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Title: W Virginia keeps distance from Obama
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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: 2596
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.
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#139. To: Peppa (#0)
The only problem with "none of the above" is the ones under "none of the above." Instead of "none of the above", it should say "none of these candidates."
God is always good!
You never know... some say Obama is still too weak on National Security to win. He may promise 200 or 300 years of war. Any way this goes, the only issue off the table, is leaving the ME.
LOL!! What a deal.
One of my mentors was an aeronautical engineer with Messerschimidt. Born before the Weimar, lived thru it and Hitler. My history was neither sanitized nor revised by Jewish historians. I'm thankful that you're here...TY Ditto that!
A vote of support for Obummer is a vote for 100 years more of war with McKooK, by the same people that paid lip service to Ron Paul.
Could we compromise with..."None of these losers"....
Extremely disturbing. Anyone that can't see that Obama is a racist SOB doesn't deserve to vote IMO. America can do without these people and do quite fine.
God is always good!
Which former Ron Paul supporter recently said this in 4um ?
Our resident and non-resident white guilters have worked themselves into a frenzy over the past few weeks, rabidly frothing at the mouth while extolling the coming of their savior. Come Nov. and the votes are counted, lets see who is left standing. Will be interesting.
I think it's quite possible that those particular folks could not stand that certain issues would be left to the states. They have a narrow agenda, and nothing, NOTHING, else matters. The only way to get there is via the most radical leftist, otherwise either candidate would do. The hammer was to scream racism. Enforcement was browbeating, silencing debate on other issues. I'm not too inclined to believe the conversion rate was very high. It hasn't worked for the GOP, and it won't work for these folks. FWIW.
Mike Ferret.
God is always good!
I read it and blame it on Mike. Am I right????
I do, I do!
When a socialists mouth is in high gear and froth is visible, that means their brain is in the idle mode.
Heh, I see my PR firm is still getting that Pavlovian response to my presence. As an old friend put it, never worry if they are talking about you as long as they get your name correct enough so they know whom they refer to.
LOL!! I notice that another opportunity to debate was rebuked today. It wasn't fair that all the facts could come into play apparently.
As an old friend put it, never worry if they are talking about you as long as they get your name correct enough so they know whom they refer to. I'm sorry, who are you?
Were you and Pavlovian close friends?? hehehehehe
Actually, that comment was made in the low gear modus of a matter of fact mentioning of whom I have supported over the years. I am not responding to FOH as he does not discuss, but only baits and harasses. It is better to ignore such people, as arguing with an idiot who relishes mud throwing is a problematic thing to do creating a situation where the casual observer can't tell who is the hater and who is the baited.
One does not do political activism without coming to understand Pavlovian responses well. It just comes with the territory. ;-)
Got me there, I'm not wearing my name tag today. ;-)
You might have a word with your PR team though...;)
Now now Mike, calm down. I have known you too long to believe anyone gets under your skin. Hell, I remember you and that bike from what, ten years ago????? If FOH irritates you whack him back or ignore but dont bozo. The only poster here that gets under my skin is angle, all she said was...I dont like or agree with anything you write... She crushed me right there. I try to be extra nice but so far no gain.
Nah, I trust their ability to work without adult supervision. ;-D
You just have to believe. :)
I had him on bozo as a vote of disdain for his brand of baiting until the bozo count disappeared from set-up today. But my old account I first signed up here with using my FReeper version of my real life nick name has always watched his game playing. I always watch what people say. I have been a political activist too long not to know to that not watching all elements of a forum is a dumb thing to do.
I feel bad that anyone of your caliber would bozo anyone. Anyway, I recall you and that bike photo from years ago, maybe on FR????? At my age I cannot remember where I live but I recall the bike.
By fascists and Nazis. And I suspect only fascists and Nazis remember this factoid today. Let me see; only fascists and Nazis are interested in actual history. I have to be reminded occasionally that European religious history relating to Martin Luther, the father of reformation, and European history, relating to Germany is owned by the Jews in the good old USA. Thank you, and archived for later use.
Ya gots ta dig a little deeper.
"HOLODOMOR" is Ukrainian word for "FAMINE-GENOCIDE"
"Judenrepublik" ("Jew republic", as you so elegantly translate it) is a term I only recall seeing in Nazi propaganda. If it occurs elsewhere, perhaps you can point the source out to me.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Ya gots ta dig a little deeper. It only took a 2x4 to the head to figure that out only a few short years ago. PLEASE, do not let that get around. :)
I do. I was photographed by FReepers at the Lane County Federal Courthouse during a court hearing for some Klamath Water rights people. It was linked to a thread about this issue and as the caption talked of me as a "possible Earth Liberation Front member," I as 'ferret' complained and they changed the caption to not be so slanderous. I believe there was another bicycle picture earlier then that too that had been one of the pictures of me in the Register Guard. That one of me was in reference to a fast for Earth First! activism Tim Ream was doing at that time at the same location. I have been in the local paper many many times, and I am clear and open about being Michael McCarthy as I am already well known locally and have long ago lost my shyness about being known exactly as myself.
I recall you on the bike, next to a gatehouse or some small building, a frontal shot???
That sounds like the Register Guard picture, not the taken by FReeper one. The one of me you can see by clicking on my 'Ferret Mike' post name is of me in front of the Portland Saturday Market tool room. I am with my Cenelli Super Corsa in that picture, but you don't see much of the bicycle, just the seat. I am always on or with one of my expensive machines. I turn 54 tomorrow and look and feel much younger because I excercise constantly, never drink or drug, and eat only healthy food. For example I only eat good quality meat three or four times a week. Unless it is right after hunting season that is and I was successful at taking down a buck with one of my compound bows. Then I enjoy venison much more then I probably should. ;-D
54 and you are still a hell bound fool. You won't be a Wiccan on you death bed unless you are a total fool.
God is always good!
If it occurs elsewhere, perhaps you can point the source out to me. Sure, I had to go thru my stacks: Weimarin Tasavalta – Euroopan Historia – Saksa Otava - 1953
Didn't everyone get a 2x4 to the head?
"HOLODOMOR" is Ukrainian word for "FAMINE-GENOCIDE"
I take it that's a history of the Weimar Republic in Finnish. In what connection does it use the term "Jew republic"? (Sorry, I don't know the Finnish for that.)
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Well said. Which is why I'm not here much anymore. Seems to be the best many here can come up with, too, sadly.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition "Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." © IndieTx
Comments (180 - 202) not displayed.
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#140. To: TwentyTwelve (#139)
LOLOL
#141. To: Cynicom (#9)
In Nov. if ballots were allowed a box of..none of the above... that would be a winner.
#142. To: RickyJ (#138)
Obama is going to ensure 100 year war McCain wins. Way to go Obama supporters!
#143. To: TwentyTwelve (#139)
#144. To: FOH, Cyni (#137)
To: Cynicom
#145. To: RickyJ (#138)
#146. To: RickyJ (#141)
"none of these candidates."
#147. To: Cynicom (#15)
Somehow such self-flagellation by these people is disturbing to normal Americans.
#148. To: Cynicom, ALL, *Obama Reality Check* (#145)
"...I first voted for McGovern and still deeply admire the man. I voted for Jerry Brown, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, and many others who never made it to the nomination or were third party and never voted for Bill Clinton, held my nose to vote Carter and Dukakis, supported Kerry mostly as a strong anti-George Bush reaction, and Obama is the very very first Democrat I have supported this early and so enthusiastically..."
#149. To: RickyJ (#147)
#150. To: Cynicom (#145)
A vote of support for Obummer is a vote for 100 years more of war with McKooK, by the same people that paid lip service to Ron Paul.
#151. To: FOH (#148)
#152. To: FOH (#148)
#153. To: FOH (#148)
"...I first voted for McGovern and still deeply admire the man. I voted for Jerry Brown, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, and many others who never made it to the nomination or were third party and never voted for Bill Clinton, held my nose to vote Carter and Dukakis, supported Kerry mostly as a strong anti-George Bush reaction, and Obama is the very very first Democrat I have supported this early and so enthusiastically..." Which former Ron Paul supporter recently said this in 4um ?
#154. To: Peppa (#150)
#155. To: Peppa (#153)
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
#156. To: Cynicom (#154)
When a socialists mouth is in high gear and froth is visible, that means their brain is in the idle mode.
#157. To: Ferret Mike (#155)
Heh, I see my PR firm is still getting that Pavlovian response to my presence.
#158. To: Ferret Mike (#155)
Pavlovian
#159. To: Cynicom (#154)
"When a socialists mouth is in high gear and froth is visible, that means their brain is in the idle mode."
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
#160. To: Cynicom (#158)
"Were you and Pavlovian close friends?? hehehehehe"
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
#161. To: Peppa (#157)
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
#162. To: Ferret Mike (#161)
Got me there, I'm not wearing my name tag today. ;-)
#163. To: Ferret Mike (#159)
(Edited)
I am not responding to FOH as he does not discuss, but only baits and harasses.
#164. To: Peppa (#162)
"You might have a word with your PR team though..."
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
#165. To: Ferret Mike (#164)
Nah, I trust their ability to work without adult supervision. ;-D
#166. To: Cynicom (#163)
(Edited)
"If FOH irritates you whack him back or ignore but dont bozo. The only poster here that gets under my skin is angle, all she said was...I dont like or agree with anything you write... She crushed me right there. I try to be extra nice by so far no gain."
#167. To: Ferret (#166)
#168. To: aristeides (#107)
The Weimar Republic was commonly called the Jew Republic in Europe.
#169. To: Peppa (#135)
my history was taught all from the perspective of all good guys v all bad guys.
#170. To: karelian (#168)
#171. To: angle (#169)
my history was taught all from the perspective of all good guys v all bad guys.
#172. To: Cynicom (#167)
#173. To: Ferret (#172)
#174. To: Cynicom (#173)
(Edited)
#175. To: Ferret (#174)
. I turn 54 tomorrow
#176. To: aristeides (#170)
"Judenrepublik" ("Jew republic", as you so elegantly translate it) is a term I only recall seeing in Nazi propaganda.
#177. To: Peppa (#171)
#178. To: karelian (#176)
#179. To: James Deffenbach, rickyj, cynicom, foh (#12)
Yes, these are truly sad times for America. A country with somewhere near 300 MILLION people and the best that can be put forth for the people to vote for is a lunatic who got his ace designation by downing five of OUR planes (not the enemies), a socialist who wants to give us the same wonderful health care system they have in England, and a racist black guy who hates whitey (and whose wife hates whitey even more).
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
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