CNN Contributor Foolishly Argues Kentucky, Arkansas Have 'Never' Been Democratic 'Hotbeds'
CNN contributor Maria Cardona may have forgotten some history as she tried to spin away President Obama's troubles in the Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primaries. Cardona, speaking during the 10 a.m. hour of Wednesday's Newsroom, argued that "Arkansas and Kentucky have never been hotbeds of the Democratic Party."
President Obama only picked up 58 percent of the vote in the Kentucky Democratic primary, and 60 percent in Arkansas. "Look, Arkansas and Kentucky have never been hotbeds of the Democratic Party. There's no real infrastructure there. There's no organization by the Obama campaign there," Cardona insisted. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Cardona's first statement ignores some quite recent history, that former President Bill Clinton was the Democratic governor of Arkansas before he ran for president – and that both Arkansas and Kentucky voted for him in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.
As far as infrastructure goes, both states might be far from solid red as they have had Democratic governors since 2007. Arkansas had two Democratic senators as late as 2011 when former Senator Blanche Lincoln finished out her second term after replacing another Democrat, Senator Dale Bumpers. Meanwhile, Arkansas Democratic Senator Mark Pryor is still serving his second term in the U.S. Senate.
Both states have a Democratic history as well. Since 1950, eight different Democrats served as Governor of Arkansas (Bill Clinton was elected twice), compared to just three Republican governors. Kentucky has seen 13 Democratic governors since 1950, and only two Republican governors.
Both Kentucky and Arkansas voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Arkansas voted Democratic in every presidential election year from 1920 through 1964. Kentucky, meanwhile, voted Democratic every presidential election from 1932 through 1952, and went for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
So to summarize, Maria Cardona might want to brush up on her history before she again excuses Obama's poor showing in the Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primaries due to both states having never been a Democratic "hotbed."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on May 23 on Newsroom at 10:29 a.m. EDT, is follows:
CAROL COSTELLO: Last night, President Obama only got 60 percent of the primary vote in Arkansas and 58 percent in Kentucky. At least he wasn't losing votes to a convicted felon like he did in West Virginia. But the question is, should Mr. Obama be worried about his support among Democrats? Maria?
MARIA CARDONA: No, Carol. He shouldn't be. Look, Arkansas and Kentucky have never been hotbeds of the Democratic Party. There's no real infrastructure there. There's no organization by the Obama campaign there.
In the swing states, and in the solidly blue Democratic states, Obama is doing quite well, and that's really where it matters. That's where the decision of this election is going to be made. And frankly, in the polls that we've seen recently, the Democratic intensity for voters and the enthusiasm among Democrats is actually beating the enthusiasm and intensity among GOP voters. So I think that's – those are the numbers that really matter.
- Matt Hadro's blog
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Comments
Sure, they were Democratic hotbeds
Submitted by JeffC... on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:17pm.
They were big Demo hotbeds way back in the days when Demos fought against civil rights and supported the KKK.
The South used to be
Submitted by redfish on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:17pm.
The South used to be controlled by conservative Democrats, what in Congress are labeled 'Blue Dogs', but are more generally known as bol weevils. Nationally, they've often voted Republican but only (relatively) recently have their local politics gone Republican.
I guess she never heard of
Submitted by rockyracoon on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:25pm.
I guess she never heard of the 'solid south' before...big surprise. This kinda reminds me of the line by Spinal Tap's manager "...Boston's not a big college town anyway."
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
I always wonder if people
Submitted by forest on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:25pm.
I always wonder if people like this are really this stupid, or if they are just trying to rewrite the history of the democrat party - expunging the pro-slavery, Jim Crow and KKK parts.
I think this one might just be stupid.
The answer to your question is both
Submitted by ohio granny on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 11:45am.
Yes, they are both stupid and trying to rewrite history of the racist democrat party. Can't have anyone knowing the democrat party is the party of the KKK and Jim Crow now can we?
Facts? What are facts?
Submitted by octavioj on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:40pm.
Mr. Hadro,
you may be expecting too much from these people.
I don't recall
Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:47pm.
But I'm thinking these were not open primaries
To me, these are good signs...
Submitted by MacWell on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 5:56pm.
but not for the reasons you may think. Personally, I couldn't care less what little letter or letters are after a persons name. What I care about is whether a person loves America or not. It's become apparent that the present administration does not, (love America, that is).
We the people have had enough of career politicians lying to us, stealing from us, and making fools of us. The silent majority cannot and will not remain silent any longer. We must remove all of the people who believe that America needs to be "fundamentally transformed".
We MUST take back OUR Congress.
Without a strong and patriotic House of Representatives, we the people are doomed.
The founders, who gave their all to the birth of this new nation, intended for everyday people, from all walks of life, all professions, a cross section of Americans if you will, to serve in Congress. What we have is a den of thieves and lawyers who represent themselves and those who pay them for favors. This is not what all those great men, and millions of our countrymen fought and died for.
Imho, where the problem started was when we the people remained silent as one woman and nine black robed men threw God out of our public schools. Since then, America's educational system has been going downhill, as well as the student's futures. We've made a grave mistake. We got busy raising families, working, and trying to make a difference. We were a good people back then, for the most part. We could leave our front doors unlocked at night, just in case someone needed our help. We settled many financial matters with a handshake, instead of a handful of lawyers.
November will be the most important election of my 65 years.
We the people must decide if America is to remain, well, America.
It's that simple folks.
Vote like your lives, and the lives of your children are at stake, because they are!
If the DNC media are not Democratic 'Hotbeds,' nothing is
Submitted by needle on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 6:05pm.
"Kentucky, Arkansas Have 'Never' Been Democratic 'Hotbeds'"
Well, certainly not compared to the DNC media, and Media Matters
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
KY
Submitted by kinijane on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 6:48pm.
It will never occur to the liberal media and democrats that "we" the people in Ky don't
like Obamas policies and we are not "red neck raciest." Keep putting that idea out there
and lose more KY votes because your pissing us off.
Cardozie
Submitted by mmilesll on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 7:18pm.
This woman really is as dumb as she looks. And there are no viewers on CNN because...
What a moron.
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 7:51pm.
Arkansas elected Democrat governors solidly from Augustus Hill Garland to Orval Faubus, or just over 100 solid years post Civil War until Winthrop Rockefeller managed to pull off a Republican win in 1971, and it went back into the Democrat fold again. Kentucky has had more Democrat governors than Republican since the Civil War, though not as solidly Democrat as Arkansas. Other southern states like Texas were so solidly Democrat that they were stalwarts for Democrats like Jack(ass) Kennedy and Lyndon (S. O.) B. Johnson.
Were that dimwit comes off saying Kentucky and Arkansas were not Democrat states I have no idea. She should stop looking into her rectum and start looking into history books.
Never a hotbed?
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 8:56pm.
Arkansas has never been a "hotbed" for democrats? I'm that the editorial board of the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette would vehemently disagree.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
You are expecting way too
Submitted by John21 on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 9:20am.
You are expecting way too much if you expect an Obamabot to tell the truth. They are way too deep into the Kool-Aid and the delusions.
"Clueless says what???"
Submitted by Utherpend on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 11:10am.
This tool of the DNC needs to Google KY and look at the LARGE number of elected officials that are Liberal Democrats. I have lived in Louisville KY my entire life and Conservative Republicans are well represented but for some reason the voters of KY keep electing Liberals into public office and then wondering why we are not developing or growing like other cities.
Doesn't matter if these states are "Hotbeds" of Democratic
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 12:23pm.
strength or not. These were DEMOCRATIC primaries, so even if there were only 100 Democrats in the state, 40% of them would not back Obama during the DEMOCRATIC primary.
Liberal Orval Faubus of Arkansas a "new deal" Democrat in 1954
Submitted by lrgon on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 12:48pm.
handily won the Governorship with 63% of the vote. His challanger a Republican major of Little Rock whose meager 37% was the best ever polled by a Republican since Reconstruction!
That Arkansas is written off by this "pundit' shows how little concern these news people and commentators have for the truth and their adacity of inventing and twisting the truth to conform to the recipe they invariably follow - push Obama!
Arkansas Democrat Hillary Clinton doesn't feel put out by the lackluster voter turnout for her boss in Arkansas. She is full steam ahead for pushing the globalist UN agenda of banning private ownership of guns and the UN Law of the Sea Treaty.
That Jim Demint has gathered 24 senators to fight Clinton and Obama is good news but at least 10 more senators are needed to stop the UN from placing themselves as the sole authority as "redistributor of the wealth" that lies below the oceans and regulating anything floating on them including a US aircraft carrier traveling to the middle east. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/11492-clinton-panetta...
Oh good gravy!
Submitted by chiefpayne on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:24pm.
Where DO they find these imbeciles to be on CNN???