What Some West Viriginians Think of Obama
Sun May 11, 2008 at 03:40:33 PM PDT
Interested in what Hillary's hard-working white Americans think of Obama?
This article titled, "Democratic country keeps its distance from Obama," sheds some light on some very disheartening information.
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.
Michelle's an atheist? Well, that's a new one for me—but I'm not surprised to read that. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to read that some people think she's a Klingon. Because they read it on the Internet.
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"If he is the nominee, the Democrats have no chance of winning West Virginia," said Missy Endicott, a 40- year-old school administrator. "He doesn’t understand ordinary Americans."
That breaks my heart. I wish Missy Endicott really understood the Obama I know and that his concerns and platforms for a better life for all Americans have little to do with further enriching the already wealthy.
It only gets worse:
None of the 22 Democrats interviewed by the Financial Times at the Clinton rally would commit themselves to voting for Mr Obama if he became the nominee, and half said they definitely would not. The depth of opposition is particularly striking considering that Mingo County is one of the most Democratic places in West Virginia, having cast about 85 per cent of its votes for the party in the 2006 midterm elections. If Mr Obama cannot win there in November, he has little chance of carrying the state.
Most people questioned said they mistrusted Mr Obama because of doubts about his patriotism and "values", stemming from his cosmopolitan background, his exotic name and the controversy surrounding "anti-American" sermons by Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor. Several people said they believed he was a Muslim – an unfounded rumour that has circulated on the internet for months – despite the contradiction with his 20-year membership of Mr Wright’s church in Chicago. Others mentioned his refusal to wear a Stars and Stripes badge and controversial remarks by his wife, Michelle, who described America as "mean" and implied that she had never been proud of the US until her husband ran for president.
Obama has a "cosmopolitan" background? What about Hillary? Do these voters know nothing of her background?
And finally, what might possibly be the saddest quote of all:
Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. "I want someone who is a full-blooded American as president," he said.
I don't even know what to say about that.
I don't know if the opinions expressed by these West Virginians are merely coded language for "I would never vote for a black guy," or if these folks have completely bought hook, line, and sinker the MSM's relentless exploitation of the Clintons as the antidote to "elitism," but whatever the case is, this paragraph is prescient:
No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West Virginia since 1916, yet Mr Obama appears to have little chance of winning there in November. Recent opinion polls indicate that Mrs Clinton would narrowly beat Mr McCain in the state but Mr Obama would lose by nearly 20 percentage points.
We must find a way to reach out to West Virginians for the GE. The MSM will not do that job for us and Hillary has already poisoned the well.
P.S. Sorry this isn't much of a diary, but the article saddened me. For so many reasons.
