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.
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.
W Virginia keeps distance from Obama
By Andrew Ward
Published: May 11 2008 20:13 | Last updated: May 11 2008 20:13
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.
A landslide victory for Mrs Clinton in West Virginia will do little to improve her fading hopes of winning the Democratic nomination, because Mr Obama has an almost insurmountable lead in the overall race.
But Tuesday’s contest is likely to reinforce Mrs Clinton’s argument that she would be the stronger opponent for Mr McCain in November, and raise fresh doubts about whether the US is ready to elect its first black president.
Occupying a swathe of the Appalachian Mountains on the threshold between the Bible Belt and the Rust Belt, West Virginia is a swing state that voted twice for George W. Bush but backed Democrats in six of the eight prior presidential elections.
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.
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Bill Clinton Takes a Page from the George Wallace Playbook
I pulled two quotes from the article:
“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.”
Ms Endicott was among roughly 500 people who crammed into the Williamson Fire Department building on Friday to attend a rally by Bill Clinton, the former president. He told them his wife represented “people like you, in places like this”, and urged voters to turn out in record numbers on Tuesday to send a message to the “higher-type people” who were trying to force her out of the race.
Some days
Some days, I think things will get better after the nomination is finally settled.
And then there are days like today.
Quaker - Do you still feel
Quaker -
Do you still feel as if you would vote for Hillary if she were the nominee?
Wow!
Is this just a bit like saying "Alex Rodriquez holds the all-time record for home runs hit on stormy Tuesday nights when the barometer drops below 30 and low pressure systems from the south west create specific cloud formations on the horizon"?
I didn't look, but I'm guessing this is another Times article.
"King and chief probably had a big beef; 'Cause of that now I grit my teeth." - Chuck D.
Every time I see the '“I
Every time I see the '“I heard that Obama is a Muslim..." said a [local white]', which is how the press seems to be propagating this misinformation (as here, often without correction), I want to know what they say when (okay, if), the reporter then informs them that it's not the case--that whoever told them that was spreading a lie.
You've Gotta Love Pubic Education
Not a typo.
"King and chief probably had a big beef;
'Cause of that now I grit my teeth." - Chuck D.
I didn't look, but I'm
Financial Times.
I think it makes the Brits feel better about their own race problems.
"No Democrat has been
"No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West Virginia since 1916..."
This is true but it is also true that Obama and his campaign have done a great deal to reconfigure the old Democratic Party coalition. Obama can win states in the west that will offset any losses in places like West Virginia. In any case, this emphasis on West Virginia still does not entitle Hillary Clinton to be the nominee no matter how white her sheets are.
Do you still feel as if you
Yes, unfortunately. But only if my state is actually up for grabs in November. The price of a McCain administration is way too high. It's not looking like I'll have to face that decision, though.
"Yes,
"Yes, unfortunately."
That's okay but I hope that you do have a slightly different perspective now on why many of us in the black electorate will not vote for her. She will, in our judgment, throw us under the bus in a heartbeat.
Now?
Oh, I understand what that's all about and I think I have for a while now. My only concern is that McCain will throw the whole damn country under the bus the same way the Bush administration has for the last eight years.
Great choice, eh?
I won't support Clinton as much as I feel I have to oppose McCain. Anyway, unless something really astounding happens, I'm won't have to do that.
When "ordinary American" "in
When "ordinary American" "in places like this" is mentioned I know Hillary is the first person I think of.