If You Don't Vote for Obama, You Might Be A Redneck

I knew that eventually the media would begin implying that white voters who don't vote for Barack Obama are racists, but I didn't expect it to reach such a pitch during the primary season. These are Democrat voters we're talking about. Aren't the Republicans supposed to be the horrid racists? Well according to Rex W. Huppke's hit piece in Tuesday's Chicago Tribune, Obama's screwed come November because of white America's latent racism. Here are some excerpts I feel moved to comment upon.

Mr. Huppke takes us on a journey through Munfordville Kentucky, a town of 1600, 90% white. Our first racist is one "Terry Jordan, 47, who runs a year-round garage sale in front of an old filling station on Main Street" He explains why he's not voting for Obama: "It's his color." Of course, southern whites who don't vote for Obama are hick racists who run year round garage sales, here Huppke is just pointing out the obvious.

Obama's problem, according to Huppke, is that there are too many of them populating small towns across America. "The Munfordvilles of America — and there are many—present a troubling reality for Obama's campaign, as his lopsided loss in neighboring West Virginia showed. These are the places where lofty talk of transcending race is dragged to earth by a weighty reality that has nothing to do with Obama's position on the federal gas tax, Clinton's tenacity on the campaign trail or even the off-putting rants of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr." Of Course! Terry Jordan and Munfordville prove that racism is why Obama isn't winning a majority of the white vote. Only hateful ideology could keep them from recognizing Obama's transcending greatness. As Mike Rife, a white Obama supporter in Munfordville (how is that possible?) puts it "They won't vote for a black man. . . That's all there is to it. They just can't bring themselves to do it." Its not that they don't care for Obama's policies or the anti-Americanism of some of his acquaintances, nor is it that fact that Mrs. Clinton has been making a concerted effort to broaden her appeal to rural voters who are generally more conservative. Its that they're all racists. Except of course for Mike Rife, oh and Jack Bunnell, apparently the only two white Obama supporters Huppke could find in this town of 1600, I'm sure he talked to everyone. Rife says he "knows of no more than 10 other (I'm assuming white) people who, like him, will vote for Obama" Considering Munfordville is 90% white, I wonder if someone can get a hold of the election data for Munfordville and see if Obama won more than .008% of the white vote.

Huppke finishes off this section of the article with what I'm assuming is his explanation for the rampant racism in Kentucky: "Kentucky was a border state in the Civil War. It eventually sided with the Union, but much of the populace either joined or supported the Confederacy. Munfordville was the site of a major victory for the South, one that marked a high point of the Confederacy's westward push." Ah, of course. we all know that supporters of the Confederacy were motivated exclusively by racism, not loyalty to their home State, belief in State's Rights, or limited government. I'm sure that utter racism still permeates a border State where the Confederacy won a victory a mere 140 years ago. I'm at a loss though to see how West Virginia's racism can be linked to the Confederacy considering it broke off from greater Virginia in order to remain loyal to the Union.

Huppke begins the next section of his "news" article by quoting supposedly non racist townsfolk in Munfordville who explain there are "lots of factors" that lead the town into racism. So says Melody Chaney, "It's a matter of education, their upbringing and their background, peer pressure. There are lots of factors that contribute to this." But as Huppke explains, she is a "a financial adviser in Munfordville and a Clinton supporter," so obviously a racist and not to be trusted. Tim Carter though is an Obama supporter and is therefore trustworthy. He even "lives on a narrow, crescent-shaped road called National Turnpike, a block or so off Main Street, an area known as "the black part of town." We can only assume there are also some railroad tracks he lives on the wrong side of. "'He shouldn't even bother to fly over,' said Carter, who was born and raised in Munfordville and has spent 35 of his 56 years working in a nearby factory. (I'm amazed the factory hires blacks) He likes his town and says there's little friction between blacks like him and whites. 'People get along pretty well,' he said. 'The racist end of it, that will always be here. There's black people that don't like white people, and white people that don't like black people. But there's not much trouble.'" Hold on a second. We all know there are "white people that don't like black people," but what is this about "black people that don't like white people"? I haven't heard about this. If 7 out of 10 whites voting for Hillary Clinton demonstrates white racism, what does 9 out of 10 blacks voting for Barack Obama demonstrate? I'm sure Mr. Huppke is working on that article as we speak.

Moving on, in the final section of his "news" article, Mr. Huppke returns to his "Confederate racism" motif: "Webster Rogers, 23 and also black, said that in high school he felt welcome visiting the homes of white friends. But often he would spot Confederate flags hanging on the walls, reminders of differences that still linger." Mr. Huppke must have misquoted Webster here. There's no way that Confederate flag toting racists would ever befriend a black person, let alone make him feel welcome in their homes.

I'm sure a more prevalent attitude is that of Susan Horton. "I believe that (Obama's) a Muslim," said Susan Horton, 56 and white. She leaves her living room whenever Obama comes on the television. "I think that if he gets into office, there's going to be another bombing." I don't understand why she cares. They're not going to bomb Kentucky. They'll bomb an urban area with a high percentage of minorities, probably on one of the coasts. If she's a racist, she must think that's a good thing.

The citizens of Munfordville aren't done though. "He's not patriotic," said Brandy Trulock, a 21-year-old mother of two. "If you can't salute the American flag, I don't think you should be allowed to run for president." Clearly racist.

In the end, Huppke talked to eight residents of Munfordville. Four, if we include Susan, Brandy, and Melody, are whites who aren't voting for Obama because of racism. Two are white Obama supporters. Two are black men, one of whom for some reason thinks he has white friends in this awful parody of Maycomb. I guess we can assume Huppke found no black Hillary supporters. I feel he's already made his point with more than enough supporting evidence. I'd say eight is a pretty good sample of a community of 1600. Huppke however disagrees. He comes back to our original racist Terry Jordan as he "sells secondhand bluejeans, ceramic tchotchkes and anything else he can get his hands on, displaying his wares on a flatbed trailer and a few rickety folding tables." Terry, being perhaps the only genuine racist Huppke actually spoke to, is the best way to close out this "news" article by driving home the white hick racist theme. Its somewhat effective given what Terry has to say: "He's all Democrat, all Clinton and, if Obama wins the nomination, all for Republican John McCain. He doesn't trust Obama, has serious questions about the Muslim rumors and truly believes a black man will not survive long as president of the United States." However, Huppke betrays a detail we were as of yet unaware of: Terry, who is 47, "makes about $100 (from his garage sales) a week to supplement his $720 monthly disability check." Huppke got one thing right, he's "all Democrat".