From the AP:
U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama’s victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.The 17-term Democratic congressman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site that, as he put it: “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
He says it’s taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to liking Obama, but he should still win the state, though not in a runaway.
In a separate interview posted Wednesday on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Web site, Murtha says Obama has a problem with the race issue in western Pennsylvania that could shave 4 points off his lead in the state.
Presented without comment.
– Which is only fair, given that Murtha’s comments seem to have been presented without irony.
****
update: Okay, just one comment, then I’ll leave it be:
“WE SHALL OVERCOME!”
There. ahem.
Comment by fred on 10/15 @ 2:27 pm #
For those that did not get the “irony” comment…Murtha is a Western Pennsylvanian.
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/15 @ 2:28 pm #
the pink badge of courage
Comment by adam s on 10/15 @ 2:32 pm #
wait a sec, that makes him . . . oh, right. I get it.
*wink*
Comment by kelly on 10/15 @ 2:32 pm #
Jack Murtha: EX Marine.
Comment by Topsecretk9 on 10/15 @ 2:34 pm #
So basically, if wasn’t for all the pork he gives away this man would be out of business.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 10/15 @ 2:34 pm #
When reached for comment Senator Robern Byrd was quoted as saying “Ditto”
Comment by Mr. Pink on 10/15 @ 2:38 pm #
Does this mean voters in Western PA will go 95% to McCain? Cause that would be really racist.
Comment by Techie on 10/15 @ 2:45 pm #
Congrats, Western PA, you have only yourselves to think for having your Jackass of a Congressman.
Comment by Ella on 10/15 @ 3:08 pm #
But didn’t Kerry only win by 4% in 2004?
Comment by C Smith on 10/15 @ 3:21 pm #
How about a “Congressional Rogues Gallery” post?
Possibly broken up alphabetically.
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/15 @ 3:26 pm #
alot of the best QB’s are from western PA-correct?-
the media are pulling for the black QB-correct?
RUSH-right again!
Comment by Sdferr on 10/15 @ 3:42 pm #
Back in 1972 I went up to a small town in the 12th district Pa to rocklathe a friend/co-worker’s brother-in-law’s new house. Our intent was to knock the job off on a three day weekend and do a great deal of beer drinking. That’s pretty much what we did.
This little town, Lilly, was a coal mining town chock-a-block with, you guessed it, coalminers. Many of these folks were sons and daughters of Polish immigrants, so R. Catholics mostly. So it was with my friend’s parent-in-laws, with whom we stayed while in town.
The first thing I noticed that was out of the ordinary was the beer truck, moving slowly down the street, delivering the week’s keg supplies to every third house, much as I had seen milk deliveries done way back when. Each of these families had a dedicated refrigerator with a tap cut into the door.
Our people took three kegs (it was a family of 6 adult drinkers with lots of visitors, no doubt), one straight into the fridge, the other two to the porch. The tap opened at breakfast and stayed open til bedtime. These were hard working, stay close to home, religiously observant, solid family people. And gossip, lord, could they gossip. (And the sausages, god help me. The sausages.)
They treated me, a total stranger, exceptionally well – of course, they were getting a great price on the rocklathe job, so it stood to reason they would, but still, it seemed as though they went well out of their way to see to my needs.
Were they racists? I don’t know. The subject of race never came up as far as I can remember. But I wouldn’t put it past ‘em, either, given the era, the insularity, the general suspicion of outsiders and likely little direct experience of the racial troubles of the time.
Would they be today? Damned if I know. At a guess? A lot less chance of it than back in ‘72.
Comment by MC on 10/15 @ 3:48 pm #
Well, they did have scare quotes in the title didn’t they?
Comment by Techie on 10/15 @ 3:49 pm #
The other part of the story is “If a Republican stated “A lot of my constitants are racists”, all hell would break loose”
Nothing to see here, the Deciders have spoken.
Comment by Bob Reed on 10/15 @ 3:53 pm #
I guess that Murtha, being a politician and all, realizes just how to win friends and influence people; especially in his home districts…
And my Momma always said that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar…
I guess, you know, he’s not really worried about facing the electorate himself for re-election this fall…
Especially since all of the marines he smeared have since gotten off..
Sempre Fink! Murtha, Sempre Fink
Comment by mojo on 10/15 @ 3:54 pm #
“I mean, just look at the idiots that elected ME!”
Comment by kelly on 10/15 @ 4:00 pm #
Oddly, I’ve never been all that enthused about catching flies.
Comment by Lost My Cookies on 10/15 @ 4:03 pm #
Nothing says “racist’ like perogies.
Comment by Sdferr on 10/15 @ 4:06 pm #
Well, or the cranky old moms that make ‘em.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 10/15 @ 4:28 pm #
Comment by kelly on 10/15 @ 2:32 pm #
Well said.
Comment by dre on 10/15 @ 4:34 pm #
“#Comment by Lost My Cookies on 10/15 @ 4:03 pm #
Nothing says “racist’ like perogies.”
or Iron City beer.
Comment by Matt Kudasai on 10/15 @ 4:42 pm #
I’m not a big Murtha fan, but he is essentially correct about that part of Pennsyltucky. They traditionally have been deeply resentful of Philadelphia’s contrast in demographics and baffling influence on state policy, and they all secretly wish to be annexed by Ohio.
Comment by Puck on 10/15 @ 4:46 pm #
Murtha’s such a sleaze. The guy running against him, a guy named Russell, had a bunch of very active supporters at the McCain-Palin rally near Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend. I hope Russell does well, but I’m not all that hopeful.
Unfortunately — and this made me want to put my fist through a wall — the chair of Pennsylvania’s GOP refused to endorse Russell. That’s how powerful Jack Murtha is. So disheartening.
Comment by twolaneflash on 10/15 @ 4:53 pm #
“We shall overcome” doesn’t bother me as much as “we will bury you”. Domination of America by pseudo-Afro racialism is less likely than the continued takeover by politicians and laws more at home in the bosom of communism. Obama is the one for whom they’ve been waiting, so the communists can piggyback on the negative energy of America’s victim industry. All Obama supporters are victims, self-defined. I’ll skip condemning myself for being racist. I’d rather fight, fight, fight with Palin and that old white guy.
Comment by Ana on 10/15 @ 5:28 pm #
Yeah. This is a moment in history. Mav’s been pulling his punches. He needs to walk less softly and start swinging around the stick. But he won’t.
Comment by Andrew Sullivan on 10/15 @ 5:46 pm #
Nothing says racist like pizzelles, and zuchinni pancakes, and the Steelers, and…
Fu*k the Cleveland Browns. And fu*k Cleveland.
Comment by mary on 10/15 @ 5:47 pm #
Yeah, I’m one of those bitter, clingy, racist people from western pa. I live near the mountains..not in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is oh so in the tank for Obama..the whole city is drinkin the koolaide…mostly all democrats there. We like drinkin beer. I can’t stomach to watch the local news here..omg..it’s all obama.
I can’t honestly say we are racist here…there aren’t many black people around here and the ones that do live in these parts are decent, hard working people. They live out this way because they don’t want to live in the city or surrounding towns with the black gangs and all the violence.
We don’t really care what Murtha says. We have voted against him time and time again, but we are always out numbered. Too many liberals in the city.
There are many, many, people out this way that are democrats, but are voting republican this year…not because of the idiots’ race…well i can’t speak for everyone, but most won’t vote for him because of his inexperience, his mean wife, his shady associations , and mostly because he is a habitual liar. The man is just a horrible liar! We do have computers and we can read, you see. I visit all the conservative blogs and forward stuff to all my friends..this is the first time i’ve ever expressed my opinion too.
In fact, i changed my party affliation to independent after reading the conservative blogs..i was a democrat…oh gawd…i’ve come out of the closet, but i’ve seen the light and i owe it all to you guys! God bless you all! mary
Comment by Jeffersonian on 10/15 @ 5:55 pm #
Had a girlfriend from Oil City once. I liked the town and the folks. I don’t recall a single discouraging word said about black folks.
Comment by Matt, Esq. on 10/15 @ 6:03 pm #
I suspect Andrew would like to #@#! the Cleveland Browns.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 10/15 @ 6:13 pm #
#29 Matt Esq.:
I would like to see the Cleveland Brown’s reaction.
Purely meant in an academic way, of course. (How did the blood stains get up into the stadium lights?)
Comment by Matt, Esq. on 10/15 @ 6:14 pm #
I’d buy that for a dollar.
Comment by B Moe on 10/15 @ 8:04 pm #
“However, what Rendell fails to do is actually look at the county-by-county results of the 2006 gubernatorial election where he soundly dispatched of Lynn Swann by a 20-point margin. If Rendell had bothered to actually look at the election results, he would find that the reason Swann lost was because Lynn Swann got absolutely crushed in the Philadelphia region by 80% to 20% ratio, losing the City of Philadelphia by a 90% – 10% margin. That accounts for about 45% of the total statewide vote.
“It was with the mostly white, moderate-to-liberal Philadelphia suburban voters (those supposedly enlightened enough to vote for a black candidate) that Rendell racked up the big margin over Mr. Swann that propelled him to victory. Furthermore, in the most liberal part of the state, the “City of Brotherly Love,†black voters voted 95% against the first black gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania of a major party.
“When we turn our attention to the more rural, conservative areas of the state; we see that in 2006 not only did those areas vote for a black candidate, but that Rendell’s conservative-whites-that-won’t-vote-for-blacks voted for Lynn Swan in a greater numbers than Rick Santorum. In conservative bastions such as Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry and Adams counties Swann ran well ahead of Republican Rick Santorum. This despite the fact Santorum was better funded, better known and, by the way, white. Overall Lynn Swann ran ahead of Rick Santorum in rural central and Western Pennsylvania, where the state’s most conservative voters live.”
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/commentary/rendell-s-race-card-trashes-pennsylvanians
Fuck John Murtha, the lying son of a bitch.
Comment by B Moe on 10/15 @ 8:07 pm #
Although I do question the line that Santorum was better known than Lynn Swann in Western Pennsylvania, unless Santorum caught some Super Bowl TD passes I am unaware of.
Comment by Alec Leamas on 10/15 @ 10:17 pm #
Obama needs a solid 8 or 9 percent in PA on Nov 3 in order to win the state. Murtha is guessing that his understanding of the Bradley effect will account for 4 missing points from Western PA alone. He is not accounting for NE PA/Scranton and the people in Northeast and South Philadelphia that the Dems have fucked with for so long.
Comment by MarkD on 10/16 @ 7:34 am #
Being dissed by an unindicted Abscam conspirator who slandered his fellow Haditha Marines is an honor. Murtha, ex-Marine, is scum. I await the libel judgement against him.
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