King of the Hill Democrats

I really dislike these movements to pigeonhole people with labels.

The composition of the audience for ''King of the Hill'' is telling. You might expect that a spoof of a small-town propane salesman and his beer-drinking buddies would attract mostly urban intellectuals, with their highly developed sense of irony. In fact, as Governor Easley long ago realized, the show's primary viewer looks a lot like Hank Hill. According to Nielsen Media Research, the largest group of ''King of the Hill'' viewers is made up of men between the ages of 18 and 49, and almost a quarter of those men own pickup trucks. ''This is only the second show that's a comedy about the South -- this and 'Andy Griffith' -- that doesn't make fun of Southerners,'' Easley told me recently, adding that Hank and his neighbors remind him of the people he grew up with in the hills near Greenville. (Which is probably why Easley does startlingly good impressions of the various characters, including the verbally challenged Boomhauer.)

Geez, people who drive pickup trucks? That's so adorable. Quaint, really.

If the Democrats are so clueless they have to learn about their fellow Americans through TV sitcoms, then they deserve everything that's coming to them. Problem is, they're too busy talking down to these people. To those irony-rich urban intellectuals Hank Hill and his buddies need reeducating; they're just too stupid to know what's good for them. As Tom Maguire says, "Republican strategists can relax."

Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that Peggy Hill already votes Democratic: she's been co-opted by the teachers' union.

Cross-posted at Red State Rant.