See other (s)Elections Articles
Title: W Virginia keeps distance from Obama
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a50425a- ... 7658,s01=1.html?nclick_check=1
Published: May 11, 2008
Author: Andrew Ward
Post Date: 2008-05-12 09:59:34 by Peppa
Ping List: *Obama Reality Check* Subscribe to *Obama Reality Check*
Keywords: Obama
Views: 2915
Comments: 202
Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican. “I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides. A landslide victory for Mrs Clinton in West Virginia will do little to improve her fading hopes of winning the Democratic nomination, because Mr Obama has an almost insurmountable lead in the overall race. But Tuesday’s contest is likely to reinforce Mrs Clinton’s argument that she would be the stronger opponent for Mr McCain in November, and raise fresh doubts about whether the US is ready to elect its first black president. Occupying a swathe of the Appalachian Mountains on the threshold between the Bible Belt and the Rust Belt, West Virginia is a swing state that voted twice for George W. Bush but backed Democrats in six of the eight prior presidential elections. No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West Virginia since 1916, yet Mr Obama appears to have little chance of winning there in November. Recent opinion polls indicate that Mrs Clinton would narrowly beat Mr McCain in the state but Mr Obama would lose by nearly 20 percentage points. West Virginia is hostile territory for Mr Obama because it has few of the African-Americans and affluent, college-educated whites who provide his strongest support. The state has the lowest college graduation rate in the US, the second lowest median household income, and one of the highest proportions of white residents, at 96 per cent. A visit to Mingo County, a Democratic stronghold in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields, reveals the scale of Mr Obama’s challenge – not only in West Virginia but in white, working-class communities across the US. With a gun shop on its main street and churches dotted throughout the town, Williamson is the kind of community evoked by Mr Obama’s controversial comments last month about “bitter” small-town voters who “cling to guns or religion”. “If he is the nominee, the Democrats have no chance of winning West Virginia,” said Missy Endicott, a 40- year-old school administrator. “He doesn’t understand ordinary Americans.” Ms Endicott was among roughly 500 people who crammed into the Williamson Fire Department building on Friday to attend a rally by Bill Clinton, the former president. He told them his wife represented “people like you, in places like this”, and urged voters to turn out in record numbers on Tuesday to send a message to the “higher-type people” who were trying to force her out of the race. Local leaders said Mr Clinton was the most important visitor to Williamson since John F. Kennedy passed through during the 1960 election campaign. Mr Kennedy’s victory in the West Virginia primary that year was a crucial step towards proving his electability as the first Catholic president. Nearly five decades later, the state appears less willing to help Mr Obama break down barriers to the White House. None of the 22 Democrats interviewed by the Financial Times at the Clinton rally would commit themselves to voting for Mr Obama if he became the nominee, and half said they definitely would not. The depth of opposition is particularly striking considering that Mingo County is one of the most Democratic places in West Virginia, having cast about 85 per cent of its votes for the party in the 2006 midterm elections. If Mr Obama cannot win there in November, he has little chance of carrying the state. Most people questioned said they mistrusted Mr Obama because of doubts about his patriotism and “values”, stemming from his cosmopolitan background, his exotic name and the controversy surrounding “anti-American” sermons by Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor. Several people said they believed he was a Muslim – an unfounded rumour that has circulated on the internet for months – despite the contradiction with his 20-year membership of Mr Wright’s church in Chicago. Others mentioned his refusal to wear a Stars and Stripes badge and controversial remarks by his wife, Michelle, who described America as “mean” and implied that she had never been proud of the US until her husband ran for president. Conservative commentators have questioned Mr Obama’s patriotism for months and the issue is expected to be one of the Republicans’ main lines of attack if he wins the nomination. “The American people want a president who loves their country as much as they do,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist. Obama supporters believe patriotism is being used as code to harness racist sentiment. Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. “I want someone who is a full-blooded American as president,” he said.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 115.
#1. To: Peppa (#0)
MSNBC reports she's up by more than 30 points. Matthews suggested it was b/c WV is mostly white. Makes since given the voting trends. Unless O can break thru into the white middle class, he loses to McKooK.
A few more tornadoes hitting crackers, and all the talk of a Global Tax will probably not be popular by the convention. Imagine.. all those bitter folks in one place.
The media will portray a crushing defeat for Obummer in WV as an example of blatant racism by uneducated white trash of small town America.
True. Will make for a huge turnout for McCain.
White guilters here on the 4um love to grovel, whine and slobber upon Obummer to PROVE they are not racist. I wonder if that evolves from some kind of guilt conscience and or an inferiority complex???? Somehow such self-flagellation by these people is disturbing to normal Americans.
Somehow such self-flagellation by these people is disturbing to normal Americans. Funny! Picture this: Obama deprives Hillary of her heart's desire (to be emperor of the world, to be the biggest, strongest dyke {if you'll pardon the double entendre}who could hold back the floods that threaten Zionist power in America) and, then Obama loses to McCain. The result is, neither women or white guilting blacks make any PC headway this election. A DOUBLE VICTORY! If we can't have Ron Paul then I want everyone to lose, and because McCain will probably be removed from the Oval Office in restraints while babbling gibberish within a few months of taking office, well, it doesn't get much better than that! And, if he picks Joe Lieberman or through some shenanigans Nancy Pelosi becomes the next prez, well, hell, they can follow orders as well as the next NWO lackey, right? Once we shed our concerns about personalities, religious affiliations or skin color then it's just a matter of betting which heads will swell the way Dubya's did, and who will grow to believe that he/she is actually in charge after a bit of time at the helm. Bush forgot that he was no more in charge of a country called America than William Shatner was really in command of a starship called The Enterprise....
Hound... As demonstrated by our white guilters here that infest the 4um, you well know they cannot shed their obsession with skin color. For some reason they seem to have this compulsive drive to prove to the world and perhaps to themselves that they are not racist. When a person has an overpowering NEED to prove himself to others, that person needs help.
Hound... As demonstrated by our white guilters here that infest the 4um, you well know they cannot shed their obsession with skin color. For some reason they seem to have this compulsive drive to prove to the world and perhaps to themselves that they are not racist. When a person has an overpowering NEED to prove himself to others, that person needs help Well, yeah, but, I've lived all over and it just seems to me that those folks are a severe minority and they generally stick out like a turd on a wedding cake. The demographic that concerns me consists of those who vote themselves ever increasing shares of the treasury's monetized debt. (and, they don't waste time debating high minded ideals on the internet. They're just waiting silently and patiently to enter the polls and reward the winner of the seniors' welfare lottery....and, they're a surprisingly color blind group, too.) The US' number one business is now senior care, and whoever wishes to win must above all else promise the biggest increase in social security and Medicare bennies. We may reach the absurd point where a candidate is promising each voter a million frauds ($) worth of life extending stem cells only to be outbid by another who promises that and 100% property, capital gains and income tax relief for America's tyrant class of voters. Despite all of the burning issues we discuss here, this election will be won by the candidate who can convincingly use the phrase "social security trust fund" and sound as if he/she believes that it actually exists as a self sustaining, interest bearing "generational compact."
We may reach the absurd point where a candidate is promising each voter a million frauds ($) worth of life extending stem cells only to be outbid by another who promises that and 100% property, capital gains and income tax relief for America's tyrant class of voters. Despite all of the burning issues we discuss here, this election will be won by the candidate who can convincingly use the phrase "social security trust fund" and sound as if he/she believes that it actually exists as a self sustaining, interest bearing "generational compact." Well said, I agree with you - "white guilt" has little to do, imo, with Obama's surging popularity. It's all about his promises of benefits to the rubes. It's also about the promise that he makes to tax "the rich" - ie. a family that earns $100,000 and more - and in so doing Obama works the envy wedge that has grown in recent years between the economic classes in our society, specifically between the lower and those above. Success and economic independence used to be values that were respected in America. Not anymore. Now it's equal outcomes and entitlements. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." - Alexander Tyler
The struggle must continue !!
There are no replies to Comment # 115. End Trace Mode for Comment # 115.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#4. To: Jethro Tull (#1)
MSNBC reports she's up by more than 30 points. Matthews suggested it was b/c WV is mostly white. Makes since given the voting trends. Unless O can break thru into the white middle class, he loses to McKooK.
#6. To: Peppa (#4)
#10. To: Cynicom (#6)
The media will portray a crushing defeat for Obummer in WV as an example of blatant racism by uneducated white trash of small town America.
#15. To: Peppa, Jethro tull (#10)
#53. To: Cynicom, Jethro Tull, christine (#15)
White guilters here on the 4um love to grovel, whine and slobber upon Obummer to PROVE they are not racist. I wonder if that evolves from some kind of guilt conscience and or an inferiority complex????
#56. To: HOUNDDAWG (#53)
Once we shed our concerns about personalities, religious affiliations or skin color
#62. To: Cynicom (#56)
Once we shed our concerns about personalities, religious affiliations or skin color
#75. To: HOUNDDAWG (#62)
The demographic that concerns me consists of those who vote themselves ever increasing shares of the treasury's monetized debt. (and, they don't waste time debating high minded ideals on the internet. They're just waiting silently and patiently to enter the polls and reward the winner of the seniors' welfare lottery....and, they're a surprisingly color blind group, too.)...
#115. To: scrapper2 (#75)
I agree with you - "white guilt" has little to do, imo, with Obama's surging popularity. It's all about his promises of benefits to the rubes. It's also about the promise that he makes to tax "the rich" - ie. a family that earns $100,000 and more - and in so doing Obama works the envy wedge that has grown in recent years between the economic classes in our society, specifically between the lower and those above. Success and economic independence used to be values that were respected in America. Not anymore. Now it's equal outcomes and entitlements.
Replies to Comment # 115.