A "friend" on Facebook had a link to David Paul Kuhn's "White men shun Democrats" March 27 op-ed at
http://www.timesunion.com/...
This basically reprints his March 22 LA Times op-ed "Revenge of the white men" at
http://www.latimes.com/...
Apparently he writes for http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ and has a book titled The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma up at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/...
Please help me get through the WTF moment I am experiencing here.
The publicity quotes that go with David Paul Kuhn's book on Amazon include this tidbit:
"A brilliantly insightful analysis of American politics at the national level. Every Democrat should read this book."
--General Wesley K. Clark, author of A Time To Lead
That would be in the more-credibility column. But what's up with some of the lingo in his op-ed? For example:
"It's no accident that the flight of white males from the Democratic Party has come as the government has assumed a bigger role, including in banking and healthcare. Among whites, 71% of men and 56% of women favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services, according to ABC/Washington Post polling. Obama's brand of liberalism is exactly the sort likely to drive such voters away."
Now my first reaction was that I trust the info I get here and so I can't help thinking that some of what I'm seeing is a dramatic and slanted reading of a decline of a few percentage points that indeed translates into millions of voters but is being overdramatized. Further, there is the whole regional thing. But is there:
a) Any validity to what this guy is saying that we should be paying more attention to? (I doubt it, but please help me through my WTF moment here.)
and
b) Is there something subversive about this meme, message or who is spreading it that we need to address or track? (Maybe?)
I'll bet this guy has LOADS of legitimate insights but like most pundit types he is happy to use that to sneak in LOADS of BS. Wiser heads than mine please chime in.