People have to realize that there are very few registered Republicans in West Virginia. Many people who would register Republican in other states register as Democrats because that is the only way to have a say in the primary (most Republican candidates are unopposed.) If you took polls on racism in other states, and included Republicans in the mix, you would find that West Virginia is no more racist than any other state in the union. Sure its upsetting that some people see race, but its also upsetting that some people are prejudiced against Appalachian people.

Prediction -- Obama will take West Virginia in November. Then maybe the bigots among you will get off our backs.

You are the one who is willfully ignorant. I'm beginning to doubt you are from West Virginia at all. What part of the state was created in 1863 don't you understand? Geez, you idiot, of course I know the Civil War started in 1861, it's my field for God's sake. WV seceded from Virginia. In 1863. And the state was created. Period. WV couldn't have been trying to avoid reconstruction because reconstruction hadn't started. Period. I too have lost patience. It's no fun arguing with someone as ignorant as you.

You clearly didn't read this piece very carefully. These voters (I'm one of them) don't, for the most part, think this way about Obama, any more than they thought that way about Kerry and Dukakis. If that was so, why did Jesse Jackson do so well here?

So, let's just forget about these folks? Forget about rural folks? Any candidate who thinks that way doesn't deserve to win. Any citizen like you who thinks that way doesn't deserve to live in a country where ALL its citizens should be valued.

I'm sick and tired of Appalachian people being called racist when racism exists throughout the country. Appalachian people didn't invent segregation, and often have rejected it. They didn't invent slavery and often rejected it. Appalachian people didn't invent the housing discrimination that resulted in inner cities from Washington to Detroit to Atlanta to Los Angeles. My state and county and city and neighborhood are far more integrated than most areas of this country.

Rural westerners may automatically vote Republican, but Appalachian voters do not. Most Appalachian voters are Democrats. And they will vote Democratic in November if they are not ignored, or worse, made fun of. But if Obama doesn't come here and campaign, it will affect states from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.

Babygrumpus claims to be only responding to negative views about people in cities, (and claims wrongly, historically, that the revolution started in two cities while ignoring what happened in th rest of the country, including Appalachia.

But here is what Babygrumpus said on the Dee Davis thread. "we have to stop kowtowing to the most backwards and reactionary segments of our society and stop letting our national progress be held hostage by these kooks."

Sounds pretty ugly to me. All the other posters in the same vein make one thing only clear -- you know nothing about Appalachia. Otherwise you would not make blanket statements about an entire geographical region of people which is in fact extremely complex, diverse, culturally rich, and not at all easy to categorize. Except that we all of us are faced with the same stupid stereotypes. And you know what -- if these were directed toward African-Americans or Jews they would be labelled racist or anti-semitic. That is what they are. We just haven't invented a label for them.

You said. "I am throughly sick and tired of welfare and job benefits that go to these areas (because they are among the most poor in the country) out of my paycheck"

You sound like a good Republican.

I hate to break it to you, but we have libraries, books, and college in Appalachia.

Whoops, should have previewed. Colleges. Sorry for the typo,

Who's talking about starting? You wrote as if the entire revolution happened in Boston and Philadelphia. So Philadelphia hosted the Continental Congress. The delegates came from all over. And much of the war, from the Green Mountain boys to Saratoga to King's Mountain, was fought in the Appalachian Mountains. By Appalachian people.

Oh, and then there was that ignorant hillbilly named Thomas Jefferson.

Go back and look at your other posts. They are shocking statements of bigotry. That's what it's called when you paint entire groups of people with one brush.

The factory worker in Altoona. The potter and musician in West Virginia. The college student at Virginia Tech. The retired professional couple in western North Carolina. The high tech entrepreneur in Knoxville. The schoolteacher in eastern Kentucky. The African-American attorney in Huntington. The trucker in northern Alabama. The atomic scientist at Oak Ridge.

All of them cousin-humping ignoramuses.

The bigotry is sickening.

Well, I guess Palestinians can't take credit for Jesus, since Jesus was Jewish. But you know, last time I looked, Charlottesville was in the Appalachian mountains. Sub-group - the Blue Ridge.

Very convenient. The stereotype is established -- poor, ignorant, racist, incestuous. Then when the examples of folks who are not like this are trotted out, well. They don't fit. So they must not be Appalachian. Stereotype maintained.

Very convenient.

Bill Clinton relates well because he comes across as down home. I don't care for him myself and I voted for Obama. But many people like him because he comes across familiar and informal.

Re "hillbilly" It's like the N word. We can call ourselves that, but anyone else is asking for an argument because we know its perjorative.