"So why did about half of the white working class vote for W?"
Well unlike most of you, I actually live around these people:
*The first reason is simply word of mouth. Gossip flys further than most birds in rural areas... esp. in the southeast. I hate to say it but women are the key reason for it. People hate junk mail and radio talk shows, but the few who bother to listen to it spread false information around word-of-mouth.
* The second reason is the blunt propaganda that is taking place in the churches like never before. I've been going to a Southern Baptist church for 26 years and in the last decade I have seen the younger minister (aka preachers) talking more and more about morality AND POLITICS. The Republicans have been using this issue to their advantage - knowing full well that their politics is heavily connected with an immoral group of business men, who abuse the system. In fact it has got so bad that in the last two presidential elections, the churches have started putting political pamphlets - via the Christian Coalition - inside the church bulletin. Inside are key issues the minister has preached about, moral issues, and the so-called opinion of the candidate. I notices in the last election the pamphlet actually had false information on it, about a few Democratic candidates!
* The third reason is simply this: the Democratic Party has long ago lost its socialist agenda. Therefore they are as worthless as the Republicans, hence the reason most people don't bother to vote, nor do they trust anything a politician says. If you are skeptical about that, then ask yourself this question: How can a guy in Alabama walk to a cash register with the latest issue of Inter- nation Socialist Review, or openly subscribe to the Monthly Review - which clearly states its an Independent Socialist Magazine - and never once faced any harassment nor seen any vandalism near his (my) home?
PS: who ever wrote that line about the Redneck Manifesto... fuck you.