NYT: In Old Coal Towns, Party Labels Faded (Seelye leads w/ Bush voters)

[DeepModem Mom]

THE VOTERS
In an Old Coal Town, the Old Party Labels Are Faded
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: September 6, 2004


NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio, Sept. 3 - Sharon Alfman, the cook at the little County Seat Diner here, might seem to be a likely John Kerry supporter. She has voted Democratic most of her life. She has no health insurance through the diner, and her husband's insurance ran out after he was on disability for more than a year. But she already knows that she is going to vote for President Bush.

Mrs. Alfman, 51, said that if the Democrats could do anything about health insurance, they would have done it under Bill Clinton. Now, she said, the Democrats have "burned themselves out." And like several other people here in this gritty patch of southeastern Ohio, she has already tuned Mr. Kerry out. A Kerry commercial, in which he says his economic plan would provide "good wages and good benefits," came on the overhead television by the kitchen, and no one seemed to notice.

"Kerry doesn't know what the working-class people do; he hasn't done any physical labor all his life," said Mrs. Alfman, who gets up at 4 a.m. to start her job. "Bush's values are middle-class family values."

As the presidential campaign picks up after the Republican National Convention, with Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry rotating in and out of Ohio, polls show the race in a dead heat in the state. And for many voters in a state that has lost 250,000 jobs since Mr. Bush became president, the economy remains the central issue.

But interviews here in the foothills of the Appalachians show that economic distress does not necessarily mean a vote for the Democrats....

(Seelye recounts the stories of three Ohioans who are voting for Bush despite the economy -- citing taxes, individual responsibility for one's economic well-being, and the flip-flop issue -- before she highlights three others who are voting for Kerry, based on both Iraq and the economy. One mother went from Kerry to undecided based on doubts about Kerry's military record, but said that if her son in the Air Force were sent to Iraq, then she would vote for Kerry!)


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/06/politics/campaign/06voices.html

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. This is such Bull%&#!!!

:wtf:???

So Bush has done "physical labor"??? :wtf:???

:puke:

[DeepModem Mom]

3. The brush clearing? Yeah, couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that one --

n/t

[JaySherman]

2. People are going to get what they deserve.

Hate to sound cold, but I'll have a hard time feeling sorry for people like this if * gets 4 more years. They'll have dug their own grave in more ways than one.

[rfkrocks]

4. the koolaid is working

the values which will destroy the middle class are in play under Shrub-hope Mrs Alfman doesn't need social security either-America is quickly falling to third world country status-large government debt and large military and service jobs (pass the McFries) aplenty-yikes thanks for the post but it seems there are many peeple in theis country just begging for a new depression

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

5. "I always wanted to have enough money to be a Republican,..."

reading the article theres this:

"I always wanted to have enough money to be a Republican, and I almost made it under Clinton," said Joe Ogden, 59, who sells insurance and real estate and is an auctioneer. "Then George got in and it all went to hell."

Mr. Ogden said that he had no problem with going to war in Afghanistan but that Mr. Bush had no business in Iraq. "He's not worrying enough about the economy here at home," he said.

Folks, this IS the message Kerry needs to be sending out...country-simple....

Mr. Ogden said that he had no problem with going to war in Afghanistan but that Mr. Bush had no business in Iraq. "He's not worrying enough about the economy here at home," he said.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Mr. Ogden said it in a nutshell, didn't he? Thanks for highlighting that.

nt

[DBoon]

7. individual responsibilty?

So these people believe they are failures for not having well paying jobs with health insurance? And they they deserve this? And that they deserve more of the same, which is why they will vote for Bush?