I used to try and defend the South against stereotype-fueled charges of racism and ignorance, but I’ve long since stopped, in part because of things like this:
It turns out, less than surprisingly, that the cradle of the birther faith is in the South. Just shy of a majority of Southerners — not just Republicans, but everyone — believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. 47% of Southerners say Obama was born in the US; 30% aren’t sure; and 23% say Obama was not born in the USA.
And for those that don’t trust a DKos/Research 2000 poll, well:
Public Policy Polling was skeptical of the results found by DailyKos/Research 2000 that fewer than half of Republicans believed President Obama was a natural born American citizen.
However, in a Virginia poll currently in the field, PPP finds that just 79 of the first 168 respondents — both Democrats and Republicans — think Obama is a citizen, while 56 say he is not and 33 are not sure.
Update: Okay, that’s it. Get out of the )(*@#@%@# Union.
J. Tyler Ballance
I don’t recall you writing about the majority of Northerners being so ignorant and backward for believing that Bush stole the 2000 election.
Whether one can be a sectional bigot, or not, is not clear, but you seem to be attempting to prove that one can be a bigoted sectionalist. It is inelegant of you.
Don’t try to lump all Southerners into that Joe Sixpack mold that your mind has created.
It is a moot point where President Obama was born. He is President and his opponents will just have to endure it.
As for those who hurl insults towards him and his family, by calling him illegitimate, foreign born, a Muslim, Marxist or Socialist, it is clear to me that they really ache to call out, “nigger” to him, but they are at least socially adept enough to substitute those previously listed terms that relate to his religious or political affiliation.
The South is not the exclusive patron of racism, nor is the White race the sole practitioners of prejudice, or bigotry.
We all desperately need to move forward and away from our most base inclinations and work together to build the America of the Twenty-first Century.
To Mr. Obama’s detractors, regardless of where they live relative to the Mason-Dixon line, you must understand that Mr. Obama’s success or failure, is now the success or failure of our United States; so either join with us and push ahead, or get the Hell out of the way with your small minded distractions that vex our national spirit.
MB
Tyler, I don’t even know what to say to that defense against all sorts of things I never said, other than telling you that I’ve got a pretty solid and realistic understanding of the South.