Holy CRAP - the Tea Party candidate won the GOP primary for the NYS governor's race. Sophia, WTF is going on upstate????

My cow-orker worked on that campaign, and many many people who are disenchanted with the republicans are moving there, and not to a more liberal view.

It is crazy here-- but remember that we have been in an economic depression since the 80's, pretty much-- we have much more in common with a place like Detroit than with Downstate. All the great manufacturing jobs are gone, and there are a lot of colleges, so it is easy for the working man to think of the "liberal elite itellectuals" as "the man". Also, WAY more white people are energized to vote than black people. And we have a HORRENDUS black male high school graduate rate--- Rochester and Buffalo are amoung the ten worst in the Nation( 33 %) and the white males don't do much better (40%).

It is just bad here, and people are ready to be brainwashed.

As a former fundraiser, I am fascinated with the social networking fundraising going on. I have been watching twitchange pretty closely. It's crazy. People are bidding to get mentioned in a tweet, followed, or re-tweeted by a celeb. The auction goes for 10 days and in the first 2 hours they are well over $10K in bids. Granted they had some big celebs from the Twitter world, but for very low operating costs they are going to have a mega fundraiser.

Happy Birthday, Nora!

we have been in an economic depression since the 80's, pretty much-- we have much more in common with a place like Detroit than with Downstate.

Yeah, the Republicans and Teabaggers have been much better at tapping into the whole unemployment-driven unhappiness. Given that a fair bit of the current economic crisis can be directly traced to Republican policy choices and the work of the corporate/banking interests who fund their campaigns, this leads to more than a little dark laughter on my part.

I'm from Michigan. I get long-term unemployment despair. I get wanting someone to blame. But I don't think the Teabaggers are pointing their fury in the right direction.

this leads to more than a little dark laughter on my part.

At least you can laugh....

I'm from Michigan. I get long-term unemployment despair. I get wanting someone to blame. But I don't think the Teabaggers are pointing their fury in the right direction.

Oh- I think it is crazy-- I was going to say that the situation is ripe for brainwashing, but that seems rude. I feel like poor white people are angry, and the teabaggers have taken that anger and directed it at poor black people. Probably because if the poor people of all colors got together and didn't blame each other, we would actually be able to get some reform done!

At least you can laugh....

Until we get President Palin, anyway.

I can understand that. Given the choice between Lazio and Cuomo, I can see how anyone from outside tha Albany machine would seem appealing...except I've heard Paladino speak, and he's a fucking crazy person. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I were a Republican in this primary season. Probably stay home and plan to vote Independent in November.

I'm from Michigan. I get long-term unemployment despair. I get wanting someone to blame. But I don't think the Teabaggers are pointing their fury in the right direction.

Seriously, I was reading Corporette yesterday and one of the commenters was asking about a friend who wanted to borrow money who had been out of work for two years. And the other commenters went off, and I was reading it going "I know y'all are lawyers and shit but damn, you do know we are in a big recession and some people are out of work that long, and I'm sure the poor woman is depressed and has already cashed out her 401k and borrowed from her family??"

Oh my god, I knew it: [link]

I want like buttons for work emails. Someone just sent out one with a "too soon?" joke in it. I'm a sucker for that shit.

So am I. I find myself wanting "like" buttons for lots of things, especially blogs, so I can just be "I was here. I read it. I like this. KTHXBYE."

Oh- I think it is crazy-- I was going to say that the situation is ripe for brainwashing, but that seems rude. I feel like poor white people are angry, and the teabaggers have taken that anger and directed it at poor black people. Probably because if the poor people of all colors got together and didn't blame each other, we would actually be able to get some reform done!

And Sophia just nailed it. It's the 21st century U.S. version of divide and conquer.