# Examples of "Baptists and Bootleggers" (unlikely political allies) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 3, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014 "2016-04-03T01:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/21 "2016-04-03T22:27:55Z")
> [@kurtisokc](#): > > Bah! Baptists most definitely do not believe in “Clerical magic.” Heh, now I’m picture some movie/novel featuring a Baptist priest who is \*clearly \*constantly using clerical magic, but officially denying it the whole time. “You healed him!” “He was just tougher than he looked. Bit of bandaging and he was good to go.” “Your prayers made the bullets bounce off you!” “Bad aim.” “Those vampires burned when you called on God and threw holy water on them!” “The poor fellows must have been allergic.” ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/22 "2016-04-03T22:37:46Z")
Arkansas has a declining number of dry counties. Every time a county tries to go wet, it’s opposed by a coalition of bible thumpers and contiguous-county liquor store owners. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/23 "2016-04-04T00:42:28Z")
Greenpeace and Russia (both are anti-GMO). ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/24 "2016-04-04T01:07:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In politics, the far-right and far-left sometimes sound oddly similar. I’d like to explore this one a bit. It does seem like there are wingnuts so far over horizon in each direction that they’re giving each other a reach-around. I see some overlap with herbs/supplements, anti-GMO, anti-vax, common core, conspiracy theories, Although I’m not sure how much of that fits the B&B label. I’m seeing there are already websites discussing this, and by all things dark, moist, and unholy, look at this! [Horseshoe theory - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory) > [@](#): > > The horseshoe theory in political science asserts that rather than the far left and the far right being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear political continuum, they in fact closely resemble one another, much like the ends of a horseshoe. The theory is attributed to French writer Jean-Pierre Faye Maybe more on the conventional side are recent arguments for criminal justice reform. I haven’t read much since that initial announcement from the Koch brothers, the ACLU, and the (liberal) Center for American Progress, but that combination raised some eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/25 "2016-04-05T12:22:26Z")
Donald Trump has owned casinos, been married 3 times, bragged about sleeping with many women in his book, doesn’t attend church, notoriously fraudulent business practices, etc. But his largest block of supporters are Evangelical Christians. Many claim that these are ECs in name only. They don’t attend church. May not be all that true. Regardless, they do strongly identify themselves with their beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/26 "2016-04-05T13:31:17Z")
Republicans and the African-American political establishment are often on the same side of redistricting battles, and opposed to the Democratic Party establishment. The Republicans want to concentrate the black voters into minority-majority districts so as to keep Republican majorities in as many other districts as possible. The African-American politicians like it because it keeps seats safe for AA representatives. The Democratic establishment is opposed to it, because it minimizes winnable seats for the Democrats. They would prefer to spread out the AA voters among many other districts, which would be majority-Democrat but not majority-minority. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/27 "2016-04-07T03:19:09Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Donald Trump has owned casinos, been married 3 times, bragged about sleeping with many women in his book, doesn’t attend church, notoriously fraudulent business practices, etc. > > But his largest block of supporters are Evangelical Christians. > > Many claim that these are ECs in name only. They don’t attend church. May not be all that true. Regardless, they do strongly identify themselves with their beliefs. Utterly wrong. ARE there evangelical Christians who support Trump? Sure, but not all that many. Trump’s support is NOT concentrated in the South. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/28 "2016-04-07T18:18:26Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Utterly wrong. ARE there evangelical Christians who support Trump? Sure, but not all that many. Trump’s support is NOT concentrated in the South. What the what??? That so many Evangelicals are supporting Trump is all over the election analysis sites. Slate has had several: [one](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/03/the_religious_right_is_in_a_battle_for_souls_and_it_s_losing_to_donald_trump.html) on “mainstream” ECs being puzzled by his support and [another](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/01/26/jerry_falwell_jr_endorses_donald_trump_a_week_before_iowa.html) on Jerry Falwell, Jr. endorsing Trump as well as many others. And the South? First of all, ECs live everywhere, secondly, have you looked at an electoral map to see where Trump has won? Look at the map [here](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_republican_nomination_map.html), see that huge block of purple in the lower right? Guess where that is and guess why it went Trump. Again, what the what??? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/29 "2016-04-09T00:38:01Z")
The far left and the far right both loathe Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/30 "2016-04-09T06:21:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Christian End Times believers and Israel, cooperating to support Israel. The Christians do it since those _particular_ Christians think that the existence of Israel is necessary to fulfill Biblical prophecy, and will result in the decimation of the Jews there when the Apocalypse starts. The Israelis go along with it because it benefits them; and of course they don’t buy into the prophecy of another religion, so they aren’t worried about it. And fundamentalist Muslims (like ISIS), too. They believe\* that the end of this world will come when there is a new Caliphate in some city in Syria (and then Israel will be destroyed). So Israel existing gives them an enemy to rant against, when talking to other Muslims. - My undoubtedly poor summary of ISIS end-times beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/31 "2016-04-09T16:42:27Z")
Going back a ways: the godfather of free market economics, Milton Friedman, argued all through the Seventies and early Eighties that the FDA dawdled and dragged its feet far too long before approving new medicines. Liberals generally treated him as a crank who wanted to flood the market with lethal drugs. But once the AIDS crisis came, Larry Kramer and ACT UP embraced Uncle Miltie and insisted New experimental drugs be approved rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/32 "2016-04-09T16:45:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > What the what??? > > That so many Evangelicals are supporting Trump is all over the election analysis sites. Slate has had several: [one](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/03/the_religious_right_is_in_a_battle_for_souls_and_it_s_losing_to_donald_trump.html) on “mainstream” ECs being puzzled by his support and [another](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/01/26/jerry_falwell_jr_endorses_donald_trump_a_week_before_iowa.html) on Jerry Falwell, Jr. endorsing Trump as well as many others. > > And the South? First of all, ECs live everywhere, secondly, have you looked at an electoral map to see where Trump has won? Look at the map [here](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_republican_nomination_map.html), see that huge block of purple in the lower right? Guess where that is and guess why it went Trump. > > Again, what the what??? Your feigned shock changes nothing. Donald Trump’s supporters are generally NOT religious, and not affiliated with any church. A few prominent fundamentalist Christians have endorsed Trump, but he’s far stronger in the Northeast and Midwest and in the South. Evangelicals are much more likely to support Cruz than Trump. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/33 "2016-04-09T19:42:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Your feigned shock changes nothing. Donald Trump’s supporters are generally NOT religious, and not affiliated with any church. > > A few prominent fundamentalist Christians have endorsed Trump, but he’s far stronger in the Northeast and Midwest and in the South. Evangelicals are much more likely to support Cruz than Trump. Again: The South? What is up with you and the South? _You_ started the South nonsense with equating ECs as Southerners. Note To **Astoria** : Evangelicals do not all live in the South! So I toss a regional factoid out, such as: Trump stomped homeboy Rubio by almost 20 pts in Florida. A Southern state. Trump lost to homeboy Kasich by 11 pts in Ohio, a Midwestern state. This despite Rubio being a far stronger candidate than Kasich. (Rubio has more delegates than Kasich still, and got more votes in places like Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii despite have dropped out.) I have no idea how you’ll misread that and twist it into something weird to suit your mistaken notions that there aren’t a lot of ECs, by which you apparently mean Southerners, supporting Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/34 "2016-04-09T21:31:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Both Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders support increasing funding for NASA. Interesting - it seems conservatives often support NASA because of national pride in space exploration and liberals support NASA because of science. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014/35 "2016-04-09T22:01:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Interesting - it seems conservatives often support NASA because of national pride in space exploration and liberals support NASA because of science. Lots of the Space industry is in hard red constituencies. And like many military bases in small towns, the only good jobs are the ones at the space facility and the associated contractors. Oddly enough that town’s congressman is majorly interested in keeping the money flowing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-baptists-and-bootleggers-unlikely-political-allies/751014.md?page=1)