The "hillbillies" don't like Obama because they know a con-man when they see one. And they have lots of relatives!

They don't want government in their pockets, they don't want anyone telling them what to do. The old stories of revenuers having their tires shot at and being chased off of private property are true, after all. And moonshine is still made, though I doubt Barak has ever drank any, or could and keep it down.

They do want to be respected, even if they don't have a lot of cash or education. They have survived many, many tough times -on their own, and will do so again. If and when this country falls apart - it won't be the rich, snobby, condescending, Ivy-league educated, east/west coast liberals who make it.......it will be the "hillbillies." And they will be the ones who rebuild it, not the Obamas.

And most importantly, they do believe in God - a Christian God - and are proud of their country - the USA.

Obama believes in none of these things.

I wrote about Obama and his attitude towards coal on my post on page 7 (I think) and I was chastised for saying many Obama supporters are smarmy and callow by DrFresh (No, I am not shallow or dishonest). Taliesan proved my point by the way.

Some people who are voting for Obama are new to the Democratic Party and don't even know what it stands for. I have written before, but will say it again, it is a Party of not only the intellectuals, but the uneducated, the rich and the poor, etc. That is why it is considered a BIG TENT!

Frankly, lets be honest here: Kerry was the older more timid Democratic party's choice. Gore's political campaign was

hamstrung by a drive to the centre.

The young choice over Kerry was Dean, who scream or not, was still better than warmed over death.

And the last time the younger vote picked the candidate? Bill Clinton. A two term winner who actually wasn't a bad president. Certainly better than what came before and after him.

There has been this shift in the Democratic Party towards acting like having gone to a top university and having graduated magna cum laude is a negative. Like actually being a success is a bad thing.

And trying to appeal to the sort of people that believe that, who are by no means the "uneducated vote" but who are very definitely the "stupid vote" is bullshit.

To answer the question posed by the headline, it might be because liberal Obama supporters with no real understanding of rural American life call these people "hillbillies" in the same breath that they wonder why they have not become enlightened enough to support the Candidate Who Deserves To Win Because He Is Freaking Awesome.

You can't misunderstand and insult a group of people, only to then wonder why they aren't kissing your ass like you think they ought. Or, I mean, I guess you could, but you'd have to be pretty damn stupid.

The appalachianers may be undereducated and unsophisticated by the standards of Kerry, my boy Obama and all the socialist/democrats. But these folks, I know them, can smell a phony snake oil salesman and his wife, Mrs. Grievence a mile away , Obbama can't chanage that.

The problems of the socialists is that they conflate education with intelligence. There is no neccessary correlation. Remember also these are they guys who push the butt of a rifle across the face of the earth for AMERICA.They'll go for Mc Cain and understandably so.

B. Hussein Obama doesn't have it, never will.

If you blieve that Clinton and McCain are religious and patriotic, you are one gullible mark.

How does Christianity figure in waging war against civilians?

First, the article falsely accuses suppporters of recent Democratic nominees of alienating Appalachian voters by "name calling" -- the current obsession of the die-hard Clinton supporting editor of this web site.

The article refers to posters on various liberal blogs as proof of the assertion.

Then a bunch of purported Obama supporters post in response to the article, basically proving the article's thesis by calling Appalachian people irrational using crude terms to do so. Many of these posters have not previously posted on Salon, or have in the past made only similar intentionally inflammatory remarks.

By contrast, recently I went through a thread on Obama's Appalachian problem on DailyKos, a website which is largely ignored by Clinton supporters, and therefore basically immune from trolling. The thread included well over 500 comments, and very few if any contained any insulting remarks toward Appalachian people. To the contrary, many posters wrote about their roots and relatives in the region and offered serious suggestions about possible anti-poverty programs.

I am getting the feeling that Sidney Blumenthal is still very present at Salon.

I'd just like to point out that if everyone had been invested in a Democratic victory in November, Hillary could have campaigned in these states very differently. She would have won anyway, but the party could have begun laying the groundwork to garner supporter for whichever candidate would be the eventual nominee, but keeping it positive and praising the party first. (See also John Edwards' endorsement speech of Obama for an example of a true statesman.)

Faced with this choice of either exploiting the long standing Appalachian attitudes for short-term gain (a series of symbolic blowouts with little effect on the eventual results of the primary) or claiming victory while focusing everyone's attention on the differences between the Democratic Party and John McCain we all knew which road the Clinton campaign took.

I really hate how discussions of this kind devolve into elitist latte liberal snobs vs. hillbilly rednecks. Until people in this country realize that except for a miniscule minority of people (hollywood stars, CEO's) we are all struggling, and that the divisiveness between groups is all just a ploy by the "Man" (yes I said it) to keep us down, we'll never do anything about the problems in this country.

It doesn't help that some people on this thread get off on taking offense at anything and everything. Ohmigod, Obama called people from Appalachia Hillbillies! (Untrue.)

Ohmigod, that campaign worker is an evil elitist! People from Appalachia are evil racists! Saying that people from Appalachia are racist is racist!

The truth is, that so-called hillbillies are themselves, elitists and probably just as snobby as latte liberals. (Again, we have more in common than you think.) I mean, one of the stereotypes of the so-called salt of the earth types is that they are poor but most definitely proud. Sure, they might want the mines to open back up or the factories to come back, but they love their communities and are proud to be from where they are.

I feel like those of you who are coming to their defense are worse than the so-called snobs. It smacks of condescension. They pretty much told us all how they feel about Obama at the ballot box. They don't need ya'll to speak up for them and I'm sure most of them wouldn't thank you for it.