!!!!! HEADLINE NEWS !!!!!

LATEST DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY RESULTS PROVE WEST VIRGINIA HAS MORE RACISTS THAN SEXISTS

ouch

In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
Wait till these guys find out about John McCain's illegitimate black baby.

West Virginia, you're a disgrace to the South. Too bad we can't vote West Virginia out of the union.

Even my backassward state (MS) went to Obama. The 2006 census data for MS shows the state to be 60.9% white, 37.1% black. The Democratic primaries here went 61.2% to Obama and 36.7% Clinton.

Even if every black person in the state voted for Obama, that means at least half of us whities voted for him too (which could be about right since half the white population are inbred rednecks).

It is far too easy to generalize and stereotype. Certainly a handful of edited interviews from any given region can be used to paint a caricatured impression. There are intelligent, progressive, well informed thinkers in West Virginia. I've met them. I know some voted for Hillary for reasons that had nothing to do with race, as much as that fact might frustrate the Sen. Obama supporters like myself.

That said, it's worth considering more quantifiable information like exit poll data and primary voting results rather than anecdotal evidence about West Virginia. No doubt many of you have seen the widely reported numbers that 2 in 10 white West Virginia voters said that race was an important factor in their vote, and more than 8 in 10 of them backed Sen. Clinton according to exit polls. (1) It's also significant that 7% of the total vote went to John Edwards who dropped out of the race back in January.

Yes, volunteers campaigning for Obama in West Virginia did experience racially motivated animosity, as they have in some other states. (2)

What's important to me is that Obama's prospects still look good for November. For those us who are supporting Obama's campaign, I feel it's wise to try to build consensus rather than fostering division.

References:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/us/politics/14dems.html
Clinton Beats Obama Handily in West Virginia
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014.html
Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

>> ^Doc_M:
P.S. If you nominate Hillary, there's no way in Hell that any republican is going to cross the lines to vote for her. With Barak... not so.


Yeah, if there's NO way I can vote for Paul, then I'm definitely crossing over for Obama. Whatever it takes for Hilldog or McPain to lose.
Yup, that's right. MG just said he would register as a democrat.

>> ^Crosswords:
First of all I'd like to say West Virginia is not part of the south, so please don't pin them on us .


they're part of the west, right?

>> ^Majortomyorke:
^ Lets hope it's a shrinking minority.

I whole-heartedly agree and am glad in my lifetime I am able to say we now have indisputable proof that that one-time majority is a continually shrinking minority: Obama is leading Clinton and there exists the real possibility he could win the seat as commander-in-chief of the free world.

Can you imagine that when just a few decades ago Black Americans didn't have the right to vote and were even segregated from the rest of America? This is an exciting time to be alive.

>> ^chilaxe:
Taking Hillary as his VP would probably go a long way toward resolving the rift among democrats. I think Hillary's still running now just to force him to pick her.


I don't think that's a good idea for a number of reasons and the odds of it happening are a LOT lower than most people expect. I'd be glad to explain the reasons if you'd like, but it's a bit long and I don't want to go too far off topic here without need. Bad habit I'm trying to work on a bit

It might have been an option 6 weeks or more ago, but she went for it all instead of leaving herself some room and leverage and she's got nothing left now. He's got no reason to want her. Not even electability or bringing more people out to vote.

With Roe V Wade and so many other things hanging on the edge of a split court and one or two Justices old enough to retire or otherwise leave office in the next few years that'll bring many of the women who say they won't vote for him out in spite of themselves. Loss of that is a steep price for an angry gesture so most will probably show in the end with or without her. There's a bunch of other problems with arguments for her being on the ticket as well. She offers little really but baggage and controversy, the potential for conflict within the ticket.

First of all I'd like to say West Virginia is not part of the south, so please don't pin them on us .

As someone who has lived in both rural and urban areas, I've found in rural areas the a much larger reliance on community opinion, which generally leads to acceptance without questioning or really understanding why. Opposition is small, and in a community of a thousand if there are only like 10 people saying something opposing they're easy to ignore, when you get into an urban area there are many more opposing ideas floating around, and even if the percent of people expressing those ideas is just as small as in rural area, its still a large group of people. 1000 people isn't as easy to ignore regardless of overall population size.

So people in urban areas find their beliefs called into question more often, and thus are probably doing more to inform themselves than whatever the majority opinion is, while those in rural areas don't run into much belief conflict on a day to day basis, and thus are less likely to evaluate things, and just go with the flow of their community.

>> ^Duckman33:
Sorry to stereo type. But this just shows how ignorant people from the south really are. They let years of racism blind them to the truth and well known facts. Laughable.

Fighting ignorance with ignorance? Yeah, that'll work out REAL well.

A Muslim candidate who is in trouble because of his pastor's preachings; oh, US elections are so terribly confusing ;-).

Still, I wonder what message this clip is trying to get across: 1) people in West-Virginia are ignorant, stubborn bigots who shouldn't be allowed to vote, or (2) we'd better nominate Hilary or we might get stuck with another Republican for the next 4 years.

Btw, I love the "we've got a right to know", but if anybody starts to explain I'm simply not going to agree with that and the I'm going to vote for Hilary because she can sing the national anthem better than anybody (between the presidential thing and the American Idol final coming up, US elections are so confusing).

>> ^Duckman33:
Sorry to stereo type. But this just shows how ignorant people from the south really are. They let years of racism blind them to the truth and well known facts. Laughable.


Go fuck yourself. Seriously. You're worse than they are with your bigoted stereotype based on 4 people's views. Not everyone is like that, but i doubt you care, you're already as entrenched in your opinion as they are.

"Too many rednecks here in West Virginia."

Says the woman sitting on the porch in West Virginia. Priceless.

Now, who wants to bet that they'll pull a total 180 if West Virginia goes to Hillary in a >20% win?

Her Texas sounds more like West Virginia to me. Pretty spot on, regardless.