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January 07, 2004

Lying about Lattes

By Jim Dallas

As noted by Atrios, there are exactly two Starbucks retail locations in the state of Vermont.


Let's do a little more research here.


There are 395 locations in Texas. There are nearly 200 times as many Starbucks locations in Texas.


Even when you work this out on a per-capita basis, there is one Starbucks location in Vermont for every 307,000 Vermonters, versus one Texas location for every 53,987 Texans. In other words, there are over five times as many Starbucks locations on a per-person basis in Texas than there are in Vermont.


Since the market would never lie to us, we can safely assume who the real latte-sippers are.

This is only the beginning of the the untrue stereotypes offered by the newest Club for Growth ad, which offers this wisdom:


"Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ..." before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: "... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs!"


Some of these facts are easy to refute. As Governor, Howard Dean cut taxes in Vermont on multiple occasions. And between 1995 and 2001, Vermont state government expenditures grew at roughly the same annual rate as state government expenditures in Texas (about 9 percent for Vermont; about 7 percent for Texas).


According to the SuperPages.Com yellow pages informs us that there are not a single sushi restaraunt listed in Vermont! By comparison, there are dozens of sushi restaraunts listed in Texas.


Sushiref.com yields a different result. According to that site, there are two restaraunts which offer sushi in Burlington, and two in Rutland. A total of four locations.


In contrast, there are more sushi restaraunts in Austin (home of so many Bushies, e.g. Scott McClellan and Karl Rove.) alone, which has roughly the same population as the state of Vermont. There are 86 sushi restaraunt locations in Texas.


I don't conveniently have any statistics on vehicle registrations, New York Times subscriptions (which would probably be internal information anyway), or any means to effectively quantify "Hollywood-loving".


But it seems to me that many of the same attributes the Club for Growth would ascribe to Dean and his supporters could apply equally to Bush and his supporters.


Now, when can we expect George W. Bush to take his government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, Hollywood-loving, right-wing freak show back to Texas, where it belongs?"


Perhaps a better question might be, when will we get past our shallow regional stereotypes about "cultural elitist" New Englanders (and the equally disingenuous stereotype that all Red Staters are "just folks")?

Posted by Jim Dallas at January 7, 2004 02:37 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Jimbo, you're a damned genius, my friend.

Posted by: Brady at January 7, 2004 03:23 PM

check out the add for yourself:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/index1.php

Posted by: JMD at January 7, 2004 03:47 PM

check out the add for yourself:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/index1.php

Posted by: JMD at January 7, 2004 03:47 PM

You really never cease to amaze me. Cheers to you for lifting spirits!

Posted by: Andrea at January 7, 2004 05:23 PM

Grazi.

DCFD Rudi, a poster on DailyKOS (where I cross posted this), responded to my diary entry (http://jimtxdem.dailykos.com/story/2004/1/7/203049/9250) and suggested my count was a little on the low side for Vermont sushi places, suggesting that she's seen "about 10" places that offer it, although usually in combination with other forms of cuisine (so there's a gray area).

Nonetheless, I would still assert it's easier to find sushi in Austin (they sell it in the Jester store!) that it is in Vermont.

Another poster, thirdparty, says:

There's a Starbucks in Midland, TX too:

Starbucks
(432) 699-2377
3203 N Midkiff Rd
Midland, TX
A Volvo dealership, too, as mentioned above:


Britt Mercedes Volvo
(432) 563-3095
1004 S Midkiff Rd
Midland, TX
And whaddya know, there's a sushi bar less than 1/2 mile from the governor's mansion... you know, W's home for 6 years.


Kyoto Japanese Restaurant
(512) 482-9010
315 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701
And there are FIVE Starbucks withing ONE MILE of Bush's old house in Austin.

Regional stereotypes have got to go.

Posted by: Jim D at January 7, 2004 06:43 PM

Very nice post, Jim. It's a great example of how crazy the Club for Growth wingnuts out there are and how far they're willing to go to stop us. Its always nice to see them exposed for the liars they are...

Posted by: ByronUT at January 8, 2004 12:02 AM

JimD,

Perhaps a better question might be, when will we get past our shallow regional stereotypes about "cultural elitist" New Englanders (and the equally disingenuous stereotype that all Red Staters are "just folks")?

Perhaps because they are often true...

Seriously, though -- Dean is proposing expansive new social programs and tax hikes for the US government, so it is well justified to call him 'tax-hiking' and 'government-expanding' (although with Bush being such a spendthrift, the latter could also be applied to him).

As for the rest, it's sufficient to note that Vermont is a largely rural state, without many large cities. They aren't going to have as many Starbucks or sushi restaurants that poliferate in urban areas. The Club for Growth was being snarky and conflating Vermont with Boston, New York, etc.

However, Vermont is still profoundly left-wing. It ranks 11th in general revenue per capita and 8th in federal aid per capita. Furthermore, as everyone already knows, their only congressman is an avowed socialist. 'Just folks' these ain't.

Posted by: Owen Courrèges at January 8, 2004 01:10 AM

I am amazed by the constant tax cut references. GET REAL! You didn't get a tax cut from Bush you just got a loan with interest. You get to pay it back with an enormous interest rate when the defecit gets paid down in the future. Let's just call it the current administration's big credit card where they buy things for the special interests and you get to pay it off.

Posted by: Dotster at January 8, 2004 10:12 AM

Wait just a second guys....are you actually telling me a political ad twist the truth...do other people know about this....because I am sure the Dems would NEVER do anything like that in the upcomming election.

Posted by: Craig at January 8, 2004 03:59 PM

I'm glad to see Owen has popped up on the board! Having spent all of my 43 years in Texas, most Texans ain't "just folks" either. Most of us are small-minded, petty and stupid. (I include myself in the 2nd one and am often stupid).

However, having spent a long, cold three weeks in Vermont a few years ago for an earlier job, I'd trust Vermonters with my money and my life WAY before I'd trust the vast majority of my fellow Texans. After all, we've inflicted our country with W, Delay, Gramm and the like and have one of the highest violent crime rates in the country.

BTW, Owen -- your military recruiter is STILL waiting to hear from you. It's really very rude to keep them wondering.

Posted by: Smrking Chupacabra at January 8, 2004 06:16 PM

ROTFL!

Posted by: fiat lux at January 8, 2004 08:35 PM

The Appeal of Howard Dean
by Stephen Moore
09/15/2003

SEVERAL YEARS AGO an obscure Democratic governor from the politically inconsequential state of Vermont was the guest speaker at a Cato Institute lunch. His name was Howard Dean. He had been awarded one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.

Dean charmed nearly everyone in the boardroom. He came across as erudite, policy savvy, and, believe it or not, a friend of free markets--at least by the standards of the Tom Daschle-Dick Gephardt axis of the Democratic party. Even when challenged on issues like environmentalism, where he favored a large centralized mass of intrusive regulations, Dean remained affable...

...He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made believers of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found a Democrat we could work with. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone...

Stephen Moore is president of the Club for Growth and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

Posted by: Stephen Moore at January 8, 2004 09:09 PM

Bravo! Now I know why so many Tennesseans fought for Texas in the Alamo!!

Posted by: Guy in TN at January 8, 2004 10:27 PM
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