Letters to the Editor
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Laugh to keep from crying
"They won't go for a black man, that's just it," R.K. Horton, a retired heating and air conditioning business owner, said of his neighbors. "I don't think it's being racist necessarily, they just don't like black people that well."
HA HA HA LOL ROTFLMAO!!!
I mean, really. I think my favorite part is the "They". You know, those people over there. Go vote for McCain, and good riddance. Obama will NEVER convince people like that to vote in their own best interests. A hundred years of war and $6 a gallon gas, just so you don't have to look at a black man in front of the Presidential seal for the next 4-8 years. There's nothing you can do about people like that.
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Thanks Uncle Fester
Thanks for the link to dawnt's diary on Kos. Not just a compelling case against pre-judging people in rural impoverished areas, but it's exactly why the 50-state strategy is important and worth the patience it requires. There are places Obama won't win, but I bet attitudes start changing.
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A pattern is emerging....
"Our generation was back when blacks were the back of the bus, and it's hard to change that outlook. I just feel like I couldn't vote for him."
Well, it's one way to state Hillary's unspoken campaign theme since February.
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George W. Bush Is Arrogant
And he won W. Virginia twice. Of course, he had two years more experience than Obama does.
sillylittlefreak--never was a username more appropriate.
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@mynamehere
"Here's who we want politicians pandering too. Way to find the bottom of the barrel Salon."
I think I understand what you are saying. But if we learned one lesson from 2000 and 2004 it's that what we think of as "right" doesn't necessarily make us the winner. The democratic party can be as right as rain, but if we don't find ways to reach out to the nation as a whole, we will still lose. I actually think that Obama's message has gone a long way. A lot of Americans from all walks of life are behind him.
But I don't think that because Madden quoted a man who was making racist statements, that that makes this a bad article. I've never in my life wanted a candidate to win more than Obama. But I also realize the necessity of a sober assessment of the nation at large. And you know what? There are racists in this country. They vote. And pretending otherwise doesn't really help the situation. I'd like to find a way to reach out to those people, because they're probably not any different than my own relatives, meaning they're not beyond listening to reason. They're not monsters, but treating them as if they ARE is one sure-fire way to insure that they don't vote for Obama. I think if Karl Rove taught us anything it's that Democrats and liberals can't afford to be uppity about the "flyover" states.
And, for what it's worth, I think THAT is why Obama's message is so attractive to so many people; He's not an "us and them" kind of guy.
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Fester, I owe you one (or two or three)
...for posting those links earlier. This was essentially what I was trying to say, but I just get so tired of trying to say it to people who can't imagine their own wilful ignorance. It's not just WVA, but that sure is an example. The fact that my roots run through DC, MD, VA, WVA and KY certainly have sensitized me to this massive failure of certain groups to avoid falling into the trap of selective diversity. The view from the ground is, indeed, very different than the view from the ivory tower.
Thanks. Really.
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@ drinkwater
Couldn't agree more with this:
" I'd like to find a way to reach out to those people, because they're probably not any different than my own relatives, meaning they're not beyond listening to reason. They're not monsters, but treating them as if they ARE is one sure-fire way to insure that they don't vote for Obama."
They certainly aren't monsters--that's Clinton. She'll stoop to anything. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
No, but seriously, I agree that no one should be written off, not simply as a function of a mad scramble for votes, but because I believe factionalism and animosity are bad for us all in the long run. Let them vote their racism, that's what democracy is about, but let them at least have the opportunity to interact with "the other," whoever he or she might be. In the long run, that's the only way to keep us from civil war and suchlike strife.
It's also true, of course, that these people's, shall we say, backwardness or ignorance should not be catered to. There's not really much to be done with such people other than to focus on concrete proposals you might have to improve their lives, but if ultimately that's not what it comes down to for them, what can you do other than adopt a posture of non-antagonism and extend whatever olive branch one has to hand, provided it's authentic and not some gimmick.
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And the point was?
Blue Jean, nice dig on my name. Great argument. Not sure what your point was but well put.
As a Hillary supporter, are you sensitive about being called a racist? I would be too after her references to the importance of "WHITE working class" voters. (How come blacks are just blacks and never working class blacks?)
I doubt you're a racist. I know Hillary isn't. But her political ambition got in the way of her better judgment and to her shame she played the card. Bill did too.
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Obama's problems in West Virginia
I am white, anglo-saxon, male--like a lot of West Virginians--and 59 years old. I was born, raised and educated here. Other than 15 years in other geographic areas, I have always lived here. I have neither the health, the means nor the ambition to leave again.
John McCain will not win here because he is a Republican. George W. Bush won twice because the Democratic Party here tends to 'rapture' on rupture and Rovian tactics like fear of 'them' attacking us 'here' if we don't kill them over 'there' are bound to please. Let it merely be perceived that you might tamper with the absolute right to own whatever kind and however many guns you want, not fully embrace Jesus Christ, or show empathy toward gays and you cannot win an election here. The bedrock for these positions is summed-up by isolation: geographic (mountains), social (clannish-every family has its own venerated cemetery), cultural (it's the same music and fiddle great-grandpa passed down) and religious(fundamental to the core: the KJV Bible is THE truth--literal and inviolable).
Reaction to gross abuses heaped on the people early by the coal baron operators gave rise to unions and democratic party dominance. Racism, xenophobia and cynicism came mostly from cut-throat competition for mining jobs before the union brought the many divergent groups together, blacks included, notwithstanding they had no choice but to accept differences for the sake of the union,i.e their very survival.The term 'red neck' literally started here during a mine war in the 1920's. It was a red handkerchief tied about the neck that identified union men. Union, non-union--owner, worker: a conflict that rages even today--amplifies the class dichotomy here.
Bottom line: fundamental religion restricts any dogma that is avante guard to protect the prominence of the existing orthydoxy. Local school boards oversee cirriculum to assure it. As people who have suffered hell on earth at times, promises of gold streets and no tears in heaven have allowed people to persevere abhorrent mine tragedies, sudden death and oppression.
Often, why a particular candidate gets elected here defies explanation. From the constitutionally erudite Sen. Robert C. Byrd and adopted son, Sen. Jay Rockefeller to the likes of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. Bill Clinton won twice because he felt the pain here, successfully communicated it and launched his '96 re-election campaign here etching him in stone to the people. This is the core of Hillary Clinton's commanding lead here and that Barack Obama got defined, mostly by his own misspeak, as 'too high on the hog' got him off to a rough start but he can recover by November. He must mingle, tell the truth, be himself and let people know him, that his beginnings are humble and that he appreciates their self-interest and will address it when president--give them his word that he will. Listen, listen, listen and they will show you the way to their support and vote. Declare the first day of deer season a holiday and he's a shoe in! Thank you.