The Ascendancy of Barack Obama in Small Town America
UPDATE, 1-30-08: Exposing Racism: A Worthwhile Thing To Do
For those of you wondering how the Obama ascendancy is playing out in Small Town America, I offer you this column from the Independent, a weekly newspaper published on the East End of Long Island by Jerry Della Femina, the former advertising executive turned restaurateur and columnist. This particular piece was written by Rick Murphy under his weekly "Low Tidings" column. Murphy is also credited as a publisher of the Independent.
This article has caused quite a stir in East Hampton and beyond. So much so that the paper has pulled it from their website and Murphy, a regular antagonist of the Democratic Party, both locally and nationally, and the Clintons in particular, has replaced it with a brief apology. The Independent is considered the more right-leaning and Republican-endorsing paper of the East End community. Della Femina himself is regarded as one of the great Hillary-Haters in all of the world.
On the heels of Barack Obama being endorsed for the presidency by the normally close-to-the-vest Caroline Kennedy, whose invocation of her father's enduring legacy carries, in some people's hearts and minds, more weight than any ten such endorsements by others, please read what the local Republicans in my home town are thinking, and publishing, about Senator Obama. This is, quite clearly, not to be believed.
Article shots from Hamptons Plum
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And the people of East Hampton call this creep,
"Neighbor?"
Murphy may want to skip dinning out for sometime
as I believe his soup, coffee and food choices
just may have a dose of "personal seasoning" being
added to his menu choices.
Not only is he an ignorant racist but he is truly STUPID!
And Black rethuglicans wonder why there Black Card is revoked once they join the racists.
Any questions.
Sounds like it was written by Bill, himself, or James Carville.
How does the old saying go? -- When you have nothing left, attack the person.
The Clintons are really proving themselves to be the dirtbags the Republicans have always said they were -- they sure know their own kind when they see them! I know the newspaper article was written by a Republican, but the tone is ominously reminiscent of Bill's antics in NH & SC.
Alec Baldwin, congratulations, I watched your "Nuremberg" on video last week. It's a very good movie staring you as war crimes prosecutor Robert Jackson. It was well done, compelling drama, and relevant to today. I must say, though, it was biased, it was the American point of view of World War II. (I am a Slav.)
Are you sure the newspaper piece isn't bad satire? No pro confesses to bad writing.
without question everyone should end subscriptions, purchase of this paper and not dine at any Della Femina establishment. This is not a mistake, this is not an oversight. This is what racists think is acceptable.
Alec,
You only need to look at the posts made here by Hillary supporters. It's not that far.
The Hamptons is not small town America. It is the ancestral homeland of the WASP and the Wannabee tribes. One of those places where no amount of education, money or power will ever truly get you to be seen as one of them.
Nice to know that Ivy League educations and money do not a Renaissance Man make. It looks like something I would expect to have seen in Mississippi 30 years ago.
I'm voting for Obama.


It's time to end this white domination complex once and for all.


He's an exceptional candidate and frankly I dont see any reason not to vote for Obama Barak.


As a white American I feel its my duty to help heal the division thats ripping my country apart.
I hardly consider East Hampton to be representative of small town America. You can't be serious.
For all you Hillary fans who sympathize with Obama, but..., you should read the previous column about Hillary in Della Femina's rag. It is vile anti-gay, anti-lesbian, mysogonist dreck. There is also a crude cartoon of Oprah Winfry saying "...Oprah no dummy! That Obama makes my va-jah-jah all tingly."
http://www
YOU CAN SEND A LETTER TO THE ED TO THE INDEPENDENT'S COMPETITION, AND MUCH MORE WIDELY READ, THE EAST HAMPTON STAR: LETTERS@EA
Sadly, having money does not guarantee you intelligence. This line of illogic is pervasive though. I realized that with a shocking racist retort that flew out of a co-worker's mouth the other day. Our director and I had engaged in political debate discussing hot topics such as abortion and the Iraqi War. She mis-heard us and came out ranting about never voting for that "N***er" for President. Words escaped both he and I as we sat there with our mouths agape. All of us are card carrying members of AARP and working for the Homeless Coalition, so to hear such a meek woman speak this way caught he and I dumbfounded. She apologized for using that terminology, but stated that it's how she grew up in Pennsylvania and she would not ever see one of them in the White House.
If we are to change the direction of this country, then we must arrive in great numbers to vote so on election day. The status quo can only remain so IF we become complacent. And bigots can only breed their hatred if we do nothing to alter the course of politics as usual.
Want the truth? GO HERE....
http://www
Obama Knows His Way Around A BallotSome say his ability to play political hardball goes back to his first campaign
By David Jackson and Ray Long | Tribune staff reporters6:48 PM CDT, April 3, 2007
The day after New Year's 1996, operatives for Barack Obama filed into a barren hearing room of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
There they began the tedious process of challenging hundreds of signatures on the nominating petitions of state Sen. Alice Palmer, the longtime progressive activist from the city's South Side. And they kept challenging petitions until every one of Obama's four Democratic primary rivals was forced off the ballot.
ABC, all the way, brother!
I for one am sick of hearing about small-town America. Our political system that skews to small, rural states, and allows unrepresentative states to winnow down our choice has to be changed. America is no longer an agricultural country. Most people live in a metropolitan one, either urban or a suburban, not exurban or rural.
I don't need the voters of Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina "winnowing" down my choices for me. I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself and so are the hundreds of millions of other Americans who live in metropolitan areas. It's time for the candidates to campaign at the Sunset Junction street fair in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles or the Mermaid Day Parade in Coney Island, New York City. I could care less how they do at the Annual Podunk County Pancake flip or Dicksville Crotch Tea Social.
We've got to end this nonsense and end it for good. At least D.C. should have gone in the first round to have a purely urban contest at the beginning.
It's really mind-boggling. I had strange experience today. I was travelling with a co-worker, an artist, and a relatively young man, and I had NPR news playing in my car. He blurted out "I think I'm gonna vote for McCain. He seems like the guy."
I didn't think anyone I knew was still clinging to the republican bullshit. I didn't even know what to say.
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