The Washington Post's Richard Cohen Compares and Contrasts the Anxieties of Cultural Conservatives to Those of the 1948 Dixiecrats, and Uses Provocative Language to Describe the New America as Seen by U.S. Traditionalists

Segregationist Strom Thurmond of South Carolina
1948 Dixiecrat Presidential Candidate

Source: Wikipedia

Richard Cohen of the Washington Post has penned a recent column in which he examines Chris Christie's compatibility with cultural conservatives in the GOP.  In short, Cohen is skeptical that Christie can resonate with the Tea Party right.

For one, regarding the process of securing the GOP nomination, Cohen does not like Christie's 2016 chances in early caucus and primary states like Iowa and South Carolina.

Given that the Iowa Republican Caucuses are noted for hard-right participants, Cohen claims that "Iowa not only is a serious obstacle for Christie and other Republican moderates, it also suggests something more ominous: the Dixiecrats of old."

Cohen sees a similarity between the Dixiecrats (Southern segregationists who split from the Democratic Party in 1948) and the hard-right of today's GOP.  He claims that, like Strom Thurmond's States' Rights Democrats of 65 years ago, todays GOP hardliners in places like Iowa see their world facing existential threats.

Cohen's views about Christie's chances, however, might prove to be among the least memorable aspects of his November 11th column.

In particular, Cohen uses some rather vivid and provocative language to describe the objections of cultural conservatives to the  lifestyles and mores of the new America.

Cohen specifically uses New York Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio's wife (who is Black) and their children (who are biracial) as embodiments on this new America. He moreover claims that, for American traditionalists, thoughts of  New York City's next first family surely must induce nausea.

Richard Cohen's column is linked below. A quotation from the column appears below the link.

Richard Cohen: The Tea Party Wing of the GOP and its Lost Country

"[The contemporary Republican Party] is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.

As with the Dixiecrats, the fight is not over a particular program — although Obamacare comes close — but about a tectonic shift of attitudes."

---Richard Cohen, Washington Post

Huffington Post: Coverage of Richard Cohen's Explanation and Defense of His November 11, 2013 Column

The New Republic's Nate Cohn: Blue Counties Versus Red Counties and the Value of Cartograms That Account For Population Proportionality

Cartogram of the 2012 Electoral Vote

Obama: 332 Electoral Votes
Romney: 206 Electoral Votes

Source: Wikipedia

In terms of interpreting election results, county-by-county maps can be rather deceptive, particularly when considering the factor of high population densities in urban and metropolitan areas.

With conventional national or state maps designating counties, rural counties--if shaded a color distinct from urban and suburban counties--might seem to be the dominant area.

If the issue is land area, that would be correct, but in terms of population proportionality, conventional county-by-county maps for election results can be counterproductive for communicating a larger truth.

In short, election results communicated graphically on conventional county-by-county maps tend to understate the importance of urban and metropolitan areas.

Nate Cohn addresses this matter in an article for The New Republic. In doing so, he praises the value of cartograms for illustrating the proportional value of highly populated areas.

Nate Cohn's article at The New Republic is linked below.

Nate Cohn: Red Counties versus Blue Counties, in Proportion to Population

"I wish infographic departments would give readers the power to flip between a traditional county map and a cartogram. Otherwise, many or maybe even most readers will wrongly assume that the most common color on the map is most representative of the population, while largely ignoring the metropolitan communities that dominate the country."

---Nate Cohn, The New Republic

2012 Presidential Election, County-by-County Winners

Counties won by Obama in Blue
Counties won by Romney in Red

Source: Wikipedia

2012 Presidential Election, County-by-County Results
Cartogram Reflects Size of County Population and Margin of Victory

Counties won by Obama in Blue
Counties won by Romney in Red

Author: Mark E.J. Newman, Cartogram posted at Wikipedia

Washington Post: American ZIP Codes and the Disparate Demographics of Income and Education

Fairfax County, Virginia
Land of High Education and High Income

The special report by the Washington Post is linked below.

Washington Post: Income, Educations and the Demographics of American ZIP Codes

"Although the wealthiest Americans have always lived in their own islands of privilege, sociologists and demographers say the degree to which today’s professional class resides in a world apart is a departure from earlier generations. People of widely different incomes and professions commonly lived close enough that they mingled at stores, sports arenas and school. In an era in which women had fewer educational and professional opportunities, lawyers married secretaries and doctors married nurses. Now, lawyers and doctors marry each other."

---Washington Post

The Daily Beast's Joe McLean: The Tea Party and the Politics of Eschatology

Durer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Joe McLean of The Daily Beast provides a fascinating look at the apocalyptic character of the Tea Party, an outlook that held by adherents that does not allow for normative political give-and-take and legislative compromise.

While noting that political forecasts are quite subject to error, McLean sees two possible futures for the GOP.

In the first scenario, McLean notes that the mainstream GOP might prevail via a popular "pragmatist"(perhaps Chris Christie or someone like him) who unites enough of the Republican coalition to win.

The second path is that of the fragmentation of the Republican Party, and the rise of a new third force separate from the GOP.

Whatever the exact path, McLean sees ultimate failure for the eschatology-based politics, along with its fire-breathing prophets and prophetesses.

The Daily Beast article by Joe McLean is linked below.

The Daily Beast: The Apocalyptic Impulse of the Tea Party

"Of course, the Tea Party is not just composed of members of the Christian right. Many are genuine libertarians. Some nurse an unreconstructed Confederate grudge, while others harbor a thinly disguised racism. However, the real energy, the animating force for the movement comes from evangelicals, of whom Ted Cruz, Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin are the most strident. These are the modern-day 'apocalyptic prophets.'"

---Joe McLean, The Daily Beast

The Washington Post Provides a List of Rural Secession Movements in the United States

The Washington Post article is linked below.

Washington Post: Rural Secessionism in the U.S.

"Secession movements, it turns out, are actually pretty common — nearly every state has had at least one."

---Caitlin Dewey, Washington Post 

The Nation's Zerlina Maxwell: Black Women Proved to be the Key Demographic in Lifting Democrat Terry McAuliffe to Victory in Virginia

Democrat Terry McAuliffe
Governor-Elect of Virginia

Photo by Kate Wellington

Zerlina Maxwell's article in The Nation is linked below.

The Nation: Black Voters Were Key to McAuliffe's Virginia Victory

"As the Virginia election results show, if it were up to white women, the anti-choice candidate would have prevailed. If any voting block determined the outcome of the race, it was black women."

---Zerlina Maxwell, The Nation 

The Brookings Institution: Approximately Three Billion People Worldwide Seek to Survive on Less Than $2.50 a Day

The Brookings Institution article is linked below.

Brookings Institution: Approximately 3 Billion People Live on Less Than $2.50 per Day

"The number of people worldwide living in extreme poverty—defined as living on $1.25 a day or less—was cut in half between 1990 and 2010. Yet more than one billion people still subsist at this level, and about three billion live at under $2.50 a day."

---Laurence Chandy and Fred Dews, The Brookings Institution

The Nation's Rick Perlstein: Meet the New Cranks, the Same as the Old Cranks

Rick Perlstein's article in The Nation is linked below.

The Nation's Rick Perlstein: The Continuity From Joe McCarthy, through Barry Goldwater, through Ronald Reagan, through Newt Gingrich, to Ted Cruz

"All right-wing antigovernment rage in America bears a racial component, because liberalism is understood, consciously or unconsciously, as the ideology that steals from hard-working, taxpaying whites and gives the spoils to indolent, grasping blacks...Every time the government acts to expand the prerogatives of citizenship and economic opportunity to formerly disenfranchised groups, a racism-soaked backlash ensues." 

---Rick Perlstein, The Nation

MSNBC's Domenico Montanaro: Black Voters Were a Key Demographic in Democrat Terry McAuliffe's Victory Over Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia

 Virginia Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe
(Democrat)

Photo by Kate Wellington

The MSNBC article is linked below.

MSNBC: Black Voters Proved Crucial in McAuliffe's Victory

"Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost white voters to Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli by 20 points in the Virginia governor’s race, 56-36 percent.

But McAuliffe still won the election by 3 points, 48-45 percent. How is that possible when more than seven-in-10 (72 percent) of Virginia voters Tuesday were white?

Simple: Black voters.

McAuliffe won black voters by a 90-8 percent margin, a similar spread to the 93-6 percent President Barack Obama ran up in the 2012 presidential election in the Old Dominion."

---Domenico Montanaro, MSNBC

The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne: The American Electorate Has Shifted Somewhat to the Left

New York City Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio with Family

Photo from de Blasio Flickr Page

E.J. Dionne's article at the Washington Post linked below.

E.J. Dionne: The U.S. Has Made a Step to the Left

"The center of gravity in American politics moved left in Tuesday’s off-year elections.

Republicans took a big step back from the tea party. An ebullient progressive was elected mayor of New York City. And a Democrat was elected governor of Virginia after campaigning unapologetically as a supporter of gun control and a liberal on social issues."

---E.J. Dionne, Washington Post 

Hope Yen of the Associated Press: Per the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.7 Million American Residents are in Poverty

Hope Yen's Associated Press article is linked below.

Hope Yen of the Associated Press: 49.7 Million in America are in Poverty

"The number of poor people in America is 3 million higher than the official count, encompassing 1 in 6 residents due to out-of-pocket medical costs and work-related expenses, according to a revised census measure released Wednesday."

---Hope Yen, Associated Press 

U.S. Census Bureau: November 6, 2013 Data Release Regarding Poverty

The Daily Beast's John Avlon: Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey Might be the Republican Bill Clinton

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey
(Republican)

Photo by David Shankbone

John Avlon's article at The Daily Beast is linked below.

The Daily Beast: Chris Christie's Broad Appeal

"On Tuesday night, Christie went a long way toward establishing himself as the Republican Bill Clinton, a charismatic candidate able to re-center his party and reach out beyond the base even in traditionally hostile territory. Hard-core conservatives might call him a RINO—a Republican in Name Only—but there’s another name for it. A winner."

---John Avlon, The Daily Beast 

Democrat Terry McAuliffe Elected Governor of Virginia; Republican Chris Christie Easily Wins Re-Election as Governor of New Jersey; Establishment Republican Bradley Byrne Holds off Tea Party Favorite Dean Young in a Special Republican Run-Off in Alabama Congressional District One

Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe of Virginia
(Democrat)

Photo by Kate Wellington

November 5, 2013, despite being a date for off-year election, proved to be a day of some political significance.  In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie, as expected, cruised to an easy re-election against virtually token Democratic opposition.

In an Alabama Congressional District One special Republican run-off, establishment GOP candidate Bradley Byrne defeated upstart Tea Party candidate Dean Young.

Perhaps the day's most dramatic contest of significance was the showdown for Virginia governor. Democrat Terry McAuliffe prevailed by a narrow margin over arch-conservative Republican Ken Cuccinelli, a race bitterly fought by both sides.

McAuliffe's victory will switch control of Virginia's governorship from Republican to Democrat.

Trip Gabriel's article in The New York Times is linked below.

The New York Times: Democrat Terry McAuliffe Defeats Tea Party Republican Ken Cuccinelli

"Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser and ally of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, was elected governor of Virginia on Tuesday, narrowly defeating the state’s conservative attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, and confirming Virginia’s evolution as a state increasingly dominated politically by the Democratic-leaning Washington suburbs."

---Trip Gabriel, The New York Times 

CNN reporting on election results are linked below.

CNN Coverage of Election 2013

AL.com: The GOP Civil War is Front and Center in the Alabama Congressional District One Run-Off

The AL.com article is linked below.

AL.com: Byrne vs. Young and the GOP Fissure

"'If Dean Young should win this race, it would show that the so-called tea party faction is in the driver’s seat as far as the Alabama Republican Party, and the social conservatives have the dominant voice in the party,'  said political scientist Bill Stewart."

---Bill Stewart, Quoted by Kim Chandler in AL.com 

Politico's Alex Isenstadt: The Alabama Congressional District One GOP Run-Off Between Bradley Byrne and Dean Young is a Source of Concern for Establishment Republicans

Alabama

The Politico article by Alex Isenstadt is linked below.

Politico: Bradley Byrne vs. Dean Young

"Despite a fierce, last-minute push from House GOP leaders and the business community to supply cash and endorsements to Bradley Byrne, public polling shows the former state senator in a tight race with Dean Young, a flame-throwing tea party contender with a penchant for controversial remarks."

---Alex Isenstadt, Politico

Ben Jacobs of The Daily Beast: The Republican Alabama Congressional District 1 Run-Off Between Bradley Byrne and Dean Young Has National Ramifications

Alabama Congressional District One

Ben Jacobs' article in The Daily Beast is linked below.

The Daily Beast: Bradley Byrne vs. Dean Young and What it Means for the GOP

"…The divide is about what tactics Republican activists think will be most successful as the next budget showdown looms. Do they want a firebrand [Dean Young] who believes Barack Obama was born in Kenya or a political veteran [Bradley Byrne] who emphasizes the need 'to work with people, in Washington and at home?' Their answer may influence the GOP’s strategy on Capitol Hill in the months to come.

---Ben Jacobs, The Daily Beast 

Brendan Kirby at AL.com: In the Republican Run-Off Between Bradley Byrne and Dean Young in Alabama Congressional District One, Voter Turnout is the Big Variable

Alabama Congressional District One

Brendan Kirby's article at AL.com is linked below.

AL.com: In Alabama Congressional District One, Turnout Levels are Key

"The badly outspent Young, a real estate investor and conservative activist from Orange Beach, has surged on the back of a grass-roots coalition of tea party followers and an anti-establishment message."

---Brendan Kirby, AL.com

National Journal: Coverage of the Claim by Conservative Family Research Council Executive and Retired U.S. Army General William "Jerry" Boykin that Some U.S. Military Personnel Want to Stage a Coup D'Etat and Overthrow President Obama

Retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin

The National Journal article is linked below.

National Journal: Retired U.S. Army General William Boykin Claims that Some Military Personnel Would Like to Overthrow President Obama

"A former top general and current executive at the Family Research Council says members of the military have considered staging a coup d'état against President, but will not because of civilian control of the military."

---Alex Seitz-Wald, National Journal

Michael Kimmel's Book on Angry White American Males

Rush Limbaugh
Patron Saint of Angry White Males

Michael Kimmel's column at The Huffington Post is posted below.

Michael Kimmel: The Angry White Male in American Life

"Today's Angry White Men look backward, nostalgically at the world they have lost. Some organize politically to restore 'their' country; some descend into madness; others lash out violently at a host of scapegoats. Theirs is a fight to restore, to reclaim more than just what they feel entitled to socially or economically -- it's also to restore their sense of manhood, to reclaim that sense of dominance and power to which they also feel entitled. They don't get mad, they want to get even -- but with whom?"

---Michael Kimmel, The Huffington Post 

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok: The Alleged LAX Shooter, Paul Anthony Ciancia, Expressed Rightwing Extremist Views

Mark Potok's article for the Southern Poverty Law Center is linked below.

The Southern Poverty Law Center: The LAX Shooter's Politics

"[Paul Anthony] Ciancia’s language and references seemed to put him squarely in the conspiracy-minded world of the antigovernment “Patriot” movement. The New World Order refers to a longstanding conspiracy theory that today, in its most popular iteration, claims that global elites are plotting to form a socialistic “one-world government” that would crush American freedoms. Often, the root of the alleged conspiracy is traced to the 1913 creation of the Federal Reserve and the adoption of fiat currency — paper money that is not backed by gold, as it was once was in the U.S."

---Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center