The Flyover View, Get Real, America

The presidential campaign this weekend was notable for many events, not least the statements by three GOPers suggesting that portions of the country are at best unreal, at worse, un-American.

First came Sarah Palin's visit to Greensboro, NC. The Washington Post caught Palin at a fundraiser:

Palin also made a point of mentioning that she loved to visit the "pro-America" areas of the country, of which North Carolina is one. No word on which states she views as unpatriotic.

An obvious candidate might be California -- a state Palin has campaigned in -- because, as she told the audience, she and McCain have encountered problems enlisting famous performers in their cause.

"In fact, we were on the bus today, we were making a list of who are some celebrity singers who could come out and help us and gosh, for the life of us, the pickins were slim there," she said. "Who's quasi-conservative out there in the celebrity land?"

Palin didn't make it clear if all of NC counted as pro-American, but McCain/Palin spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer suggested on MSNBC 10/18 that all of VA is not. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on her comments:

[Pfotenhauer] acknowledged [McCain's] difficulties in Northern Virginia but said the region is not "real Virginia."

"The rest of the state, real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain's message," Nancy Pfotenhauer said.

Given a chance to retract her statement, Pfotenhauer said she lives in Oakton, in Fairfax County, "but real Virginia I take to be the -- this part of the state that is more Southern in nature, if you will. Northern Virginia is really metro D.C."

Both comments have stirred controversey. Palin's statement in NC led to a series of harsh responses from Dem VP nominee Joe Biden on the trail in the West over the weekend. And over at the decidedly Northern VA-focused blog DCist, Pfotenhauer's take prompted this rebuke:

We'll be the first to admit that densely populated Northern Virginia, a good chunk of which used to be part of the District a long, long time, leans further left than the rest of the state. Both Sen. Jim Webb and Gov. Tim Kaine, two of the state's most recent and high-profile Democrats elected to office, relied heavily on the counties closest to the District. And while Pfotenhauer surely isn't the first person to come up with a division between NoVA and RoVA (rest of Virginia), hers is the most obvious indication that the McCain camp is giving up on the area. How else would one justify accusing tens of thousands of voters of not being real Virginians?

But the biggest local kerfluffle over the GOP's lines highlighting America's differences is currently underway in MN's 6th Congressional District. Incumbent GOP Congresswoman/McCain surrogate Michelle Bachmann, also on MSNBC, was perhaps the most direct in suggesting on 10/17 that there was a "real" difference between McCain and Obama and, presumably, their supporters. Here's a transcript of the comments:

Seemingly within hours, the MN media was knee-deep in controversy that threatens to upend Bachmann's once secure reelection bid. Her opponent, ex-MN transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg raised $640K on the day the interview aired, nearly 10 times his average weekly haul before Bachmann went on 'Hardball'. According to MN Public Radio, the DCCC is buying $1M in ads to run against Bachmann for the rest of the campaign. And, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, the man Bachmann defeated in the primary is jumping back into the fray as a write-in GOP candidate.

But Bachmann's remarks only served as a reminder of her tendency for foot-in-mouth moments over divisive matters, as Star-Tribune columnist Jill Burcum wrote 10/20:

[T]he Hardball incident is just the latest of (many) headscratching moments brought to you by Bachmann. As a state legislator, she was filmed hiding in the bushes at a rally against her same-sex marriage amendment. She once brought people into the Minnesota Capitol to pray over the desks of lawmakers who opposed her. Highlights of her time in Congress include the uncomfortably long embrace of George W. Bush after a state of the union address. More recently, her opposition to energy-efficient lightbulbs garnered jeers and notoriety.

(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)