I have a cousin-in-law who is a big fan of Palin.

[hedgehog]

We started out pretty much the same 30 years ago. They stayed in the home town as it hit the skids. We moved around a bit following the work. My cousin was out of work for several extended periods and they were on welfare for a while at least once. (and I doubt he told the welfare about the odd paint jobs he picked up here and there). I've been out of work a couple times, but with my husband's salary we were able to get by.

The long and short of it is that looking back I can see where my cousin and his wife made some bad choices and we happened to make some good choices. I won't claim any special foresight on our part, aside from the fact that my cousin was a little bit too deep into recreational drugs including alcohol and tobacco. It never intefered with his job, as far as I know, but the toll on his health is plain.

At this point, my older kids are out working and making plans. They've had to scrimp and save, but my two eldest have bought houses. Their kids are sort of adrift. I know their oldest has had more than one brush with the law.

They were all Kennedy Democrats back in 1960 and they're Palin supporters now.

I am offering this as an example of why Palin attracts at least some people. She tells my cousin and his wife that it's those people's fault that their lives have turned out the way they did. It's an attractive fiction.

[virgogal]

1. Your cousin is an addict. Sad.

[hlthe2b]

2. I know.. this is what frightens me...

Palin attracts far too many mainstream voters as well as many of the most intelligent, educated electorate-- by virtue of their being largely agnostic to politics and extremely uninformed. I have a female physician friend that was supporting her prior to the election... I was probably a bit less than diplomatic in expressing my dismay, so I don't know whether she voted for her and still supports her--or not. It is a very touchy issue though and one I think we need to take quite seriously. For those with only a cursory understanding (or knowledge) of all things political, those Faux news soundbytes can hit home.

We can not underestimate the exploitative effect that Faux news and Palinites can have, especially as aided and abetted by our lousy MSM.

[hedgehog]

3. My mother thinks FDR is a saint. That these family members

back Palin means that the Democratic Party has really lost touch with some of the base.

They are the epitome of white working class (unfortunately out of work)

[NoNothing]

5. That's the bottom line

Palin celebrates the working class without doing much to help it. Democrats try to help the working class without celebrating it.

[patrice]

4. "those people"? The ones that receive welfare/Soc Sec/Medicare/aid?

[patrice]

6. They're the ones who prevented them from getting better jobs?

[hedgehog]

9. As good paying jobs have left the area, real estate prices crashed

and a lot of areas ran down. It was the classic case of too many people saying " well, Mom's house isn't selling, let's rent it out". I don't think you can rent a house out and make a profit at it unless you're willing to forego all maintenence. In this case, my grandparent's house was in good shape and even had a new kitchen addition and new siding. It was a small bungelow, and it sat on the market for a few years and I think sold for less than it should have been worth. The perception is that those people drove down property values. It's not true, but try telling that to the people involved.

[HeresyLives]

7. Here is the key to what made you different.

'They stayed in the home town as it hit the skids. We moved around a bit following the work.'

[hedgehog]

10. In point of fact, my parents left the home town first. Studying

where my Mom's kids ended up and where her sister's kids ended up is like a Russian novel. I've always felt bad that we weren't closer to the extended family, but it was a case of move on or move down.

[smoogatz]

8. I had a cousin-in-law who was a wingnut.

My ex-wife's first cousin. She was a complete fundie nutball, about twenty years old, kind of cute in a trashy/hillbilly way. She had to have bunghole repair surgery not long after I met her because she and her "fiancee" had apparently been having anal sex pretty much constantly as some kind of goofy "saving it 'til marriage" gesture. Which has virtually nothing to do w/ the OP--it's just a great story.

[tularetom]

11. My sister was a single mom after her husband left her

When she died in 1987 we sort of took her two adult children under our wing. The daughter has turned out OK if sort of shallow, but the son proved to be a real asshole. He has drifted from job to job, gotten in more than one bar fight and was arrested (later released) in conjunction with a road rage incident. He has a big time drinking problem and has managed to alienate his son, a truly nice, gentle kid who joined the Marines and went to Iraq just to get away from his dad. His daughter got pregnant at 18 and got married, we think in an effort to get away from him. I kicked him out of my house when he showed up for Thanksgiving with a loaded handgun.

My nephew loves Palin. He can read all the code words and hear all the dog whistles. She may not come out and say it but he KNOWS she is talking about "those people", whom he blames for most of the fuckups he has perpetrated in his life.

My sister was a true flower child of the '60's. She is probably spinning in her grave, seeing how her eldest child turned out.

[surrealAmerican]

12. Every choice we make in our lives ...

... is to some extent a gamble. The old home town might not have continued to decline; the new place you moved to could have turned out worse. Your skills might be in demand, or permanently obsolete.

People who can recognize when they've lost the gamble, and recover from it, have a chance at success, but some percentage of them will fail too.

We should never forget or blame those less fortunate because it could easily be us in that position.

[hedgehog]

13. The problem is politicians turning some who aren't fortunate

against others who aren't fortunate.

Divide and conquer?

[hedgehog]

14. All too often, those who gamble and win pat themselves on

the back for their wisdom instead of being aware that they just had a run of good luck.

[mindwalker_i]

15. Take 'is ass to the woodshed (n/t)