Just back from my grandmother's funeral in Ky, and from my sometimes racist father, who for reasons I will never understand watches Fox News all day... of Obama, said, "That black man...somebody raised him right. You can tell. Somebody took some time with him, and they raised him right."
Which is the 2nd highest compliment my father can give: Raised right. Implying a good sense of what's right and wrong, knows how to behave and get along in the world and with anyone he might happen to meet, has some common sense, some manners, some intelligence.
The absolute highest compliment from my father is that someone is a "hard worker," but honestly, Obama being a college professor... well, I don't think my father, who did hard physical labor his whole life, would ever think any college professor was a "hard worker.
But "raised right"... that's high praise.
My mother, as Mitch McConnell appeared on the TV screen talking about the bailout: "There's no-lips." (Cracked me up. He does always look like he just tasted something sour and has no lips.)
They get the Louisville TV stations and we didn't see much TV, but what we did see was filled with Ky. Senate ads from both McConnell and the Democrat Bruce Lunsford. Lunsford's talking about him building up a successful business from nothing to..60,000 employees, I think. McConnell's ad claiming Lunsford is a carpetbagger (not sure if he used that actual word) but claiming the guy is really a resident of Chicago, and who does he think he is trying to get elected to the Senate from Ky. anyway? (http://www.bruce2008.com/index.asp -- web site reports Lexington TV station's new poll has Lunsford within 3 percent!)
Neither of my parents are happy with "No-Lips." And they would be prime Republican voters, in the 60s, very religious, small-town, conservative Southerners. And the people in my grandmother's town and especially my grandmother's church... very, very conservative, lower middle class at best, poor, hard-working people whose lives I suspect have not been easy at all the last eight years.
Mom is still leery of Obama for reasons I can't get her to clearly articulate, but she doesn't like McCain either. And honestly, she's spent most of the last six months at a hospital or nursing home watching over my grandmother. If she's home, Daddy has Fox News on. So her simply disliking McCain and being leery of Obama is not bad, given what she's seen and heard of the campaign so far.
They're both really worried about the economy and where their money will be safe. Don't have lots of money, but they do have a farm that we've always thought would be worth a lot of money one day when they sell it.
Bumper Sticker report: I swear, I only saw 1 bumper sticker for McCain on my trip, 4 days in Kentucky, mostly driving back and forth from my parents' town to my grandmother's. 1 McCain bumper sticker.
I think I saw at least 6 Obama stickers, and I have to say, they somehow managed to make even the bumper stickers look hopeful!
So, here it is, my tidbits from a few days in Ky.
Obama: Raised Right.
McConnell: No Lips.
Just for fun: http://www.ditchmitchky.com/ Video of Lunsford available there.