Stuff that bugs me
One of my least-favorite journalistic conventions is when a reporter interviews one crazy bastard and decides to have him represent an entire demographic of people. Case in point is this Financial Times article:
Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.
“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides.
Mr Simpson’s remarks help explain why Mr Obama is trailing Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, by 40 percentage points ahead of Tuesday’s primary election in the heavily white and rural state, according to recent opinion polls.
Well no, dude, they really don’t.
Only 10% of voters think that Obama is a Muslim. And unless they all happen to be West Virginia Democratic primary voters, I don’t think that Mr. Simpson’s remarks explain anything other than his own psychosis.
Sadly, Oliver Willis takes the bait on this nonsense:
“Obama just doesn’t sound right for an American president.”
It’s the sentiment of one voter in West Virginia. And I know I’m in many ways the stereotypical coastal elitist here, but I don’t I’m crazy to think that a party absolves itself of morality by pandering to that kind of thing, always afraid of taking a step forward because it might offend some whose thinking is backwards (ie “That Martin King is kind of radical, shouldn’t we just bide our time rather than upsetting the apple cart? People in the deep south aren’t ready for big change just yet”).
I don’t believe in supporting candidates far outside of the mainstream of thought but at the same time that road goes both ways. I don’t believe in not supporting a candidate because of the opinion of a voting bloc outside of the realm of common sense.
Of course, at the same time, this shows the world of difference between Virginia and West Virginia.
See, here’s the thing: the reasons that Republicans have been winning elections in rural southern and midwestern states is because they’ve become extremely adept at exploiting cultural differences between small-town Americans and big-city Americans. We’re all familiar by with what this entails: portraying Democrats as Starbucks pastry-buggering windsurfing Yanni fans.
Now it’s true that there are real cultural differences between people who live in cities and people who live in small towns. It’s also true that these differences are present in just every country that’s ever existed. City life and country life are different from one another, and thus it’s perfectly natural that people who live in fundamentally different environments would adopt different cultural norms and mores.
What’s more, I think these cultural differences are relatively small. Yes, cities have a smaller percentage of people who attend church every week, but atheists like me are still way, way outnumbered by people with religious beliefs. For instance, even though Boston has a reputation as a den of atheistic eeeeeeeeevil, it has like a gajillion Catholics living in it. Let’s face it: the cultural differences between rural and urban Americans pale in significance to our similarities.
And this brings me back to why Oliver’s take on this is so stupid. Dude, we’re trying to convince people to support Team Blue in the fall. Stereotyping everyone in West Virginia as a brain-dead goober is a poor strategy for getting them to vote for our candidate. Instead of simply dismissing all Clinton supporters as bigoted hicks, folks in the Obama camp should examine how her emphasis on progressive domestic policy issues such as implementing universal health care and placing a temporary freeze on subprime foreclosures has helped her win over white blue-collar Democrats. And while I’m sure there will be a small, insignificant minority of Clinton supporters who won’t vote for Obama because he’s black, I think the vast majority of them will be receptive to him if he can make his case.
Goes to show you that Barack Hussein Obama, that elitist anti-American drug addict hippie cannot win any Red States. The white working class man this article refers to reflects the views of millions of white working class Americans who will not vote for someone like Obama. I for one hope Obama wins the Democratic primary, it will practically hand the Presidency to McCain in November.
Notice how standard wingnut trolling and sympathy trolling is down while at the same time there’s a whole bunch of stubborn, irrational, insulting Clinton supporters and Obama supporters all over the place.
Not quite worthy of a conspiracy, but fun to consider. Or paranoid. Both.
Notice how quickly “Leonard Simpson” became a “voting block”. Awesome!
I also notice Haam is working overtime.
Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.
Then he isn’t lifelong. Fuck him.
Jonathon Chait on this very topic and how she who will not be named is helping to divvy things up on the familiar old GOP fault lines.
No doubt by pointing this out, I am a clear hater.
Instead of simply dismissing all Clinton supporters as bigoted hicks, folks in the Obama camp should examine how her emphasis on progressive domestic policy issues such as implementing universal health care and placing a temporary freeze on subprime foreclosures has helped her win over white blue-collar Democrats.
I thought Hillary was winning poor white voters by going around guzzling beer, talking about how she loves her some guns, and railing against “experts” with their “degrees”. Guess the jokes on me!
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=64032fab-d36d-44b8-817c-6ba2f88f732d
Wait. I came over for the post, “Bugs That Stuff Me.”
Know where that is?
I have talked to people who have all kinds of odd notions about Obama, Clinton, and this election in general. For instance, an elderly friend of ours holds forth about how Obama would be good for this country, that he is the choice of the young people, it’s time to step aside and let them take over; I said, “Are you going to vote for him?” “Oh, no, he said, I’m voting for McCain.” A lifelong Republican, he would never vote for a Democrat. His wife says she would never vote for Hillary Clinton after what she said about baking cookies, since she prides herself on her chocolate chip cookies. She’ll probably go for Obama.
Not destroying the state might be a good idea to bring up.
And housing, jobs, and education. The usual 10 point plan.
Even more reason for Clinton (and her husband) to get solidly behind Obama once she’s out of the race. If she persists with her negative messages about the front runner past losing, she may as well sign on with the Republicans. John McCain’s already more than thrilled with her campaign strategy.
*SIGH*
I dunno. I’ve spent the last three decades bouncing between the bay area, sacramento, phoenix/tempe, LA, Vegas, Denver and all the little parts in between.
On a scooter. That wasn’t that reliable. I’ve been in big cities and small towns, and the jails in the respective communities. I don’t see a whole lotta difference.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, the east coast is a mystery to me, and I bring no wisdom to that party.
But a very wise man, during the cold war, once pointed out that the average shopkeeper in Minsk was the same as the average shopkeeper in St. Louis. And I’ve kind of always lived that rule. We are US before we are somebody else. Y’know?
I’ve had long talks with sheriffs, and sheriff’s wives, in the dark of the night. We are much more the same than we are different, regardless of what Jonah Goldberg would like to shove down our throats. For the most part, people are good and want to do good.
And that will ultimately save us, or not…
mikey
That is superb.
No candidate has a monopoly of idiotic supporters. No candidate has a monopoly of intelligent voters backing them. What gals me the most about the current primary campaign is that some supporters are so passionate about their candidate, that they think that there can be no other possible conclusion.
I admit to preferring Obama as a candidate, but I have said, and will always continue to say there are plenty of reasons to pick Clinton. Both candidates have strengths and weaknesses. Both would run very different campaigns against John McCain, and I have always believed that both were very capable of winning.
I do get annoyed when people are playing sore loser/take my ball home, but it is my belief that most Hillary Clinton supporters don’t share this mentality, and that most Obama supporters, would (were the roles reversed) be as gracious.
Stereotyping everyone in West Virginia as a brain-dead goober
But then stereotypes are at least loosely based on facts. Having spent some time in West Virginia, I can tell you, this aint that extreme as stereotypes go.
Is that Obadamah boah really one a them Mooslims? Well, tarnation, Ah cain’t vote for one a them ragheads. Ah reckon A’ll jist have ta vote fer McCine if’n that Mooslim boah gits the Demmycratic nomination.
Everybody wants the same thing, don’t they ?
vid
This stuff bugs me too, a little, but stuff that really bugs me are when Obama makes ignorant, prejudicial statements about white people.
But then, what would I know, I’m just an…
Average White Guy
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008
No matter how hard he looks towards November, voters will keep looking back at his years with Wright, his comment about the “typical white” person and the infamous “bitter” comment.
Then again, what do I know? I’m just an…
Average White Guy
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008
http://www.drblt.net/music/AverageWhiteMDemo2.mp3
Um, if I might offer something here, over at Dailykos they have an interesting book that refutes a lot of the notions that commonly underlie the old red/blue state dynamic.
(yeah yeah I know there’s all this mudslinging going on between DK and MyDD and whatever the hell else, That is irrelevant here)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/11/141834/563/85/513502
More to the point,. electoral-vote.com has some interesting maps based on the latest polling data. The interesting part to me is the changes over time. I haven’t made an animation of it or anything (that would be fun). It struck me that Obama puts more states in play. Clinton gets much stronger support in the states that were Democratic in the last couple of election cycles, but Obama forces campaigns in places like Colorado.
That’s going to be really important in November, I think. Because if the Dems carry the same states as before, while fighting to get Florida, it leaves them on the defensive. It also won’t do it. The Gore states add up 260 EV (Without Florida). That ain’t enough. Even if we add Colorado, which nearly went for Gore, it only gets you 269. Some of this is due to population changes since then. Clinton would basically have to carry Ohio and/or Florida to win in November, assuming most voting patterns stay broadly the same. SHe would also have to hope McCain made no inroads in PA or Michigan.
Obama, on the other hand, can make gains for Dems in places such as Colorado, New Mexico, and perhaps even North Carolina or Indiana. He even polls well in Texas. Texas! What kind of prize would that be?
Anyhow, what I thought interesting is that the GOP has managed to use the old guns gays and god stuff for a while, but that’s only because Democrats don’t and haven’t just called them out. I long to hear somebody say “Dammit, whether or not you believe in God you still die when insurance companies won’t pay for cancer treatments.” or “If Wright is such a problem, what about Hagee?” I mean, either Dem candidate could play a few choice Hagee clips and pretty much guarantee no Catholic voter would ever flip the lever for McCain.
And by the way, rural voters are a minority of the population — a small one — and have been a minority since 1920. Even in “rural” states, like Wyoming, something like 80% of the population lives in two cities.
Christ almighty, you want to appeal to rural people? Tell them that the GOP has made sure that there is no rural economy, and that’s why there aren’t enough people who want to work on farms and the towns are disappearing. Ask ’em if they think Monsanto’s farm ought to get all that subsidized water. Ask ’em what they plan to do when the water runs out (and it will in about 10 years).
Arrrgh.
John McCain is going to trash Obama this November. Can you spell GOP LANDSLIDE!
Obama will have to show the country that he’s a christian and a patriot. Two flag lapel pins and a crucifix tie tack, maybe a cross on a neck chain should do the trick. He just needs more America-bling and Jesus-bling, that’s all.
It’s people like the BLT quack that make me sooo glad to not be an average white guy.
But seriously, doc, you overestimate yourself; average is much more than you could ever aspire to.
So Leonard is….what? Homer’s cousin?
Satan’s Dirty Underwear,
Two flag lapel pins and a crucifix tie tack? A real xtian patriot would wear two wetsuits and a dildo.
h.a.a.m.
bully, coward, deluded, – irrelevant
Then again, what do I know? I’m just a…
Shameless Blog Whore
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008
we fixed that typo for you Dr B
Hell, I grew up in the Ozarks and even I get the sense that the opening three paragraphs in that Financial Times article were written by Jayson Blair. That there is some local color, by cracky.
All the rural people I know are voting for Obama–they hate Hillary and they’re afraid of McCain, mostly because they are so damned sick of Bush. But that observation doesn’t fit some new meme we’re supposed to be worshiping, so nobody would ever quote me in the Pink Paper. Maybe if I were sucking on a toothpick, wearing overalls and picking a banjo . . .
Have HAAM and Leonard Simpson ever been seen together at the same time? It would be irresponsible not to speculate…
http://www.drblt.net/music/AverageWhiteMDemo2.mp3
I think this is a step up for BLT. He sounds only moderately sedated and the background chatter turns out to be backup vocals.
Isn’t it about time to kick haam in the pants, get off S,N? Now he’s spamming you, what next? Kiddie Porn?
Noboby is reading your cut and paste posts, loser.
pastry-buggering
Now really, I have spent a lot of time looking for pastry vagina with no results and now they have bumholes too. WHAT IS THE SECRET?
Ah, the classic “low information voter”. I tend to call them fucking morons, myself. And yeah, I think the 10% figure is probably pretty accurate. Thank God.
Ah.
Fuckhead found a new toy.
Makes the site unuseable.
Yay.
Let’s keep giving this piece of shit a forum.
‘Cause were liberals. And we’re stupid.
mikey
Don’t be bitter, BLT….
this shows the world of difference between Virginia and West Virginia.
How did Virgina get off the hook West Virginia is still on? Because Obama won the Virginia primary? That’s all it takes? America is full of hicks, and that damn sure includes every state Obama managed to win, and no insignificant share of Obama _voters_, too. Blaming Obama’s underperformance on hicks (who are obviously racist, ipso facto) this time around isn’t going to help him hold onto the hicks who _did_ vote for him the last time around.
Or, I meant to add, the _next_ time around.
Some random thoughts:
1 – What is the point of this article? Obama has the nomination wrapped up. Or is this just to try to frame any opposition to a liberal who wants to raise taxes, curtail trade, and surrender to terrorists as GASP racist?
2 – Jesus, HAAM, that’s really fucking annoying. Your nickname sucks and your posting habits have become abusive.
3 – Mikey, I just don’t believe that most people are good. Here is a link for you to remind you why I think that might be so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrM0dAFsZ8k
Good luck on the rest of your primary, liberals.
Two words: Play-Doh and bacon.
Ban the fuckhead.
Man, now even our annoying concern troll is upset with our idiot troll. If I didn’t think they were still the same person, I’d say that marks the true majority of Sadly, No calling for a ban of Haam. When even the trolls turn on you, who’s going to care?
That wasn’t me who did that spamming. It was someone posting under my name. Probably an attempt by you liberals to discredit my intelligence.
..and he’s (pretending to be) Canadian, too. (Not that I have any problem with that.)
I guess Bill didn’t get the Party Unity Memo:
Per ABC News’ Sarah Amos, this is what the 42nd president of the United States said Friday in Ripley, W.Va.:
“Hillary is in this race because of people like you and places like this and no matter what they say,” Clinton said. “And no matter how much fun they make of your support of her and the fact that working people all over America have stuck with her, she thinks you’re as smart as they are. She thinks you’ve got as much right to have your say as anybody else. And, you know, they make a lot of fun of me because I like to campaign in places like this, they say I have been exiled to rural America, as if that was a problem. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be here than listening to that stuff I have to hear on television, I’d rather be with you. There is a simple reason: You need a president a lot more than those people telling you not to vote for her.”
In Madison, W.Va.:
“It is very interesting, from the very beginning of this race there has been a sharp divide in the vote — the people who need a president, who need to turn the economy around, who need to restore the middle class, who need to give poor people a chance to work their way into the middle class, who need to give our children a better future, who need to restore our standing in the world and the war in Iraq, but do it in a way that rebuilds our military and stands up for America’s security and standing around the world — they have been for her from the get-go.”
WTF is he trying to accomplish at this point?
And honestly, that question could refer to any one of several recent comment topics.
discredit my intelligence.
I don’t believe that would be possible, Saul. That implies that we thought you had any.
Please fuck off. Swiftly.
OK, but in my defense, Yanni sucks.
Feverish work in the GOP development kitchens has led to the revolutionary new confection, the McClair. It’s the first pastry that buggers you.
Yeah, all those people voting for Obama don’t *need* a president.
Fuck alive, Bill, ram it and cram it.
Great. It’s a denial-of-service attack.
We’re all familiar by with what this entails: portraying Democrats as Starbucks pastry-buggering windsurfing Yanni fans.
Well, since you didn’t include us Circumcised-Americans, I’m offended and am now going to vote for McCain. [flounces off in a huff]
I’ve been to Mingo Junction. Dark, dark place of isolation, hard living and sucking it up. But its citizens, by and large, are anything but st00pid. I certainly wouldn’t say that Mr. Simpson is representative.
My guess is that few of them are particularly happy with any of the three remaining POTUS candidates for various reasons that have little or nothing to do with partisanship and probably not all that much to do with race or gender Mostly I think they’d simply prefer a President who will say “please” and “thank you” before and after butt-raping them. Again.
Agreed Mikey……I was raised in a truly tuff-blue collar milieu and have worked to tranform myself into one of those “creative coastal elites”. Obama’s the most ‘genuine’ politician I’ve seen in my lifetime. He appeals to both my ‘working class’ and ‘elistst’ sides.
I wish I could get away with spewing out five gazillion words based on an interview with one source.
Unfortunately, if I tried that shit my boss would get out the hot pokers and thumb screws.
Le sigh.
I truly think that because people have had their ‘worser’ natures appealed to for so long, they’ll pull the lever for Barry X in November because, at long last, they’ll decide that they want someone who appeals to their ‘better’ ones for a change.
Favorite quote by Tennessee Williams:
LOL.
Like a fuckbum, only stale and flaccid.
Your intelligence, haam, give us a break.
As for your cutting and pasting, don’t believe you, you fucken cracker, I say banning, i’m sick of the stupid moron.
and it comes with a small plastic tube which you insert and then inflate it to erection
As I said on an earlier thread, these bullshit Mooslem rumors and the like are incredibly easy to swat. Next time you hear someone say it (and I hear it at least once a day), say, “wow, if that was true, that would be the only thing McCain would need to say to win. I wonder why he isn’t saying it, then? He’d have to be a really big moron not to pick up something like that and use it, if it was true. You think that maybe he’s not saying it because when candidates get caught telling huge lies, it costs them votes? Maybe that’s why the stuff that isn’t true gets circulated as a whisper campaign, like that stuff you just told me, so the candidate can pretend they had nothing to do with all the lying – because they can get people like whoever it was that told that to you to do it for them.”
On the other hand, I don’t kid myself. “Obama’s a Muslim” is just an excuse, a handy stand-in for “I won’t vote for a black guy.” And all the fundies who buy into it weren’t going to vote for a Democrat anyway. But as far as something that gets ignorant assholes to shut the fuck up, it works. I’ve tested it several times with 100% satisfactory results.
These dims want “regional differences”? C’est weird, eh?
Bienvenue a Canada!
Hey, there’s my ride! Why, it’s a Huff – I think I’ll leave in it!
Yeah, I think this is one of those rare cases in which someone has to be banned. We hate doing that, but sometimes it’s the only thing to do…
One of my least-favorite journalistic conventions is when a reporter interviews one crazy bastard and decides to have him represent an entire demographic of people.
That’s a big peeve of mine, too. It’s even more galling when you reflect that they probably had to pass over ten sane people to find that one crazy bastard.
I spent today reading Hunter Thompson’s book about the 1972 presidential campaign. I was struck by how McGovern emerged from a vicious floor fight at the Dem convention as a badly-damaged nominee who could not command the loyalty of Humphrey’s supporters. Is it just me or is there a lesson here for this year?
I blame John Denver for that whole “West Virginians are inbred” thing. If he hadn’t included the line “West Virginia, mountin’ Mama” in “Take Me Home, Country Road”, the stereotype would just be about rural Georgians being inbred and playing the banjo really well.
I was going to come here and say something about how Corrente really has gone off the rails, but it occurred to me that I only started checking that site out when all the “I’M VOTING FOR OBAMA UNTIL MY FACE TURNS BLUE OR YOU LET HILLARY WIN!” stuff started, so I don’t know if they were ever on the rails to begin with. Can somebody enlighten me?
Jeez, VOTING FOR MCCAIN, right? I should have been able to get that part right even if I am about to fall asleep on my keyboard…
Gavin M. said,
Yeah, I think this is one of those rare cases in which someone has to be banned. We hate doing that, but sometimes it’s the only thing to do…
I’ll gladly assume any guilt and anguish SN may experience about banning the homophobic hatin’ neoconservative shithead.
eh wrote: “I spent today reading Hunter Thompson’s book about the 1972 presidential campaign. I was struck by how McGovern emerged from a vicious floor fight at the Dem convention as a badly-damaged nominee who could not command the loyalty of Humphrey’s supporters. Is it just me or is there a lesson here for this year?”
It’s more than that. Think of the 68 Dem convention (Nixon won), the GOP squabbles of 76 (Carter won), the Dem squabbles of 1980 (Reagan won), etc, etc.
Floor fights are bad news.
One of my least-favorite journalistic conventions is when a reporter interviews one crazy bastard and decides to have him represent an entire demographic of people.
‘A Bit of Fry and Laurie’ back in the day, did great little skits on that type of thing;
In 2004, West Virginians received robocalls telling voters that if Kerry got elected, their bibles would be confiscated. I caution against applying the circumstances of West Virginia elections to the rest of the rural or exurban United States. West Virginia is exceptional, and that ain’t elitist shit.
Gavin, do you feel bad when stadium security escorts the belligerent drunk who was screaming at the ref/umpire to suck his cock off of the premises?
Hell, I dig what you mean about being ban-stick shy, but at some point, it crosses from “I disagree with your views regarding foreign and domestic policy, with special emphasis on fiscal infrastructure and mass health care” and into, “Wow, that screaming two year-old is really annoying. Why won’t their parents remove them from the theater/dining establishment?”.
if Kerry got elected, their bibles would be confiscated.
Yep. Cuz it’s liberals who are into book banning, doncha see?
Alas, the incest and green teeth crowd in WV aren’t the only stoopid fucks in these great yoonited states. It’s rampant. Fucking rampant.
If the ump sucks someone’s cock off premises, why should that concern you?
Oh. Never mind.
But then, I was once threatened with removal from an airplane after I suggested (perhaps a little too forcefully) to a woman that she transport her screaming child in the cargo hold.
In any case, 86 the POS.
What’d everybody go to bed or something?
Well, it IS Sunday night, PeeJ. Those illegal drugs and abortions/Korans won’t give them selves to the impressionable young kids of today, so we evil America-hating liberals need to get plenty of sleep so we can get up bright and early and set to work destroying society and instilling our atheist Sharia commie law.
Still awake and chuckling PeeJ
grrrrrr….I hate it when I fergit to change back!
How some Obama fans see Clinton supporters.
Wrong.
And those abortions won’t perform themselves now will they!
I miss IRIS!!…..(sniff)
Obama is unelectable.
Obama is a racist.
McCain is a straight-talking maverick who goes his own way.
Hamas supports Obama.
Hamas is scared of McCain because he is their worst nightmare.
McCain will clean up in November, not because Americans are racist (although Barack and Michelle Obama are) but because Barack and Michelle Obama are racist.
The only time a presidential candidate’s pastor matters is if he is black.
Liberals. Hmf.
Of course, at the same time, this shows the world of difference between Virginia and West Virginia.
Let’s see, that would be the difference between the heart of the Confederacy and the state created precisely because it didn’t want to commit treason in defense of slavery?
Mingo County? Aka, Bloody Mingo, the site of the Coal War of the 1920s? The largest civil insurrection since the civil war, fought over labor rights? Birthplace of the UMW, at the time the only union that admitted blacks, precisely because racial hatred had been used in the past to divide workers?
Folks there have forgotten all this stuff, huh? Right. If there is any part of the Appalachian stereotype that holds true, it’s that these people have long memories. And no, they are not stupid. It’s not like mineworkers have any reason to gripe about GOP policies today, right? Worker safety just isn’t an issue anymore, right?
Of course, the dems haven’t been too terribly supportive of labor lately, but the GOP has been actively and sometimes violently against labor for, well, forever.
On the other hand, if neither party supports labor anymore, folks might as well make their vote about guns, god, and gays… and just might be bitter about it. See, I’m not running for president, so I can say this. Out loud, even.
Oh, and echoing the question of why does Virginia get a pass on backwards hillbillydom? Has the Village forgotten George Allen so soon? Those pundit-types really need to get outside of the beltway more often.
Well said RobW….well said…..now back to the batcave for some ‘astronaut’ juice and then to bed.
There is a word. That word is douche.
[…] I agree with Brad (and Lauren, as an aside) that the “everyhick” method of reporting on […]
Now really, I have spent a lot of time looking for pastry vagina with no results and now they have bumholes too. WHAT IS THE SECRET?
Just for RB, the
DanishSwedish pastry. Don’t get too excited.How did Virgina get off the hook West Virginia is still on? Because Obama won the Virginia primary? That’s all it takes?
The US Census says that Virginia is 20% black, while West Virginia is only 3 1/2% black. They are not the same.
“If Wright is such a problem, what about Hagee?”
According to TalkLeft, Wright was Obama’s spirtual mentor, whereas Hagee is just some guy whose endorsement McCain sought.
It’s more than that. Think of the 68 Dem convention (Nixon won), the GOP squabbles of 76 (Carter won), the Dem squabbles of 1980 (Reagan won), etc, etc.
Yes, but this time it’s justified, because Barack Obama is the next Hitler.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/10/let-me-explain-to-obamazoids-why-we-dont-care-to-hear-from-you/
Oh, and twice as many Virginians have a college degree as West Virginians.
http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank19.html
Oh, and twice as many Virginians have a college degree as West Virginians.
I wonder what the stat looks like once you take out Northern Virginia, which is –for all practical purposes– really Washington DC.
Who he? Oh, yeah. The guy who got booted in part because he used the equivalent of the n-bomb to describe a guy of Pakistani descent.
Look, I’m from Maryland and until recently we had a governor and a lt. governor who tried to trick African Americans into voting for them with dodgy sample ballots and (quite possibly, though it’s never been proven) posting notices in predominantly Af-Am neighborhoods that the cops were waiting to arrest people at the polls. Never mind “hillbillies,” there be Republican dickheads partout.
Elitists.
Hmpf!
How did Virgina get off the hook West Virginia is still on? Because Obama won the Virginia primary?
No, because the Media Village Idiots who write stuff like that FT article think of Virginia as “suburban DC” — a place they’re comfortable in, and therefore above reproach and/or mockery. Always remember, these are the people who’ve perfected the “First reach (be given) your conclusions, then find some colorful details to support those conclusions” technique… the people who believe they have improved their souls as well as their social cache by “professionalizing” themselves from mere reporters into high-status Journalists. What happens in the real world, and the people of that world, means less to the Media Village Idiot than the quality of the buffet aboard the candidates’ press planes, because the MVI is the 21st-century reincarnation of the Sun King’s courtiers. One can only hope that our current plague of Media Village Idiots achieves the same well-deseved fate as its ancestral class, because the ticket sales would help stave off our Chinese overlords’ foreclosure for another few years…
No doubt, politicians and their campaigns and their volunteers have to be very careful about how they talk about voters & groups of people.
On the other hand, I think this notion that a Democrat can only be elected if they perfectly and without fail speak to the entire American populace in the most proletarian culture approved fashion imaginable is wrong.
The fact is, Leonard SImpson is a Real American, and so is the Ambulance Driver guy. They want a Real President, not some Mazgical Negro foisted on us by coastal eleites who love Muslims. Look, even if Obama isn’t a Muslim (but I think he is), enough people think he is that it is a liability, so you must know he can’t win. Give up, support mcCain, support freedom and free markets, amen.
[…] Sadly, No! gets off to a good start, noting flaws in the fieldwork, but oddly concludes this exercise in Obamist anti-Hillary bigotry is the fault of Republicans. […]
Actually, people here in West Virginia are brilliant scholars and sublime wits, as evidenced by my ubiquitous song parodies. Here’s today’s parody:
Who let Barack out? (woof, woof, woof)
Who let Barack out? (woof, woof, woof)
Who let Barack out? (woof, woof, woof)
See what I did there? I substituted “Barack” for “the dogs,” thus sort of making fun of Barack AND showing my supreme pop culture knowledge in the process! Am I not a funny gem or what?
UPDATE: Instapundit has linked to me! Thanks, Glenn! We’re so funny!
I dunno, I’m gonna call fake Don Surber.
That comedy’s a little too cutting-edge.
Notice how quickly “Leonard Simpson” became a “voting block”. Awesome!
Ooh! Me! Me! I want to become a voting block!!!
Solar collectors, urban wind turbines and insulation for everyone!!!
(btw, I mean that seriously)
I dunno. Have you ever met Appalachian folks? My in-laws live up there, my mother-in-law has lived there her entire life. To put it as charitably as I can, there are a lot of people who simply are not going to vote for someone as unlike them as Barack Obama is. On the other hand, they did have a conversation with one old dude whose hatred of the Clintons was so strong he said he was going to vote for “that nigger fella, whatshis name”. Anecdotally, this seems like probably the more winning argument for some people. It’s not exactly a high-information crowd over there.
Shorter Michelle Malkin:
Doop dee doop dee doo… Pardon? The Race… I’d love to see a race… Huh? They’re Mexicans?!? Those damn ‘shamnesty-pushing, sovereignty-undermining, publicly-subsidized shakedown artists*’.
*Actual Quote
“Only” 10%?, “only 10%? Are you inferring that 10% of the electorate is a small amount? If after holding an election you take 10% of your votes and give them to your opponent,you will lose every election.
Percentage of Americans who wet the bed thinking about La Raza: 10%
Percentage of ridiculous wingnuts who wet the bed thinking about La Raza: 100%
Still unanswered is whether Leonard Simpson rolls on Shabbos.
What time and how black?
It’s actually fairly important to come up with extremely negative reasons why your party or candidate can’t carry a certain area. There’s a reason why Republicans demonize the coast, they know the coastal states are never going to go for them. Rather than admit that it’s because Republicans are woman hating, race baiting bigots, they claim that it’s because the ‘liberal’ on the coasts are all gay elitists who hate America.
There are people you need, and there are people you can never reach. Demonizing the south won’t hurt us in the midwest, but it’ll send a subtle message: ‘Do you really want to be on their side?’. West Virginia has gotten redder and redder every cycle. It went Red in 2000, and It won’t be going for our side again unless something major happens, and we win 40 states.
This is total blog-pimping but what can I say?
If you live in Chicago, please call your alderman about this.
Go to this website to easily find your alderman.
Then call them up, and ask them, “Please vote for the ‘Resolution Opposing War on Iran’ that will be voted on Wednesday, May 14th.”.
Sorry folks- pimpin’ ain’t easy
Wait a minute… did Jules Crittenden seriously just link here?
Should we be afraid?
Demonizing the south won’t hurt us in the midwest, but it’ll send a subtle message: ‘Do you really want to be on their side?’.
Maybe. That is a point.
I guess I’m a devotee of the “50-State Strategy”. Anything that tends to tear this country apart more, I tend to dislike, on an emotional, intellectual, and philosophical level.
But, I acknowledge that there is a strategic argument to be made for it.
did Jules Crittenden seriously just link here?
Yup, looks like it.
Every hick is sacred.
Every hick is great.
When black men run for president.
Hicks get quite irate.
Every hick is sacred.
Every hick is great.
When black men run for president
Hicks get quite irate.
Wow, that extended burst of histrionics from No Quarter really brightened up my day.
Lookit this thing that Thers found.
Ugh. Barone is just awful. His I’m an objective moderate! play-acting never ceases to grate.
Yo, Baroney, you’re a fucking wingnut. Wear the colors proud and true.
Oh, and AGAIN with the Churchill stuff. Keep repeating it, Kristol, Barone, Blankley, etc.; it keeps looking more and more ridiculous.
Also, Soullite, we don’t necessarily need to use the same tactics as right-wingers. We don’t think quite the same way they do, and may not get the same effect from the same tactic. In particular, I think we have somewhat less of a need to define ourselves against some other group.
Only deft negotiation by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld produced a June 30, 2004, deadline for returning authority to Iraqis.
You mean we’re not still in Iraq? Wow, that media really is liberal!
Kool!
In particular, I think we have somewhat less of a need to define ourselves against some other group.
Atheist, I repect the heck out of you, but what do you think that Obama/Clinton hysteria was all about? The issues? Nope.
Ho ho ho and a bottle of Rumbama
Wait, you mean Hitlery KKKlinton isn’t acutally a alien Nazi android? I thought the issues were all about how she looks fake when she smiles. And do you mean that Obama isn’t actually the Black Jesus? Get outta town!
OK, yes, excellent point Susan.
How about this, maybe what I should have said is:
Progressives and Leftists may want to think twice about engaging tribalist-feeling politics because
1. people who feel very threatened by a certain well-defined group tend to support Republican-style policies.
2. enacting the policies that progressives & leftists want requires that the citizenry is thinking about the needs of the entire society as a whole rather than focussing on keeping certain elements of the society at bay.
Progressives and Leftists may want to think twice about engaging tribalist-feeling politics because…
…because Darth Cheney will be able to identify you with the DNA samples they keep in that “abandoned coal mine” in West Virginia and you’ll be subjected to double extra alien probing.
Well, that too.
Progressives and Leftists may want to think twice about engaging tribalist-feeling politics…
I couldn’t agree more. First step, educate the public to make them aware, after about 30 years of this shit, that there is any other kind. I think Obama’s leading on that score.
I think we might need to talk up the joys of being liberal, tralala. We’re smart, creative (hey, that’s good), funny, interesting, etc. It’s okay to try to take back the word liberal as a good thing, and show conservatism to be the hideous mistake it is.
Hearing other points of view is valuable … up to a point. That point’s long past in the case of our latest troll whose comment-name is so offensive, in itself, that he should have been banned after his very first post. I see no reason to waste bandwidth or time or anything else on hateful bigots who only come here to insult and sneer at people for not being Nazis — like himself.
Y’all wanna hear something funny? My family, the bunch of river rednecks I left back in Mississippi, are all going for Obama. This includes one uncle who told his new son-in-law that he’d never be a part of the family because said newcomer is black and, yes my uncle admitted, he is a racist. Another uncle used to call his black co-workers “blue gums” to their faces, and another cousin used to get awfully bent out of shape because of Martin Luther King Day.
This was all 10-15 years ago before that aforementioned son-in-law and the three children he made with my cousin made my kinfolk confront their own racism and small-mindedness, and they all decided – more or less and before too long – they didn’t want any part of it. My 87-year-old Mommaw, who still says “niggrah” like it was nothing and tells complete strangers “I got white grandbabies and colored grandbabies” at the drop of the hat, is voting for him. She likes Hillary, but Mommaw thinks Hillary won’t be able to keep Bill from getting into things and trying to run the show.
None of ’em like McCain, even my Vietnam Vet old man. They all think he’s totally full of shit, too close to Bush and won’t get fooled again. Y’all, these are former Wallace voters. *Shrug*
There’s a reason why Republicans demonize the coast, they know the coastal states are never going to go for them.
In 6 of the last 10 presidential elections, California has voted Republican.
My friend’s entire family in South Carolina is in the tank for Obama, and they voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004.
Well the winds
they are
a changin’.
Maybe it’s just my pet bias, but I think a lot of it is that people are TIRED of being spoken to as if they are retarded children.
I’ve been saying since I became politically aware (ok, that’s not a real long time, but its all I got) that if some politician would just tell the truth, quit trying to tell people things they can SEE are not true with their own eyes, that politician would win it all.
And I think that’s a big part of why Obama’s winning. People are mesmerized, not just by his message, but by the fact that he TALKS to them. He doesn’t give them “sound bytes” and he’s not afraid of “nuance”. Now sometimes, as we all know, “too much” honesty can piss people off.
But the american people are coming around to the conclusion that, all things considered, they want to vote for the guy who doesn’t blow smoke up their collective ass, and doesn’t piss on their head and tell them it’s just a very warm rain this time of year.
That’s what got me, anyway…
mikey
Wait — Jeremiah Wright is a Muslim?
Man! I’m SO confused!
I swear, I couldn’t keep up with these dang-burned darkies and their various weird-o quirks if I had a program. Then again, I live in Appalachia, so I guess that explains it.
I’ve been insulted and stereotyped so many times lately I’m going off on the huff-mobile and voting for Bob Barr the Libertarian.
Well the winds
they are
a changin’.
Times.
Or maybe you can crossbreed them:
Well the whines
they are
a changin’.
Buddy “Seven Diamonds” Moleman said: ‘In 2004, West Virginians received robocalls telling voters that if Kerry got elected, their bibles would be confiscated.'”
I am unable to find a reference to this (I only did a quick google of *Kerry robocalls West Virginia*); It is a great story whether or not it is true . . .
I’m going off on the huff-mobile and voting for Bob Barr the Libertarian.
It can be awfully tempting, can’t it.
Wait — Jeremiah Wright is a Muslim?
I demand that we upholster a couch with him.
“Maybe it’s just my pet bias, but I think a lot of it is that people are TIRED of being spoken to as if they are retarded children.”
Very true. Have you ever noticed how Bush always talks to the country like he’s lecturing a bunch of 4th graders?
Have you ever noticed how Bush always talks to the country like he’s lecturing a bunch of 4th graders?
Oh yes, and some clever person (I forgot who) proposed that Bush does that because it’s the way the issues had to be explained to him just before they shoved him out onto the podium.
For those of you who might have missed the delightful, new O’Reilly Meltdown video (Bill O’s Stasi, more commonly known as Fox Security, obviously moved swiftly to have it removed from the YouTubes!)…here’s the link….enjoy!
http://gawker.com/5008668/bill-oreilly-meltdown-resurfaces
In 6 of the last 10 presidential elections, California has voted Republican.
Well, ya got heartlanders coming west and elitists going north and Cali’s anyone’s guess.
[…] reached by Soros hack Oliver Willis or Auguste at Pendagon, but it says something that Brad at S,N! has a better grip on reality than […]
Shoutouts from Crittenden AND Protein Wisdom.
Next week: guest shot on the McLaughlin Group.
“Soros hack”? That’s worth a giggle or two.
Sam from Utah–Have you hear Karen Hughes speak? That’s exactly how she talks. Picture Bush in a giant chair, like LIly Tomlin in “Laugh In,” being briefed by Nanny Hughes, in a starched white apron and size 15 nursing shoes.
Shorter Bill0:
“Gimme some ice tea, mother fucker!”
Edith Ann.
[…] Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Someone on the internet said something bad about Hillary! This time it’s the people at Sadly, No! […]
Shoutouts from Crittenden AND Protein Wisdom.
Oh sod it, dude. I’m right in this instance regardless of whether sociopaths just happen to agree with me.
Ladies and Lords, let’s face the facts.
The peasants are revolting.
Brad R. cannot win the primary because of his connections with sociopaths.
You said it, Charlie! They stink on ice.
Eh, they just love any whiff of dissent, as if that makes them right somehow. They’re still idiiots who would hand over their wallet to the first flag-waving, cross-carrying, decal-splattered yahoo who made them feel good about themselves.
I’m always saying that “The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my freind”. This seems like a related statement, somehow.
The peasants are revolting.
Okay, I’ll do it:
You said it, Charlie. They stink on ice.
D’oh!
I think I’ll have an apoplectic fit.
*klunk*
Huzzah!
[…] Heh. Indeed. Heh. Indeed. Heh. Indeed. […]
[…] Heh. Indeed. Heh. Indeed. Heh. Indeed. […]
Laff o the day for me.
DIY foreskin restoration, and now DIY trackbacks. What will they think of next?
Robot foreskins that trackback to where they were.
I think we might need to talk up the joys of being liberal, tralala.
Count me in for any movement that has a tralala.
I’m going off on the huff-mobile
My High Dudgeon gets better mileage.
Is that a Last Exit to Brooklyn-type Tralala?
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/10/let-me-explain-to-obamazoids-why-we-dont-care-to-hear-from-you/
Wow, the person who wrote that has some serious mental health problems. Frightening.
West Virgina voted for Bush, who then gutted the regulation of mine safety and lo and behold a bunch of West Virginian coal miners die in a mine collapse. Now they’ll vote McSame. Morons. No sympathy from me when the next mine disaster happens.
Just a sample:
On behalf of millions of Clinton supporters who have made it very clear that we will vote for a cockroach before we vote for Barack Obama, I would like you pieces of Obama crap to know that you can kiss our asses. We will collectively do everything in our power to see to it that you and that mysogynist, bigoted, race-baiting pig you worship, the fraud who has already set gender and racial relations back thirty years, goes down in flames in a big way. And there are millions of us. Millions. The kind of millions that brought his type down before from the voting booth.
Our goal is to make Barack Obama lose by an even bigger margin than George McGovern, and he got 38% thanks to his ill-behaved savage followers.
No quarter, indeed. And, yes, Obama has clearly set racial relations back to the pre-Bakke era. Sparkling.
And I’m sure McCain, the cockroach those idiots will vote for, will appreciate their vote, and not set back gender, racial, and class relations back 70 years. And also invade the rest of the Middle East, and Myanmar, and withdraw, then reinvade Iraq, just for giggles.
Is it fair to say Super Tuesday changed everything for these people? Or have I just blocked out earlier psychosis out of my head?
My High Dudgeon gets better mileage.
Maybe, but my ’08 Snit will blow your doors off.
Ckinton supporters? I thought that was a group pic at the Powerline blogs company picnic…
I think Barizzle Obizzle should go on The Daily Show wearing an orange & red pantsuit. (Geeeez Grandma)
Hey! I showed up here for some hot pastry-buggering chat! What’s up with all this politics?
Not to be off topic or anything, but today’s exit polls show 1 in 4 Clinton voters rating race as a factor.
JIHAD CANDIDATE . How long did it take Islam and their oil money to find a candidate for President of the United States ?
As long as it took them to place a Senator from Illinois and Minnesota ?
The same amount of time to create a large Muslim enclave in Detroit ?
The time it took them to build over 2,000 mosques in America ?
The same amount of time required to place radical wahabbist clerics in our military and prisons as ‘chaplains’?
Find a candidate who can get away with lying about their father being a ‘freedom fighter’ when he was actually part of the most corrupt and violent government in Kenya ’s history.
Find a candidate with close ties to The Nation of Islam and the violent Muslim overthrow in Africa , a candidate who is educated among white infidel Americans but hides his bitterness and anger behind a superficial toothy smile.
Find a candidate who changes his American name of Barry to the Muslim name of Barak Hussein Obama, and dares anyone to question his true ties under the banner of ‘racism’.
Nurture this candidate in an atmosphere of anti-white American teaching and surround him with Islamic teachers. Provide him with a bitter, racist, anti-white, anti-American wife, and supply him with Muslim middle east connections and Islamic monies.
Allow him to be clever enough to get away with his anti-white rhetoric and proclaim he will give $834 billion taxpayer dollars to the Muslim controlled United Nations for use in Africa .
Install your candidate in an atmosphere of deception because questioning him on any issue involving Africa or Islam would be seen as ‘bigoted racism’; two words too powerful to allow the citizenry to be informed of facts.
Allow your candidate to employ several black racist Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan followers as members of his Illinois Senatorial and campaign staffs.
Where is the bloodhound American ‘free press’ who doggedly overturned every stone in the Watergate case?
Why haven’t ‘newsmen’ pursued the 65 blatant lies told by this candidate during the Presidential primaries?
Where are the stories about this candidate’s cousin and the Muslim butchery in Africa ? (WHOM OBAMA WENT TO KENYA TO CAMPAING FOR)
Why haven’t the press regaled us with the long list of socialists and communists who have surrounded this ‘out of nowhere’ Democrat candidate or that his church re-printed the Hamas Manifesto in their bulletin, and that his ‘close pastor friend and mentor’ met with Middle East terrorist Moammar Gaddafi, (Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)?
Why isn’t the American press telling us this candidate is supported by every Muslim organization in the world?
Why isn’t our media connecting the dots with Islam? There is enough strange, anti-American activity surrounding Barak Hussein Obama to peek the curiosity of any reporter.
WHERE IS OUR INVESTIGATIVE MEDIA!?
A formal plan for targeting America was devised three years after the Iranian revolution in 1982. The plan was summarized in a 1991 memorandum by Mohamed Akram, an operative of the global Muslim Brotherhood. ‘The process of settlement’ of Muslims in America , Akram explained, ‘is a civilization jihad process.’ This means that members of the Brotherhood must understand that their work in ‘America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.’
There is terrorism we can see, smell and fear, but there is a new kind of terror invading The United States in the form of Sharia law and finance. Condoning it is civilization suicide. Middle East Muslims are coming to America in record numbers and building hate infidel mosques, buying our corporations, suing us for our traditions, but they and the whole subject of Islam is white noise leaving uninformed Americans about who and what is really peaceful.
Where is our investigative press?
Any criticism of Islam or their intentions, even though Islamic leaders state their intentions daily around the globe, brings-forth a volley of ‘racist’ from the left-wing Democrat crowd. Lies and deception behind a master plan – the ingredients for ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ or the placement of an anti-American President in our nation’s White House?
Is it mere coincidence that an anti-capitalist run for President at the same time Islamic sharia finance and law is trying to make advancing strides into the United States ?
Is it mere coincidence this candidate wants to reduce our military at a time of global jihad from Muslim nations? Change for America?
What change? To become another ‘nation of Islam’?
Rich Carroll 2008 printed by permission