Poverty gets the blame, not racism

I keep thinking I should be mad at West Virginia . Not because Barack Obama was recently beaten like a red-headed stepchild - to use my father's expression - in that state's primary.

[Jack]

Mr. Pitts, I couldn't have said it any better.

[leslie]

Yes, I agree; it was an article that went straight to the heart of the matter.

[dantafter]

I cannot remember a worse choice of people running for President. No matter who we vote for OR who wins, I think we will be screwed big time. No leadership skills, no experience, no solid policies...and I thought the last 8 years under George "I'm an idiot" Bush were bad. I HOPE I am proven wrong...this great country needs a strong turn around and some great leadership. Someone who will draw the line at wasted tax dollars, illegals, freebies, and the mess in Iraq. Let's bring our troops home, secure our boarders, downsize the government, and get the US back on the right track!!

[Flip Side]

So 2 in 10 white voters did not vote for Obama because of his race. These voters are in the least educated, and historically one of the most racist areas of the country.

Were any exit polls done to determine the percentage of black voters who voted for Obama because of his race? I would imagine it was much higher than 2 in 10. Who perpetuates that divide?

[Grandblvd03]

I was stunned and saddened that people would so blatantly express their prejudice. I'm glad I didn't grow up there. I would never raise my children with attitudes like that, even if I actually felt that way. We're supposed to be getting better.

[BlueNC]

Isn't one of the Senators from West Virginia the head of the KKK? And they proudly re-elect him because of this.

[Do Not Judge So Quickly]

"My point is that race has often been used as a means of distracting and diverting the white poor. They had little in life, but the one thing they did have—or so the con went—was whiteness itself. Which meant they had someone to be better than."
Not always so. Nice thought, but a bigoted one. I was poor and I wasn't in on this 'con'. I was told to do better than people in my family. My grandmother only went to the 3rd grade and my grandfather did not make it out of high school.

[mlc9852]

BlueNC wrote:

Isn't one of the Senators from West Virginia the head of the KKK? And they proudly re-elect him because of this.

Isn't he a Democrat also? Of course he is!

[Paul]

Flip Side wrote:

Were any exit polls done to determine the percentage of black voters who voted for Obama because of his race?

One poll showed 90% of blacks voted for Obama because he is black, expecting he is going to take care of their interests over everyone else's. They may be disappointed. He might be more like Bill Cosby then Jesse Jackson. He might expect blacks to buckle down, stay in school, and not get pregnant and have no father around, stay off drugs, out of gangs, out of jail.

[Obama Mama]

Pitts, rise above your name. Your column peddles the propaganda stereotyping we come to hear and read so well so many times over and over until we start believing the simplistic, silly and shallow messages that benefit not the rich but special interests who seek political and financial gain by playing the victim.

So it's a con game after all. I suppose the rich huddle in their mansions conjuring up plays to continue the con game of unsuspecting poor whites in Appalachia. Where does the middle class fit in your con game theory? Oh, aren't there more poor whites living elsewhere in the U.S. like the northern states, which, by the way, fought and defeated the Confederacy and all the poor southern-fooled whites caught up in the conspiracy? It's interesting you mentioned the exit poll results of whites in the primary election - all Democrats- and no mention that 90 percent of blacks have been voting for Obama. There are blacks on the Forbes list such as Oprah. Could they also be conning the poor blacks to hate whites and vote Obama? A sort of reverse con game?

And you wonder why most Americans don't trust the media. Your so-called column has no value; it's trash. Think, Leonard, think.

[John H]

People have voted along ethnic and racial lines in Chicago for years. Why single out poor whites unless you have your own agenda?

[damskippy]

Mr. Pitts, who exactly is keeping the poor races at each other's throats? DEMOCRATS!!!!This election will be the one that bites the **** party in the ****.
And I suppose that if you don't vote for Barry, you're a stupid,white racist.Why not mention the 92% of black people that will vote for Barry strictly because he's a brother,ergo RACISM.So Damned typical of a democrat.Remove the mote from your eye before attempting a splinterectomy on mine.

[Blue Dot in a Red Field]

dantafter wrote:

I cannot remember a worse choice of people running for President...I HOPE I am proven wrong...this great country needs a strong turn around and some great leadership.

I wouldn't worry too much.

In my experience, a "no ideas" administration is far better than a "bad ideas" administration.

[Jamal]

Terminology is important. The 20 percent of whites who vote for a white candidate because she is white are "bigots." The 95 percent of blacks who vote for a black candidate because he is black are what, discerning citizens?

[Darryn]

2 in 10 voters chose their candidate purely because of race... and you jump out and draw the conclusion that it's all 'whitey'.... when something like 98% of black people are voting for Obama.

Ho hum, yet another "it's all whitey's fault" ridiculous comment on "race" in America that once again fails, because we have yet another author that fails to confront the obvious, that being the incredibly slanted and race based vote by blacks for Obama, in yet another quest to bring about some sort of collective "white guilt".

[Lala11_7]

Hey...

If Obama wins simply because most Blacks voted for him because he's Black...

Well...

If you wanted "Blacks" to vote for a candidate solely based upon their qualifications...

American should not have propogated the history it has...

You get what you give...

[Action Jackson]

Tere is a large contingent of old white people from Appalachia who are simply not going to vote for a black man under any circumstances. Not all of them are poor and less educated. But a lot of them are committed to white supremacy.

The racism that older Appalachian whites feel is reflected across the nation in the hearts and minds of old white people. This is repulsive to many people. It has the very negative consequence of potentially costing Sen Obama the 2008 election.

On the other hand , this a chance for America to engage the race issue that it continues to try and avoid.

[mlc9852]

Lala11_7 wrote:

Hey...
If Obama wins simply because most Blacks voted for him because he's Black...
Well...
If you wanted "Blacks" to vote for a candidate solely based upon their qualifications...
American should not have propogated the history it has...
You get what you give...

As long as blacks are only about 12% of the U.S. population, it really doesn't matter.

[BCC]

Let's just hope these poor white people vote for the war hero McCain in the fall, because we know all the black people no matter what their income is will vote 99% for Obama.

[okimar]

Paul wrote:

<quoted text>One poll showed 90% of blacks voted for Obama because he is black, expecting he is going to take care of their interests over everyone else's. They may be disappointed. He might be more like Bill Cosby then Jesse Jackson. He might expect blacks to buckle down, stay in school, and not get pregnant and have no father around, stay off drugs, out of gangs, out of jail.

****! There goes the 'hood.....