Southern whites troubled by Romney's wealth, religion
Source: Reuters
LYNCHBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - Sheryl Harris, a voluble 52-year-old with a Virginia drawl, voted twice for George W. Bush. Raised Baptist, she is convinced -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- that President Barack Obama, a practicing Christian, is Muslim.
So in this year's presidential election, will she support Mitt Romney? Not a chance.
"Romney's going to help the upper class," said Harris, who earns $28,000 a year as activities director of a Lynchburg senior center. "He doesn't know everyday people, except maybe the person who cleans his house."
She'll vote for Obama, she said: "At least he wasn't brought up filthy rich."
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/southern-whites-troubled-romneys-wealth-religion-050312040.html
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PopeOxycontinI
(176 posts)most of these people would still vote for the puke candidate
even if he ate a baby(not a fetus,though) on live tv.
CheapShotArtist
(333 posts)should I be happy for her that she realized that Robme doesn't give a rat's ass about the common man, or should I pity her for not accepting the fact that Obama is a Christian?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)If she votes for him, then her misbelief is relegated to a bizarre but apparently harmless error.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)Dr_Scholl
(212 posts)politics aside, I always find these types of articles to be very condescending.
Skittles
(153,160 posts)Obama's plan is to extend Bush-era tax cuts for families with incomes under $250,000 a year, while Romney and congressional Republicans support an across-the-board extension.
According to the Reuters/Ipsos data, 35 percent of the white Southern group saw Romney as having a "better approach" to taxes, while 25 percent thought Obama does.
Paradoxically, the same group agreed by more than 4 to 1 with the statement: "The wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes," which is Obama's campaign theme.
johnlucas
(1,250 posts)I know Southerners get touchy when people call out the stupidity in the South but here's an example right upfront.
Southerners who are smarter need to influence the dumber ones so we don't have disconnects like these.
I made a big thread recently discussing this.
Quit taking the "South Bashing" personally & improve the mentality of your general community.
It's gonna take peer influence to flush out those stupid mentalities. Or at least marginalize them.
John Lucas
Stuckinthebush
(10,845 posts)I find these types of articles accurately describe the level of pure stupid I see every day down here. We have some really dumb voters in the South. Of course, we have some really dumb voters all over the nation right now. My observations of my neighbors and friends indicates that a special kind of dumb is prevalent here! As a white male I have a front seat for the misogynistic, racist, homophobic rants from my neighbors. It is quite sick.
prismpalette
(38 posts)Fox news is everywhere here and with that constant mindless drivel, the brainwashing is complete. One heartening piece of trivia, I've noticed in local elections people running for various offices no longer list their party affiliation. Perhaps this is a sign of too ashamed to be associated with the repubs and too embarrassed to claim demo. Hopefully, voters will actually pay attention to the runners...
Stuckinthebush
(10,845 posts)It is funny. For a long time you saw Republican proudly displayed for city council or school board races. Not so any more.
Mopar151
(9,983 posts)The Teabaggers really stunk up the legislature last term.....
bamacrat
(3,867 posts)I do however hear a lot of Chris Christie love down here. People seem to like Ryan more than Romney. Ron Paul has a surpringly (or not so) following down here, and I hear a lot of them talking about writing in "Dr. Paul". It makes me want to puke when people call him that.
Stuckinthebush
(10,845 posts)Encourage them to write in Ron Paul or any other third party candidate. If we get enough of them to do that then we might see Obama win Alabama. Now that would crack me up!
bamacrat
(3,867 posts)Well maybe not but that would be great Obama got a decent amount of votes in 08.
Tom Rinaldo
(22,912 posts)She may be woefully misinformed but on a basic instinct level she gets it. She is not falling for that worship of financial success crap that has working people identifying with those who relegatte them to relative poverty. She understands that Obama has a perspective on reality that better appreciates how and why people struggle to get by. You might even call that wisdom even though she has basic facts garbled about the president.
Stuckinthebush
(10,845 posts)Good point. But the fact that she still thinks he is a follower of Islam is just too dumb for words.
lindysalsagal
(20,684 posts)How can hard-working middle class people believe they should pay Mitt's taxes for him? Why should they? How does the RNC get people to believe that the uber rich are so special they shouldn't have to submit to the most basic requirement of citizenship: Taxes?
How do they do it?
Nothing the RNC says makes sense, or matches their actions.
It's really so sad that even with a black president, we're still such a racist, hateful country.
azureblue
(2,146 posts)note how the article starts with a typical stereotype about southerners- the speech patterns. This is about as stupid as saying that all northerners speak like they are from Brooklyn...
I'm from New Orleans, and we do not sound like that at all, and the city itself has at least 5 dialects. Go out of the city and you get Cajun with all of it's variances.
Stuckinthebush
(10,845 posts)The rest of us do kind of sound like that down here.
Wise Child
(180 posts)Wouldn't the definitive evidence be a photo somewhere that shows him praying, head bowed toward Mecca, kneeling in a mosque?
Some like to use a picture of him suited up in some sort local folk attire. That's sort of like going through someone's vacation photos, finding a picture of that person wearing a sombrero, and assuming that person is a devotee of The Virgin of Guadalupe.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)
bigmonkey
(1,798 posts)As in, he may go to church, but his father was a Muslim, so he's a Muslim too? Do they perhaps confusedly think of it as an ethnicity?
oldsarge54
(582 posts)Where is the evidence that Obama is a practicing muslim? I mean outside of websites that look like they designed by some pimple faced basement dwelling 40 year old?
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)So she's not pushing herself that hard. Just sayin'..
caber09
(666 posts)Someone who'd rather Romney win than vote top ticket for Obama. I'll bet you be the biggest complainer when a Pres romney screws us all. You should prob rethink your voting plan
Monk06
(7,675 posts)Frances
(8,545 posts)We need to carry Virginia and I'm happy that we have another vote for him there.
It sounds to me that this woman has been fed lies by Fox and others, but that she has an innate sense that Romney is a fake and that's more important to her than the lies she has been fed.
booksenkatz
(3,466 posts)When you lead a hate-based life, you only need to ask yourself: whom do you hate least?
Roland99
(53,342 posts)johnlucas
(1,250 posts)This is a fun election I tell you what.
But I STILL believe that she's an exception to the rule.
I believe most of her type will vote for Romney in "Fear of Black" over voting for Obama in "Fear of Mormon".
I see why there's such a lack of enthusiasm for the Republicans this election.
Look at their choices. Hahahahahaha!
John Lucas
zellie
(437 posts)adigal
(7,581 posts)I wrote that I am giving another donation to Obama just because of all the hatred shown him on that thread. 
happyslug
(14,779 posts)Obama has problems with Working Class Whites (people making less then $50,000 a year, but more then $20,000 a year) but Romney problems with that class is even WORSE. Neither candidate is appealing to this group, yet it appears to be the group that will decide the election. Both parities have worked to get out their base, African Americans, Gays, Collage educated people making more then $50,000 a year (for the Democrats), people making more then $100,000 a year, people in finance, low tax advocates for the GOP. The problem is what appears to either of these bases, tend to turn off working class whites, thus the low appeal of either candidates to this group.
More on this problem, including that Working Class whites are 2 out of every 5 votersm, not a majority but the largest group in play:
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/_memos/tds_SM_Levison_WC_Americans.pdf
http://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/category/contributors/jack-metzgar/
One of the characteristics of this group is as follows:
Working people generally refer to this “on the one hand, on the other hand” process of thought
as using “common sense” or applying “my personal philosophy” to a question and it is
familiar, indeed almost universal, in social scientific field studies of white working class
Americans, in the transcripts of focus groups and also in the first-hand accounts of
Working America’s field canvassers.......
Some opinion poll questions, however, do make it possible to examine “on the one hand, on
the other hand” thinking. In 2008, for example, the Center for American Progress designed
a survey that examined opinions on a wide range of issues. However, rather than frame the
questions as simple yes-no polarities, the survey presented the respondents with alternative
question wordings that expressed the distinct ways that propositions about particular issues
are typically stated by conservatives and liberals. For example, respondents could agree with
either just one or with both of the following opposed propositions:
“Government regulation of business does more harm than good”
“Government regulations are necessary to keep business in
check and protect workers and consumers”
“Government spending is almost always wasteful and inefficient”
“Government investments in education, infrastructure and
science are necessary to insure America’s long-term economic
growth”
“Military force is the most effective way to combat terrorism and
make America safer”
“America’s security is best promoted by working through
diplomacy, alliances and international institutions.”
When the specific totals for white, high school educated working class voters were
tabulated, the quite surprising result was that 31% of the respondents agreed with both of
the two propositions above about government regulation, 52% agreed with both of the
propositions about government spending/investment and 41% agreed with both propositions
about military force and diplomacy......
White working class Americans are overwhelmingly cultural traditionalists. At the most basic
level, their political opinions are deeply shaped by the four basic value systems into which
they are socialized beginning in childhood -- value systems that are rooted in the major social
institutions of working class life—the church, the military, small business and the school
system. These institutions systematically inculcate the values they represent—patriotism,
religious piety, free enterprise and the “American system of government” (the last being
essentially the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and democratic elections). As a result, by the
time typical working Americans reach the age where they begin to pay attention to political
issues, they already have internalized a firm set of interlocking value systems that define what
is right and wrong, true and false and good and bad.
But within the framework of this essentially universal respect for “traditional” social institutions
and culture, however, there is a profound division between essentially conservative and more
progressive or open-minded outlooks. This profound division is generally not understood or
even perceived by many liberals and progressives because both points of view are expressed
entirely within the language and cognitive framework of working class cultural traditionalism. ....
54% of the white working class respondents in the Pew survey strongly felt that business corporations “make too much profit” and 70% strongly felt that they have “too much power”. On this topic, even when the ambivalent or open-minded respondents are added to the defenders of corporate profits and power, the combined group still remains a minority.....
Given the substantial extent of this business “pushback” against all criticism of Wall Street and
the financial industry in the last three years, it is reasonable to wonder if the attitudes of white
working class people might actually have become less hostile on this particular subject than
they are on the more abstract issues of corporate profit and power.
In fact, however, white working class antagonism to Wall Street still remains high. Over 45% of
white working class respondents on the Pew survey “strongly” agreed that Wall Street “hurts
the American economy more than it helps.” When those who “mildly” agree are added, the
percentage rises to 55%. In contrast, only 19% of the sample strongly supports the view that
Wall Street “helps” the American economy more than it hurts it. Even when all the ambivalent
or open-minded are added in, the total barely rises above 40%.....
As can be seen, on the distinct subset of “populist” issues about corporate profits, power
and the role of wall street a majority of white American workers—54%—strongly agree with a
liberal/progressive view. In contrast, only 20% strongly agree with the conservative, probusiness perspective. At the same time, however, on the range of other domestic issues about
43% of the Pew sample appear as conservative “true believers” who strongly agree with the
conservative position in contrast to only 35% who strongly agree with the progressive view
This rough split—conservatives constituting a percentage in the low 40’s and liberal/
progressives a percentage in the mid-30’s—will feel oddly familiar to most political observers.
But this is a coincidence that arises simply because it corresponds to the percentages
commonly seen within the general population (rather than among white working class
individuals in particular) on polling questions about domestic “social” or “values” issues other
than those regarding big business. The lower percentage of liberals compared to
conservatives also corresponds with the widely repeated generalizations about the ideological
self-identification of the American people as a whole—that on Pew and Gallup polls 36 to
40% describe themselves as conservative and 18 to 21% as liberals.
polichick
(37,152 posts)
Xithras
(16,191 posts)I almost argued the point with him, but what's the point when someone is THAT out of touch with reality?
Of course, I also heard someone else say on the radio a few weeks ago, "Muslims may be nuts, but at least they believe that God created the world and the universe. Mormons believe that God is an alien from another planet and we're all his spirit babies."
The pro-Romney talk-jock didn't know what to say. I just LOL'ed. Let them divide themselves.
Kingofalldems
(38,456 posts)Gotta side with the plantation owners.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)In fact when Wall Street comes up 54% of WHITE WORKING CLASS AMERICANS OPPOSE Wallstreet.
As can be seen, on the distinct subset of “populist” issues about corporate profits, power
and the role of wall street a majority of white American workers—54%—strongly agree with a
liberal/progressive view
Page 24:
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/_memos/tds_SM_Levison_WC_Americans.pdf
Sorry, the issue is NOT Fighting the Civil War, but ECONOMIC Issues. Most Working class people are Traditionalists but Progressive. i.e. want to preserve what has been traditional, but also wants to see improvements. As I noted above, they are also capable of holding conflicting positions, something that various Statesmen over the years have argued can only be held by people with high intelligence. For Example "Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the following:
. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
http://quotesnack.com/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-foolish-consistency-is-the-hobgoblin-of-little-minds-ralph-waldo-emerson/
The same with the Working Class, they want economic reforms (i.e. Wall Street Contained) but also want to preserve Capitalism. They want traditional Families, but also protection for minorities. They want all babies to be born, yet want to preserve the right to have an abortion.
In today's Society such dual set of beliefs are rejected by the better educated. the people who earn more money as while as most of the people who control the Media, but is the hallmark of the working class. The reason is simple, the Working Class has have to work with EVERYONE THEY COME IN CONTACT WITH, thus can NOT WRITE OFF SOMEONE AS AN ENEMY. The Working Class work as members of a TEAM, not as individuals fighting each other to be on top. Thus the ruling elite of the US can NOT relate to them and while I see people on DU who understand this view of the Working Class and willing to work with them, I have also see people on DU who refuse to learn how to work with the Working Class. This is a problem both parties are facing, one solved by FDR and the Democrats of his time period, but one now lost.
