24 Comments

  1. Someone once asked me, as one raised in Virginia, if there was any marked difference between that state and its western neighbor. I told him that West Virginia had fewer surnames.

  2. I sure hope it took the reporter a while to dig under the rocks to find these dolts. Sadly, I imagine it was pretty easy.

  3. There was a statistic the other day that CNN quoted that said among the DNC, one in five voters cited race as a major issue, and 9 of 10 of those voters were voting for Clinton. If you do the math, that’s 18% of the party.

  4. What I find most interesting is the repeated comment of “we don’t know him or where he stands.” Given the vast and invasive media coverage of both candidates, I can only assume that these people don’t know Obama well/where he stands due to sheer ignorance or incredible laziness. The issues are talked about everywhere. The platforms are openly posted on the internet. Newspapers cover this daily. And for the love of all things good and holy, the campaigns are both doing their part to distribute information about their candidates.

    This is the time to be concerned. Many people got caught up in the cult of personality in ’00 and ’04, both of those votes have left our nation ravaged. This is the time to stop worrying who can sing “God Bless America” the best and start worrying about who can run this nation the best.

    Where am I? Why do we piss all over our democracy by voting for the man we want to have a beer with? Why do we disrespect our founding fathers by cheering for a tyrant as he rolls over our people? What is going on?

  5. It’s times like these that make me both thankful to live in Northern California for its progressive tendancies, and angered by the fact that there are still parts of this country that equate being black with being Muslim, and for that matter, believe that just being Muslim makes one evil and anti-American.

  10. I think it would be really interesting (if not politically correct) to ask the people who “aren’t ready for a black president” why they are racist- and to openly use the term racist. I’d be interested to know whether or not they find that term offensive even though they have xenophobic and racist viewpoints.

    Oh, and D…I do think that “we don’t know him” means “he’s not white and is therefore scary”. I believe it all boils down to racism- like that one lady who says that he’s not American (unless that was in a corresponding video I also watched by the same reporter, in which a man comments that “Muslims can’t be good Americans” and that “African-Americans aren’t Americans” and he doesn’t like their “attitude”). I think that some people honestly confuse being American with being white. Good grief.
    I agree with buffalo…The Star-Spangled Banner almost caused me physical pain. It just doesn’t get any dumber than that.
    Hmm…I wonder if George Bush could sing it? I’m guessing not, but probably for different reasons.

  11. It’s material like this that vindicates my elitism. If I hailed from West Virginia or Indiana, I’d be terribly embarrassed at the kind of sound bites we’ve heard in the national media.

  12. You know what? The gal in the coffee shop wearing yellow. She’s convinced me to turn. McCain in 2008!!! (Yeah right.)

    Wow.

  15. I think it would be really interesting (if not politically correct) to ask the people who “aren’t ready for a black president” why they are racist- and to openly use the term racist. I’d be interested to know whether or not they find that term offensive even though they have xenophobic and racist viewpoints.

    I’m going strictly by my memories from half a decade ago, but I seem to remember during the controversy about Trent Lott’s comments about Strom Thurmond, one of the news networks went to some of Lott’s constituents and asked them if they thought his comments were racist. One of them (a real good ol’ boy) replied, “Well, I don’t think racist is a bad word.”

  16. RE: “Why does this country need to be dictated by the South?

    If it were up to them, Obama would still be in chains…”

    Hey “a”, you’re painting with a mighty wide brush there. A video of 10 rednecks in West Virginia does not = the entire South, OK? If you had been paying attention you’d see that Obama has carried many states in the South, with support from both blacks and whites. West Virginia is the exception, anf that’s why everyone, even Southerners, makes jokes about them. Living “up north” or in Northern California does not mean you’re automically a good person. Yes there’s a lot of racist holdouts still in the South. But spend one day in Atlanta and you’ll see more interracial couples than in a whole year in Boston. Read up on history and you’ll see that the first slave revolt in America happened in New York City, and that a big part of the greater LA basin (Orange County) was founded by the KKK. Find out that after the Jena 6 incident, the number of “noose incidents” up north in Yankeeland outnumbered the ones in the South by 3 to 1. So STFU, ok? When a bunch of savage eye-talian boys in Brooklyn gang up on a black man and kill him because he’s black, nobody down South talks about every single person up north being a racist pig. But I guess it’s OK to say everyone down South is a racist because you saw a YouTube video of 10 people in WV? OK, seriously, STFU.

  17. Patricio, you can’t seriously be offended by a’s comments. West Virginia is NOT the exception, there are stupid racist rednecks all over the South, in the Northeast they call them “guidos” with a few rednecks sprinkled in. The racism in the South (and everywhere really) is taught generation to generation and until we end that cycle it will continue the whole world over.

    I thought a’s comment was pretty funny if not sadly accurate for certain portions of the South and the rest of the stupid racists the country over.

    Raised in Alabama and living in South Carolina, so I’m on the front lines baby.

  18. Yo Drea, don’t know which part of Northern California you’re from, but take a little drive over to the 4th congressional district… You might be in for a surprise.

  19. Hi Seth,

    No, I wasn’t so much offended by a’s comments as I am f’n sick of hearing them. As if living in a certain place absolves you from dealing with your own place’s racism and gives you moral authority to talk shit about somewhere else that’s an easy target. And I was born in and raised in Florida, lived in Georgia, Massachusetts, DC, Colorado, and SF Bay Area so I some perspective too, baby. I’ve seen racism in Boston and CA that would make your head spin, and I’m not just talking about once or twice. But hey, we’re all stupid and inbred here in the South, so blame us for everything. Even when NYC cops rape innocent black men with broomsticks and shoot innocent unarmed black men 41 times, even when people at Columbia University put nooses on black professors’ doors, etc, etc., …yeah, nevermind, just blame ol’ Dixie.

  20. I have no doubt they interviewed 100 people and cherry-picked the most racist statements, but that doesn’t make it any better. How many bad apples does it take to taint the barrel? I’ve seen videos since this one about Kentucky voters (just not in my area; my district only has 5 democrats) with the same theme. It makes my heart break, but I’m not surprised. This is why I want to move to New York.

  21. Miss C, have a great time in NY! You won’t find any racism there at all, no sir. No, all the Jews and Italians and Irish and tri-county WASPS just loves them some black folks, jusk ask em!

    I was young and naive once and couldn’t wait to get out of the “backassward” South and see how wonderful the north was, everybody getting along perfectly and such….then I lived in Boston for a year. The natives I roomed with there would make fun of where I was from, but then tell me how much they hated (in a Boston accent now) the “niggahs”. Wicked hated them, ya know. Opened my eyes. Miss C, don’t move anywhere because you want to live in a place where you think the white folks are different and better with the race thing. You won’t find it, because it doesn’t exist. Racism is everywhere. Even Berkeley, where my degree is from, wasn’t as kumbayah as I thought it would be. See the country. Live in different places, experience different people, then you’ll know the truth. The problem isn’t the South, darlin’, the problem is America.

  23. Patty-boy,
    You are correct- Racism is everywhere in the US…Everywhere-

    However, the South is where they wanted to maintain slavery as a way of life until
    one day they collectively voted and decided it was morally wrong…oh no wait, we had to have a war to end that barbaric practice,
    oh yeah, but then there were the Jim Crow laws, institutionalized segregation, the formation of the KKK followed by numerous lynchings and acquittals for the perpetrators –

    I just question the outcome if the Confederates had prevailed?
    Furthermore, for every person who spews ignorance on camera, there are a dozen others who will think it but won’t say it- for this reason I don’t think Obama has a chance – or maybe I am just being cynical… “C”?

  24. What I find hilarious is nobody mentions a word about the black lady’s response .. typical for fear of being painted a racist – F that! When asked “why” she is supporting Obama she simply states “he’s for change” and will make the world a better place? HOW SO? You can’t answer that – because nobody knows a thing about how he plans to do this? Changing healthcare will do that? Cmon! We’re just going to leave Iraq the day he gets elected? Cmon! IMHO voting for someone BECAUSE they are black is no different then not voting for him BECAUSE he is .. it’s just as racist!

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