Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama

Subject: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 02:51 PM

In this radio spot currently airing in Virginia.

http://www.folo.us/2008/10/02/ralph-stanley-cuts-the-best-radio-ad-of-the-cycle/

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 02:55 PM

That is REALLY neat and well done! Thanks.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Nancy King
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 06:34 PM

Here's a link.

Good for Ralph! Let's hope it has good effect! Maybe it already has -- the last poll I saw had Obama pulling ahead in Virginia.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 07:30 PM

Well, I'll be the first to say that I've had my fill of playin' and hearin' bluegrass music but bein' born and raised here in Virginia I'm purdy danged proud of Ralph Stanley and if Obama can get 35-40% of the votes in Southwest Virginia then he'll take Virginia... That's all he needs and Ralph Stanley is to bluegrass what Elvis was to rock 'n roll so this ad is goin' get lotta hillbillies a'thinkin' when they hear it...

BTW, not all hillbillies are rednecks...

B~

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: DougR
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 07:44 PM

Wow! Ralph Stanley! That ought to cinch it for Obama and Joe.

DougR

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: van lingle
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 07:52 PM

Wow, Doug. Ralph could give Palin and McCain public speaking lessons.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 07:55 PM

You obviously ain't never lived in rural Virginia, Dougie... Hop on the plane... I'll pick you up at Dulles and then give you a personalized tour of the places we are talkin' about... And these folks love the Stanley Brothers... I mean, love...

Remember the movie "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou"??? Things haven't changed much in rural Virgina from that movie... I'd say "lol" but it ain't... These folks is poor and, yeah, many would never vote for a black man... I talked with one the other day who said that he'd supply the rope to lynch Obama and he wasn't just making a joke... But there are others who have had "enough" with the Republicans...

Keep an eye on Virginia on election night...

B~

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 08:05 PM

Nice to hear!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: DougR
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 01:31 AM

My post was not intended as any respect to Ralph Stanley. He is a icon on the Bluegrass field. Hi political opinion, however, carries no more weight tham Bobert's (or mine). And that's not much.

DougR

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: georgeward
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 02:04 AM

I don' know whether it's true. The buzz on college campuses in the sixties - among folksong clubs like ours', who presented the Stanley Brothers - was that the band sang for, raised money for and supported White Citizens Councils.

What I do know is that people of Ralph's generation - my Yankee dad, my Texan father-in-law - found the absolute (bedrock racist) cultural certainties they'd been raised by under assault. However they dealt with that, if they were folk of any conscience at all, it was a greater crisis of conscience than most of us have ever have to deal with.

I have plenty of red-diaper-baby friends and their parents who were eventually forced to deal with the realities of Stalinism. And as bad as that was, I believe that what white southerners ( and probably us USA whites in general) had to deal wirh was harder....more local, more of a challenge to the air they breathed and the ground they walked on.

As Bobert says, it ain't hardly over either.

At the age seventy at which I find myself , I doubt that Barack is a magic bullet...just a damnsight better than the dum-dum we've had these past eight years. I imagine Dr. Ralph - older than I - is in a somewhat similar place. But I take a guess at what his journey has involved and I choke up. Can't help it.,,,,,,,, Never, ever, thought I'd see it.

Am I naive, or selling him short ?

- G

A

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: van lingle
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 09:40 AM

Doug, I wasn't suggesting that you were dissing Ralph. I was just making an observation and needling you a bit.

Regards, vl

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 10:01 AM

My post was not intended as any respect to Ralph Stanley

Typo for disrespect, I assume.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 11:47 AM

Good for Ralph!The pitch is very good, simple down-to-earth analysis of the times.And the clip of the early Stanley Brothers on Pete Seeger's show? Beautiful! Old-time bluegrass as it is meant to be played.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 02:25 PM

Doug you seem to be forgetting that the whole premise of Palin's campaign is that you don't need any special qualifications to know what is good for the country. Ralph Stanley is as qualified to be VP as she is. He is certainly more qualified to endorse Obama as someone who knows the residents of rural Virginia than either you or Bobert. But Bobert is more qualified than you.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Genie
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 02:50 PM

What Jack said about Stanley's and Palin's qualifications.

DougR, you say Ralph Stanley's opinion carries no more weight than yours or Bobert's.
But that's not really so.   Popular celebrities - regardless of their "expertise" or lack thereof re politics - have a much bigger microphone than we "nobodys" do.   And many people ARE influenced by what their beloved singers, actors, sports stars, rock stars, etc., say about politics and candidates. (Heck, people like Jesse Ventura, Ronald Reagan, Arnold S., Fred Thompson, etc., even get elected to governorships and Congress with no more political experience than you or I have - but with a lot more visibility.)

What's more important is when ANY well-respected "conservative," Christian "Red-state-er" endorses a "liberal" Democratic candidate from a big city up North, with a Harvard degree and a middle name that reminds them of an Arab dictator we overthrew - well, that represents a significant crack in the foundation of the coalition between the Christian Right "social conservatives" and the plutocratic "fiscal conservatives."

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 05:56 PM

The endorsement can only help Obama. People on the fence might be influenced.

Ellen

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 06:13 PM

Here it is on YouTube, with a picture of Ralph Stanley to go with it. Good picture too.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 06:34 PM

Now here's an idea that has been perculating in my purculator for awhile... How about the DNC offering an astronomical amount of money to Kyle Bush or Tony Stewart and sponsor a NASCAR race car???

What the Hell??? If Ralph Stanley can endorse Obama then this idea can't be too far behind...

B~

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 07:40 PM

Not to drift the thread too far, while hunting around for that YouTube clip I came across this version I'd never before heard, of Ralph Stanley singing Man of Constant Sorrow. Wow!

Subject: BS: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: Al
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 12:18 AM

http://tinyurl.com/4cxwky

or

Click Here

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 09:29 AM

Just noticed I put in the wrong link in that last post. Here is the right one.

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 10:44 AM

Thanks for the youtube link, Al. I got that one in my email the other day. So happy to see it!

Subject: RE: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 10:53 AM

That last GUEST was me, with a cookie gone missing. And I was referring to my post at 03 Oct 08 - 07:40 PM.