Appalachia Only Part Of Country Where McCain Did Better Than Bush

Matthew Yglesias points out an interesting New York Times map on the one part of the country where John McCain did significantly better than George W. Bush -- Appalachia.

As Ygleias writes:

You can see why John McCain's principled stand against higher taxes on the wealthy would have a special resonance in this region. Liberals who thought race had something to do with those appeals should be ashamed of themselves.

Comments

[amariek2]

First of all, only 22% of the counties that voted more Republican were in Appalachia. And the last time I checked, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas definitely are not part of Appalachia, although Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and southern New York definitely are. These political "pundits" really need to find more worthwhile stories to report and to really examine the data, rather than make misleading observations that play on divisive stereotypes.

Here's an article from the Atlantic that reported on "Rednecks for Obama".
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811u/appalachia-obama

My favorite section from the article:

"We found no shortage of people"traditionally educated or not"who were shocked to see neighbors voting against their own interests. "Obama"s for people like us," was one of the refrains we came across most frequently, often followed by expressions of incredulity aimed at those folks that "ain"t got two nickles [sic] to rub together" yet had McCain-Palin signs in their yards. An old man told us he was voting for Obama because "we can"t take four more years of stupid." A no-nonsense woman described McCain as having "one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel."

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811u/appalachia-obama

[Kcamp1027]

Maybe race nor socioeconomics were the dominant factors. Folks in Appalchia are fiercely patriotic. They are very pro-American. Perhaps the region voted overwhelmingly for McCain in support of his war hero, veteran status, military experience when considering the next commander in chief, in addition to his views on Iraq and Afghanistan.

[mporter0010]

(Continued from previous post)

McCain won the Appalchian area directly because of Obamas comments about coal. Nothing more, nothing less! It was not about racisim, it was about our homes, our jobs, and our future. People are very family oriented here in the Appalachian and when our families are threatened with greater hardships than we currently have, we act! Our action during this election was a direct response to our livelihoods. Just as ltussey01 said below, when you bankrupt one, you bankrupt them all. People must understand that these sectors that would be bankrupted are all we have (as a majority) in the Appalachia area! Why would one want this to happen to ourselves, our families, and our friends? That would be like McCain saying that he is going to cut Wallstreets governmental ties. Would that fly? Millions of people would be affected negatively and therefore that district would not vote for him. It's the same principle folks. Get your heads out of your butts and your noses out of the air and pay more attention to the sociological affects that actions cause.

[mporter0010]

1st off, if you are not from the Appalachia area or have close ties to it, I'm not real sure you have the right nor knowledge to pick it apart and try to be a(n) Appalachian area scholar. This is ignorant, arrogant, and complete and utter disgust. Growing up in the Appalachian area, I have seen MANY, MANY cases of racisim and unequality. Does this make Appalachia bad? NO! It makes it as normal as any other "area" in the world. France, for example, as an egalitarian form of social class (when people are not judged by their race or sex rather everyone is "equal") but has little participation from minority groups. Interracial dating is looked down upon as a disguisting and "un-french like" trait to exercise. Does this make them stupid or inbreed? Not at all! They have a working form of Government and are a prominent state in the world political regime who helped form the United States and made it possible to win the revolutionary war! Racisim and inequality is everywhere, including this page! Read these blog posts under this one and tell me that there is NOT inequality on it! You people from outside Appalachia who judge us by what you think you know (what you have been tought by your parents and others) when you know NOTHING but ignorance! You people are no better than those "inbreed hollar dwellers" or, and I quote, "inbreed freds".

[JHANSHAW0003]

ignorance is what is was it is! I living in the appalachia area and i love it ! and you will get racist people anywhere of the county!

[tussey1]

As I read through some of the comments posted on this board I am amazed at the ignorance of some of my fellow progressives. I think some of you are a bit too quick to disparage Appalachia and broad brush us all as a bunch of inbred, racist hicks.
This might come as a shock to some of you, but we DO have blacks in Appalachia. We work with them every day; they are our friends, neighbors, and, in some cases, family members and parents of our children and grandchildren. It would be inaccurate to say that there is NO bigotry here, but you tell me a place in this nation where no bigotry exists. It is all too easy to sit back and cluck your tongues about the "hicks" because it makes you feel better about yourselves, but you are really no different than any of us, and (after reading some of the disparaging commentary) certainly no better educated.
Obama's poor showing here had as much to do with his misquoted remarks about bankrupting the coal industry as it did with his race--and perhaps even more. The people here have FELT the pinch of Republican fiscal ineptitude for the last eight years, and, correct or not, Obama's words were presented in such a way that they were viewed as a threat to voter's livelihood--their employment. (continued below)

[georgietwodogs]

Appalachia is a region of the country where the difference between the haves and have not's is extreme. There is a great deal of racism in this area as well. The wealthy and powerful have kept poor people divided against each other for generations, black against white, poor against poorer. Ignorance and hatred are handed down from one generation to the next as well.

The religious right helps keep people ignorant and in poverty, and plays poor people against each other, the education system is fixed against the people most in need of education. The idea that people living in shacks without indoor plumbing are voting to keep down taxes on the rich is mind boggling. They are just poorly educated not terribly bright people who have been manipulated by their churches to vote against their own interests.

Of course it was racism. The people in charge have been using racism to divide the poor against each other for hundreds of years. It's always worked, and it keeps working.

[tussey1]

I disagree--Obama's poor showing in Appalachia was due more to the fact that his commentary regarding the mining indistry was distorted and less to do with the "inherent racism" of Appalachians.

There are myriad forms of employment dependent upon mining jobs--from bargeworkers to the local trucking industry. When you "bankrupt" one, you bankrupt them all. It came down to choosing the lesser of two injuries, one which causes less disposable income and the other which results in NO income at all.

Though Obama's position was distorted, whose fault was it that the truth did not get out to the public? There was no media blitz from the Obama campaign seeking to set the record straight because nobody wanted to "waste" the money on a demographic that traditionally voted red, anyway. Couple that with commentary from people like Democratic Senator Bill Vasey (Wyoming) who stated: "I am shocked that any candidate for public office, Democrat or Republican, would suggest bankrupting any industry, much less one that literally keeps America's lights on each day," and we have a recipe for misinformation and a poorly-informed populace. Oh--and we cannot forget the press release issued by The National Mining Association: "Bankrupting the coal industry would be tantamount to bankrupting the American economy."

(http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/11/the_last_minute_obama-mccain_c.html).

Before you consign all Appalachians to the eighth ring of Dante's Hell, you might want to consider the socioeconomics of the issue.

[AbbieHoffman2]

Republican's new base = Inbred Fred and his cousins.

[beringer37]

don't forget No Show Joe.

[RWilson]

II am a genealogist who takes serious offense to your comment that Appalachia is the equivalent to us all being inbred. How many census records or family bibles have you researched since the settlement of our great nation? Do you know where you come from? I would love to research your lineage only to find that after making your comment that your great great something was from here and then you too would be apart of a region you claim to be the equivalent of inbreeding and small minded thinking. AS I can see from your email I don"t think I would have to search very far.

[gra8whit]

Nope. I fail to see where McCain's principled stance on protecting the rich appealed to these counties. It looks to me that he did better because these rural, predominantly white counties were just the areas were you'd find people most frightened at the prospect of a Black president. They've been such good serfs going all the way back to Renaissance.

[realpolitic]

Good, the Republicans can have Appalachia.

[Bettysdad]

Obama won in the areas with indoor plumbing.

[joceeco]

Now that's funny Betty! I can't stop LOL.

[proud to be a hillbilly]

Hate to be the one to tell you, but your ignorance is showing. The areas that Obama lost were his own fault. He lost most of Appalachia because he must of let himself listen the ignorance of people like yourself.

[OutsiderSA]

Anyone with a link to the blue map here on huffpo?

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president

Or go to the archives at the bottom of this page and click on Nov. 06.

[lunchlady]

McCain got the cracker vote! Yeah! Or maybe the Wasilla Hillbillies are the ones who earned their votes.

[1will]

When you trash the biggest industry in the area and basicaly promise higher unemployment it can cost you votes. Obama's coal comments were not popular.

[IntelligenceIsBliss]

Yes, I see. Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas are well-known for their coal-mining industries. Not to mention Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. Big Coal must have gotten to them there, too.

[popizzy]

When you cherry pick words and then put them together the way you want it equates to your comment

[plooger]

And wouldn't Arkansas and Oklahoma be in the Ozarks, rather than Appalachia?

[1will]

This is the Huffpost. Rhetoric trumps truth or accuracy.

[Bettysdad]

Yeah.

You're so inaccurate you miss the toilet.

[sparkandy]

Thank you. Not that I object to the Applachians, but having lived in OK all my life, I've never been there, I HAVE been to the Ozarks many times, since they're a hop, skip and a jump. Maybe the Huffington Post people think all mountains in the southern part of the country are just one big geographical feature? Makes you wonder......