McConnell Pushing Hillbilly Ellegy Author JD Vance to Run for Senate

A former Marine and Yale Law School Graduate. What's the problem?

He would be an interesting candidate, to say the least. He grew up a little more than 30 miles from me. He's compassionate, and understands what it means to be a low-class white in the US. If he's Republican, I had no idea. At least he might bring some ideas to the table. I sure as hell hope Sherrod Brown whoops his ass, if he chooses to run, though.

He's a douche. And the only skill that has got him attention is pandering to poor white rural people. It's not as if he helped them in some substantive way, no just pandered to them.

And I think the narrative he is pushing, that white rural Americans are being systematically suppressed like other marginalized groups, isn't based in reality

I see no evidence he is a “Douche.” He seems very bright and decent

Anti gay?

If McConnell is pushing for him then there can’t possibly be anything good about him.

^^^This

[quote]“If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it’s hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all? Similarly, when people do fail, this mind-set allows them to look outward. I once ran into an old acquaintance at a Middletown bar who told me that he had recently quit his job because he was sick of waking up early. I later saw him complaining on Facebook about the “Obama economy” and how it had affected his life. I don’t doubt that the Obama economy has affected many, but this man is assuredly not among them. His status in life is directly attributable to the choices he’s made, and his life will improve only through better decisions. But for him to make better choices, he needs to live in an environment that forces him to ask tough questions about himself. There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day.”

Is he fat?! We don't want any more fatties in the WH

Bright I'll give you R4. I call him a douche because I follow him on twitter and find his persona very phony. I think he makes arguments about racial politics in America in bad faith and in such a way that will only hold back racial progress. And I think he does it just for easy money.

Again, with his background and money he could do a lot of good in Appalachia. Start programs, advocate for specific issues. But he just manipulates the politics of grievance for personal gain, no different than Trump.

[quote]“We’ll get fired for tardiness, or for stealing merchandise and selling it on eBay, or for having a customer complain about the smell of alcohol on our breath, or for taking five thirty-minute restroom breaks per shift. We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we’re not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese. These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the cognitive dissonance—the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach. We”

[quote]Barack Obama strikes at the heart of our deepest insecurities. He is a good father while many of us aren’t. He wears suits to his job while we wear overalls, if we’re lucky enough to have a job at all. His wife tells us that we shouldn’t be feeding our children certain foods, and we hate her for it—not because we think she’s wrong but because we know she’s right. Many”

BTW, I'm R2, R8, R11, and R12. My Mom would have smacked me across the face if I ever used the word 'Hillbilly' in public, just as she would have if I had ever used the "N' word (I never have). i grew up in a neighborhood composed mainly by Appalachian=Americans and African-Americans (I'm German-Catholic, myself). We kids grew up together, and then, as we became teenagers, some Appalachian kid would use the 'n' word, or some black kid would call someone a 'cracker' and friendships that went back to our childhoods would end forever. Working class America is a tough place to grow up. I think JD Vance at least gets it. I don't want him to win a seat, but to bring some needed dialogue.

I need something concrete to prove he is not anti-gay. This is DataLounge, a gay and lesbian site, so don't even try to call our outlook identity politics. You came here shilling him knowing what this site is. And identity politics now refers to white neo nazis, the third of American voters that suddenly needs to be catered to. Alt right neo-nazi Snowflakes.

Yertle the Turtle Mitch.

OK, so he actually is Republican. So, fuck him.

[quote]Though it doesn’t mention Donald Trump, Hillbilly Elegy has been hailed as a must-read prism into disaffection among America’s white working class and the rise of the new president. Vance, 32, is a Republican, but his writing has received accolades across the political spectrum. “Anyone wanting to understand Trump’s rise or American inequality should read it,” said Larry Summers, the Harvard economist and Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary

He would be like Ben Sasse - able to identify the problems facing 99-percenters and offering advice on how they can make their lives better. Then he will vote for Republican policies and actions that do nothing but make that harder to do.

Summary: A very strong candidate and probable winner over the potential democrat alternatives.

He can win, as long as he is republican

Nah Sherrod Brown is a popular incumbent and 2018 is looking like a great year for democrats. Numerous strong candidates refuse to face him. You have a Dem up for reelection in a state Trump won easily and every R is instead running for governor. Would take a GREAT candidate to dislodge Brown and Vance isn't that. Not very charismatic and attractive. No history of public service (except maybe military) or unique achievement.

And none of the republican base who would need to vote with him has read or will read his book. From the tone and language choice, the book is clearly pitched at academics and intellectuals. Due to Trumps victory a good amount of regular liberals are also reading it to signal they are "reverse woke" and respect Appalachia.

IF he runs, and his reluctance suggests he doesn't think he would win easily, Brown is the heavy favorite

he's a dunce who like to be told what to do. His policy ideas a re a mishmash of things that don't make any sense. He thinks Pence is a "moral man".

Anti-gay or not?

Why is this such a hard question?

R22 he doesn't talk about it much. If it's hard for you to find through google it's just as hard for all of us

Run against Sherrod Brown? He'll get ROFLstomped.

He’s a douchebag. He will lose.

Rural Americans embarrass the Republicans because only black prople in ghettos are supposed to be poor. The GOP can push the "they just don't work hard" narrative if it's about poor black people. The GOP rarely mentions rural America, which is full of white people and is just as poor.

Because there are more whites than blacks, more whites use welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, etc, but the GOP doesn't want you to know that

[quote]And none of the republican base who would need to vote with him has read or will read his book.

BIN-GO.

Does it even have pitchers?

He’s got those talking points and pressure points DOWN, I’ll give him that.

Never under estimate Yertle, aka Palpatine

I read his book.

Hillbilly Elegy? More like Hillbilly Apology

He is a protégé of Peter Theil.

I doubt he's anti-gay.

Why not? Theil is anti-gay.

how could anyone trust anyone being supported by McConnell? they can't be that dumb in KY

Thiel is... complicated.

But realize this, McConnell would NEVER support someone for office he thought would challenge him in anyway, or not vote his initiatives. It's McConnell's greatest weakness. He will throw away winnable races to avoid someone that would go against him even 10% of the time. Based on nearly all analysis I've seen including from many traditional right wing sources, The policy agenda of this GOP congress is incredibly regressive and will do some real damage to the poor. McConnell wouldn't support him unless he thought Vance would vote for everyone. Vance is a fraud.

Yertle is the master manipulator that Trump wishes he was.

Oh come on. Theil is anti-gay? I suppose that you think that Log Cabin Repugs are anti-gay as well?

Just because someone is not your sort of gay man or woman does not make them anti-gay. Anita Bryant was anti-gay. Pence is anti-gay.

A man who makes a speech at the RNC about being a gay Republican is hardly anti-gay.

R36 I understand your point of view. That's why I just called him complicated.

Arguably if you donate to the R party, you do that KNOWING your money will end up supporting things like "religious freedom" laws envisioned just to discriminate against gay people.

If I called myself pro choice but then only gave money to republicans and supported them where I can, am I actually pro choice?

R37 I agreed with your statement that Theil is complicated. That is exactly what his situation is.

It was the poster who preceded you who I was responding to. My bad for not including his post number.

Theil is pro-himself as a gay GOP Nazi.

Vance would be to politics what Joel Osteen is to religion.

He's dreadful. I'm as white trash as he is and he talks out of his ass.

Joel Osteen is an EXCELLENT comparison. Sums up what I was trying to say better than I ever could

PT is another coward that hides in the shadows and has minions to do his dirty deeds. Bring these real life trolls out into the light.

Thiel, not Theil

elegy, not ellegy