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Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

npr.org

21–30 of 318 posts

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#21
post #3

This article is nothing more than blog spam. Yeah, it provides a link back to the original post, but that's about it. Even most of the images are lifted.

"blog spam" aka packaging and reporting a story from elsewhere, a basic part of journalism. People around here really try too hard to be indignant.

I don't think people realize how common a practice it is for one site to ask another for permission to republish an article. I would happily accept a republishing request from NPR.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#22
post #14
post #3

This article is nothing more than blog spam. Yeah, it provides a link back to the original post, but that's about it. Even most of the images are lifted.

It is very interesting, but it comes up every election cycle now: http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/Research/Elec2000/GeolElec2000.HT...

I'm glad it does. I only found out about it in 2007.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#23
I live in Birmingham AL and the existence of the black belt is common knowledge here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Belt_(U.S._region)

As a kid, I assumed it was called the black belt because of the black people, not knowing it's because the soil is black.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#24

Considering that Obama was trounced in those states and thus won no votes in the Electorial College, it is hardly a "secret weapon." Were it one, the consistency of its Democratic lean in previous elections, would call into question that it was his. The article just promotes an ignorant sort of racial understanding while missing the really curious relationship between agriculture and his campaigns. Obama's secret wea…

Or money+incumbency

Roosevelt,Truman,Eisenhower,Johnson,Nixon,Reagan,Clinton,BushII all had plenty of time to plan for 2nd term.

Of course so did Ford, Carter and Bush I.

There may not be enough samples to get a good p-value, but more often than not the recipe of "just don't mess up too bad" gets a another term for a sitting President.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#25
post #5
post #3

This article is nothing more than blog spam. Yeah, it provides a link back to the original post, but that's about it. Even most of the images are lifted.

I think its quite cool. I had no idea this blue band in the south existed. The history behind the fertile land and slavery migration I found particularly interesting. It does make an unwritten assumption that more black people = more democrat votes. But I guess that is probably a fair assumption to make.

In recent US politics, it is a fair assumption. More than fifty years ago, it was not. Historically, the Republicans were "the party of Lincoln" and the Democrats were the party of the segregated South(1).

One might attribute the beginning of the polar reversal to Truman's integration of the military services, but by the time of the Kennedy administration sent paratrooper's to Oxford the seeds from which the Dixiecrats grew were clearly sown.

(1) The popular image of a segregated South is of course correct, but segregation was a national policy (e.g. the military). It enjoyed popularity in the North as well (e.g. at the time Jackie Robinson came to the Dodgers there were no Major League teams in the former Confederacy and the only Southern city with a team was Washington D.C. Despite not being subject to any state law and home to the Federal government, it was a bastion of Jim Crow.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#26
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"blog spam" aka packaging and reporting a story from elsewhere, a basic part of journalism. People around here really try too hard to be indignant.

I don't think people realize how common a practice it is for one site to ask another for permission to republish an article. I would happily accept a republishing request from NPR.

Are you the author of the original article? I found it not only highly interesting but also very well written. I'm sorry I didn't realize the link I posted wasn't the original. I totally did miss the link back to the original in the footer and (unfortunately) I guess most other people will.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people realize how common a practice it is for one site to ask another for permission to republish an article. I would happily accept a republishing request from NPR.

Are you the author of the original article? I found it not only highly interesting but also very well written. I'm sorry I didn't realize the link I posted wasn't the original. I totally did miss the link back to the original in the footer and (unfortunately) I guess most other people will.

I'm not the original author. And in my experience, that link at the bottom will send plenty of people back to the original who otherwise never would have heard of the blog.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#28

Considering that Obama was trounced in those states and thus won no votes in the Electorial College, it is hardly a "secret weapon." Were it one, the consistency of its Democratic lean in previous elections, would call into question that it was his. The article just promotes an ignorant sort of racial understanding while missing the really curious relationship between agriculture and his campaigns. Obama's secret wea…

Or money+incumbency Roosevelt,Truman,Eisenhower,Johnson,Nixon,Reagan,Clinton,BushII all had plenty of time to plan for 2nd term. Of course so did Ford, Carter and Bush I. There may not be enough samples to get a good p-value, but more often than not the recipe of "just don't mess up too bad" gets a another term for a sitting President.

Iowa is where Obama upset the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton four years ago. It is overwhelmingly made up of a constituencies which tend to vote Republican. Not only did he win the caucuses, he flipped the state in the general election and carried it by a substantial margin in his reelection.

If you ever go to Iowa, you won't see many people likely to vote for Obama on the basis of racial affinity.

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#29
post #2

I've been fascinated with geology ever since I realised that it is really history on an epic scale (living in Edinburgh also helps) - one book that really opened my eyes to the subject is Richard Fortey's The Earth: An Intimate History : http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Intimate-History-Richard-Fortey/...

I agree, for me it's most fascinating that we are not only able to learn about things that happened so long ago, but also that they can still affect us today.

The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.

  --Faulkner

Re: Obama's Secret Weapon In The South is 129 Million Years Old

#30

Considering that Obama was trounced in those states and thus won no votes in the Electorial College, it is hardly a "secret weapon." Were it one, the consistency of its Democratic lean in previous elections, would call into question that it was his. The article just promotes an ignorant sort of racial understanding while missing the really curious relationship between agriculture and his campaigns. Obama's secret wea…

Obama's secret weapon is the Ellsworth Toohey effect :-D Basically it isn't his weapon.
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