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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
August 21, 2008
/ 20 Menachem-Av 5768
Fishing with the Angry Everyman
By
Michael Smerconish
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
My family went fishing recently with an Angry White Man in Colorado. Funny thing: Gary Hubbell didn't have horns or a tail. What he mainly possessed were opinions - that, and a skill for fly-fishing.
When it was time for lunch on the Crystal River near Redstone, my wife told one of my sons to get out of the water and wash his hands before he could have a sandwich. Wilson, who is 10, had just found a mysterious bone covered with green algae on the riverbank. Hubbell identified it as an elk jawbone, but said that hand-washing while fishing was the sort of unnecessary activity that begets in kids peanut allergies and asthma.
That's a view I would have expected to come from a man I first heard about when somebody sent me one of those e-mails that begins, "You MUST read this." Attached was something Hubbell had written that became an overnight Internet sensation, fodder for a cyberspace version of Whisper Down the Lane, and the subject of many chats on nationally syndicated talk shows such as those of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.
Not bad play for a guy who writes a monthly column for the tiny Aspen Times, which Feb. 9 published an op-ed titled "In election 2008, don't forget Angry White Man." Hubbell's blunt description of what he considered the country's most underserved, unpandered-to constituency - the iconic Angry White Man - created quite a fuss.
"Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians," Hubbell wrote.
"There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, Deep South to mountain West, Left Coast to Eastern Seaboard."
Hubbell went on to describe that constituency: a gun-owning he-man with no problem reconciling twin loves of football and family on Sunday afternoons. A deer hunter and an avid golfer. A do-it-yourselfer who hates handouts and the culture that coddles them.
The Angry White Man can't stand the Rev. Al Sharpton or anyone who embodies the "liberal victim groups" the Angry White Man has come to despise. But most of all, Hubbell wrote, the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose "voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock."
I interviewed Hubbell on the radio about three weeks after he wrote his piece. By then, he was as popular online as the storied man with a hook in place of one arm who terrorizes lovers' lanes. In Philadelphia, many of my callers - not all of them white or men - responded with "Heck, yeah."
"We've had comments from angry brown men, a Filipino American, Chippewa Indians, black men, and lots of 'angry white women,'" Hubbell told me that day. "So I really did strike a chord, and I guess it is that people feel like they're not being listened to by our government. People want some fiscal sanity. They don't want people to just stand there with their hands out and be given something for doing nothing. There are a lot of people who feel like they're pulling the freight for the rest of the country, and they're sick of it."
That was when I asked Hubbell what he did when he was not so angry. He told me he was an expert fishing-and-hunting guide, which is how I came to book him for a day of family fly-fishing. Colorado is a swing state, and I wanted to meet the leader of a key constituency.
In person, Hubbell said he didn't intend the Angry White Man to be a self-portrait. He's a 45-year-old married father of two, a man most in his element when standing in three or four feet of sparkling river water with a fly rod in his hand, giving instructions on the delicate manner with which to cast.
Maybe Hubbell is more accurately described as the Angry Everyman. The business card he handed me offers his services including: "ranch real estate broker," "photo, film and video scout," purveyor of "trail horses, hay for sale," and "professional writer and photographer."
A former Democrat now registered as an Independent, Hubbell said the Republican Party comes up short on the environmental issues. He said he has no problem with drilling and blowing stuff up, but the GOP never seems to want to put things back together.
Don't look for Gary Hubbell's demographic group to show up in any of the candidates' polling internals the way they analyze Catholics, or Hispanics, or older white women. No 30-second commercial will target this constituency. It's doubtful that Chris Matthews will be featuring the Gary Hubbells on "Hardball." The presidential campaign is much too P.C. to discuss a voting bloc with a name like the Angry White Man.
But that doesn't mean this is an unimportant voter group. And so, how are they leaning?
According to at least one likely voter - Hubbell - it's Sen. John McCain. "Do I support McCain?" he writes in an e-mail. "I suppose so ... tepidly. He was all wrong on immigration, but he's right on national defense. Environmentally, he's got to be more proactive than Bush was. No one could be worse than Bush."
Hubbell said he could not see himself voting for Sen. Barack Obama in November - a notion he says has nothing to do with race, but much to do with perceived liberal ideology. "I think people are supporting him out of emotion rather than a rational analysis of his policies," he writes. "If you want more taxes on people who really make this country run - working Americans - to support yet another generation of sit-on-your-(butt)-and-collect-a-check slackers, then Obama's your man!"
In the end, he sees the November election as "a contest between rational thought and hope for change." This outdoorsman, whose thoughts entered many an inbox several months ago, sees Obama as too much of an unknown, a risk, and so he intends to hike on the path most-traveled.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Previously:
07/31/08 The perils of e-mail: Ponder, then click
05/22/08 Two very different sides of the Internet
02/12/08 Sublimely ridiculous suits
11/28/08 Cell phones cut out secondary circle of kinship
09/26/07 What do we owe those who have died in Iraq?
08/30/07 A Navy SEAL's gut-wrenching tale of survival
07/30/07 First it was a faux pas, now it's a new word
© 2008, The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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