Bush went to business school at Harvard. Granted, he was AWOL from his National Guard unit that year, 1973. It stands out to me because I was finishing up my active duty in the Army at Fort Devens, forty miles to the west, while he was AWOL.

the rednecks chose dubya over kerry, can't claim to be totally astonished if the dimwit rednecks choose mccain over obama, now can we?

but maybe the shambles the reps made of the usa will at least put enough dems in congress and senate to slow the rate of decline of the dimwitted redneck empire of america.

or at least keep down the bloodshed.

I was going to write a snide-ass response to your post, but thought better of it. There is enough of that going on here, and I've done it too much already. I ask you to consider this. 85-90% of African-Americans voted for John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton twice, and every other White Democrat, male or female, since the late 60s. This time, African-Americans see an African-American candidate who actually has a shot at winning, so this time, so it is probably more that African-Americans are voting for him because he is an African-American who they think is up to the task, rather than anti-White racism.

I'm not suggesting that there aren't African-Americans who are racists - I don't buy into that "racism can only be practiced by the dominant group" argument - hate and judgment based on skin color is racism, wherever it comes from. But there is a difference between a White guy saying "I won't vote for him because he's black" and an African-American who has repeatedly voted for White candidates saying, this time, yeah, the fact that he's African-American is going to be a big factor in my vote.

As a really White guy who can travel incognito among the so-called regular white folks, I think there is a lot less white racism than there was 20 years ago. Hell, 10 years ago. And for all of his faults, George Bush is certainly no racist, and I get pissed when I hear that charge leveled at him. Bush just doesn't really give a shit about poor people, in any real sense. McCain is no racist, either. Republicans are finally starting to stop playing that card, and Bush deserves credit for that.

If your letter is serious, my answer to your question is that you would be surprised at how few urban African-Americans dislike White people. Distrust a little, maybe. Dislike, not really.

By the way, Dan, this is a thoughtful, balanced article.

I'm glad your uncle is voting for Obama - but I'm afraid that he IS stupid, or at least willfully ignorant, if he uses the "N" word and still thinks Obama is a Muslim.

George Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard.

I love your wording... "received"... as opposed to "earned." ;) Brilliant!

I think you're missing the point of the dialog. It's not about which group is more racist than the other group (or for that matter which group is more sexist, as in the "hockey moms" who have suddenly cast their lot with the Red ticket because a woman is on the tickey). The point is that they need to be focusing on which candidate will do a better job of protecting our country, creating jobs, improving the health of our citizens, caring for our veterens and our aged...in other words working for all of us regular citizens instead of for a cabal of corporate donors and war profiteers.

When the people in this article speak to us about their voting decision-making process they deserve our "straight talk" back: casting a vote based on who you think is prettiest or nicest is what you do for high school homecoming. Doing that as an adult is hurting us all. As nice and good as I know (most of) these people likely are, they need the tough love from their brothers explaining the negative impact their votes are having on this country and our fighting sons and daughters. Help 'em out a little and buy 'em a subscription to Salon.

Maybe we don't like Obama's positions on issues. Maybe he offers problems, but no specific solutions. Maybe we don't look at the world with the same filter as Dan Hoyle. He just can't understand why we don't think like he does.

Take the most ridiculous, racist, silly inane comment a small-town American has said about Obama and I guarantee I've heard worse said by a suburban west coast American.

Americans generally believe (and say) whatever idiotic emotional bullshit strikes their fancy. I think it's been because we've always been rich enough to buy our way out of the consequences of our irrational behavior, but this is changing very very quickly.

You're wrong. We understand all to well.

Barak Obama spent a considerable portion of his youth in poverty. He worked his own way to the top.

Bah! This is nonsense. I read his autobiography. I spent my childhood in a struggling working class family with four children and we weren't even allowed to eat our fill at dinnertime. We never called outselves poor. Our parents would have smacked us if we poor-mouthed ourselves around the neighborhood.

Obama attended a private school. His mother was on food stamps for a brief time. However, his time with his grandparents, who made great sacrifices for him, was hardly impoverished. Just your usual American stuggles.

People who believe that makes true poverty don't know what they are talking about.

Define poverty.

I was homeless once. That's poverty.

People exaggerate Obama's poverty unnecessarily. They don't need to. It is pointless because compared to McCain and McCain's background, Obama could hardly be described at privileged.

I just wish people would stick to the facts. Obama had a childhood that plenty of poor rural kids and poor inner city kids would envy.

What AKASmith is trying to say is, Obama was poor but not PISS poor. And by the way, don't try to compete with Smith in the who was brought up most the miserably poor sweepstakes. You won't win.