joining the long list of sitcom hasbeens to run for public office, i present to you, “Cooter for Congress“. and here’s a quote from the candidate hisself: “We’re not trying to refight the war. We’re just proud of our Southern heritage. We’re NASCAR Democrats, and our priorities are right where they always were — take care of mama ‘n them and make sure the kids get a good education.”
oh. wow.
anyway, he’s traveling the campaign trail in the good ole General Lee. “Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said he is troubled by the signals Jones is sending to the district’s overwhelmingly white, rural and suburban electorate by using the gully-jumping 1969 Dodge Charger, known as the General Lee. To black voters, he said, it is a slap in the face.”.
i would see it more as a slap in the face to *all* voters, to run a campaign based on his ‘glory days’, consisting of a small, recurring role in the Dukes of Hazzard for cryin’ out loud. but maybe that’s just me.
oh MY! it’s NOT just you. geeeez…
“Don’t look at me. I voted for Gopher.”
At this point, any Democrat with that kind of name visibility is ok by me.
um. he’s running on a Dodge platform. or would that be a chassis.
and he’s … he’s … cooter, fer chrissakes!
You know, I just looked at his pages, and he’s a former two-term Rep. from Georgia, and he decided to run because the newly redistricted area he lives in had an incumbent running unopposed. He also gives the NRA hell.
Upon sober reflection and three minutes of reading, “Go Cooter!”
if he’s serious, then he needs to ditch the Dodge and run on his service record, not a wave of nostalgia.
i would vote against him simply for insulting my intelligence with the 70′s memorabilia. yeah. i watched the show. it was cute. but i’m supposed to have confidence in him as a legislator because … well lookit that nice gopher boy there, he didn’t run around in a little white jacket and a jaunty boat-cap when he was campaigning, did he?
the guy’s a friggin thespian!!! he’s got a 178 I.Q.!!!!
then, he could abandon the car, the nostalgia, and the “you might remember me as cooter from the dukes of hazzard” and go with “hi, i’m smart, and i support good policies, like…”
i mean, even jesse the body ventura went for a bit of an image change (remember, jesse the mind ventura)?
Ugh. Just. ugh.
What I don’t get is what his campaigning by driving around in “General Lee” has to do with black people… Why is it a “slap in their face”? Can anyone enlighten me? I remember the show too. I don’t really remember any racist overtones. Still, I was a horny, horny teen ager then, and the whole time I was watching that show I was lusting after the woman who starred with Cooter and the other guy… She was HOT! I can STILL remember those legs coming out iof those short, short, shorts…
She was Catherine Bach, wasn’t she? Anyways, she was HOT!
It’s because it has the symbol of the confederacy on the hood of the car, Mad Bull.
It’s actually a slap in the face to white people, too. At least it is to this white person.
Ok, I’m not American, and as such, I probably have no idea what I’m talking about, but I love to talk about issues I know little about, so here goes… my sense of it is this. As has been mentioned by others, there seem to be two aspects to this confederate flag thing. One involves a concept of the South, and is really a sort of heritage thing. Its a symbol of your being a southerner, and of your feeling that that is something important. Its a symbol of southern values, and a way of life that has aspects that are desirable.
At the same time, many southerners had black slaves and it was one of the issues in the civil war. I don’t think that was the only issue, and I am not sure it was the major issue (correct me if I’m wrong.)
As a non-white person, when I see people driving around with those flags, I say to myself “There’s a southerner.” It occurs to me that maybe they are racist, but I don’t necessarily assume that they are. It will certainly color (no pun intended) my interactions with that person, as I will be more on my guard with regard to any interaction I have with them, at least until I know enough about them to decide otherwise, but hey, everyones entitled to their own opinion, and I believe that it might be better that they don’t hide their true feelings… You have a better idea of who not to trust that way.
Of course, thats just me. I don’t have too much personal experience with racism, otherwise maybe I would feel differently.
Point 1: The vehicle is named after a Confederate Civil War general.
Point 2: A confederate flag is painted on the vehicle.
Yeah, I can see some people having a problem with this…
i think it’s offensive to people of all races.
and what, exactly, is a NASCAR democrat?
I have issues with the General Lee, and there’s been a lot of discussion around it here about heritage versus racist imagery. (I feel weird in these discussions being white and insisting it’s a racist symbol while a surprising number moderate Blacks insist it’s *appropriate* because it’s about heritage). BUT he was our Democratic Congressman already and that’s already hard enough to come by in Virginia. He may be a moderate, but perhaps you should read up on Virginia politics and what we’re dealing with here and in Washington first before condeming him out of hand. There was a fascinating article in the Washington Post Southern — and Proud of It that also details Jone’s Civil Rights work better than I have time for.
That comment wasn’t mean to be an attack on KD in any way. It sounds terribly pissy when I reread it. I’m just very tired of assumptions and stereotypes and white southerners being labelled racist simply because we’re white and southern – and that’s what discussions of Jones’ campaign seem to skip directly to. Ironically the attacks coming from ultra-conservatives who condemn gays and spin tales out of horrendous stereotypes about black welfare mothers. The General Lee thing is bad news, IMO, but it’s being used as a distraction from a lot of other issues. It all just makes me tired.
I’ll definitely have to read more…but, regardless of Jones’ history within the civil rights movement, I just can’t believe that he wouldn’t anticipate the image of the confederate flag being at best controversial and at worst hurtful for some individuals.
While it is true that there are some who disagree that the confederate flag is a hate symbol, there are enough who feel otherwise to make me believe that Mr. Jones ought to not be surprised about whatever vitriol gets directed at him.
He is, after all, a politician.
Whee. Ain’t I just prouder than a peach to be a Southerner.