Posted on 10/01/2012 12:23:41 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
DEAD possums litter the roads of the southern United States and whenever Bernie Smith encounters another fallen marsupial he pulls over and hurls the corpse into the back of his truck.
One man's detritus is another man's feast: cooked slowly with potato, carrot and celery, the meat becomes tender in a rich and spicy stew known as burgoo.
Mr Smith, 67, was showing off this traditional technique at the annual Road Kill Cook-Off festival in Marlinton, West Virginia, an isolated town nestled in the Appalachian mountains. Thousands were on hand this weekend to compare his casserole with barbecue squirrel, bear meatloaf and grilled porcupine skewers.
For the Republican Party organisers fanning out across the event, this ought to be fertile ground. These rural, white Christians, once dismissed as "hillbillies", have been central to the party's electoral success since the Nixon era.
Certainly, the hostility towards President Barack Obama was near universal. Mr Smith, a pharmacist from North Carolina, began his critique along policy lines; he dislikes the Administration's desire to raise tax and hates the White House vision on energy and coal. In a lowered voice, he also confided that he thought Mr Obama was a secret believer in the Islamic faith.
"It's obvious he is," he whispered. "The reading I've done: the way he talks about the Koran, you wouldn't do that unless you were a Muslim." Mr Smith, who pronounced the Islamic holy book "key-ran", said people were still distrustful of Mr Obama but there was less talk about his race now than there had been four years ago.
But in a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey of the Bible Belt, which stretches from Texas to Virginia, 20 per cent of white lower and middle income voters still said they would be less likely to vote for an African-American candidate.
Despite this, Mitt Romney engendered little excitement. Lane Jack, 38, who was browsing the stalls with his wife and a small pig on a leash, said he was unsure how to vote in November.
"With everything Romney's been caught saying, I don't see how you could trust him," he said. "I don't think he understands us." Mr Jack, who owns a small T-shirt printing company, agrees with 38 per cent of voters in the survey who said they would be less likely to vote for a "very wealthy" candidate. Another 35 per cent said they were less likely to vote for a Mormon.
"We're so damn poor around here we didn't know there was a recession," said Mike Hollingsworth, a self-employed handyman and logger. "I was taught growing up that anyone could be president. Looking at people like Romney I don't know if I believe that any more."
While Mr Romney is likely to pick up most states below the Mason-Dixon line, he is struggling in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, key swing states along the Appalachian trail. Speaking as she sauteed wild deer for her deep-fried venison balls, Shawn Smith said the US President must put faith at the heart of the White House. She was unconvinced that Mr Romney's Mormonism would suffice. "There's a dark side to Romney that I don't think we can trust," she said.
With the state leaving space on the ballot box for people to write what they want, the winner of the Miss Road Kill, West Virginia contest, Joy Hammond, knew exactly how she would be voting, and said she was lobbying friends to do the same. "I'm writing in 'Clint Eastwood'," she said.
Who did this? Here's a clue-it wasn't "hillbillies"
Aussies done went and gave up THEIR GUNS!
What do they know? Now they’re overrun with Muzzies outa the ME.
To hell with what they think—iffen they CAN think.
Oh for God’s sake!
You don’t eat road kill. And yes, us country folks, hillbillies, piney woods folk, rednecks, crackers, whatever you want to call us, know this.
You hunt and kill critters yourself, or a trusted friend does and gives you the meat.
Anything found dead stays out of the pot unless you want to die.
I doubt sqaushed possums: bones broke and splintered, guts and brains mashed in with the meat and hair, would make an appealing meal to anyone except the near-to-death starving.
Yeah, they love uber wealthy power seeking Yankees out there, sure they do.....
As reformed yankee (Packed up and moved to NC in 98) I agree with every word.
I heard about a similar incident in New Jersey in which a woman spotted a dead deer being loaded into a van. She followed it to its destination which turned out to be a Chinese restaurant, and then called the police.
You must be mistaken Only dog carcasses would apply here.
Down Under must be one crazy place. A disarmed citizenry with muzzies everywhere attacking nonveiled women.
Did the “article” mention that our hillbillies are armed to the teeth? I didn’t bother to read it but that detail would just add to the heap of Aussie contempt for us bloody yanks.
“Why should I travel? I’m already here!”
He promised to shut down all the coal mines last time yet the United Mine Workers union's home page was devoted to supporting him. Just like Catholics were encouraged to vote for him despite his stand on abortion. Same with the Jewish community. Mindboggling to say the least.
We’re in a small town in eastern Tennessee. The guy who does our pest control is someone people might consider to be a hillbilly due to his walk, talk, mannerisms, etc. Last month when he was here I was watching a clip on Fox News and he stopped for a minute to watch.
The interviewer asked Hussein something about his biggest mistake. Like a switch was flipped, the guy began a barrage of “his biggest mistake was being elected!”, and so on. He said he figured Obama lit the fire under the demonstrations in Egypt and elsewhere in the middle east. He said he’s tired of working his butt off to get by so the losers can get their food stamps, free phones, etc. (And he does work hard and long). He went on and on. Very informed and very angry. A “hillbilly” ... and Romney will not have to struggle to get his vote.
He is no dummy....his article is a carefully-crafted piece of socialist-based, pro-Obama propaganda designed to leave the impression that the average southern voter is a neanderthal, racist, white, Christian hick that will go to the polls to vote for Romney while tasty road kill is simmering on his wood stove back in his cabin.
"Buzz" words and phrases are regularly employed by writers. Buzz words by definition are designed to evoke emotional responses, good or bad, in the reader. Here's some of the buzzes carefully and craftily placed in the above article:
".....dead possums litter the road"
".....Bernie Smith hurls the corpse into the back of his truck"
".....One man's detritus (organic, decaying waste) is another man's feast"
".....barbeque squirrel, bear meatloaf and grilled porcupine skewers"
".....rural, white Christians
".....Mr. Smith, who pronounces the Islamic holy (holy?) book 'key-ran' "
".....with his wife and a small pig on a leash"
".....as she sauteed wild deer for her deep-fried venison balls"
".....the winner of the Miss Road-Kill Contest"
Well, now, if you don't have a definitive mental image of the average white southern Romney voter after reading the above article, you never will.
If you do, the writer has accomplished his mission.
You are only normal if you're a northern white wine and quiche consumer....and if you're a sophisticated, cool Obama voter.
Leni
Exactly. And I’ll bet “Miss Road Kill” was a babe!!!
Maine has the same law and it's a sensible one.
I live in rural Virigia (although polluted by the D.C. suburbs and some Marylanders). The question is not whether Romney will win out here (he obviously will) but whether there will be enough Romney votes out here to offset the liberal vote close to DC. A large number of stupid young women (and men) have moved close to DC to get "jobs" (i.e. paid to look good). If they vote, they will vote Obama.
On a more somber note, a man died a week ago last Saturday and his buddy is in critical condition. What I can say for sure is the first man fell off his bike after hitting an Obama sign (well away from the roadside). The sign (still there but bent over) is about 200 feet where they ate chili and drank beer for the previous 6 or so hours. The second man was riding towards the hospital and was clipped by a state police cruiser going towards the first accident.
Of all the wild meat (vermin included), possum has to be the worst. It smells like rotted pork while going thru the requisite 3 changes of water after cutting off all the fat.
I was once married to an indiscriminate hunter, who brought everything home. I have attended a private wild game dinner hosted by a chef. Some interesting dishes and some just too heavily spiced/sauced to judge. A few miles from here, a group of hunters ended their annual game dinner after a cluster of cases of prion disease. I believe one contributor was squirrel brain in the burgoo.
Raccoon, OTOH, can be made edible. Squirrel is a matter of taste, I guess. Pretty tough and needs to be pressure cooked.
Venison is wonderful, of course. Rabbit is good, as well.
Roadkill? EWWWWWWWW!
BTW, Aussie *possum* is not the same as American o’possum.
Is the dead possum vote related to the dead cat bounce?
And even so with deer, caution should be taken. The carcass should be examined thoroughly to ensure the intestines, colon and bladder haven't burst and spoiled the meat, and that shards of glass, metal or other foreign material are not embedded in it.
Recovering and eating such animals as deer after a careful survey is far different than “stopping at every flattened possum and throwin’ it in the back o’ the pickup to make a stew later”--which the writer is implying us rednecks do--is what's wrong.
Ahm studyin' that ideer... then I's gotta git that dirt dog outta the road, set the crapper up right and fix that fence. Dadgummit!
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