Guest Voice: Palin and ‘Jeff Foxworthy Voters’

This guest column is from Ned Lips. Today, Mr. Lips is a St. Louis-based educator, entrepreneur, and business strategist. Previously, he worked for 12 years as an attorney. He was also one of several party-defiant voters interviewed for our recent feature on the Missouri bellwether. “Guest Voice” posts do not necessarily represent the opinions of TMV or its writers.

If they use her properly, Sarah Palin will prove to be the perfect selection for the struggling McCain campaign.

Palin appeals to “Jeff Foxworthy voters” who find themselves on the fence in many election cycles.

These voters distrust big business, big oil, politicians, and lobbyists. They tend to be union members; downtrodden blue collar or agricultural workers. They do not own businesses and don’t much like foreigners — especially those who may have taken jobs away from American citizens.

Foxworthy voters were once reliable Democrats, but several issues have overwhelmed their distrust of Republicans. They are predominantly pro-life. They love their guns. In their country, a Christian God should rule supreme. This group values might over talk; war over diplomacy. They fight our wars and die in them with honor — and they volunteer to do so. Finally, to this segment of voters, too many Democrats believe it is more important to protect the snail darter than jobs.

Sarah Palin is the best of all worlds. She is a small town woman from a sparsely populated state. Her husband, Todd, is a union member. She rose from nothing and fought the big oil companies — and won. Every Alaskan will receive more than $3,000 this year under her leadership. She loves to hunt and go fast. She might even chew tobacco. Todd is “her guy” and they have five kids. Her daughter is pregnant, just like the daughters of many Foxworthy voters, who sit on the porch drinking beer after work on a hot summer evening.

Palin loves God and country. Her son is going off to fight in Iraq, and not as an attorney like Biden’s son. Palin’s son is in the infantry, like the sons of many Foxworthy voters. She believes America is right and should rule the world, if not directly then indirectly. If you are near the bottom of the totem poll in your world, being a dominant American is at least something. Her constituents will never leave this country, and will probably not venture too far from their home towns. They don’t care what the French think of us — much less the Chinese or Iranians. “Nuke ‘em.”

Finally, these voters do not trust slick, big-city African-Americans who were once community activists. Democrat or not, most Foxworthy voters will not support Barack Obama in November. And, without Palin, they would probably not vote at all.

If the Republicans are smart, Palin will fly off to her birthplace in Idaho and begin a trek across all the Foxworthy states that the Republicans have to win to have a chance. None of the other candidates appeals to this group. McCain certainly does not.

So let McCain and Lieberman handle the Northeast. McCain and Schwarzenegger handle California. McCain and the Bushes handle Texas and Florida. If Palin can win Idaho to Oklahoma, Georgia to Indiana, the Republicans will win in November. Democrats be forewarned.