Fear and Loathing in Tampa Tulsa Style!

[Teatownclown]

Huff Post Interviews Tulsa and Bartlesville Okies

Republican Convention Delegates Spurred By Fear Will Fight For Man They Don't Like
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/mitt-romney-convention_n_1846625.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&utm_hp_ref=politics

Larry Gallow, of Tulsa, Okla., predicted that the surge in people needing food stamps and other aid since the start of the financial meltdown in 2007 and 2008 would make Obama especially unpopular.

"One of the things that's going to really hit Obama bad is that with the welfare, all of this, so many people in entitlements right now -- the middle class, who he terms as the middle class, who are out there working every day, they're resentful of the fact that they are put into this class, and they're resentful that there are a lot of people who could be working who are not working," said Gallow, who believes the president has deliberately swelled the ranks of the needy.

"So that's going to backfire on him," Gallow said. "There are actually a whole lot of people out here who are working very hard to take care of themselves and their family, and he said here's free cell phones, here's free food stamps. They don't want that. These people have pride, and that's what that man is trying to take away from these people -- pride. They are taking away pride from the American citizen."

Okies are a stupid lot.

[AquaMan]

Indeed. His rantings sound familiar if not understandable. Its like people who don't believe in climate change but have no real basis for that belief other than disliking those who do. When you press them on details they get flustered.

I just keep snickering to myself sometimes when I realize, this republican candidate is one of those guys we used to hide from in college when we saw them enter the neighborhood in pairs on their bikes, dressed in black pants and white shirts. If you answered the door you got a discussion about how the world was a total mess and hand you some kind of brochure with a watch tower on it. We had informal networks to warn each other and actually used to run out the back door and head to the park when they were sighted. Typical question as you opened the door, "Are you worried about the condition of the world today?" Typical college student answer, "No" as you closed the door.

As an adult, they have visited my home and I've become much more accommodating to them. A friend of mine is a former member, now shunned by her family. I engaged one young man in conversation on my front porch in order to find out just what his motivations were. I countered each of his concerns with pragmatic, historically accurate viewpoints. His knowledge of history was understandably weak. Not part of his programming. He relaxed and started to talk.

Turns out he had been visited in his poor village in Africa and promised an education if he would come to the states and work for the church. He was doing his best to honor his commitment and to receive his ticket to the rest of the world. I admired him.

He figured out the game and was a legitimate, honorable player. Religion can be predatory, viral, exclusionary, enlightening and beneficial all at the same time, but you have to know the game.

[carltonplace]

I just keep snickering to myself sometimes when I realize, this republican candidate is one of those guys we used to hide from in college when we saw them enter the neighborhood in pairs on their bikes, dressed in black pants and white shirts.

You were afraid he was going to pin you down and cut your hair.

[AquaMan]

A by God pony tail!

[Teatownclown]

For Oklahoma delegates in the 'reddest' state, pity and respect
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-dnc-oklahoma-delegates-20120904,0,2513465.story
By Hector Becerra
September 4, 2012, 10:08 a.m.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.— As she headed to the Democratic National Convention that starts here Tuesday night, 83-year-old Oklahoma delegate Isabel Baker ran into Democrats from other states. They greeted her with a blend of respect and pity.

But mostly pity, she said, for coming from one of the nation's most resolutely Republican states.

"They say, 'God love you. Thank you,'" the retired college professor said Tuesday morning, wearing a long-sleeve pink shirt with "Forward Obama" printed in a glittery silver. "I think we're treated better, maybe. I think they feel sorry for us."

Oklahoma sent 47 delegates to the Democratic convention to support President Obama in his race against GOP challenger Mitt Romney.  They have no illusion Obama will carry what one called the "reddest of the red" states.

Four years ago, Republican nominee John McCain trounced Obama in Oklahoma by more than 31 percentage points. Obama didn't win a single one of the 77 counties.

PHOTOS: The protests of the DNC

Obama would need something like a mass migration of surplus Democrats from New York or California to win Oklahoma. The staunchest Oklahoma Sooner football fan probably would sooner ask to be dressed in a Nebraska Huskers jersey for his funeral before Obama wins the state.

The result is such a foregone conclusion, said Todd Hembree, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma,  that neither Obama nor Romney is expected to step foot in the state before election day.  

"Neither campaign will spend a dime in Oklahoma," he said. "It's all set."

The state is so conservative, Hembree said, that when he announced he was going to the Democratic convention, he was loudly booed. By his friends.

But Jim Frasier, another delegate, said that doesn't mean committed Democrats sit on the sidelines in Oklahoma.

"I take great pleasure raising money in Oklahoma and sending it to Illinois, and Pennsylvania and Ohio," said the 71-year-old attorney from Tulsa. It forces Republicans to spend money and energy doing the same thing, he said.

Being an active Democrat in Oklahoma comes with battle scars, he said.

"We just had a gentleman from Wisconsin, which is one of the battleground states, speaking to our delegation," he said. "He referred to us as the tough guys because it's so rough and tumble in Oklahoma to be a Democrat. There's a level of respect."

For an Oklahoma delegate, Frasier said, coming to the convention—which he has done every four years since 1976—is like going to a resort of the mind. At least here, he doesn't have to constantly argue positions.  

PHOTOS: Scenes from the DNC

"It's a challenge, my man," Frasier said with a sigh. "Some of the disagreements are stark. Some things my friends in Illinois and California take for granted are issues in Oklahoma.  When I get to the convention, my battery is recharged and it gives me a great deal of hope for this election."

Baker concurred: "It gives you a high. The adrenaline flows."

Her son, Bill John Baker, 60, is a delegate and a chief in the Cherokee Nation. More circumspect  and diplomatic than his mother, he offers the eternally ambivalent qualification: "Some of my best friends are Republicans."

"They can't help if they're misguided," his mother offers.

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Hector.becerra@latimes.com

Failure to mention Will Rogers and Carl Albert.