05/14/2008
Race Rears its Head as Clinton Takes West Virginia as Predicted
Hillary Clinton won the West Virginia primary with 67 percent of the vote to Obama's 26%, but the primary changed little in terms of the delegate count. What it did reveal was a vote along racial lines:
"The number of white Democratic voters who said race had influenced their choices on Tuesday was among the highest recorded in voter surveys in the nomination fight. Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes. More than 8 in 10 who said it factored in their votes backed Mrs. Clinton, according to exit polls. With Mr. Obama solidly ahead of Mrs. Clinton in the delegate fight, the West Virginia results are unlikely to hurt Mr. Obama’s chances of winning the nomination. A strong Clinton victory in another general election battleground state like her victories in Ohio and Pennsylvania could raise fresh questions about Mr. Obama’s ability to carry swing states in a contest against Senator John McCain."
Obama, who spent the day in Missouri, dismissed talk of division within the party: "There is a lot of talk these days about how the Democratic Party is divided. But I’m not worried, because I know that we’ll be able to come together quickly behind a common purpose. There’s too much that unites us as Democrats. There’s too much at stake for our country."
Clinton's speech Tuesday night:
AFTER THE JUMP, Terry McAuliffe beats Chris Matthews over the head with "It's not over."
Posted 8:16 AM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, News | Permalink
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Nic,
Consistently being right is actually not that heavy a burden. Sadly, you'll just have to take my word on that.
Posted by: 24play | May 14, 2008 12:15:06 PM
Thanks, BRANDON & 24PLAY,
this guy don't like me.
ABRACADER, you're being unfair, and pulling wabbits out of hats. I rarely use "stats" to post on this blog--I don't know any damn stats. I certainly wasn't serious about "92%", so don't ever take me seriously if I mention a fucking stat. Other anti-Barack (or anti-black) posters used that figure and so I "played on it"-- I don't give a goddamn if Dukakis got 90% or 80% of the goddamn black vote, he lost and so did America.
"Intellectually dishonest"?
I only have a BA, honey...never called myself an "intellectual". I do love Jewish intellectuals though.
All those stastistics from past presidiential eleections? You actually went and Gooogled all that shit?
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | May 14, 2008 12:19:14 PM
abracadaver: um, black people didn't vote for lincoln. he was assassinated in 1865 and the 15th amendment wasn't passed until 1867.
Posted by: psgoodguy | May 14, 2008 12:27:46 PM
Race has reared its ugly head in this contest from the beginning- as has gender. Don't fool yourselves. There is the audacity of hope- and there is reality. I was in Morgantown West Virginia the week before the primary on business. The strippers and drag queens and patrons in the Vice Versa bar tell the story of what it is like to be disenfranchised. They don't want hope, they want the .30 cents they'll save from the pandering gas tax holiday. They don't want accessible health care- they need universal health care. These are the people left behind by Barack Obama.
The questions for all Democrats now, is: Who's supporters will harbor the most resentment come November? The poorer, rural, less educated, older voters that support Hillary Clinton? or the more wealthy, urban, educated, young voters who support Barack Obama?
This election IS about all that divides us- and no amount of talk about change will effect that.
Posted by: dc8stretch | May 14, 2008 12:35:55 PM
CALM DOWN EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! who is a dem (there are concern trolls log cabinites trying to stir up dem against dem)
We are all on the same team.
The only real question now is if Hillary will be VP or a Hillary supporter like GEN Wes Clark or the like will be VP.
A Joint ticket of some sort is called for like NIC says. Though I am not sure Hillary would take VP but she might allow one of her own to fill it.
The white black thing is BS
Take out 6% of operation chaos limbaugh nuts
The rest on both sides will support the other candidate. Yes there will be hurt feelings BUT decades of whites only republicanism isn't going to see the african american community abandon the dems. Yes people will hold their nose when voting but Hillary's white voters will not flock to gays in the closet, abortions by coat hangers, etc republicanism
The irony about WV is that WV split from virginia because of the slavery issue.
WV was populated mostly by scotsmen who were anti slavery (big plantations not being practical for rocky mountainous areas might have been the reason) and split from virginia to join the UNIONISTS when Virginia went with the south
Personaly I think Hillary's appeal there has less to do with race and more to do with her ability to toss back a drink and APPEAR middle to lower class where as Obama comes off with a bit of the colege profesor thing no matter how many bowling games he plays or beers he drinks.
WV is very indipendent and over 70% do not have a college education.
Wether you like Hillary or not. Wether you think she does have a bit of the average person in her or she is totaly a great actress......she was able to convince WV DEMS that she was less of a profesor type than Obama.
The whole polling on if people will vote for the other candidate is total and utter 100% BS. Mccains supporters all said they would not vote bush in 2000 but they did.
Hillary has said quite a few times now that she will 100% support and campaign for Obama when all is said and done. the question is from the VP spot or some other position.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 12:52:31 PM
24PLAY,
the delusion of one always being right leads to stultification. sad, but true.
Posted by: nic | May 14, 2008 12:54:42 PM
PSGG: Learn to read, or at least increase your reading comprehension. Nowhere do I say that blacks voted for Lincoln.
Posted by: abracadaver | May 14, 2008 1:03:34 PM
Derrick, Good for you; please keep fighting the good fight. I have grown weary of talking past those who choose to wallow in ignorance. They do not want to be confused by a fact-based discussion. Their minds are made up and closed. Fortunately, their numbers are ever dwindling.
More importantly, the contrast between Obama and McCain could not be more stark. For the first time in many elections there is a viable candidate who offers a real choice against the status quo, antebellum.
Keep the faith shared by those of us working to defeat the intellectually and politically lazy--who offer little more than the same policies that have proven ineffective, at a minimum, and, beyond peradventure, disastrous for our community. Some do not want to help themselves but let us not abandon our efforts to improve all of our lives.
Posted by: rudy | May 14, 2008 1:03:52 PM
And the inability to take a joke? Where does that lead?
Posted by: 24play | May 14, 2008 1:07:21 PM
I AM A BLACK GAY HILLARY CLINTON DELEGATE. WHEN I TELL BLACK PEOPLE I'M FOR HILLARY I GET CALLED A "RACE TRAITOR". I ALSO GET ASKED "HOW CAN YOU NOT VOTE FOR THE BROTHER?!". GAY BLACKS HAVE ASKED ME IF "YOU DATE WHITE GUYS, HUH?"(BWT, I'M SINGLE AND WILL DATE ANYONE WHO ASKS ME OUT! WELL, OK, I DO HAVE STANDARDS, BUT, CURRENTLY I'M SETTING THE BAR PRETTY LOW, IT'S BEEN DROUGHT SEASON. BUT I DIGRESS.)
WHEN I ANNOUNCED AT OUR CAUCUS THAT I WAS GAY THE HILLARY PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY LAUNCHED INTO A VERY APPROVING PRO GAY STANCE. THE OBAMA PEOPLE PEOPLE ASKED ME WHY I HAD MADE "THAT CHOICE?". THEY THEN OFFERED TO PRAY FOR ME.
IT CANNOT BE THAT EVERY WHITE WHO'S AGAINST OBAMA IS A RACIST. IF IT IS THEN EVERY OF THE 92% OF BLACKS WHO VOTES FOR HIM IS WHAT?
ASK TAVIS SMILEY IF BLACKS HAVE LOST THEIR MINDS OVER OBAMA. HE IS ONE OF THE MOST PRO BLACK MEDIA TYPES OUT THERE. WHEN HE QUESTIONED OBAMAS LACK OF POLICY INITIATIVES ON BEHALF OF BLACK PEOPLE HE LOST HIS GIG ON THE TOM JOYNER SHOW.
BTW, OTHER THAN WHEN IT WAS POLITICALLY EXPEDIENT, WHEN HAS OBAMA SHOWN ANY INITIATIVE ON BEHALF OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY? AND WHY IS THAT AT HIS MULTI-THOUSANDS ATTENDING EVENTS YOU NEVER SEE A LOT OF BLACK PEOPLE BEHIND HIM? SURELY A FEW OF US MUST HAVE MADE IT TO THE CONVENTION CENTER? HE DOES SEEM TO FIND ROOM FOR A&F WANNABES, HOWEVER.
I THINK OBAMA IS A FRAUD AND A PUPPET OF THE KENNEDY WING OF THE PARTY. THE WING THAT SAYS THE SUPERDELEGATES MUST REFLECT THE WILL OF THE VOTERS BUT YET THE VOTERS IN MA AND CA AND MANY OTHER PLACES CHOSE HRC. SHOULDN'T MR. KENNEDY AND THE LOSER KERRY BE SUPPORTING HILLARY?
JUST ASKING.
Posted by: dw314 | May 14, 2008 1:07:32 PM
"...our efforts to improve all of our lives."
So true, Rudy. If we ALL could let that be our concern for this fall election we might not make the mistakes we've made in past presidential elections. Not electing Gore and Kerry were mistakes, and this country is paying for those mistakes now.
I'm still laughing about being accused of using "stats". ABRACADAVER: You mean when I used the stat that 56% of gay men have penises that are 110% larger than heterosexuals who are 26% on the "down low". Hell, I was speaking the truth on them stats.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | May 14, 2008 1:16:54 PM
Great post, DW314. Please continue to speak to truth. Its so rare anymore.
Posted by: abracadaver | May 14, 2008 1:23:37 PM
JIMMYBOYO,
i love you and your misspellings and bad grammar and whatnot. who woulda thunk that you would be the consistent voice of reason in this turbulent debate?
you and i get the process. we can dispassionately weigh the pros and cons. i am a mexican boy going for the white girl, you are a white boy going for the black boy. so what? our goal is the same. this country craves strong, principled leadership. i am content that either and/or both will provide it.
Posted by: nic | May 14, 2008 1:23:53 PM
LOL
Derrick
My stat is better
I am 315% larger than all men where it counts.
:-)
That might be because great great grandad was what they called high yellow back in the day.
Anyway; at least 10% of posters everywhere, not just towleroad, are repubs concern trolls trying to stir up dem against dem because they know they are fucked 100% in 08.
The pertinent (spell check) question is "Will hillary accept VP or not?"
Lets take bets.
1 Will Hillary accept VP (why or why not...and Obama must at least offer in private so none of the he won't offer crap from overzelous Obama fans which I tend to be one)
2 If Hillary decides not to take VP, will she try for Senate majority leader (why or why not)
Discuss
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 1:29:42 PM
Not electing Gore or Kerry. Well for starters I would guess most of us on here voted for both of them. It wasn't us that didn't elect them, it was the middle class white women who thought they were pussies.
See results from Ohio and Florida.
Now I am not saying Obama can't win. McCain is a douche and should be easily beatable. But all this nonsense pointing to WV and calling people ignorant hicks and racists doesn't win you an election in November. It only serves to piss of the Clinton supporters who think Obama supporters are being unfair. And that doesn't help you win in November either. If Obama or you expected there to not be people who were hesitant or outrightly indignent about voting for a black guy, then you were fooling yourself from Day One.
The shortest road to the White House is through Ohio or Florida. Two states Obama lags in in most polling against McCain. He's got only a slight lead over McCain in Pennsylvania, the state where all this talk of racism began (even though statistically Hillary was winning the white working class ever since Super Tuesday). Taking a look at the Electoral College, I think most Hillary supporters see her as the easiest ticket to the White House. We understand you might not like her because bigots favored her over Obama, but frankly that isn't her fault and the last two elections should prove that even a few votes in your favor can make a HUGE difference.
Ignore the white working class at your own peril. Race bait, claim they are bigots and ignorant and backwards and the only thing you'll get is ignored on November 4th.
Posted by: Jeanluc | May 14, 2008 1:31:11 PM
ABRACADVER: I won't address your personal characterization of me or my comments. I will however address another error. There was a Voting Rights Act passed in 1968. However, the 15th Amendment ORIGINALLY addressed this issue and the Voting Rights of of 68 was largely designed to address (a) actions in Southern States to deprive blacks of the franchise AND (b) to address court decisions that narrowed the intended scope of the 15th Amendment. Save the personal attacks and check your facts.
Posted by: Brandon | May 14, 2008 1:31:42 PM
LOL
NIC
My infamous typos, gramatical mistakes, and spelling errors.
:-)
Yes, the process = politics = compromise. politics is always about compromise
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 1:33:19 PM
24PLAY,
to me? ha ha! good one.
Posted by: nic | May 14, 2008 1:34:18 PM
Jeanluc
Actualy Gore = repub screw over in FL (still some boxes of votes floating in FL swamp ) and the supreme court
Kerry = shenanigans in Ohio with the voting machines produced by a company ran by a bush supporter. NOWHERE ever have exit polls so been different from actual vote as they were in Ohio which would have given Kerry the victory. The irony is that Bush himself called for revotes in a foreign country soon after because the exit polls so differed from results.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 1:39:26 PM
Jimmyboyo,
I see you're still holding down the fort, and doing a damn good job of it, Mr. ;)
Nic!!
Holding your own, as usual, verdad? Asi mero!
Posted by: Silverskreen | May 14, 2008 1:45:04 PM
GO, Jeanluc. Now we're finally getting some real posters; not knee-jerk reactionaries who assume that anyone who doesn't agree with them is a "log cabinette" and thinks their c*ck size is of interest to anyone.
Posted by: abracadaver | May 14, 2008 1:48:52 PM
abracadavar
concern trolling and in need of an enema.
A true dem would be working to unite the party not divide. You also need to lighten up.
Jeanluc forgetting that the supreme court ruled against the WINNER Gore, and a bush supporter owned and ran the company in charge of Ohio voting machines as as never ever ever have exit polls so differed from the so called results.
Anyway; this is how it is going to be
Obama / Clinton 08
or
Obama / hand picked by Hillary VP person
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 1:55:36 PM
SILVERSKREEN,
it's weird! i wondered about your prolonged absence from here earlier, and lo and behold, you pop up. thank heaven for serendipity. como has estado, buey? (buey, in a good way.)
Posted by: nic | May 14, 2008 1:59:25 PM
Chris & Co.,
Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry all got 90+-percent of the African-American vote. Historically, African-Americans voted for white candidates. Period. There's this guy named Clarence Thomas, a black man, who was opposed by most African-Americans for his appointment to the Supreme Court. More Recently, Ken Blackwell, who is African-American, ran for the governor's office of Ohio got slaughtered in the election, he was thoroughly ignored by black Ohio voters who voted for Blackwell's white opponent.
Michael Bloomberg, the then Republican mayor (he's become an independent) also won a substantial number of African-American votes in New York.
Also, Obama won Iowa and other heavily white states.
Don't you think that Hillary's polarizing use of racist stereotyping hasn't been a huge turnoff? Hillary had 70-percent of the African-American vote prior to her deciding to use the Southern Strategy to win. That spoof on Saturday Night Live over the weekend wasn't created out of thin air.
When a supposed Democratic leader uses coded words like "hardworking Americans, white Americans" non-white Americans, in particular, are extremely insulted.
Remember, the whole thing about whether Obama is black enough for African-American voters? Well, Clinton's attacks on him based on race, with the intent of making Obama a "black candidate" worked into pissing off a lot of people, of all races.
You might want to read americablog.com, a progressive blog run John Aravois, a gay, white American, who is PISSED at Hillary's race-baiting. Then head over to any of the other major liberal blogs like TPMcafe.com, Dailykos.com, or the Huffingtonpost.com to read more anger over Hillary's attempts to destroy the Democratic Party.
Also, this whole meme about Obama not being able to win Latino votes is a joke. In Illinois, Obama has a lock on Latino votes. The myth that Latino- and African-Americans don't vote for each other is false. Elections in New York City, Texas, and California dispel this.
Moreover, what's always not spoken is that there a LOT of "black" Latinos, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, etc. The majority of the African slave trade sent Africans to Latin America, not the U.S. Latinos can be any "race." Cameron Diaz is a Latina just as Sammy Sosa is a Latino.
Making a big deal out of Obama's success with African-Americans and painting them as somehow racist is an insult to truth and history.
Posted by: blake | May 14, 2008 2:00:44 PM
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/14/rendell-obama-should-ask-clinton-to-be-vp/
Gov Rendell of Ohio = huge Hillary supporter calling for Hillary to be VP
I am liking this scenario more and more.
8 succesful Obama years with hillary as VP and then she segways into 8 succesful years of her as president. 16 years of Dems = a new golden age in america? YES we can (Obama saying) Yes we will (Hillary saying)
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | May 14, 2008 2:11:51 PM