Liberals don’t understand America

Posted by | November 9, 2016 11:24 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Opinion Politics

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Paul Krugman owns up, as should all liberals/progressive who have greatly underestimated the level of despair and anger too many Americans have.

…like me, and probably like most readers of The New York Times, truly didn’t understand the country we live in. We thought that our fellow citizens would not, in the end, vote for a candidate so manifestly unqualified for high office, so temperamentally unsound, so scary yet ludicrous.

We thought that the nation, while far from having transcended racial prejudice and misogyny, had become vastly more open and tolerant over time.

We thought that the great majority of Americans valued democratic norms and the rule of law.

It turns out that we were wrong. There turn out to be a huge number of people — white people, living mainly in rural areas — who don’t share at all our idea of what America is about. For them, it is about blood and soil, about traditional patriarchy and racial hierarchy. And there were many other people who might not share those anti-democratic values, but who nonetheless were willing to vote for anyone bearing the Republican label.

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

29 responses to Liberals don’t understand America

  1. mea_mark November 9th, 2016 at 11:31

    Paul Krugman isn’t really owning up, he is just blaming and demonizing those that won for the democratic defeat. It is just more division. He needs to recognize that things haven’t gone well for the majority while they have gone well for the few. The people are revolting against the oligarchy through the ballot box, that is what they are supposed to do. Demonizing them is nonproductive and will just create lasting animosity.

    • arc99 November 9th, 2016 at 11:33

      So educate me. I am only human. How do I resist the urge to demonize people who lie about virtually everything I believe in?

      • mea_mark November 9th, 2016 at 11:35

        Start by listening to their grievances and acknowledging them. Understanding their position more fully can help. Then try and build a bridge.

        • arc99 November 9th, 2016 at 11:37

          sorry.. maybe my attitude will soften as the months go by, but I have neither the ability nor the desire to build a bridge to people who gutted the Voting Rights Act, lied about ACORN and spent 8 years promoting the racist birther BS.

          as long as they make it clear they have zero respect for my beliefs, I will enthusiastically return the favor.

        • Buford2k11 November 9th, 2016 at 11:37

          we tried that for the last eight years, and it was never about bridges…it was only about them forcing us to live by their rules…period…

        • RightThinkingOne November 9th, 2016 at 20:27

          Excellent points.

  2. Warman1138 November 9th, 2016 at 11:32

    So true, I live in such an area and I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen a Dem. election yard sign in the last 17 yrs. And any mention of pres. Obama brings out the n-word.

    • Carla Akins November 9th, 2016 at 11:36

      I’m in Kansas City MO which is blue (like St Louis) but the state is red. My local leaders my be Dems but the state voted for all Republicans with the exception of Cleaver (a long-time incumbent). When I return home to a small town in mid-MO, they like to rail on how the black President has ruined the nation – like they can’t recall 2007. And yes, they are big on the “n” word.

    • crc3 November 9th, 2016 at 11:43

      ….and they call themselves “christians”….

      • Warman1138 November 9th, 2016 at 11:45

        Comedy of the absurd.

  3. crc3 November 9th, 2016 at 11:41

    UNITED WE STAND…DIVIDED WE FALL…

    • dewired4u November 9th, 2016 at 14:55

      Bullshit, we already fell we just haven’t hit bottom yet.

      • crc3 November 9th, 2016 at 15:39

        …and there’s not a thing we can do about it either…

  4. Kick Frenzy November 9th, 2016 at 12:34

    I think Krugman is missing the part where Hillary was greatly untrusted and disliked, not to mention flat out hated, by a large portion of the populace.

    If the Dems had nominated Sanders, Jim Webb, or possibly O’Malley, it would have been a much more blue tinted night.
    Just the lack of a deep-seated hatred for any of them, as compared to Hillary, would’ve been enough to make a measurable difference… much less an email controversy (re: DNC collusion, etc) that alienates a wide swath of their own party.

    It’s not liberal ideals that lost the election, it was Hillary herself.

    • crc3 November 9th, 2016 at 12:58

      Great points and you might be spot on!!

    • Bunya November 9th, 2016 at 13:52

      As much as I didn’t like HRC, I voted for her but preferred Bernie Sanders. However I don’t think her e-mails had any impact on voters. I think it was their hatred towards Barack Obama and their need to control women.

      • Kick Frenzy November 9th, 2016 at 15:45

        I wrote in Sanders, but as a NJ resident it means I made a statement without jeopardizing her chances to win the state.

        But I have to disagree, I think the emails had a massive effect.
        From the private server that was used against protocol and without proper security measures, to emails showing collusion to destroy Bernie’s bid, to having a different message behind closed doors… it may not have been the only thing, but it was most certainly part of the reason she didn’t get as many votes as she could have.

        The people who were voting out of misogyny and hatred for Obama wouldn’t have voted for Hillary regardless of emails or anything else… they were dark Red voters anyway.
        But you have a point that their hatred probably got more them out to the polls and also had a real effect on vote totals.

        • whatthe46 November 9th, 2016 at 15:57

          hope your proud of yourself kick. congrats on electing tRump.

          • Kick Frenzy November 9th, 2016 at 16:16

            You so funny.
            I’m sure my single vote, in a state where Hillary won, helped Trump win.

            :p

        • Bunya November 9th, 2016 at 16:13

          I think they’re using the e-mails as an excuse not to vote for her because, look at Trump. He lied, cheated and stole, and STILL won the election. Hitler could have won the election, yet the righties would blame Hillary’s e-mails for their lack of support.
          .
          I think that, just like in 2000 when the SC appointed Dubya emperor of the U.S., if Trump would have lost and contested the election results, the SC (being mostly repubs) would have given him the win, anyway. I’m almost sure of it.

    • Mike November 9th, 2016 at 16:32

      Exactly, the party adopted 80% of Bernie’s platform….
      I don’t mind losing but I wish we had run a lib like Bernie instead of a moderate con like Hill (and her 8 tons of baggage) Kinda adds to the sting a little.

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