Social Security and Red Staters: A Love Story

The Left Coaster blogs Legal Fiction: Republicans have won the votes of the Red State elderly and working class by stressing cultural issues and national security. To stray from this tried-and-true formula for success is a gamble – one with great possible rewards, but great risks too.

That’s why Bush’s post-SOTU tour of Red-States-with-Democratic-Senators was so fundamentally misguided. Bush can wedge these Senators on almost any issue, yet he chose the one issue that every Democrat in every region of the country can rally around. Hell, if you ask a (white) Democrat in Mississippi why they’re still a Democrat, they’ll probably cite Social Security. It’s the one issue where every Red State Democrat has infinite political cover to support the national party’s platform.