Mudcat has some advice for Barack Obama

It's the conventional wisdom among the pontificators these days that Democrat Barack Obama can't win over rural voters, especially white males.

Sure, Republican John McCain's military background and Irish roots give him a leg up, but check out this piece on Democratic political operative Dave "Mudcat" Saunders from The Weekly Standard's new issue written by Matt Labash.

If you're involved in Virginia politics at any level you should spend at least a little time with Mudcat - if only to bone up on your profanity. The guy is the genuine article, an absolute riot, and his political math should be required reading for Democrats hoping to win statewide elections and Republicans hoping to hold onto rural voters.

Warning: the following two stories are not for the faint-of-heart. Here's a quick except of an e-mail that Labash received from Mudcat, a delicious riff on stereotypes.   

The state put up a new road sign a few days ago out here in front of my house, and I've been saving it until you get here. They're having a revival over at the church so we'll be having supper on the grounds tomorrow evening. The service shouldn't last too long because Orville got drunk the night before last, rolled up his windows, locked his truck, and forgot to pull the snakes out of the cab. By the time he came to at 4:00 yesterday afternoon, they were cooked. The Klan meets right after church so we can all walk over together. The Grand Dragon has scaled the weekly program back a bit. We were planning on burning seven crosses tomorrow night, but with gasoline prices being where they are, we can only afford to burn two.

I know how much you like to fish. I'll take you to a hole over behind Cousin Gertie's trailer, but you must fish alone for awhile as I have not seen Cousin Gertie for several months and need to get "caught up." You can stay in the spare bedroom, at least until she warms up to you a little bit. We probably won't be able to sleep much anyway because nobody can cook up a mess of Crystal Meth like Cousin Gertie.

The next day we'll fish the fast water where the big-city Yankees ride them rafts. There's only one thing an Appalachian boy likes to do more in the summer than fish, and that's to catch a Ned Beatty look-alike as he leisurely makes his way down the river with no idea he's floating livestock. We thought we had us some Yankees last week, but when we sneaked up on them, it was just the Crowell boys dumping an old refrigerator and washing machine in the river. I can't stress strongly enough to bring extra ammunition.

Your friend, Mudcat

To read the latest piece click here.

For Labash's first encounter with Mudcat from three years ago click here.

Both of them are tremendously fun reads, even for one of the biggest Johnny Unitas' fans alive.