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Hilary Clinton won tonight's West Virginia primary with about 66% of the vote, handily defeating Barack Obama (he had 27%) as expected. The NY Times reported "racial considerations emerged as an unusually salient factor as Mrs. Clinton drew strong support from white, working-class voters who have spurned Mr. Obama in recent contests." Interesting note: John Edwards, who exited the Democratic presidential race a while ago, got about 7% of the vote.
To a crowd in Charleston, W.V., Clinton indicated she was ignoring calls to drop out, "I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign. I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate. ... I can lead this party to victory in the general election if you lead me to victory now."
While Clinton's win is considered symbolic, the AP notes how Obama's loss "underscored his weakness among blue collar voters who will be pivotal in the fall." West Virginia exit polling indicated many Democrats would vote for McCain, instead of Obama, in an general election.
Obama, who was in Missouri today, said, "This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won't do. This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington."
Photograph of a victorious Clinton in West Virginia by Steven Helber/AP
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Clinton reminds me of angela lansbury in the manchurian candidate now.
hahahahahha....as a republican i love this. keep fighting amongst yourselves. you're handing us the presidency in november. it's an election we really should not win...but, if you guys want to keep the campaign going and alienate each other's supporters in the meantime, we'll take it. keep at it hillary!! you're the gop's best friend right now!!
"Please donate to me so that I can make my 20 million back"
I don't think the infighting is hurting at all. If anything it is energizing the party and exciting new voters to register and turn out. In downticket races across the country Democrats are picking up special election seats in places that have been Republican strongholds for years.
Ugh.
Put the Times story together with a Washington Post story yesterday about how Obama volunteers on the ground are being called "n***** lovers" and much worse, and you realize the enourmous amount of work Obama still has left to do. I still think he'll win, but the road just got steeper.
Forgive my cynical heart, but the reports of the American electorate having turned a corner on racism seem to be exaggerated.
The reason the democratic party is failing is they fail to see that America is racist. You need to pander to the Racists cause guess what? the racists vote and they outnumber your party 2 to 1. You see, even Bush had to pander to the politically correct, by hiring condi rice and colin powell. These guys are black but they push the conservative republican ticket in a way that they are above reproach because of their skin color. Sure, some members of the republican party may not like them but they are getting the republican job done and taking the heat off. Dems are naive to think that America will do the right thing and vote for "progress". Barnum Bailey once said that you should "never underestimate the stupidity of the masses" and it's been proven time and time again that it's true. The goal of a campaign is to win an election. Regardless of your screed. it's to WIN the election. No matter what. You need to lie, cheat, and offer empty campaign promises to get a vote. Hillary is good at that. Obama is not. He's too much a paragon of idealistic virtue and some Dems think that will be enough but they are WRONG! The Dems problem is they are not accounting for discreet racism. The racism that occurs when you got to the polling booth and are white and say you will vote for Obama cause it sounds good, but when you get in the booth you pull the lever for the other guy. This is the racism that occurs when old white people sit next to me on the subway instead of the black guy even though the black guy has a bigger space next to them. it's the racism that occurs when white people cross the street when they see another black guy. It happens, and it happens a LOT!
So tired of looking at this power hungry woman.
Please step down.
I have to stand up when I find myself even in partial agreement with bh because, well because he calls himself babyhitler.
Hillary is not good at winning, nor at being liked. So, I disagree about her ability to win an election. Or to balance a checkbook. But that's something else.
You mention this something called 'discreet racism'. I think that's an interesting term, but it's unnecessary. Racism (and that is what you describe) is racism. It is a water torture of unanticipated drops, for most. Indignities and humiliations of the sort you describe, even for a day, are hardly discreet for the person undergoing them.
Actually, she won 67 to 26 -- a 41 point margin in a state where he outspent her. WV's demographics -- ethnically, socially, and economically -- are similar to much of the rest of the country. If he can't connect with them (and with their votes, they resoundingly said he can't), I don't see how he connects with them in the rest of the country vs. McCain.
Obama supporters can call it racism -- whitey won't vote for a black man -- and while that may be true, maybe it's just more true that they just don't like him. Too bad Obambi, there just aren't enough black people spread across the country for you to take the general election from McCain.
Don't fret... Polls in April and May NEVER have any bearing on what happens in November. Just remember that.
The news cycle is short and the public's memory is as well. Hillary and Bill will be gone from the scene soon, and the only thing most people will remember is how they squandered and destroyed the goodwill of their staunchest defenders by actually becoming that which the Republicans had accused them of being all these years.
Coming from a fellow Democrat, and a Clinton no less, Hillary's shameless accusations about Obama have surely hurt him more than if they had come from a Republican. And he survived. John McCain hasn't received any scrutiny yet, and as Obama's quote above shows, its a new game in the general election (one that doesn't rely on W.V. voters that still actually believe he's a Muslim)!
Racism is 90% of blacks voting for Obama in South Carolina. Yes, you indoctrinated morons, racism is racism is racism.
she's pissing me off every time i see her now--i mean, goddamn, just stop it.
and when did anyone give a shit what west virginia thinks?
Why can't Obama accept the fact that he's in trouble with the general election? Hilary has no reason to drop out, even if her chance is nearly impossible, unless she can get the MI and FL delegates. There's no party loyalty nor dropping out for the good of all, candidates are always setting themselves up for the next round. I don't see Obama dropping out either if he's in her shoes, so she shouldn't.
The last couple of states show that "optimism" for Obama is slowly waning, and with the Wright controversy, the defection of the working class Democrats, and the growing impression that he's coming across as an arrogant elitist who doesn't care about the working class. The general election, where people vote on a whim or base on the latest poll or controversy, will be a tough one for the novice Senator.
#13 - That because most of the country is not NY or CA. NYers can be too "state centric", but we have to realize that we are NOT a swing state. The Democrats need WV to win the general election, and if Hilary supporters are voting for McCain, Obama is in big trouble.
WV demographics are not at all similar to the rest of the country. The state is 95% white, only 15% have graduated from college, and the median income is $33,000. This compares to the national average of 80% white, 25% with a college degree, and median income of $44,000.
In other words, WV is poorer, dumber, and whiter than the rest of the country.
Saying you're a Republican these days pretty much declares your stupidity. Go back to whatever shitshow of a state you came from Eagles (Pennsylvania? You twat).
As for Obama supporters, you guys are a bunch of starry-eyed morons too. God help me, I agree with babyhitler.
Obama is the Ned Lamont of this race. Hillary has more balls than either Mccain or Obama--she's up against Republicans, Democrats, and the media in this primary.
Hillary, the candidate of yesteryear, wins big in the country's cultural backwater. Surprise? There is no doubt that overt, unabashed racism is still prevalent among what are commonly referred to as rednecks. The question that came to my mind when my farmer dad said that the rednecks would never vote for a black guy was whether redneck misogyny or racism would affect the vote more. Question answered. Hillary should know that these folks are voting for John McCain in November.
#7: Actually, the quote is:
"No one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American people" and it's H.L. Mencken.
What P.T. Barnum said was "there's a sucker born every minute" which is also somewhat applicable here.
Why am I being a pissant? Because I agree with pretty much everything else you said.
I'm staring to fear that this election is going to go from inspiring to morbidly depressing in a hurry, because all it's going to prove in the end is what a nation of bigots we all still are, even after all this time.
In that vein, I'll leave you with one final quote:
"Why is it every time you try to do some good the nice people come in and mess you up?" Fiorello La Guardia
it's so fucked up and insulting to say that Hillary won only because the Democratic voters of WV are racist. the demographics you all so casually toss around - white, poor, and ignorant - don't exactly lend themselves to progressive thinking regarding tough-as-nails women candidates either. if they're stupid enough to be racist, they're stupid enough to be sexist.
why is it so hard to accept that she won on her merits, among working class people, similar to those whom she represents in the rest of New York state? and she's going to win the general election too.
Umm... because her whole WV campaign could be summed up a "vote for me, I'm the white candidate"?
Sadly, that one always works. WV, NYC, Cuyahoga County...
Obama told the people of West Virginia their vote did not matter. Because, it didn't. He purposely ignored the primary in the last week. SO, what last night shows is that Hillary can command outstanding numbers in races where there is NO COMPETITION. She's the electable candidate if she can trick McCain into ignoring states like Michigan, Florida and West Virginia in November.
The fact is, it won't take a miracle for Hillary to get the nomination, it will take her somehow wresting it from the hands of Obama. There's no way to do so without pissing off a big percentage of the people, black and white, who back Obama. So many of those voters will be turned off that she cannot win in November.
#7 - The idea that Hillary Clinton is more "racist" than the GOP takes a profound degree of chutzpah. Honestly, neither is overtly racist. I think the GOP has more issues than Hillary.
But the suggestion that Powell or Condi Rice are conservative is ignorant. We knew Powell was a social liberal from his recent GOP convention speech. We know less about Condi. But, judging from her academic background and her public support of Obama after his race speech, I'm guessing she's no social conservative.
Condi still toes the line on the military/foreign policy issues. Powell was never hawkish on the war and only sold it to the UN because the French snubbed him.
When the GOP supports a socially liberal platform for a "conservative" like Powell, I'll believe they have progressed on race.
She's only 5 - 10 years away from joining the Golden Girls.
Thank you for being a friend...
babyhitler - America is not racist. babyhitler is one of those goofy looking asian guys who burn with anger because all the asian girls he wants to go with are going for better looking white guys instead. He attributes that to racism, when the problem is himself.
this woman has lost her mind.
#26 - What the fuck you talking about? I aint even asian.
There are more douchebags on Gothamist than in all the Duane Reades.
Suck on it: Redneck white trash (who make up most of America) are racist, and Hillary Clinton won on her own merits.
I am counting on ageism to help BO out in November. The under 30 crowd won't want a 72 year old guy moving into the whitehouse. McCain jumped the shark in like 1978.
West Virginia is not particularly relevant mostly because Hillary's win there does not provide her with enough delegates to close the gap.
All these comments suggesting that she won there because of race paints with too broad a brush.
This identification of each candidate strictly on a race or sex is ugly, and it seems like many of the people doing it do so in the context of speaking out against racism.
There are good reasons to vote for and against EACH of the candidates that have nothing to do with race, age or gender.
Voting for Hillary does not make you a racist, voting for Obama does not make you a sexist, and voting for McCain does not make you both.
People should be voting for the candidate who they believe has the best qualities to lead the country in the next 4-8 years, based on track record, experience, platform, etc.
It's sickening to watch all the fingerpointing going on about race and gender right now. Obama's winning in one state does not mean that the state is somehow more advanced on race issues than a state where Hillary wins.
I don't like Hillary and wish she would step aside, but it's wrong to assume that the only reason people might vote for her are because of race.
how Obama volunteers on the ground are being called "n***** lovers"
Does Obama have volunteers that are not "on the ground"?
Damn. I can't stand the mindless adoption of tired catch-phrases that are crafted and perpetuated in the news/media. They mean nothing and destroy good speech and writing.
Not a dig at you, Tim N, it is so pervasive anyone can find themselves doing it.
No offense taken, but in case you are interested, here's the article... doesn't list the word explicitly, but you can see where they are going.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014.html?nav=hcmodule
Jerry Springer for Vice President.