You can say whatever you think, or believe, or want to think or believe, about the importance of Clinton's whiteness, Obama's blackness. and Edward's southern whiteness. As the primaries move south of the Mason Dixon line, race has become the only issue of importance.
Why do I say this? Because of this new polling data:
QUESTION: If the 2008 South Carolina Democratic primary were held today, which one of the following candidates would get your vote:
| White | Black | |
| Obama | 10% | 59% |
| Clinton | 36% | 25% |
| Edwards | 40% | 4% |
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You may be asking yourself the same question, especially if, like me, you vote on Tuesday, March 1st.
For some of us, a related question is which of the two is likely to win the nomination.
If one of the two is highly likely to win the nomination, then it may be smart to vote for that candidate…
The map to the left shows the counties which voted for Obama (blue) and McCain (red) in the 2008 election. The blue counties are part of the Black Belt, the area where blacks are a majority of the population because of the economic concentration of cotton culture during the 19th and 20th centuries…
After the New Hampshire primary, I wrote:
The most surprising thing is that, looking at the exit polls for Iowa and NH, it really seems that Clinton and Edwards were competing for the same electorate. The storyline was that Edwards and Obama were duking it out for the "change" vote. Not so much…
Was checking out the exit poll data. Two things that jumped out at me....
Here are the votes for Obama from non-blacks in the South Carolina primary by age:
18-29 - 52%
30-44 - 25%
45-59 - 23%
60+ - 15%
Here are the votes by income for Edwards:
Under $15,000 - 14%
$15,000-$30,000 - 15%
$30,000-$50…
You should have seen Edwards southern whiteness on display today on the Tyra Banks show: she asked him if he carries a wallet, he said no; she asked if he had money in his pocket-yes. She took the money and he said "your gonna give it back right?" silence from the audience; she stuck the money in her shoe--a spiked heel. He didn't have a clue what to say! I imagine he was running all of the culture studies scripts about evil white men as panderers to black servants through his head, and came up with zero's for a response. I wonder if that move was scrip0ted on her part, or just play, of the but it looked like a setup to get him to say something racy--either way, a lose lose for John, the 'evil white man'....
And what about Billary playing the race card, and the "boy" card? All the die hard lefties are silent about that--a white woman essentially calling Obama a boy, over and over, in very creative ways...Apparently it is ok if the racists using ages old tactics of demeaning a person and that persons race are white women. As usual the feministas are silent on that one--bunch of pseudo left wingers that they are.
The whole dog and pony show looks like the Bill is theGood ol' Massah, and all those happy field folk are just thrilled with his attention, and his lovely Southern Belle of a ballbuster is the heroine , the great abolitioniss' uplifter teh' black folks.
Frankly, I'm very worried about this. Obama is a nice guy. I wouldn't mid seeing him sworn in as president. I wouldn't mind Hillary being sworn in as president, either, except that, because of the way the "Rethuglicans" went after her husband during his presidency, and the way she "related" to him and to the rest of the world, she carries "baggage". She also carries "baggage" because she is so closely tied to certain "centrist" Democrats whose only goal is to get a Democrat into the Whiteh House, even if they sound like "Republican lite". This "baggage" is going to make it hard for her to get herself elected if she actually becomes the front-runner for the Democrats. And if this happens, I fear that the Democrats will lose again and we'll end up with somebody like Huckabee or McCain. The latter man is just Bush "lite". Ugh.
Anne G
As a very definite outsider, I shouldn't care less, but I do, because America's next president will inevitably have a very definite effect on my life, even though I'm half a world away from him/her on a small, uninvolved island. That's about as far as you can get from that baleful presence.
I read, almost every day, reports on the shenanigans of the various candidates, which are interesting, but I don't believe any single one of them can do the necessary things for America that will:
- Reverse the rest of the world's perception that America is now a wholly irresponsible bully interested only in its (or a very definite, exclusive part of its) interests.
- Stop making endless wars against everyone they don't like.
- Make Americans themselves once again as free as they used to be, and think they still are.
- Get a universal healthcare system going, which will help individual Americans survive their stupid lack of forethought in forgetting to pay their insurance, just as is taken for granted in Europe
....etc.....etc
I forgot to mention that the USA and EU are promoting a small, unknown war just fifty miles from me, against 'international terrorists', that has turned a relatively large number of families into homeless refugees.
Richard, you must tell us more.
The 'usual leftist suspects' in the Philippines formed the New People's Army in 1969.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_People's_Army
It tried to act out the Robin Hood myth, but not without its own internal problems.
37 years later, it is still operating, mostly in mountainous, undeveloped areas, with the express intention of at least hindering opencast mining and forest clearance for timber and agribusiness. It was recently designated an 'international terrorist' organisation, by the US and EU.
Certain small islands near me, in Siargao Island, Mindanao, lost their forests long ago; now they are being strip-mined for nickel ore which is shipped directly to Japan and China for processing. Some parts of them are bald, dusty deserts. The inhabitants of the islands gain absolutely nothing from the value added to the ore (in Japan and China), and frequently lose their homes and livelihoods without compensation.
When your very land is exported wholesale, and you get nothing, you tend to get a bit upset.
The NPA operates on the Mindanao 'mainland', about 50 miles away from me. The Government army controls the coastal strip, but regularly uses helicopter gunships and rockets to strafe the forested hinterland. This activity is subsidised by the US and EU, as it is officially against 'international terrorists', which is rubbish.
The innocents who live there are also affected, to the point that they become refugees. Last year I met some Mamanwa, a negrito people who were the first settlers in the Philippines some 40kya. They were pushed out of the forest by this 'low-intensity' war. My own helper, part-Manobo, was made a refugee some 20 years ago, from a different part of the mainland.
The 'anti-terrorist war' is really traditional tribal land owner clearance under another guise.
I've met some NPA member/sympathisers, and wholly support their aims, if not their methods. (They will keep on blowing up electricity pylons, which is a damned nuisance when you're at the end of the supply line). But electricity pylons imply forest clearance in straight lines, and access roads for later mining and pineapple/asparagus plantations.
Asparagus? There are vast plantations in S Mindanao, all going into those cheap cans you buy in the US. The plantation workers are paid a $1 a day, with the right to build a hut at the edge of the plantation fields.
There's another similar war happening in the Sulu Islands, but they're Muslims, so that must be OK. US soldiers are 'advising' down there, in the very same places where Black Jack Pershing fought a brutal war a century ago, but didn't 'win'.
To save your space, I won't detail the very obvious 'false flag' bombings in Mindanao cities that are publicly blamed on these 'terrorists'.
Be careful, Richard--America just hates to hear about our CIA/Mossad covert "false flag" bombings.....did you say "fifty miles or so from....."?
Be careful, those NSA geeks at IP 12. 122.**.** are listening every minute ;-)