The American Spectator

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Tempers Run Hot

5.15.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 6)

Jay, do you think broad brushing an entire state over what Democrat primary voters do at the polls is a neat thing to do? I've got some background in that state and know places that I wouldn't go with my choice of weapons and body armor but everyone knows which hollow the crazies live in and the Confederate Battle Flag flying from a tree is usually your first and last warning if you don't. Nevertheless, I think some West Virginians are going to take you to task for giving black Democratic voters a pass on their 90% margins for Obama in every primary. I think you owe the non-Democratic West Virginia voters an apology for the insult you've given them simply for living in West Virginia.
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

I've gotten really tired of Jay Homnick's tortuous sense of humor and mis-magnetized political compass, and should have known better than to read this latest effort, a verifiable waste of good electrons. His thesis, however, seems to demand a reply.

First problem, Homnick seems to have been taken in by BO's facade of idealism. Get wise! Young Barack is a bundle of personal ambition and narcissism, glossed over -- for those whose eyesight is weak -- with a thin varnish of goodwill and unity. No experienced political commenter should have been taken in by him, even for so long as the first month after he announced his candidacy.

Second problem, Homnick blandly assumes that 60% of white West Virginians voting for Hillary proves they are all racist, while 90% of blacks voting for Obama proves...Well, apparently it proves nothing to him. Get over it, Jay. Either we are all racists or none of us are. And even if your verdict is "all racist," is racism worse than dishonesty? Assuredly, hardly an honest word comes out of the mouth of either Democrat candidate.

Further, which candidate was the first to introduce race into the argument? From the very start Obama has used his race as an asset-- arguing that he could better deal with the Third World because of his ethnicity, and that he was somehow uniquely endowed to be a unifier within the U.S. -- and as a defense, charging that many criticisms by his opponents were covertly racist. In a sense, Slick Willy was just following suit in South Carolina. Consider this irony: Homnick uses this line, "...to look into the heart of real darkness." Were he to use such a phrase in a column critical of Obama, that man's campaign would immediately denounce him as a racist.

I don't write this as a defense of the Clintons, whose political machine I'll happily see consigned to the dustbin of history. What I decry is the incredible gullibility of Jay Homnick, who can advance -- apparently with a straight face -- concepts such as these: "But a part of [Obama's] idealism should be embraced, the part that asks us to view him through a glass lightly. In this respect, he should be seen as a candidate representing both parties. Republicans in their right minds should be making the message clear: That is the guy I would be voting for if I thought his ideas were on target."

I can hardly wait for Homnick to propose that Jeremiah Wright be appointed Chaplain to the Senate, and Bill Ayers be made Assistant Director of Homeland Security. As for Michelle...No doubt co-president will be sufficient for her.
-- Richard Donley
New Lyme, Ohio

In response to Jay Homnick's article on WV Primary, HRC wins OH, PA, and WV but only the vote in the latter is commented on as being racist. He doesn't need to explain, I understand where he's coming from (his prejudices). No wonder liberal Democrats win.
-- David Bartlett

Mr. Homnick is way off base on West VA if the only evidence he has is that Hillary won big. Just because Obama is in the lead does not mean that all the other states votes count more the West VA or Kentucky, etc. If he wants to find racism, he can look on Obama's side of the ledger. Ninety percent black voting for Obama? What does he offer in true good ideas for blacks or whites? What is his difference to Hillary, other than he is black and a man. He is more electable, why, because he is black? I thought that was the problem, Mr. Homnick. Get a clue. This guy did not win because he is not a good candidate and because some like this woman (why I don't know), maybe because of her husband.
-- Joseph D'Ambrosia

Generally I am in agreement with much of what Jay Homnick writes, but on this one I am left flabbergasted! For him to basically call everyone in West Virginia a racist for voting for Hillary Clinton is a smear of epic proportions and seems to come straight from the Obama camp playbook.

While I am sure that there are those who will not vote for Obama because he is black, it is not fair to lump all opposition to him in West Virginia into a case based on race. Did you ever stop to think that many people in the West Virginia primary simply identify more closely with Clinton? Or that the decision by the Obama campaign not to even really try to contest the state may have caused the massive landslide for Team Hillary? What are the people of West Virginia (and soon Kentucky) to think when Obama writes them off before the first ballot is cast and will not deign to come to (***GASP!***) Appalachia to try to win them over? Are they then supposed to go vote for him in droves?

And where is your dismay that so many of the blacks voting for Obama (and against Clinton) are casting their votes on the basis of his race? Is the fact that many black voters are willing to overlook all of Obama's many deficiencies, his lack of legislative accomplishment, and his total lack of experience simply because he is black not a problem for you? For me as a black man it is bad enough to see my people simply giving their votes to any Democrat that comes down the pike, but to see them using their votes as some sort of statement on racial pride is even worse! It makes no difference to me if the voter is white or black; casting a vote for a candidate simply because of their race does not sit particularly well with me.

And you may as well disabuse yourself of the idea that a McCain-Obama general election is going to be "colorblind" because it is not going to be. The primaries have already shown that the Obama camp and their media allies are more than willing to turn any criticism of Obama, no matter how fair or deserved, is going to be spun so that race is an issue. So why should we think it will change when a Republican, who is already a presumed racist simply for being a Republican, tries to challenge his Obamaness?

Maybe you should take a minute before you write another article smearing the voters of an entire state of racism.
-- Eric Edwards
Walnut Cove, North Carolina

Maybe I just don't understand the point of Mr. Homnick's article. It appears to me to be saying that it's perfectly okay for Black Americans to line up behind Obama, in some cases to the tune of 90 percent or more, while at the same time it's not okay to line up behind Clinton. Of course one is a Black American and one is a White American. So basically if you're Black and you vote for Obama because you can identify with him because you are Black that’s okay, that’s not racist. But if you're white and you vote for Clinton because you can identify with her, well then by God you are a racist. Did I miss anything?

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