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Obama's fiercest opponent in Ohio? Misinformation and Prejudice

Posted by Casey Kauffman, Al Jazeera at 1:41 PM on October 15, 2008.


Small town McCain/ Palin Ohioans reveal hate, fear and racism in the American midwest.

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As the US presidential campaign enters its final weeks, both the Republican and Democratic candidates are hitting the swing states.

But misconceptions and rumors abound and many voters have their facts about the candidates all wrong. Some believe that Democrat Barack Obama is a Muslim, for instance.

Casey Kauffman talked to some Republican supporters after a rally by Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, in Ohio.

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Tagged as: ohio, election 2008


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RACISTS
Posted by: rideyourbike11 on Oct 15, 2008 2:01 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A racist is the stupidest version of a human.

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OHIO AND THE VALUES THING
Posted by: VZEQICVA on Oct 15, 2008 2:38 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
These people voted for Bush because he had "values". Don't they know that people can have values regardless of who's in the White House. They continue to lose their jobs and houses, why would they even think about a woman they never met having an abortion? That's crazy! They should look at their own family and realize where their loyalties lie. I don't understand them. ANNA

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» RE: OHIO AND THE VALUES THING Posted by: Basenjis
» RE: OHIO AND THE VALUES THING Posted by: hiryuu75
» VALUES??? Posted by: Jest2007
» RE: VALUES??? Posted by: handygeek
Mel Brooks was right
Posted by: EncinoM on Oct 15, 2008 2:53 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
From Blazing Saddles:
Jim the Waco Kid: "What did you expect? "Welcome sonny," "Make yourself at home," "Marry my daughter." You've got to remember, that these are just simple farmers, these are people of the land, the common clay of the new west. You know . . . morons."

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Positive, Forward Focus
Posted by: Xynyx on Oct 15, 2008 4:58 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm really getting tired of this crap. Here are the answers.

The Obama campaign should be promoting the raw facts about the Obama family.

first marriage
successful, hard-working Americans
two daughters, to whom they are very clearly devoted

What the Hell do people expect of a black man... of a black family, these days? Are the Obamas not exemplary, for families of all races? Are they not, in many ways, the archetype that should be upheld?

WHAT THE HELL DO PEOPLE EXPECT FROM BLACK PEOPLE???!!! (Please pardon me if I should be using the phrase African-Americans... I just can't keep up.)

For F SAKE!!! What more could this family be or do to be better? They're already smarter, better educated, and more representative of the ideal American family than the McCains or the Palins.

Lift up these truths about the Obamas. If Americans want to elect an archetype of some sort, this is the one (given the choices available) they truly should want.

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» DANGEROUS IGNORANCE Posted by: Jest2007
» I hate to nitpick Posted by: mainspark
This is why minorities sectionalize themselves
Posted by: rhinojos on Oct 15, 2008 7:49 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Visit every state and you will notice that minorities tend to create their own neighborhoods, they do so because of fear and personal security. Examine the past of white America and you will see that I'm very much correct. Blacks were fearful of being lynched as were Mexican-Americans and Chinese.

These people make it clear that some of white America still harbors racial tendencies and hatred. What a pathetic race indeed.

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As a lifelong resident of Michigan,
Posted by: hurricane hugo on Oct 15, 2008 9:47 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can honestly say that these people are actually a bit smarter than the average Ohioan.

Seriously - you should see what the bottom 52% are like.

jdfu!

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I think my state is cursed.
Posted by: berserkr1979 on Oct 15, 2008 10:45 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As a lifelong resident of a small Ohio town, all I have to say this: that's only the tip of the iceberg. It seems like everyone I encounter in this god-forsaken place swears that Obama is a Muslim. I live in a county that I would say is 99.95% Republican. They even BOOED the County Democrats float in a parade in 2004. They are completely gullible and will believe every talking point that Fox News throws out.

I fear this state will throw another election into the red, either by challenges to the election system or by the sheer ignorance of the masses.

Be afraid...be very afraid.

PS Anyone got a couch or a spare bedroom they'd rent out to a self-employed IT professional who's sick of living in Ohio?

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» Pennsylvania is no better Posted by: socialpsych
» RE: I think my state is cursed. Posted by: mainspark
» Arkansas... Posted by: phatkhat
» RE: Arkansas... Posted by: maxpayne
» RE: In defense of Ohio. Posted by: Basenjis
margo
Posted by: jbro434 on Oct 16, 2008 1:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As a white, southern male in my mid forties, I have been exposed to those who feel that because I fit their profile, I also share their prejudices. This has included coworkers and members of my own family. I remember working in a fast food restaurant as a teenager and the corporate office told my boss to slow down on hiring too many blacks. As an adult, I took over an office for my company in Alabama and a long time administrative assistant showed me how they were able to code applications to show that the applicant was black. Her explanation:"Some blacks have normal names and you can't tell if they are white or black". Thankfully, I was in the position of authority to end that practice. My wife, who was doing a photo shoot for a paper, went to Pulaski TN, the supposed birth place of the KKK, during a rally in the late 90's. About 70% of the cars were from Ohio and Indiana. You think I would not be shocked by what I have seen so many times. The truth is that I am. I am also sad. Sometimes, I am hopeful. Good for that young man in the video who had the courage to speak out and shame on those who keep fanning the flames.

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» RE: margo Posted by: phatkhat
It Doesn't Surprise Me!!!
Posted by: lively56 on Oct 16, 2008 3:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm sorry to say I grew up in Ohio in the 50's and 60's. I grew up in an Amish community near Ashland. I broke away from that bondage at the age of 19. I'm sorry to say that it appears that the intellegence level for Ohio has actually declined since then, if that is possible. Evidently the only TV station they're able to pick up is fixed noise. All the talking points I've heard so far, have all been manufactured at fixed noise. I visited Ohio a couple of times within the past 40 years, but I have to admit, I can't tolerate more than a day or two before I have to get out of there again. I have to tell you, ignorant pieces of shit scare the hell out of me sometimes. I'm ashamed for my Black Brothers and Sisters that they still to this day, have to hear vile and disgusting shit being spewed by those ignorant imbeciles.

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» RE: It Doesn't Surprise Me!!! Posted by: rosarugosa
» Fitting In Posted by: ProgressiveManiac
How sad is a cloistered citizen
Posted by: solitarysherlockian on Oct 16, 2008 5:04 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Apparently cloistered from the world beyond their towns--unaware of the rest of the world, how sad it is to see this parade of cloistered Americans who vote with their bias and bigotry--not their minds. Another example of why, education is vital to an educated electorate.

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I don't think it's gonna be that bad in the end.
Posted by: maxpayne on Oct 16, 2008 5:51 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sure, the racists exist but these are times when the "conservative" ideology is dwindling just like peak oil. Small town America will have to come to grips with itself regardless. The way these desperate foam-at-the-mouth Republicans act is no different from people getting worried about Roe v Wade being overturned. There are too many silly worries on both sides when in fact we should shut the culture war mania down and focus on economic and even foreign policy issues that are actually affecting us all big time. Haven't you people had enough of the culture war shit for the past 16 years?

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200,000 new voter registrations & early votes
Posted by: helenahanbasquet on Oct 16, 2008 6:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are under scrutiny in Ohio. The GOP is desperately trying to have these discounted. I would like to see a story on this on Alternet. How about it?

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Many thanks to our younger generation
Posted by: reinaldok on Oct 16, 2008 8:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I truly believe that Obama's realistic hope lies in the fact that the college age groups will vote and will certainly back him all the way to the White House. Disgraceful racism is not a regional event. I have traveled quite extensively in the last few months and I got the same awful bigotted comments in Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado and Florida. I was actually mildly assaulted in in a supposedly "liberal" community by a typical "Joe Six-Pack" who was incensed that I wore a Obama pin. He physically ripped it off my shirt, with the very typical comment: "Don't you know that that Nxxxxx is a Moslem terrorist. Get the hell out of here." (BTW the imbecil is a distant family member)

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Ignorfant Hateful Hicks, And Rightwing Religious Wingnuts
Posted by: hadashito on Oct 16, 2008 11:17 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Did you note how many of these small town yokels invoked the word "Christian" and others identified Obama as - - well, you saw it - - without the slightest doubt ? Deluded beliefs from fact-free voters.
I lived in Northeast Ohio for 35 years and am not the least surprised to hear such haterful drivel from people who live in a town in eastern Ohio. But I warn you that it's MUCH WORSE in areas around Akron and ALL of Ohio south of Akron except for the college towns and the large Amish community southeast of Akron.
Fundamentalist "Christian" mega-church mountebanks rule Ohio. The many evangelist mega-church shysters in the Akron area (ever hear of Earnest Angely ? A real doozy of a very rich preacher, originally from W Va with a thick accent to show for it ) and Rod Parsely, McCain's (former) howling madman in Columbus, are only the tip of the iceberg of a loony right wing religious phenomenon in Ohio. With only three major cities but hundreds of small rural and semi-rural towns, the population of that state consists of a very large percentage ill-educated, gullible, easily controlled, and wrongheaded cretins - - as this video demonstrates.

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Obama descends from slave-owning Southern gentry
Posted by: Garvagh on Oct 16, 2008 12:16 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The idiot woman afraid the "blacks" were about to take over the US seems not to know that Obama descends from slave-owning white gentry.

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I'm in Ohio
Posted by: kittybrat on Oct 16, 2008 1:48 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As an Ohioan, I am amazed that the rhetoric and talking points against Obama have sunk in deeply, rather than the truth that the GOP is going to continue to rape and pillage us.

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IT'S UP TO YOU, WHITE BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Posted by: deapp on Oct 17, 2008 10:50 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Some say that it's up to Blacks to change their own "HOOD". And I believe that to be true. Likewise, I believe it's up to Whites to Demand change from old twisted ideas, sick prejudices and anti Black racism that infest the dark enclaves of their "HOOD".
Obama was not exposed to the everyday barrage of Hate through the various media brain washers in our nation. He was shielded from it, other than the occasional racist reaction of a Grandmother whom he love dearly to this day but was able to label her ill as an ILL without disowning her.
"Wiiiiiiiiii!, I dare he throw his own Grandmother under the bus", raged the racist baiting pundits of the Hate radio circus. But I realized, that so many of these hateful racist people are the Grand Mothers and Fathers, Uncles and Aunts, Sisters and Brothers, Mothers and Fathers of rational minded White people who want change but do not want to hurt Papa/Nana. It's time to say...ENOUGH!!!!
Then gather like-spirits and make an effort to teach the teachable that integration was not a failure. That you can vote for a Black/White man because of his/her ideological substance and how they can cross all racial/cultural boundaries. That you can vote for a man who will challenge and exorcise the racist demons in America. And we will see less of the hate mongering crowds like those at McCain/Palin rallies. They will be less represented and they will perish. Their heads will SPIN and spew green vile vomit but in the end, America, YOU WIN.

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MY OBAMA SIGN WAS TORN UP AND PILED AUSPICOUSLY IN THE CENTER OF MY DRIVEWAY.
Posted by: Raymond Emerson on Oct 20, 2008 5:36 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I just received a replacement a week later. The county democratic chair asked that we not distribute their address. After all the Arkansas state chair was gunned down in his office. A neighboring town had all of its daily papers wrapped in KKK wrappers for one edition. Nobody has been caught. Perhaps the better way to phrase it is that nobody has been sought.

THIS IS WHAT MCCAIN STANDS FOR.

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IF THE GOP IS PLANNING TO HACK THE MACHINES
Posted by: cori on Oct 20, 2008 9:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
OBAMA SHOULD HIRE HIS OWN HACKERS TO TAKE BACK THE VOTES THAT ARE LOST. THIS IS A FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES. WHEN IN ROME.

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