackson | November 5, 2007 8:59 PM
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There are a lot of misconceptions about California..
San Diego which is the second largest city in the state is conservative So is LA the largest city in the state. moving north it gets more liberal the closer you get to San Fransisco.
SanDiego and LA have their liberal pockets here in SD it is the Hillcrest aria the further you move away from there the more conservative things get.
Personally; I like San Antonio Texas much better than SanDiego. I grew up in San Diego was borne here and have grown to detest what the county and city have turned into. San Antonio still feels like a small town even though it is larger then SanDiego.
Southern people are more friendly then folks in Southern California. the same is true with folks in Oregon i lived there for four years.
Take care
Susan Robins
Sue Robins | November 5, 2007 10:03 PM
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When I was a kid, WFBQ here in Indy was an oldies station. My mom would ALWAYS have that station on. They used to play a Pat Boone song all the time. I liked it because it was so fun to sing. It was a pretty fast song, hard to believe when you read the lyric. In any regard, Pat's position doesn't really surprise me now knowing he wrote this:
paula | November 5, 2007 11:01 PM
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The RPErs are just a broken record.
I remember a similar campaign put out by Eric Miller's CCC a couple of decades ago that had a flyer with lots of scary sounding speculation centered on Indiana (and the Lafayette area in particular) turning into...
S*A*N F*R*A*N*C*I*S*C*O O*N T*H*E W*A*B*A*S*H !!
Being good little activist grrlz, we dutifully told the press that we weren't interested in creating any more ghettos for our people, we just wanted for us all to be able to live anywhere under the equal protection of the law.
But, when the press was gone and it was time for fun we used to read Eric's flyer aloud to the tune of "Leaping Lesbians" and Halloween tapes, dreaming of world conquest.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
Marla R. Stevens | November 6, 2007 6:00 PM
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Well, Sue, you may know San Diego better than I do ... but I lived in L.A. for two decades, and I would say that, generally, the dividing line between the liberals and the conservatives is the Harbor/Pasadena Freeway --- to the east it's red, to the west it's blue --- and Hollywood, WeHo, and Santa Monica are about as liberal as anything one is likely to find in the US. What is to say, it is something almost approaching true civilization.
The conventional wisdom is that the dividing line between liberal/conservative is the L.A. County/Orange County Line --- but it is actually a bit to the west, roughly the Harbor Freeway as I described.
The "Valley" has its pockets of conservativism, too --- as will always develop when you have miles and miles of nuclear-family suburbia, spawning large tracts of single-family homes like bacteria in a petri dish.
A. J. Lopp | November 7, 2007 8:58 PM
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Also: Although mostly lying east of the Harbor Fwy, Long Beach is also surprisingly liberal and gay-friendly, in a low-key sort of way. In fact, Long Beach has a unexpected, Midwestern laid-back feel about it, not that different from liberal midwestern university towns such as Bloomington or Champaign-Urbana.
A. J. Lopp | November 7, 2007 9:03 PM
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