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Vinnie showed me around CNN after the Varsity a few nights ago, it’s actually incredible when you consider the volume of data that goes through there and the amount of effort it takes to make everything work. I met an awful lot of hard working people there and discovered the answer to a question that has baffled conservatives for years…
Good thing I didn’t visit MSNBC otherwise it might not have worn off, then again maybe the three ladies would have liked me better.
One of the problems I have with liberalism is the idea that I see over and over again the narrative trumps all, while I’ve been here there have been several stories that have pushed that point:
Item: A CNN reporter who happened to be the next door neighbor of a Banker whose house was swarmed by the SEIU is now being attacked for daring to report what she saw. Strangely enough like the Ken Gladney (the black man assaulted and called a nigger by white SEIU members in Missouri last year) “potential” bad behavior of some groups are worse than actual bad behavior of others and if you question said behavior you are a traitor!
Item Via Glenn the Volokh conspiracy reports on what might be considered good news and a sign of progress but somehow turns into bad news:
The percentage of blacks marrying whites has risen by 3 times since 1980. Asians are just as likely to marry whites as they were in 1980 (40%), even though there is a much larger Asian population to choose from, and Hispanics are significantly more likely to marry whites than in 1980 (38% compared to 30%), even though there is a much larger Hispanic population to choose from. The sheer number of interracial marriages has risen 20% since 2000.
This is good news, right? Not the way the Washington Post Associate Press spins it, complete with a commentary by Cornell Prof. Daniel Lichter that is completely at odds with the data, but supports left-wing shibboleths about 9/11 and the recent Arizona illegal immigrant law:
If your best weapon is to shout Racist then good news on relations can’t be allowed to stand.
Item: When I was in Mrs. Mahoney’s class in 7th grade we learned a poem by Countee Cullen that stuck with me. I’ll repeat it here:
Incident
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”I saw the whole of Balimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That’s all that I remember
For some reason that poem always stuck with me for 35 years and today I had the displeasure of living it.
I was at a local eatery this morning in my three piece suit having breakfast and talking to voters. The first people were very gregarious and I talked with a few and got some insights as I was eating. I stayed after I finished eating to try to talk to more folks as they came through. After a while a 60 something black woman with a cane came in with two other women say 3-5 years older than me. A few minutes later while doing her rounds a person who worked there said people were asking what I was doing there? I thought it an odd question since I had been approaching people right along so I turned to the ladies who just came in and said I was there to report on the Ga-4 district and the race. I was then asked by the ladies what party I was, I said I was a conservative, and was then asked if I was a tea party member and I said yes.
It was if a switch was suddenly turned on with ice in her voice I was told: “I have no comment”. For the rest of.
Warning! Dressed in the uniform of a dangerous tea party racist!
Once before in my life I had felt hatred from others so strong that I could physically feel it. It’s a horrible feeling that I would not wish on anyone else. This is the second time in my life I have had that experience. It was an example of sheer bigotry, but I don’t blame the ladies, I blame the media that has lied to them and played a narrative for their own ends to create that bigotry among people who believe them. The media and their narrative are responsible and if they aren’t ashamed they ought to be.
The sad thing about this is I’ve been treated so well by everyone I had met to this point, (including the people who had been in the restaurant prior to them) People who I disagreed with politically and I hit it off very well and I’ve really liked the people here. I will do my best to not emulate the protagonist in the poem above and forget it, but it would be a lie and deception not to note it.
As for the ladies, I’ll include them in my regular prayers and ask you to do so as well.
Update: Maybe this story put them in a bad mood
A spokeswoman for Gwinnett County schools told the AJC that Stephanie Hunte, an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Sweetwater Middle School in Lawrenceville, allowed her students to wear KKK robes as part of a re-enactment last Thursday. Another teacher saw the students preparing for the re-enactment and told an administrator.
Somebody buy these teachers a clue.
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This morning I swung down to Decatur where Kathy Mitchel of the Champion Free Press kindly gave me some of her time today.
One of the things I’ve continually found fascinating is the way county government interacts with towns and cities here, far different than Massachusetts. Kathy explained to me that about a century ago a law was passed that required that county seats needed to be no more than a day’s mule ride away from any citizen. (Forcing
The Champion one of two free papers in the area
It also means that people involved in county government tend to have real world experience in doing things and in interacting with people…Which Brings us to Hank Johnson.
The congressman was involved in country government on the local level for a long time, where he was known for a slow deliberate style. This served him very well against Cynthia McKinney, both has almost identical positions but Johnson’s style was considered a welcome change.
We talked briefly about the Guam issue. As a person who has known him for years she said this is fitting in with his sense of humor and style, the real issue however is not that particular situation, it is the health issue.
Johnson style is slow and deliberate to begin with (she told me of one county meeting with him that seemed to last forever (shades of the culvert). With the sickness slowing him down even further that is a big opening that Vernon Jones perhaps exploit.
She describes Jones and competent and a man who certainly got things done, but who’s shall we say personality might be too dynamic for the district. To say Mr. Jones has a reputation would be a bit of an understatement. As for Connie Stokes she seems to get lost in the shuffle whenever I talk about the race with anyone. I have yet to have anyone volunteer much about her which bodes poorly for her in the race.
In the End she thinks that Johnson will pull it off but was believed it would be close and would not be all that
Kathy Mitchell of the Champion Free Press
We also talked about the south, how jobs and quality of life had attracted people. She also commented on how the end of segregation half a century ago helped attract national business that had avoided the south in the past.
It was such a pleasant visit that I had to rush to my event in Doraville (more on that later). I was very lucky to have the benefit of her experience and now you do too.
Just got back from meeting with Jennifer Parker of the CrossRoads News.
I have to thank her for her time, I arrived uninvited and unexpected yet she made some time to speak me despite the two surprises, the first being my visit and the second being my interest in Ga-4.
Cross Roads News in Ga-4
Her small paper has been here for 15 years and she has seen a lot of things happen but there have been some surprises.
In 2008 she was surprised that Hank Johnson had run unopposed, this had not happened in her memory in the district. (As a Massachusetts republican I envy that). We both agreed that unopposed elections are a bad idea.
She like everyone who I’ve talked to cited the Economy as issue one. There has been slight improvement over the last month but its been an unpleasant surprise at how long things have been so bad.
She keeps the Holy Grail of Journalism the 1st Ammendment on her shelf
Speaking of surprises another surprise is the number of Republicans running for the nomination. Usually a republican runs and is soundly defeated, she is surprised that so many people are vying for the right to have that experience. She mentioned the possibility of the tea parties encouraging people to run. As a person who hosted thefirst candidates’ forum she had met with the candidates but thought none of them would be able to win in a district where President Obama drew his highest percentage of victory even higher than his home district.
She also doesn’t think that either of the democrats running against Mr. Johnson will be able to unseat him, she described it as highly unlikely.
It was an interesting conversation on a district she has covered for years but much more interesting than her take on the district is her paper itself The CrossRoads news. She opened this paper as the internet age was growing and has kept it afloat all these years through boom times and hard times. She works very hard and has made some very tough decisions to keep the paper going. She is an extraordinary woman.
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