tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5147000415127454560.post7155525343606472417..comments2023-12-09T12:13:00.212-08:00Comments on AOL Journals 1st Old Hickory's Weblog: Red state/blue state: A red/blue herring?Bruce Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022449143502020665noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5147000415127454560.post-64535580129994910942004-12-07T18:06:00.000-08:002004-12-07T18:06:00.000-08:00I live in a blue state, but I have red neighbors a...I live in a blue state, but I have red neighbors and family members and co-workers. We share some attitudes about the place of faith relative to reason and evidence in policy-making and public debate. We share some ideas about the difference between Fox and real journalism. We can talk to one another.<br><br>But a lot of other Republicans and their Christian Right supporters are beyond my reach. I find their attitudes repellent -- a combination of faith-based, irrational bigotry and redneck ignorance. I roll my eyes in condescension. We do not engage in dialogue -- they go their way, and I go mine. We grow farther apart.<br><br>The red state -- blue state split is a false one, but we are polarized. I don't remember anything like this, not even the Nixon impeachment. You have to go back to 1967-1969 to catch this sense of polarization. It is an ugly thing.<br><br>Right after 9/11, we could have brought this nation together, but that wasn't Bush's style. He and Karl Rove had a different plan. The events of 9/11 created political capital and they were going to spend it -- even if it polarized the country for years to come.<br><br>Polarization works for Bush. In this last campaign, we saw that his strategy was to mobilize his base, and polarization actually made that easier for him. And it worked.<br><br>As long as polarization works for the Republicans, they will keep running that play. <br><br>NeilAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com