It doesn’t really surprise me that the second it looked like Hillary was going to win West Virginia, liberal pundits and bloggers had their explanations for why Clinton would win:
"West Virginians are white, poor, uneducated, blue-collar, racists."
Don’t think this is an accurate description of what many liberals think? Well, I will provide just a few examples.
via Zennie 2005 :
"Many Obama supporters were energized by what seemed to be an openly racist way of campaigning to people in West Virginia who seemed, well, openly racist. Personally, I think West Virginia’s the land the time forgot, but they’re a part of America and we have to take care of them. Still, it does not excuse the open racism down there."
via ModerateLeft.com :
"Obama was never going to win West Virginia, in the same way Clinton was never going to win Mississippi. Yes, the margin is huge, and bad for Obama. But it’s just one primary in one 5-electoral-vote state; pace the Clinton campaign, I don’t see West Virginia being the lynchpin to either Obama’s or Clinton’s campaign strategy in the fall."
via Progressive Pulse :
"Sadly, what we learned from exit polling in West Virginia was that race and Reverend Wright really mattered. Ugh and Ugly. Per Hillary Clinton, Obama is wrong for America because less well educated white people like her better. Pardon me, but for the last 8 years, haven’t the “less educated” “white” people had their say and didn’t that lead us to the hellhole we were are in today with George Bush. Racial politics sucks and needs be avoided."
The first thing I think of when I hear somebody use race as an argument for why Barack Obama polled poorly in a state, is they just want divert attention away from the discussion of real issues (It’s funny that liberal democrats are the individuals who bring up race as an issue exponentially more than republicans and conservatives ). Exit polls taken after West Virginians voted, admittedly not 100% accurate, shine some light into the trouncing Obama received (via absolute bottom of 2nd page of article from NY Times ):
"More than 6 in 10 West Virginia voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, and two-thirds of them backed Mrs. Clinton. Nine in 10 voters said the economic slowdown had affected them, including nearly half who said they were affected a great deal. Mrs. Clinton was supported by about three-quarters of those most affected."
Alright, so West Virginians, who voted, were really concerned about the economy. 75% of these individuals, who identified themselves as affected by the economy, voted for Hillary.
She also won the support of most voters younger than 30, a group that has typically voted heavily for Mr. Obama. The New Yorker also edged out Mr. Obama among college graduates and higher-income voters, also groups Mr. Obama has relied on.
Hmmm….this REALLY contradicts the storyline that only the dumb, poor voters cast a vote for Clinton. The media has been touting how Obama has the college-grad and "limousine liberal" democrats sewn up. This puts a really big hole in the dumb and poor arguement.
"More than half said Mr. Obama was not honest and trustworthy, and most also said he did not share their values."
Aha! This shows that they don’t trust Obama because he’s black and because of Reverend Wright, right? Wrong. West Virginians, typically democrat, tend to be much more moderate than their liberal brethren out on the coasts and college towns. This means they disagree with Obama’s pro-choice stance on abortion(Governor Joe Manchin and Congressmen Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall, all democrats, are pro-life), anti-gun position (West Virginia lawmakers approved hunting education classes in all schools on March 8 of this year read more ), and as for his trustworthiness, here is a little history of his Illinois State Senate voting record (via Chicago Tribune ):
"In 1997 Obama voted "present" on two bills aimed at banning so-called partial-birth abortion. In 2001 he voted "present" on three bills that fell under the rubric of "born-alive infant" legislation, and on a bill to require parental notification in cases when minors sought to have abortions.
Additionally, in 1997, Obama voted "present" on a proposal to drop the penalty for carrying a concealed gun from a felony to a misdemeanor."
So there you go. Why trust somebody who isn’t willing to vote one way or the other on a controversial issue. Why did he vote present? It’s called political expediency. He knows by voting present, his liberal constituency will praise him for secretly agreeing to those views, and he can still explain to more mainstrem voters that he did not vote in favor of the controversial issues . Sounds like another untrustworthy politician to me.
And for those who are curious, 2 out of 10, or 20% of voters stated race as a factor. Even if Obama had won all 20% of these truly ignorant racists, he still would have lost by more than 20 points. Ouch!
Don’t think this is limited to bloggers. This opinion is held by many pundits on the cable news channels. Below is a video of Chris Matthews insinuating that "You could have predicted West Virginia 20 years ago on this one." He then went on to say "These people made up their mind in ‘57."(video via NewsBusters.org )
I'm Steve Kroll and I'm a 20 year old webmaster from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Among my interests and hobbies are conservatism, sports, economics/stock market, entrepreneurship, simple pleasures that nature offers, dogs and cats, making money online, web page design, 
Yeah Steve,
“West Virginians are white, poor, uneducated, blue-collar, racists.”
These are the same simple minded souls from the land that time forgot who voted for George W. in the last two elections…why do these people continually vote against their own self interest? Why do they vote for a corrupt and immoral person like Clinton?
Because the poor things are easily manipulated and baited due to their low income, low reading comprehension level and lack of access to media outside of the Main Steam Corporate media…I am just really impressed that most of our country has evolved past the type of narrow minded racism that gave Hillary her landslide if irrelevant win in W.V., God Bless America!
The real question is why should w. virginians have that preference for clinton vis-a-vis the economy in the first place? Why the natural aversion to Obama when it comes to the economy? That’s the real question. You’re only pecking at the surface.
None of those exit polls dispel the notion that racism played a big role in this vote just as none suggest that it in fact did.
Last time I checked, Hill and Obama had fairly similar views on gun control, abortion, etc. The exit poll that suggests w. virginian democrats don’t share Obama’s values is absolutely specious. I mean, let’s be honest here, Obama and Clinton share the same damn values, so it’s only natural to infer that again, these polls only peck at the surface of something much much more profound….an inherent aversion for supporting Obama.
Having grown up in an overtly racist environment in the South, I understand the strong pressures to go with the majority white viewpoint that race matters. There was a very real ‘us vs. them’ mentality; whites who shared sympathetic or supportive words about blacks or hispanics were viewed as ‘traitors’.
I also found that those who had the least economic security and education were the most overtly racist. Most of these felt ashamed of their struggling economic status. Living in a ‘house trailer’ was a badge of shame. People made jokes about ‘poor white trash.’ Many of them felt trapped in jobs that paid poorly and felt they had few if any options.
Sen. Obama represents “educational, financial and political success” and for those who already feel ashamed of their economic and social status he is a reminder of their sense of utter failure and unworthiness. Rather than identify with blacks or hispanics who struggle like they do, they identify with successful white elites. Remember Bill and Hillary are super millionaires and white.
In the time I grew up, black religious and political leaders were viewed as manipulative, dishonest and untrustworthy. People forget that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was vilifed in the rural South and is still held with contempt by many. And, Dr. King was assassinated by a white who certainly felt he was on the losing side of life.
Yes, racism is a factor, but underneath that racism is a deep shame, a deep sense of unworthiness. Voting for Sen. Clinton is a way to fight back to hold onto an positive image of themselves by identifying with her. They would rather she be a white man like Bill or one who shares their conservative social values, but being white will do. It is a lot better than to feel like sh*t.
I have spent the last couple days watching videotape of West Virginia voters saying, on camera, that they would not vote for Obama “because he belongs to the other race.” That’s an exact quote. 20% of West Virginia voters came right out and said, in an exit poll, that race was a factor in their vote, and those are just the people who are willing to admit it, openly, on record. Then there is the bar owner in Georgia who is selling t-shirts that say “Obama in ‘08,” and they have a picture of Curius George, the monkey, on them.
Race not a factor? Are you retarded?
@Gordon
Professor Barnes, for a philosophy professor with several degrees from prestigious schools (cum laude from Yale), I am surprised by the sheer lack of evidence to back your claims. The video you are probably referring to, the AP story citing the story of Wanda Gibson, is a classic piece of journalism seeking to evoke our horrified response that all West Virginians are scared of the other race, even if they are democrats. Then this story about the bar owner in Georgia selling the satirical t-shirts. The media managed to find two ignorant, racist individuals, and somehow this characterizes a large portion of democrats that don’t vote for Obama because they’re racists? We live in a nation with 300 million people, and that’s the best the media can do to point to racism in this race? Two people, and only one of them is from the state Obama got drubbed in. If it was someone, say Michael Steele or Alan Keyes, would you agree that the reason they were not elected to congressional seats was because of their race? You could have made a much more compelling argument that religion matters much more to voters than race. Hypothetically, let’s say that it wasn’t 20% who didn’t vote for Obama because of race, but rather 40%: Obama still would have lost. There are much bigger issues than race Professor Barnes. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog. I look forward to future commentary from you.
A suggestion to broaden the discussion a bit on “Why we like Sen. Obama.”
I refer you to a website: http://www.slate.come/id/2184696 and an article, “The Supervisior, the Champion and the Promoter: What Psychology personality tests reveal about Clinton, Obama and McCain”
Which of these personality types we are drawn to can also reveal our own personality type and preferred style of leadership.
I’m from West Virginia. I am married, 3 children, BS in Business Mgt(WVU 1995). I am an officer in the Army Reserves and recently did my second tour in Iraq. I’m sick and tired of you people calling us hillbillies. You don’t jack shit about West Virginia. I didn’t vote for Obama because his name is Barrack Hussian Obama!!! Enough said!! I feel that West Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that know what the hell is going on here. This guy does not share our values and never will. I never voted republican but I will be come Nov.
I am sorry that you are in the Army Reserves. It is quite clear that you are not the type of soldier that is capable of protecting all Americans if we had a war in the US. I suppose you are only able to protect people who look like you.
You should be ashamed not proud of your racist views. Does you minister believe as you do? I heard a long time ago that Kentucky and West Virginia is unsafe and a place to stay away from. I still think that is still true.