Are Democrats Who Don't Subscribe to the Ethos of West Virginia "Elitists"?

[Midwest_Doc]

According to Clinton, West Virginia reflects the changing mood of the nation.

[TwilightGardener]

1. The mood of the nation is trending away from indoor plumbing and dental care?

[k8conant]

5. Come off it---we have both. Where the hell do you live that you don't know

anything about my adopted state of West Virginia? I have lived here for 25 years and think the only thing wrong with West Virginians is they've support the likes of GWB and HRC.

[TwilightGardener]

8. I'm from Pittsburgh. My grandmother grew up near Weirton. My husband's

family is from WV. I will mock WV till the day I die.

[MyNameGoesHere]

23. Well just because you have family here i guess it makes it okey dokey.

NOT! You are the people that a lot of West Virginians vote against. So keep on mocking until the day you die. And Give me some of that hope, unity, and change that seems to be emanating from your very soul.

[TwilightGardener]

27. Eh, go eat some ramps.

[MyNameGoesHere]

43. I prefer leeks. And the leek festival is nicer. n/t

[MountainLaurel]

35. Listen Mr. Pennsyltucky

You have no room to mock WV. :evilgrin:

[TwilightGardener]

40. That's MRS. Pennsyltucky to you!

And PA is always grateful to have WV to kick around. It boosts our self-esteem ("Hey, at least we're not as shitty as West Virginia!").

[MountainLaurel]

46. And WV has Mississippi and Arkansas

It all works out that way.

:hi:

[TomClash]

44. So why do you think that Barack did so poorly?

It is an honest question - not a criticism. I'd really like to know from someone who lives there. I've only been to Cheet Lake and the surrounding area once many years ago for some canoeing, hunting and fishing.

[Boz]

11. She meant centrist republicrats

[TwilightGardener]

13. Ohhh...

:D

[boobooday]

2. That makes me queasy, to think about it Clinton's way.

On the other hand, as was pointed out in another thread, Obama received more votes in WV than McCain, so perhaps it does reflect the "changing mood!"

Now I feel better.

[Occam Bandage]

3. If you aren't poor, white, rural, and old, you aren't a real American.

You also aren't likely to vote Democratic anyway, but it's interesting how that demographic has become the apparent "base" of the Democratic party.

[k8conant]

6. I'm poor, white, rural, old, educated, female

[Occam Bandage]

7. Congratulations on being a real American--though you might want to burn your degree. I forgot

to add "uneducated."

[ieoeja]

38. Actually, they SHOULD be our base.

Country - dirty, poor, libertarian, independant
Suburbs - clean, rich, authoritarian, Republican
Cities - dirty, poor, tolerant, Democratic


Grew up on a farm.

Spent 4 years in college with a bunch of rich, white, Republican kids demeaning me.

Spent 2 years in Chicago suburbs bunch of rich, white Republicans insulting me.

Spent 21 years in Chicago itself where it turns out Hillbilly is just one more ethnic group. And as one that almost speaks English, more welcome than most!


I have never understood this Rural/Republican marriage. The powers that be in the Republican Party *hate* country folk. Did noone pay attention as they chanted, "at last the Hillbillies are gone," as the Clintons left the White House in 2001? The first 6 years I spent off the farm, I spent immersed in Republican regions and was treated like absolute dirt because of my accent, my clothes, my car, my walk (yes, country folk walk "funny"; people who try walking gracefully in the country can expect to fall down a lot), etc.

Even today in Chicago the only people I know who routinely dis country folk are Republicans.

[TomClash]

45. That makes me, uh, French, I think nt

[ClassWarrior]

4. Are Dems who don't act like Rape-Publicans "elitists?"

A difference without much distinction.

NGU.

[splat]

9. If you use words like "Ethos," we already know the answer

[Starbucks Anarchist]

17. We should replace it with "Git 'r' Done."

:eyes:

[Taxmyth]

10. I'm disgusted

Obama supporters have hit a new low in criticizing Americans living in West Virginia. Americans. The Democratic Party is no more.

[Occam Bandage]

12. "The Democratic Party is no more."

I hear Hillary is starting the Dixiecrats back up. It'll be a safe place for working America. You know, White America.

[splat]

15. 71% of women in WV voted for Clinton -- is that 'racist'?

[Occam Bandage]

18. 4/5 of voters who claimed race was an issue voted for Clinton -- is that racist?

[splat]

24. But so few claimed race was an issue, it's a single-digit percentage

[ClassWarrior]

30. Seriously? Please cite a link. If true, that'll be good to know.

NGU.

[Occam Bandage]

33. It was 22%. Check it out for yourself (page 4)

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/#WVDEM

[Occam Bandage]

31. Single-digit? 22% said race was important. That's nearly a quarter who are admitting to racism.

[Zodiak]

49. No, it was 20% of the total

Not single-digits, but not a majority, either.

[Taxmyth]

20. Liberal Party

should be making a comeback soon and will be just as irrelevant as ever. That's what the decision is going to come down to when it gets to the Convention. Just WHO makes up the base of the Democratic Party and WHO can retain that base.

[ClassWarrior]

14. You're surprised that DUers criticize Rape-Publican values? Values?

Not the people. Their values. That's what "ethos" means.

NGU.

[MonkeyFunk]

21. Yup

they hate working-class voters, too.

It's sad.

[Occam Bandage]

36. Don't tell me you're using "working class" as a synonym for "white," too.

[ekwhite]

32. Oh yes, because only Obama supporters make West Virginia jokes

Making jokes about West Virginia may be wrong, but it common in bordering states like Pennsylvania and Maryland. If I had a dollar for every West Virginia joke I heard in the Poconos in the 90's, I'd be a millionaire.

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. They are...just as the Clinton people hit a new low by suggesting that students

were know-nothing and inexperienced fools, and that people who live and work in cities are effete snobs with no connection to common problems.

It is a problem all around, and a desperate and sickening problem.

[gabby garcia]

47. you keep saying this.

don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

[Tom Rinaldo]

16. No. But Democrats who heep scorn on the people of West Virginia are. n/t

[ClassWarrior]

19. Interesting. "Ethos" doesn't mean "people." Yet this talking point keeps popping up.

NGU.

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. Then clearer definitions are in order., in order to pass judgment. n/t

[ClassWarrior]

41. They look pretty clear to me...

e·thos / ee-thos, ee-thohs, eth-os, -ohs

–noun
1. Sociology. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period: In the Greek ethos the individual was highly valued.
2. the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.
3. the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethos

peo·ple /ˈpipəl / noun, plural -ples for 4, verb, -pled, -pling.

–noun
1. persons indefinitely or collectively; persons in general: to find it easy to talk to people; What will people think?
2. persons, whether men, women, or children, considered as numerable individuals forming a group: Twenty people volunteered to help.
3. human beings, as distinguished from animals or other beings.
4. the entire body of persons who constitute a community, tribe, nation, or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, religion, or the like: the people of Australia; the Jewish people.
5. the persons of any particular group, company, or number (sometimes used in combination): the people of a parish; educated people; salespeople.
6. the ordinary persons, as distinguished from those who have wealth, rank, influence, etc.: a man of the people.
7. the subjects, followers, or subordinates of a ruler, leader, employer, etc.: the king and his people.
8. the body of enfranchised citizens of a state: representatives chosen by the people.
9. a person's family or relatives: My grandmother's people came from Iowa.
10. (used in the possessive in Communist or left-wing countries to indicate that an institution operates under the control of or for the benefit of the people, esp. under Communist leadership): people's republic; people's army.
11.animals of a specified kind: the monkey people of the forest.

–verb (used with object)
12. to furnish with people; populate.
13. to supply or stock as if with people: a meadow peopled with flowers.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/people

NGU.

[Tom Rinaldo]

42. There is irony in this exchange

When we take recourse in definitions of sociological terms to frame our discussion of a State where a higher proportion of the electorate than is the national norm is not college educated .

Anyway, I stick with my original comment, which stuck to people who scorn the people of West Virginia, not the ethos of it.

[ClassWarrior]

48. So you stick to your original straw man? Or straw person, if you prefer?

NGU.

[rucky]

22. Not exactly a bellweather state.

lowest urban population. highest concentration of whites.

we need to address its poverty concerns, and both Dems do that.

[splat]

26. But its a belweather time

[Yossariant]

28. The last Dem to win the WH without WVA was Woodrow Wilson, 92 years ago.

[rucky]

34. McCain got 1% in his primary.

he should be shitting bricks right now.

[Yossariant]

50. Yeah, that 19 point lead McCain has over Obama might be within the Margin of Error.

:rofl:

[Yossariant]

25. It'd behoove Obama fans to look up the definition of "elitist."

"elitism:
1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.

n. e·litist"

You've been looking foolish on this one for too long by confusing "elite" with elitist.

Git yerself sum edjumacashun.

[k8conant]

51. Yes, elite = Obama, elitist = Hillary

"Rich people. God bless us."

[Armstead]

37. We need to distinguish social conserrvatism from economic conservatism

IMO Hillary appealed to the social conservative side of West Virginians, and paid lip service to economic populism.

The problem with pandering to social conservatism is that it plays into the hands of the GOP and the elite.

If a Democrat were an unabashed economic populist, that's where the inetrests can converge.