Area That is Not Sooo Conservative

[Craziaskowboi]

Athens.

Wait, never mind; Athens had a Green mayor not too long ago.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by livinginbuffalo

I'm glad kimbro posted above with his views and I agree with most though I'm on the conservative side and coming from the very blue state of ny find th exact same thing as u but on the flip side. First off Ive been thinking I was raised by heathens since my momma never taught me it wasn't polite to talk politics. It is? Then I must be a real slob because I actually enjoy having a discussion about politics once in a while and most of my friends and I agree to disagree politely I will add. Coming from ny I am in the minority in my conservative views and I find that liberals are the ones offensive. I hear things like, "how can You even think that way?" and those types of things so I think that both sides of the spectrum have strong viewpoints and can be offensive to the other side. I do realize that fox news is conservatively slanted but I don't think any of the other national news stations are conservative at all. When u have prominent reporters on msnbc during the presidential campaign saying things like, "how can our guy not win?" when talking about Obama, I don't understand how anyone could think the other news channels are not liberal slanted. Anyway all in good fun. Looking forward to a red state!

Well for better or worse you are in for a real culture shock!

I'd love to hear back from you on this issue as an outsider after you have been here for awhile and see what your thoughts are. Despite traveling alot, I haven't really --lived-- in another region to adequately be able to compare social issues like this.

I'm trying not to get pulled into the whole "liberal news" debate too much so take this for a grain of salt... MSNBC has most definitely branded itself as the opposite of Fox News without a doubt... but outside that I have a tough time with many of the liberal media arguments I have heard down here. It isn't that I can't find examples of stories being favorable to a liberal point, but through the same sources I can also find the vice versa.

Just to kind point out where I'm coming from. I actually think we need to revert to the tax rates we had in the 90s, which could be a little bit higher taxes particularly for the wealthy. I know there are people who don't agree with me on this, but to me it is part of our long-term financial sustainability and cutting the structural (long-term, not short-term recession cause) deficit. However, most news I watch... (including the big 3, local news, local newspaper AJC/ and Gwinnett Daily Post, and even a few shows on msnbc (but not all)) I feel bombarded by only discussion and news stories on which taxes to cut and which spending to cut.

To me too much of the press at large is single minded on some option of these two things with very few points of view honestly looking at what we did in the past to cut the deficit and what the structural problems are (aka People keep talking about shrinking spending that hasn't grown (EPA, transportation investment, etc..) than the types of spending that are growing(medicare/social programs from an aging population)).

I'm not arguing these aren't liberal views and am hoping to avoid a debate on these points (at least on this particular thread ), but the reason I bring it up....

I frequently hear from my friends, family, and acquaintances down here complain how overwhelmingly liberal the news is and how they don't feel the conservative views are treated fairly.....I usually think... well we must be in the same boat, because when I listen to the news the only options are cutting spending and cutting taxes. The debate (and news) seems to rest on where.

Semi-related issue (and I'm not in full agree agreement of Obama), but during his campaign cycle and the first year or two of office... his whole thing was he would cut taxes for everyone except for those making over $250,000/year. That has mostly held true, but down here, many people simply don't believe it and the press has given them the access to say that (and to some respect they should), polling also shows large amounts of people who got their taxes lowered -believe- their taxes overall increased, but there have been few things that are adequately refuted that mentality and simply say... This isn't about whether you like the guy or not, but this is what he did... and this isn't. The few times they do... people (down here) go crazy screaming liberal press. Whereas my liberal mentality see them getting news coverage of them complaining about the liberal media and believing their taxes went up, when it is a red herring argument, but a conservative one.

Now that I said this... I don't doubt for a second people can't think of a way they have felt untreated fairly by the media, especially given the atmosphere these days, but I'm simply trying to show it goes both ways (and in multidimensional non-2 party directions).

[canudigit]

Originally Posted by livinginbuffalo

I'm glad kimbro posted above with his views and I agree with most though I'm on the conservative side and coming from the very blue state of ny find th exact same thing as u but on the flip side. First off Ive been thinking I was raised by heathens since my momma never taught me it wasn't polite to talk politics. It is? Then I must be a real slob because I actually enjoy having a discussion about politics once in a while and most of my friends and I agree to disagree politely I will add. Coming from ny I am in the minority in my conservative views and I find that liberals are the ones offensive. I hear things like, "how can You even think that way?" and those types of things so I think that both sides of the spectrum have strong viewpoints and can be offensive to the other side. I do realize that fox news is conservatively slanted but I don't think any of the other national news stations are conservative at all. When u have prominent reporters on msnbc during the presidential campaign saying things like, "how can our guy not win?" when talking about Obama, I don't understand how anyone could think the other news channels are not liberal slanted. Anyway all in good fun. Looking forward to a red state!

I can certainly relate. We live in SE Michigan, which is pretty liberal, although there are pockets of social conservatives here and there, especially in the rural areas.

My experience as a conservative who happens to go to church is that we are the only family in our small subdivision, with the exception of one elderly couple, who subscribe to our particular belief system, namely, Protestant Christianity. We don't try to push our religion on others, we don't discuss religion when we talk to our neighbors, and we don't talk politics. However, because they see us go to church every Sunday morning and we happen to homeschool our daughter so that we can have the freedom as her parents to choose the type of curriculum that she is taught with instead of allowing the state to choose it, our neighbors are nice when we see them but they tend to look at us as being "different". Like I said, we get along, but it's almost like we intimidate them or something, even though we have never tried to influence them in any way. OTOH, I have been around liberals in various settings who think nothing of taking pot shots at our way of living and belief system and make it known that they feel that they are superior and that we are sort of backwards for believing in God.

Under those circumstances, I would love nothing more than to find myself surrounded by at least a few families who understand where we're coming from and don't think we're religious "fanatics" or something, just because we go to church and subscribe to a belief in a Higher Power. It would be nice to have a neighbor or two who wasn't afraid to let us know that they were praying for us when we had a problem and vice versa. I feel starved for that here.

Ultimately, live and let live. I won't tell you that you're stupid or unenlightened for believing what you do, and I hope that you will show me that same kind of respect.

[RandyWatson13]

Originally Posted by staywarm2

Cwkimbro, I think a lot of the on-going political animosity of citizens across the country is due to talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz who try to stir things up to increase their listener base. Same for various TV hosts--Glenn Beck, Keith Oberman (gone now), etc. These personalities don't care if what they say is true or not. They are not reporters, they are entertainers. Listeners who agree with them want to think what they hear is the gospel truth...

It's sad, actually, because this animosity is splitting up our country.

I would think idiots take their words as truth. They are comedians, jesters. No good person of reasonable mind would use them as a source.

I never understand all the threads in here looking for specific demographics. Must be a southern thing still.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by RandyWatson13

I would think idiots take their words as truth. They are comedians, jesters. No good person of reasonable mind would use them as a source.

I never understand all the threads in here looking for specific demographics. Must be a southern thing still.

You're kidding...?

I'm with you in thinking those guys are full of it, but I'm reluctant to cast their horde of fans into the "no good person of reasonable mind" category. I think there are a lot of good but deluded folks out there (plenty of whom will read this and be affronted to be called deluded).

[atlantagreg30127]

Please keep in mind, folks - the topic is not about opportunistic TV/Radio hosts.