Saturday, October 18, 2008

 

Race Relations


FiveThirtyEight.com has a telling story about America in the 21st century:

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."
The incident occured in Congressman John Murtha's western Pennsylvania district, not exactly easy country for Obama. As Sean Quinn says:

In this economy, racism is officially a luxury. How is John McCain going to win if he can't win those voters?

Comments:
An, admittedly unscientific, poll at my place of employment asked voters who had given the better performances in the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Given that this is a financial institution, which should lean towards the Republicans as the self-proclaimed party of fiscal prudence, and that people tend to see what they want to see, I would have expected the results to favor McCain.

In fact, 47% thought Obama/Biden did better, only 19% voted for McCain/Palin, 6% thought it was a tie and the remainder hadn't watched the debates at all.

If McCain can't even persuade moderate conservatives, whom you would expect to be at least sympathetic, what chance has he?
 
A sudden increase of fundamentalist Christianity to 51% of the population, perhaps?
 
[Looks around nervously]

Don't say that! Not even in jest!
 
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