Posted on 06/23/2012 4:28:10 PM PDT by Qbert
In a year when the Obama administration’s “war on coal” could signify a Republican victory of landslide proportions in West Virginia, three of the state’s top Democrats recently announced they would not attend their party’s national convention that will renominate the president on Labor Day weekend.
Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin—all of whom who faced stiff re-election challenges in their last races and now face strong Republican opponents this fall—have said they want to spend Labor Day weekend campaigning in or working for West Virginia rather than attend their party’s convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This is problematic for that state’s Democratic Party, whose state convention recently enacted a resolution calling on all Democrats running for office to support all elected Democrats—particularly the president. Rahall has endorsed the president for re-election, but Tomblin and Manchin, who made a strong speech hailing Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention, have not. All three are super delegates to the convention this year.
Stupid idiots in WV still voted for Dems...unbelievable.
Since Obama won the last election 53% to 47% there seems to be a lot of stupid idiots all across this nation.
This = These
The NYT has noted:
" But despite its form, "me-tooism" was really the ismatist's reproach to the apostasies of Republican centrists. Campaigning against Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 primaries, Senator Robert A. Taft warned that a "me too" strategy would alienate the Republican party's conservative base while making few inroads in the mugwump vote — a type he defined as "an intellectual sitting on a fence with his mug on one side and his wump on another."
They may have voted for these Democrats...but in 2008 McCain carried WV easily (4-3) over Obama. (Almost exactly the same margin of votes as Bush over Kerry in 2004.) Obama carried 6 counties.
The people of WV vote to ensure their continuing access to Federal dollars. WV is a poor state that receives far more Federal dollars than they send in with their taxes. Senator Robert Byrd worked some 60 years to addict the people of WV to federal money.
Yes one of the major industries that WV has is under attack from the Obama administration but to tell the people of WV that they are stupid to vote for Democrats is telling them to start swinging a double-edged sword about willy-nilly.
Swing the sword toward the Republicans and chop down the coal industry. Swing the sword toward the Democrats and chop down the Appalachian Regional Commission and loose millions of federal dollars.
Huge numbers of WV voters depend on federal dollars one way or another and they know which side of the bread the butter is on. What they may not understand is that eventually the government is going to run out of other people’s money and when that happens if the Democrats have their way WV coal won’t be there to offer jobs to future West Virginians.
Stupid idiots in WV still voted for Dems...unbelievable.
The people of WV vote to ensure their continuing access to Federal dollars. WV is a poor state that receives far more Federal dollars than they send in with their taxes. Senator Robert Byrd worked some 60 years to addict the people of WV to federal money.
They usually go GOP in the Presidential don’t they?
Yes, but think of the alternative, ‘bomb everyone’ McCain.
yes...they'll keep voting them rats in all the time complaining...
"Huge numbers of WV voters depend on federal dollars one way or another and they know which side of the bread the butter is on. What they may not understand is that eventually the government is going to run out of other people’s money and when that happens if the Democrats have their way WV coal won’t be there to offer jobs to future West Virginians."
It's their choice. They can elect Conservatives in the Senate and other races, and follow the model of Texas, South Carolina, etc. and finally have real business investment in the state and employment opportunities (and free themselves from having to be dependent on the government)... or they can learn the hard way...
and those poor hillbilly's still vote Democrat...wake up WV. Robert Bryd is no longer around.
With all the pork that old KKK bastard brought home I would have thought they wouldn’t have any gas tax in WV.
You can add New Mexico to that list. It’s depressing. Still I vote and hope.
“Stupid idiots in WV still voted for Dems...unbelievable.”
That began to change in 2000. Look for WV Republicans to make gains this year.
I am hopeful that this will do to West Virginia what 2010 did to so many other states.
Yes but it is a choice that most of the people do not understand. For those that do it is a Sophie’s Choice: Choosing one will result in the death of the other. (Although choosing the Republicans is unlikely to truly result in the elimination of any federal program if history is any predictor of the future action of politicians)
To be a Conservative politician is to believe in the ability of the majority of the people to overcome the adverse conditions that exist in their lives and succeed with out the assistance of government. A Conservative believes that the meddling government creates far more impediments to an individual’s success than it provides assistance.
Even Liberal politicians do not believe that the government has an endless supply of money and so the eligibility for federal programs are designed with a targeted socioeconomic group in mind and limits to income and assets are imposed.
These program targets have the unintended consequences of skewing the choices individuals make. For instance when I was going through community college I happened to talk to a fellow student that I had graduated high school with. He informed me that to qualify for a government tuition grant that he had moved out of his parents home and went on welfare. This government program because of the design limits imposed actually caused the government to spend more money. The government not only was footing the bill for tuition but also for room and board for this free loader.
As long as government is handing out money people will find a way to take it. So don’t be surprised when people vote to keep the money coming. They know the Democrats will keep finding ways to spend more money. They believe the Republicans will at least slow down the growth and the Democrats tell them that the Republicans want to kill the Golden Goose.
Lots of uninformed idiots on this thread, eager to bash West Virginia, location of the hard working coal industry that keeps your damn lights on.
WV voted Republican in 2008, McCain over Obama.
How did YOUR state vote? HMMM?
I do believe that voter fraud was rife in Ohio.
And in my defense in my own mind I was defending WV.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Wait until West Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and possibly Ohioans see the latest EPA regulations against coal plants. Word is that 100 older coal-fired energy plants will have to shut down this year (how many jobs down the crapper?), and that many other plants many follow suit rather than spend a tremendous amount of money to retrofit themselves with new scrubbing technology (some retrofitting is needed but whether all of it is, is the question, and the time given to perform it is also a major problem).
PS: The EPA is going to regulate “greenhouse gases” that come from your car through the burning of gasoline. One of four major car-targetted EPA control programs now in the works.
There are a lot of United Mine Workers of America union members who may suddenly become ex-members due to AFL-CIO president Trumka’s support of Obama. Trumka’s an old marxist thug who once led the UMWA. He turned the AFL-CIO, once a bastion of anti-communist, pro-freedom patriots into a marxist cesspool of Communist Party -associated high level officials.
George Meany and Jay Lovestone must have shit in their graves over this betrayal of American labor.
In 2012, this may change for the best, and Trumka will be thrown out by his own union.
West Virginia will go for Romney, and Manchin knows it.
“A change is gonna come!”
Not a chance in hell.
Trumka is head of the AFL-CIO now which mostly represents government employees. Even though he was once head of the Mine Workers, he does not give a shit about them now.
They don't pay enough dues to catch his attention.
This is what people need to understand about unions today... they don't make money from the private sector anymore. It's mostly government employees who pay the dues.
Trumka wants more dues paying members and if killing the mine workers is what it takes, he'll gladly do it.
Bottom line: He does not give a damn about the 'working man'. He just wants the cash.
If enough UMW members vote Republican in W. Va and perhaps elsewhere, such as in Penn., it could throw the election to Romney re electoral votes.
If Obama is out of the White House, it is quite possible that Trumka will get the blame by other labor leftists and be ousted in an internal coup.
One can always hope.
'Though Tomblin was somewhat close at 2.6%, it will be a much larger gap this Nov. The ONLY WV encumbant I see with any problem is McKinley (R, WV 1) who won by only .8% in 2010.
Looks more like the problems lie in the corrupt WV GOP.
Clue: WV hasn't voted for a RAT Presidential candidate since 1996!! Now, what does that tell you about the WV GOP?
One can always hope.
Never a good strategy.
All we got in 2010 was the 1 extra US House seat. I’m not super optimistic.
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