Still it was a nice tally of all the talking points against Obama, most complete bs, all conveniently packed into a sentence or two.

I'm sure the Republicans will put the same to music come August or September.


Personal Blog: LiberalMinded.org

But Leonard Simpson's never "heard" of Jeremiah Wright? What a stupendous stroke of luck for Obama! That one looks like it's straight out of the Onion. I mean, damn, I'm from Mississippi, and we have to work up a sweat to push out that quality of dumb. And just think, Hillary is about to be crowned their glorious queen. It's kind of touching -- and appropriate -- in a way. FULL SPEED ON TO THE WHITE HOUSE!

When I read stories like this, I wonder what information influences these kinds of people have.  If my own father is analogous, these people might be deriving their ignorant opinions from their own active imaginations.

Not long ago, the topic of gay marraiges came up in a conversation with my father. He said he was against gay marraige because if you allow that, then the next thing you know there would be laws allowing people to marry animals.

I tried to rationally explore the basis for his opinion. I knew for a fact that his only outside source of information was a moderate-to-liberal daily newspaper and he didn't watch TV. Otherwise, he lived with my fair-minded sister and only interacted with her fair-minded friends.  

When I asked my father why he thought animal marraiges would be a logical progression from gay marraige, he had no answer. When I asked where had he read or heard such an idea, he said from no where.  He "just knew."

This opinion was from the same person who vehemently didn't like that my wife kept her surname when we married; his reason was that "People in Hollywood don't change their names when they marry because they know their marraiges won't last."  That my wife and I soon will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary allowed my father to finally divorce himself from his long-ago ignorant bias.  But it took a long time.  

My father can change his ill-informed opinions--but only when he becomes personally acquainted with facts that refute his beliefs.  I don't see how that can happen for WV folks like those cited in the article. They probably are closely wedded to their imaginations.

McCain's gonna have such a good time shepherding all these loonies. Course surrounded by loonies McCain looks sane, next to his mother he looks positively childlike, next to Lieberman one could almost call him trustworthy, next to Hagee he's nearly compassionate, yep it's a good thing he has a big tent cause he's stackin 'em high.

.

It's an amazing feat for JFK to have carried the state of West Virginia, did the Civil Rights movement in the sixties under Johnson change the political landscape? However, Carter (twice) and Dukakis also carried the state.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Poor West Virginia, where the quality of their thinking matches the purity of their atmosphere what with Monsanto and Union Carbide and other chemical companies doing their best to make it one of the most polluted states in the union.  And, isn't strip mining one of the most favored techniques of various coal companies?  That is also popular in WV.

I went to a national teachers conference once, back in the 1970's, and the West Virginia delegation (NEA) sat next to the New York group (AFT). I interacted with the WV teachers who seemed like a very caring and compassionate group of individuals. School principals, however, were with these teachers who were not free to vote their consciences lest they get in trouble when they returned to school in the fall.  It was the old "man on the hill" philosophy with the educators being watched lest they make trouble for the their bosses (school boards) back  home.  

What an eye opener for me on the status of education in the state of West Virginia. No wonder the forces of progressive change were so damned up there.  I am not surprised that Obama is doing so poorly in that state.  My God, he is not only liberal but half black as well.  And, for Hillary to boast of her triumph there, as she no doubt will, totally shameless. I think she understands these reactionary forces quite well. Indeed, judging from her recent efforts, she is sympatico with them.  No wonder her campaign continues to self destruct.

Want a lawyer?  Call any extension in hell.

Follow your bliss

Non Sequitur is on-point today...

The Underground Railroad

I can't wait for those people to go the way of the mastadon.  Why should we be beholden to these narrow-minded and willfully ignorant twits?  They aren't even a reliable bloc of Democratic voters.  If that's the party the Clinton's want, then let them have these people.  They can all sit around and talk about how uppity  I am.  Meanwhile, the rest of us have work to do, so let's push forward.

Blogging While Brown Convention Atlanta, GA July 25-27, 2008

Personally, I'd like to see Obama go to West Virginia, hang around Mingo County for a while and go talk with people like Leonard Simpson and Josh Fry. I know he can't do that with every single voter out there, and I don't know if it would ultimately get him votes; but it seems like it would be worth a try.

Unfortunately from here on out (excluding the few primaries left) he doesn't have the luxury of campaigning solely in a state that's holding an important contest the next week. This is the big time, all the states are voting on November 4th, he only has 177 days until the election and he has to make every single day count.

The avalanche has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote. -- Ambassador Kosh

Makes me wonder if the body politic is so far removed from us, the people, and could all those "tags" be meaningless and thus the angst we see?:
"The Republican Party has been successfully scaring voters since 1968, when Richard Nixon built a Silent Majority out of lower- and middle-class folks frightened or disturbed by hippies and student radicals and blacks rioting in the inner cities. The 2008 race may turn on which party will win the lower- and middle-class whites in industrial and border states--the Democrats' base from the New Deal to the 1960s, but "Reagan Democrats" in most presidential elections since then."

I feel it's not in those pre-designed groups but a conglomerate of THE PEOPLE, all races, income level, a commonality of decency and integrity, etc.  And that's what's scaring the entrenched. None of the above pseudo feers.  WILL NOT WORK THIS TIME!  We're SICK & TIRED of divide & conquer tactics and we now know how that works and who suffers.

UG

An effective answer to this sort of slime is:

"If Obama were a Muslim, McCain would tell us and win the election with no problem. Why doesn't he do that? Because he can't! It's just a big, stupid lie."

Or words along these lines. Why is this good? Because it's a clean slap-down, leaving almost no room for argument. Better yet, it should work for almost any crazy, demonizing allegation.

Compare this to "No he's not, because blah blah blah..." / "Yes he is, because blah blah blah..."

(BTW, this is paraphrased from a comment by JennOfArk at TPM Election Central)

Words and ideas I offer here may be used freely and without attribution.

that's not elitism, it's just common sense, Booman.

Got some good news for you, though. Saturday, the Democrats in the Nevada State Senate unanimously elected a 35 year old African American, liberal, Obama supporter from Las Vegas, Steven Horsford, as their new leader after Dina Titus had to give up that post to run for Congress against Jon Porter in CD-3.

This nation is but the sum of its parts. The South is needed for a vast number of economic reasons. Their agriculture, access to the Gulf of Mexico and much of the Atlantic Ocean and their control of much of the Mississippi River are of vital importance to the nation as a whole. However, for numerous other reasons they should be a separate nation. The uneducated, bigots, anti-intellectuals and backward thinking Evangelicals are everywhere but The South likely contains the lion's share. It's truly unfortunate they're part of the United States. In June of 1964 Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney were brutally murdered and buried in 15 feet of dirt and mud for believing The South needed to change. Much of The South earnestly longs for a return to June, 1964. Cut them loose. Let them drown in their collective sins and shortcomings. It's truly a repulsive corner of the world.

I don't think these white bigots are ignorant of the facts. I think the irrational, reptilian part of their brain overwhelms facts and their ability to alter their long-term memory based on the input of facts.

One of the goals of degrading social services, especially education, is to prevent folks like these from ever having a working intellect that would allow such connections and thought that is independent of the easily fooled reptile that lives in all of us, especially in exploited states like WV.

Give me liberty or give me a gun.

peakdavid, it is possible to overcome various mental and physical disadvantages and eventually succeed despite forces arrayed against you. However, despite having access to basically the same pool of resources as everyone else in the nation The South refuses to advance. As a geographic area they lead in several negative indicators for both health and intellectual life. Obesity, continued heavy consumption of cigarettes and alcohol, high birth rates among teens, high school dopout rates, domestic violence and countless other negative quality of life factors are all dominated by southern states. This despite the populace having access to the same messaging, the same cues from society at large to avoid such behaviors. Everyone across the nation is told repeatedly of the dangers of eating, drinking and smoking too much. Yet The South seemingly makes a special point of disregarding the advice. The same goes for staying in school and avoiding out-of-wedlock or early pregnancy. It is not reactionary or prejudicial to assert these are people to be avoided. Would you deliberately choose to live in a neighborhood that was a microcosm of The South? You'd buy a house in an area known for its population of overweight, drunkard, chain smoking high school dropouts? I think not. And don't roll your eyes. Go to the studies. It's all there in black and white. The demographic tendencies are all exactly as I describe them. Again, it's a very squalid cesspool of humanity.

In The Globe, one of the rags sold in the grocery store by the cashiers, I saw where Obama was connected with a gay murder for hire or something. I note this because after Super Tuesday another rag, The News Of The World or something (the one that has headlines of Biblical prophecies and aliens visiting the White House back during the Clinton years) said that Obama was snorting cocaine in the back of a limousine with his gay boy lover.

Did his gay boy lover get killed or did Obama dispatch his gay boy lover to kill someone?

By the way, The National Enquirer was created by Generoso Pope, a former CIA intelligence officer. Did you folks know that?

Propaganda works on many levels, from smart to stoopid.

Let it go, those folks and those places are unreachable at this point.  The one thing that could enlighten them is to have Obama as President for 8 years.  

Here's another thought. While these people might be voting for Hillary in the primary... If she won, I'm betting they'd suddenly discover themselves unable to vote for a woman for President. Neither Obama nor Hillary has an advantage there in the general. The Democrats' only option is to build a winning coalition without these people.

Kill because somebody was killed. Get killed because he killed. Do you think peace will ever come like that?

For young people in some parts of rural Georgia, racially segregated proms have been a way of life for decades, ever since many school districts were integrated in the 1960s. Many Southern schools stopped sponsoring proms altogether when schools were desegregated. Some speculated it was because officials were alarmed at the prospect of white and black students mingling romantically. In response to protests by black leaders and enlightened parents, there have been attempts in some Southern communities to hold integrated proms, with varying degrees of success. But the "all-white" prom has been a hard concept to kill.

Just over the weekend, two high schools in rural Georgia held segregated proms. At Johnson County High School in Wrightsville, whites attended one prom while blacks attended another. At Taylor County High School in Butler, students attended an "all-white" prom paid for by parents; an integrated prom for blacks and whites was also held. The all-white prom at Taylor County High was considered an unfortunate relapse to previous bad behavior. Just last year, Taylor County High made news by announcing it was doing away with its whites-only prom in favor of an integrated prom for everyone. When white students decided to return to Jim Crow days, many inquiring minds wanted to know: What happened to all that good feeling? Apparently, it was just a bunch of hot air. And at Johnson County High School, one student who helped organize the whites-only prom said most students didn't see the need to change a long-standing tradition, according to The Associated Press.

"It's always been like that," said Carla Rachels, 17. "We don't see it as a big deal."

From the May 15, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Admittedly 5 years ago. The operative phrase to take away from all this is  "We don't see it as a big deal." Like the pernicious gene for breast cancer, these behaviors and attitudes are passed from generation to generation. Substance abuse, family violence, anti-intellectualism, bigotry and hate are bred into The South. The forces of nature struck down the little girl in "The Bad Seed" once it became clear her irredeemable character was beyond hope and reformation. Hoping for lightning to strike several millions in like fashion is a bit much to expect. They say God does work miracles though........

"I know there are many fine people in West Virginia, just as there are everywhere."

And there are many idiots in West Virginia, just as there are everywhere. But for some reason, there seems to be just a little greater percentage of idiots in West Virginia, Kentucky, and a number of the other states where Hillary has done or expects to do better.

Of course, as you say, maybe we elitists (I know, I should have said, "us elitists") just don't understand the simple folk wisdom of these real Americans. For example, on the question of how Mr. Obama could be a Muslim when he has been a member of a Christian Church for the last 20 years. Well, first of all, his middle name is Hussein. Second of all, his minister supports Farrakhan, who's a Muslim. So what is this? The whole "Christian" thing is obviously a front.

I'm susprised they haven't figured out yet that Obama is also a Jew. After all, his first name is "Barack," which is the same as the last name of Ehud Barack, the minister of defense of Israel.

This blog has a perfectly ripe title. But the comments reinforce the underlying truth in the pun. Many posters  make a generalized comment that if only these people would pick up on the social cues of the society at large and if they would just progress they would be voting for obama... To me these posts reinforce an internal prejudice of the poster that 1. progress is obama 2. he is the choice of an enlightened individual and 3. if you are not on board you are not enlightened. In the broad spectrum of opinion this illogical and determinist assumption is a reason I do not generally buy the "progressive" movement, and why this blog's title made me laugh a second time.