“HARD LEFT”

Here’s a revealing sentence from National Review’s profile of Roger Simon, ex-lefty blogger: “[When] it comes to social policy, he continues to lean hard to the left. ‘I’m very liberal on social issues: pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, separation of church and state,’ he says. ‘I think racism and sexism are the greatest evils in the world.'” So allowing women to choose to seek an abortion is now a “hard left” position? And encouraging gay couples to have stable relationships is “hard left”? And being deeply concerned about racism and sexism is “hard left”? I won’t even touch “separation of church and state.” But I will notice that this assertion comes at a time when Karl Rove is deliberately trying to involve church congregations directly in Bush’s re-election effort. Disturbing.

COUNTRY FOLK AND ABU GHRAIB: Two contrasting responses to my hunch that rural voters were affected by Abu Ghraib:

I don’t know how you knew it but you nailed it. Rural voters are DEEPLY ashamed of Abu Gahraib. I just visited my rock-ribbed Republican former farm wife Mom, now living in suburban Kansas City. If there’s an echt American heartlander ‘don’t try to help me, Mr. Roosevelt’ Republican species of genus Americanus, it’s Mom. Civil War on.
I was amazed how deeply ashamed she was of Abu Gahraib. It just wasn’t like her to be so moved. I asked her why and she said “that’s not American, what we did there.”
My theory? Mom has never seen the Jerry Springer show, and didn’t really realize the extent to which the gleeful embrace of vulgarity by what she would never actually vocally call white trash has coarsened the traditional military-serving American working class.
America has tolerated the vulgarization of its yeoman class on TV. It’s quite another to see it in a military uniform. (I guess we sophisticates know it was always there, but that doesn’t cut any ice with Mom.)
You nailed it, Andrew.

Then there’s this view:

Country folk in general could care less about Iraqis and their plight really. They don’t know them and don’t feel that our boys should be dying over there helping them build anything. They are very, very isolationist. As long as the military is blowing things up they are supportive, that’s what the military does and they understand that mission. But as soon as it becomes a humanitarian focused mission, support will begin to erode. Especially when what they perceive are Iraqis who don’t seem to appreciate what has been done for them anyway. They look like a bunch of whiners.
The mission itself is nuanced and hard to understand. Saving the world from terrorism is too obtuse, not focused enough. They would be much more supportive of a proxy war and not direct US involvement. As long as its a proxy war, it would have support.
A long-term strategy would be to finish up Iraq and use special forces and more clandestine methods that aren’t so publicised. They would support that for the long-term, but if troops have to be involved in police work for a long time (in our culture that’s about 6 months) then support will not be solid.

There’s more diverse feedback on the Letters Page.