Mississippi conservatives need not apply
Can a white male conservative from Mississippi be elected President of the United States?
That’s the question for Republicans, and ultimately the nation, as Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, incoming chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, headlines fund-raisers in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that will launch the 2012 presidential campaign.
By all rights Barbour should be a front-runner for the nomination. He’s conservative, a smart strategist, well-connected in Republican circles and he’s been a first-rate governor. During Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, he was a star performer, in contrast to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco who never quite got it together.
Former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie describes him to the Associated Press as “a happy warrior who stands up for conservative principles.” He was one of those few conservative governors who rejected some federal stimulus money because of the strings attached. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Sarah Palin of Alaska, other 2012 contenders, took similar positions.
Sanford is a white male conservative from the South, too, and he can be elected President because he’s from South Carolina, not Mississippi. I don’t think Haley Barbour, no matter his credentials, can win the Republican nomination because no white male conservative from that state can be elected President for decades to come. Liberal yes, conservative no. There’s too much prejudice elsewhere in the country from potential voters who equate Mississippi with redneck politics.
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251 comments Add your comment
Redneck Convert
June 15th, 2009
8:17 am
Well, what’s wrong with redneck politics, is what I want to know? If it wasn’t for us the South wouldn’t be Republican and we would of had Al Gore as President. Wooten is just talking crazy. The rest of this country got it in for us Southreners just because a few of Those People got shot and beat up while protesting and going against Law and Order. We tried to do what’s right, like standing in the schoolhouse door when they tried to integrate us and making sure the votes of good White people counted. Now they want to act like we were all wrong.
Anyhow, we need to be talking about breaking off from the U.S. of A. and becoming the Southren States of America. We don’t need to be talking about if a Mississippi guvner can get elected President of the U.S. of A. Me, I think old Haley Barbour is about the best politican the South can turn out. He’s the closest thing to old Strom Thurmond we got. I would vote for him in a heartbeat.
Have a good day everybody.
Steven Daedalus
June 15th, 2009
8:17 am
To answer your question. God I hope mot.
catlady
June 15th, 2009
8:35 am
A liberal from Mississippi could not be elected, either. Nor from Alabama. Some prejudices run deeper than black and whie.
JF McNamara
June 15th, 2009
8:50 am
An African American with the middle name of Hussein was just elected. I think that clearly demonstrates that the American people can look past stereotypes and elect the most qualified person.
If he has a good record and fits what we need for the country, he will be elected. I think people understand its not 1960 anymore.
Rickster
June 15th, 2009
9:01 am
It’s too bad. Haley Barber was the head of GOPAC (the Republican political action committee) during the GOP’s heyday. He’s an articulate proponent of conservative policies that proved themselves during the ’80s.
It’s just too bad that he speaks with a southern drawl. Too many people will automatically discount him.
Jackie
June 15th, 2009
9:06 am
Like anyone else, anyone that was born in the and is 35 or more years of age, can run for President.
Most citizens have become more sophisticated in their selection criteria, therefore, the accumulated individual record will be the preliminary criteria.
deegee
June 15th, 2009
9:06 am
Oh, good. The Republicans are going to nominate a candidate based on the candidate’s home state and whether or not the candidate rejected some stimulus money. That should really draw the independent voter back to the republican party. Twenty percent and dwindling.
roadie
June 15th, 2009
9:12 am
When the electorate agrees with us we tend to say that the electorate is smart. When it doesn’t we tend to say it is biased against us. I agree that Haley Barber would probably lose about 45 states (and so would Mark Sanford and Bobby Jindal, Palin would lose 47) but I take that to mean that white male southern conservatives (a bit of redundancy there)haven’t shown the rest of the country that they have any ideas that interest the rest of the country.
Randyt (aka Been there, Done that, Got a Closet FULL of t-shirts)
June 15th, 2009
9:17 am
Until and unless the Republican party redefines itself and actually lives those principles, it will be hard for the party to reclaim the White House. The biggest single reason for the massive Republican defeats is that they lost vision and in the end tried making as many promises as a Democrat to try to win. Stop pandering for votes and try to find a mission statement, a vsion that you can believe in…or the whole country will go down the tubes.
Eli Whitney
June 15th, 2009
9:21 am
Haley is a great governor. I remember watching and listening to Chris Matthews tear down Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Haley let that scum bag joke of a human being have it. I hope he does run because 2 out of the last 3 democrat presidents have come from the south. It’s time we had a good conservative southerner become president.
Thogwummpy
June 15th, 2009
9:23 am
We’ve turned our representation system into a demographic hash-fest…it’s all about who can be the most appealing to victim group empathies; not about what policies are actually wise. Thusly, we get moonbats. Let’s face the fact, had Obama been a white guy…his resume would have gotten him laughed out of the Democrat primaries early on. It’s all about “look how nice I am to minorities by voting this way”, as people have this stupid idea that their vote somehow makes them enlightened than their neighbors…they ‘wear their goodness as a garb’. If you think I’m wrong, ask someone that voted for McCain how many times they’ve been automatically called a “racist” by Obama supporters—even complete strangers, for it tends to be the first thing out of their mouth.
Curious Observer
June 15th, 2009
9:25 am
Those good old boys in Mississippi took particular pleasure in revealing their savagery on TV to the rest of America during the civil rights struggle. As a result of their efforts, Mississippi politicians are forever branded as racists in the national conscience, no matter how unfair that might be. Actions have consequences, and those consequences weigh heavy on any presidential aspirations of Haley Barbour. Some Georgia politicians might consider Barbour’s situation while they are barking about seceding from the union and devising ever-more-subtle means of discriminating against minorities at polling places.
Troglodyke
June 15th, 2009
9:26 am
Depends on the way the winds blow in the next 3 years, doesn’t it?
It SHOULD be about who can run the country the best, but we all know that’s not what it’s about. Both parties pander shamelessly.
I do not believe that the reign of the white male is over, as some have predicted. So yes, to answer your question, I think so.
Wes
June 15th, 2009
9:30 am
I agree that many around the country would be skeptical – even biased – against a right wing conservative with a thick southern drawl, hailing from a state that is the butt of far too many jokes.
But biases are the nature of politics. Barbour’s difficulty would be no different than middle America’s refusal to elect politicians from “Taxachusetts,” or from the South’s conscious refusal to elect candidates who aren’t lucky enough to be from this region. Barbour will never become president, but largely because he’s just too conservative given this country’s current demographic shift. He might be too Southern too, but that’s just part of the game.
Boots
June 15th, 2009
9:37 am
The rejection of stimulus money by the aforementioned governors is nothing but posturing for 2012 — and in many incidences, denies their states of much needed funds.
Haley is a “good ol’ boy” that I’d really enjoy having a beer with, but what has he done for Mississippi or than not embarrassing them? Has he had any affect on their tragic educational rankings? Drop out rate? Has he brought business and industry (other than casinos) to his state? Does he have any positive ideas about how to deal with the economic challenges of the country other that the old song about lowering taxes on businesses and it’ll all “trickle down.”
The Republicans lost not because they’re not conservative enough, but because they were like a deer caught in the headlights — they have 20th century solutions to 21st century problems.
And, like Depass of South Carolina, can’t move beyond certain mindsets that should have fallen by the wayside 40 years ago.
Ga Values
June 15th, 2009
9:40 am
Haley Barbour maybe a Republican but he is no CONSERVATIVE, until his death bed convsrsion about rejecting part of the stimulas bill he was known for getting earmarks and taking care fo his friends. Has anyone forgotten his try to move the CSX rail line at taxpayer expense after it had just been rebuilt at taxpayer expense. Our party needs a real Conservative like Dr. Paul not another borrow and spend “Republican”
AmVet
June 15th, 2009
9:40 am
Let’s all for one moment hypothetically contend that the irrefutable and massive problems for the imploding GOP are based on failed reactionary strategies by a regionalized (read Southern) cadre of old white guys who are completely out of touch with the 21st century realities.
Hey, I’ve got an idea!
Let’s trot out Haley Barbour as the solution!
Can you say Bloodbath Part Three? Coming to an election everywhere Nov. 2012.
retiredds
June 15th, 2009
9:42 am
Jim, et. al. There are several good reasons that Barbour would have great difficulty being elected President. (1) Conservative is no longer conservative in its truest sense. Too many political hacks in the Republican Party have so misused the term that to make the claim, as many do,is meaningless. (2) Rush, Newt, Hannity, Palin, and other political opportunists have destroyed what credibility the Republican Party had. The “drill baby drill”, “my way or the highway”, the world is 6,000 years old, crowd has no credibility with mainstream America. (3) The “red state” South has lost all its clout because of its love affair with the likes of #2. (4) Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and the Gov. of South Carolina have no inspiration for younger voters. (5) The 8 years of Bush/Cheney will dog the Republican Party for at least the next eight years until a new brand of leadership and credibility of its leaders becomes more solid. (6) As long as the religious right continues to dominate the party it is doomed to second-rate status. (7) Finally but not least, the Republican message is stale. There is much more but that would be beating a “dead horse”. To say that Gov. Barbour has a heavy yoke around his neck is being kind. He might be a good man, administrator, conservative, etc. but his party lacks integrity and a view toward positive change.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:44 am
The latest act in the A.I.G. drama opens Monday when the insurance
giant takes its former chief executive to court, accusing him of
plundering a trust.
A.I.G. contends that Maurice R. Greenberg, 84, who ran the company for
decades, unlawfully took $4.3 billion in stock in 2005, the year he was
forced out as chief executive.
Mr. Greenberg and his lawyers say that those A.I.G. shares — owned by
Starr International, a privately held company, of which he is chairman
– were not held in a trust at all. As Starr’s chairman, they say, Mr.
Greenberg had the authority to sell the shares.
The government bailout of A.I.G. occurred after the main events in the
case, which revolve around the intricacies of trust and securities law.
But the trial may delve into the broader questions of who is
responsible for A.I.G’s near collapse and whether, as chief executive
of A.I.G., Mr. Greenberg was more preoccupied with financial maneuvers
than with fostering sound risk management.
For his part, he has accused the government of destroying a company
that he nurtured.
Tyler Durden
June 15th, 2009
9:44 am
Jeez, maybe if the Repugnants learned to walk the walk, they’d have a chance. Sadly, they’re now just a one-trick pony: wedge issues and the echo chamber of talk radio. If the last two cycles are any indication, we’ll actually have about 7 years to fix the Bush mess. And then, if the Democrats can’t sustain their momentum, shame on them. It ain’t like the GOP hasn’t been doing their damndest to give it to us on a platter.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:46 am
Anheuser-Busch Inbev has put its operations in seven Central European
countries up for sale, according to the Belgian daily Le Soir.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:49 am
A bankruptcy court judge in New Jersey approved the sale of the
Tropicana Casino and Resort to a group of creditors led by Carl C.
Icahn.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:49 am
The billionaire financier George Soros, speaking a banking conference
Friday, said that credit default swaps were “instruments of
destruction” that should be outlawed.
Boots
June 15th, 2009
9:50 am
Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter et al spoke openly about their disdain for McCain and McCain spoke openly about his lack of understanding regarding the economy. On the verge of a global financial meltdown, McCain reaches out to fortify his deficits by selecting Sara Palin as his running mate and Joe the Plumber as his economic advisor.
This is why so many “thinking white guys” voted for Obama. At least he’s bright and articulate and, even with his lack of experience, didn’t fly off and select some obscure governor as his running mate.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:50 am
Hartford Financial Services Group’s shares fell Friday after the big
property and life insurer said it would take as much as $3.4 billion of
federal bailout money and sell up to $750 million of common stock to
bolster capital after large losses on investments.
Big Bucks GOP
June 15th, 2009
9:52 am
The U.S. health-club operator Bally Total Fitness Holding has reached a
deal with lenders on a plan to help it exit bankruptcy.
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
June 15th, 2009
9:57 am
Haley is my type guy, we can do business together, got to get back to work dad & I are shaking down banks this week.
In 1991, Barbour helped found Barbour & Rogers, LLC[5], a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, with Ed Rogers, a lawyer who formerly worked in the George H. W. Bush administration. In 1994, Lanny Griffith (also a former Bush Administration appointee) joined the firm to form Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, LLC. In 1998, Fortune magazine named Barbour Griffith & Rogers the second-most-powerful lobbying firm in America.[6] In 2001, after the inauguration of George W. Bush, Fortune named it the most powerful.[7] The firm has made millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the tobacco industry.[8]
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
June 15th, 2009
10:02 am
little more from Wikedia, man Saxby & I are rolling in the money this week.
Barbour has been accused of personally profiting from Hurricane Katrina recovery.[45] Barbour is an owner of the parent company of lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers Inc., and he receives a pension and profit-sharing plan benefits from it.[45] The lobbying firm has lobbied the state to give recovery contracts to its clients.[45] Some of the proceeds of the firm’s lobbying activities are deposited into Barbour’s investment account.[45] According to Barbour’s attorney, a blind trust executed in 2004 prevents Barbour knowing the composition of his investments in order to eliminate any conflicts of interest.[45]
Barbour has also received criticism for his refusal to approve a bill to increase the cigarette tax and decrease the grocery tax passed the state House of Representatives. Mississippi currently has the third-lowest cigarette tax and the highest grocery tax—while being the poorest state in the country. Barbour stated that the lack of revenue generated after the tax swap would quite possibly result in bankrupting the state government which was already fragile due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The House of Representatives could produce no figures to dispute this assertion. Also, in his successful 2004 campaign, Barbour ran on the platform that he would veto any tax increase.[46] The criticism was compounded by the fact that he broke his anti-tax pledge by advocating higher hospital bed taxes.[47]
Fred Thompson’s campaign finance investigation found that Barbour, as RNC chair, was involved in illegally raising money from overseas sources.[48]
In September 2008, Democrats accused Barbour of trying to influence the outcome of the 2008 Senate race by placing the candidates at the bottom of the ballot. Since Mississippi electoral law mandates the placing of federal elections at the top of the ballot, Barbour was ordered by a circuit court to comply with the ballot laws.[49]
Farsider
June 15th, 2009
10:04 am
Barbour on the surface has many strengths. He is a skilled political operator within the national GOP. His resume is fairly impressive, for a Republican. But his drawling, good ‘ole boy persona will turn off more voters than it attracts. And frankly, being from the 50th-ranked state in many if not most categories does not help.
steve-o
June 15th, 2009
10:09 am
I think Haley Barbour would be a great choice! It’s about time we had a woman president!
Nick Wright
June 15th, 2009
10:11 am
No one from Mississippi can get elected President because it is generally accepted as the worst state in the country, and with good reason. It’s last or near last in education, health care, quality of life, and much more, and Barbour has done nothing to turn it around.
Also, considering there hasn’t been a President from South Carolina since Andrew Jackson, I wouldn’t say Sanford has any home field advantage. As an SC native I remember a while back when they were considering new license plate slogans and “Thank God For Mississippi” was considered, because otherwise SC would be last in everything.
Lauren
June 15th, 2009
10:12 am
Haley Barbour has done nothing to improve things in little ol’ Mississippi so why would we have any reason to believe that he could improve things for the whole nation? Though the fact that he could not improve things for Mississippi may not be his fault. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
Silvio
June 15th, 2009
10:18 am
If Haley Barbour is such a great idea then why didn’t they run him in 2008? You Republicans are just offering up the same old ideas and trying to pass off people you did not even consider yourselves last year as some kind of new, great idea today. It’s pathetic! No wonder you are about as popular as a bad case of the runs!
jconservative
June 15th, 2009
10:25 am
Haley Barbour can win the Republican nomination. That is not the same as winning the general election. If he can find some way to gain the votes of the under 30 crowd – 66% Obama – and the college educated over $225,000. income whites (65% Obama)he can win the election. I do not believe any Republican has a chance with any minority group.
Dusty
June 15th, 2009
10:32 am
Well, I see our undercover RedNeck is at it again, trying to make Southerners look like antediluvian cave people of trailer park genre. He is so obvious that it makes you wonder where this liberal hick (who is no hick) really hides out. But who cares? He’s just a laugh in.
Now, some of you others are suffering from Civil War hangovers. The real South lived through the tough times, got better, and moved forward. Southerners kept their pride in the South and moved to make America stronger.
Unfortunately, those who cannot make it on their own, found the South as a good excuse for their own failings. They still run around implying that the South has nothing to offer because THEY can’t make it in the South (nor could they in the North, West, or East.) They parade their own prejudices as universal while they are only personal and detrimental.
Grow up, folks. If Haley Barbour can prove his credentials, he ’s IN. He has strong character, successful experience, and knows that a trillion dollars is a trillion dollars and not a brush off with a few little “cutbacks to save”.
A southern accent is great and a speech in a southern drawl is more real than an acquired Harvard accent led by a teleprompter. Give me a sweet magnolia anytime over a cold Maine clam or a west coast wahoo.
Our country gets better with all of us working together. Try being positive. Reading this blog is sometimes like listening to bullfrogs in a pond, big hellowing blowhards all the time.
Give it up! Move forward! The time has come.
catlady
June 15th, 2009
10:33 am
Is there ANYONE who believes if Obama had been from Mississippi he would have WON??!!?? I think we have finally reached the point where color of skin is not as “bad” as being from the South, in terms of electability. Maybe that is progress?
Deb
June 15th, 2009
10:35 am
Here’s a novel idea – why don’t we support the existing President and try and this country back in order, rather than start speculating and campaigning for the NEXT president!!!! Geez, this one’s only been in office for six months! Isn’t everyone alittle tired of listening to campaign speeches??? Mit Romney was on This Week with George Stephanopoulos; another show was speculating about Palin. Are we really going to start talking 2012 Presidential campaign already?????
Dusty
June 15th, 2009
10:42 am
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST is married to Churchill’s Mom. Like RedNeck, they work for the DNC’s undercover exploit section.
Farsider
June 15th, 2009
10:45 am
Perhaps Mr. Barbour wants to do for the entire USA what he’s managed to do for the great state of Mississippi. There’s a happy thought.
Copyleft
June 15th, 2009
10:46 am
Oh, goodie. A 3-1/2 year long presidential primary.
Yeah, America’s gonna be all OVER this debate….
Dusty
June 15th, 2009
10:46 am
NO, dear Catlady, that is a manufactured prejudice brought against the South by ignorant people.
ray
June 15th, 2009
10:51 am
The South will rise again, and leave in its wake all those multi-colored, multi-whatever liberal losers who try to pass themselves off as Americans.
It’s time for us to stop being oppressed in our own land.
Reebok
June 15th, 2009
10:56 am
He could be nominated in 2012, but he couldn’t win…not because he’s from Mississippi, but because he’s a Republican. The GOP is going to be stuck in the political wilderness as long as their leadership is made up of hacks, has-beens, and radio hate-mongers.
Dusty
June 15th, 2009
11:00 am
Hmmmm..I see some of you want to dump on Mississippi, a beautiful state. Would you like to go the negative way and point out the “misgivings” of a few other states? Nazi-like training camps in Idaho and Montana, killers in Kansas, crooked governors in Illinois, ineffectual governors and mayors in Louisiana, sexual infidelities in N.Y. & N.J, raging debt in California…you could make a long list if you tried.
ONCE MORE..try being positive for a change. You MIGHT like it!
One Voice
June 15th, 2009
11:00 am
The reason why all Republican candidates seem to come from the deep south is that that’s the only place the Republican party still exists. As a socialist Democrat, I think the Republican party should be renamed the “Confederate Party”. It is a pretty accurate moniker, and given the sentiment for secession in Texas and Georgia, it’s a title a lot of Republicans would probably embrace. As long as Republicans offer no solutions (except their their already-failed tax cut, pray, and bomb the world strategy); are lead by Limbaugh, Steele, Coulter, Palin, Hannity, Bachman, O’Reilly, etc.; and have their ideological bidding done by American right wing terrorists who murder people, they will continue to shrink into a less and less relevant minority status. The Confederate party’s decline will continue at the very least through 2016. I’m glad to see it, considering how deficient they are in principle, ideas, and simple logic.
catlady
June 15th, 2009
11:07 am
Dusty, I agree about the ignorant people and “manufactured prejudice”–a great phrase. It’s just that there are SO MANY of them ignrnt people! And they vote, just like we (the non-ignrnt) do.
I firmly believe that if Obama had had even a slightly Southern accent and hailed from the Deep South, he would NOT have won. In fact, he would not have been the nominee. In this current time, being from the South is at least as much a negative as being a woman, manufactured or not. Now, you and I know that being a Southerner and a woman is really a plus, but the rest of the country does not see that.
The GOP is going to have to very carefully pick its next nominee. Perhaps it is good that they are starting now.
sane jane
June 15th, 2009
11:09 am
Ok, gotcha, so Barbour is a “victim” to the “prejudice” of being from Mississippi.
It has NOTHING to do with (nothing WHATSOEVER!) his aide in 1982 being overheard by the press complaining about “the coons.” And Barbour’s rebuke that “if you’re not careful, you’ll be reincarnated as a watermelon and be at the mercy of those blacks.”
YES, he’s a VICTIM of a STEREOTYPE that has absolutely NO basis in reality.
*eyesroll*
PoliticalMan
June 15th, 2009
11:13 am
What’s a conservative. What does Barbour want to conserve? He’s not one of those who wishes to force-feed religion to all of us or will defend to his death the right for fat-cats to screw the rest of us economically. Probably not, because he would be a radical and not a conservative.
Dusty
June 15th, 2009
11:14 am
One Voice,
You are one of the usual bullfrogs bellowing on here. Example: the Confederate Party! Oh that is SOOO positive!! Are you also going for the Burn & Stain Sherman Party of libs? Why not? You want to fight the Civil War again which puts you over 150 years behind!.
Think postively, honey. P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E-L-Y!
williebkind
June 15th, 2009
11:15 am
I am glad many of you on the left admit to prejucices. That sure says alot about moderates and coming together. Of course it is ok for liberals to be not only prejudice but to act on it and discriminate.
Like “One Voice” said,
“I’m glad to see it, considering how deficient they are in principle, ideas, and simple logic.”
Principle? How many asbolute truths reign in the liberal party’s tenure?
Ideas? Like drilling for more oil? Like believing the Constitution is not a living document so liberals can have more varieties of sex.
Simple logic? Like raping a child and you get 1yr in jail but killing a cat and you get five years. Now that is logic and principle roled into one.