Tweet
Elementary schoolkids chanting "assassinate Obama" on a bus in ultra-conservative Madison County, Idaho.
It’s not the only pocket of ignorance and racism exposed in the aftermath of the election of Barack Obama….
There’s also that football bimbo down at the U of Texas. And a certain northern governor whose fifteen minutes of fame ran out days ago. And a swath of voters in the Ozarks-Appalachian region….
And scatterings wherever ignorance and fearmongering from pulpit or email and extremist hate building from the likes of the NRA and Hannity and Limbaugh and Lieberman terrorized the sheep.
So I thought today might be a good day to tell you that things do change.
Growing up in North Dakota, one of the ground zeroes for ultra-right and John Bircher politics was a tiny town called Gilby.
And in 2008, when all the votes were counted, John McCain had 137.
And Barack Obama, 138.
Call it the Gilby Effect, or voting your conscience even if you won’t admit it, or backlash against Gov. Gypsy-Grifter that even the Republicans couldn’t accept, or whatever.
North Dakota was still a red state this year overall. But the Red River Valley of the North was decidedly blue–and that included a tiny speck on the map named Gilby.
.
(Crossposted at homeblog Prairie Sun Rising)
2 Comments
I’m pleased to report that the fellow you report as down at the University of Texas lost his scholarship within hours and withdrew from the University a few days later. It was interesting to read what his teammates had to say about the situation and young Mr. Burnette. One of our local sports columnists wrote a thoughtful piece on Burnette’s dismissal, that speaks both to racism and the sadness that this young man destroyed so much of his future by his actions.
The Coach acted quickly Wednesday Morning. “Texas sophomore center Buck Burnette has left the team after a violation of team rules. Coach Mack Brown issued a statement Wednesday about Burnette’s departure, but there was no mention of which rule Burnette violated.”
As fate would have it, the player he backed up was injured in practice Wednesday and Burnette would have started against Kansas Saturday.
Btw, Sports Illustrated castigated Mack Brown, the Texas Coach as insincere for throwing Burnette off of the team since this offense wasn’t nearly as bad as the Players who had received DUIs.