John Murtha Calls Western Pennsylvania Voters RACIST
Democrat Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania
Democratic Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday 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 told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site: “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
Murtha said it has taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to embracing a black presidential candidate, but that Obama 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 said Obama has a problem with voters’ racial attitudes in western Pennsylvania that could trim his winning margin on Nov. 4.
Murtha was a Hillary Clinton supporter and will aplogize in 3……..2……..1………..
Technorati Tags: John Murtha, Barack Obama
9 Comments
Emily
i am a new voter this year i turned 18 in september and i am part of the democrat this comment made today had me very upset. john murtha is speaking for the people he represents and that is not what i believe in. i feel that my name has been slandered and our whole area is now publiclly accused of being racist… i live in a very white dominated area and i have friends that are of different races. i feel john murtha has a few problems himself to work out because i’m not racist, he may be but im not
Jared
Wow…Jack has lost it for sure…I am in his district and feel that he should apologize directly to his district and the people from western pa. A few months ago, he said McCain was too old at 72 to be President…Hey Jack, you are 76, and the way you are talking maybe you should retire….I will not be voting for him this time or the next time…
b
Again, Murtha sticks his foot in his mouth. This seems to be commonplace with him.
First he insults the Marines of which he WAS a reservist in the Marines (I wouldn’t claim this poc on that)
and now he has a lawsuit against him (of which I hope he gets slammed).
Now, if you don’t agree with Obama’s views, you’re a racist. Why oh why do the good people of PA
keep electing this IDIOT?!!
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Jared
Sorry but the voters in his area need more than a statement from ‘Jack’ saying he’s sorry… more his aides told him that he made a major blunder by speaking what he believes as the truth. Maybe this election he is safe but the next one….We will pick a republican with new ideas that does NOT speak down or talk ill of his district and area. We vote for the person not the race. This year is about the people not Washington. I’m a republican and I think they all should go and put on term limits and get all of them OUT…Including you Jack you had done well for our area but that was then and this is now. Do us all a favor and quit and get the rest to follow you. Each side wants to blame the other but remember you are all the same in the end. It’s about the people not YOU.
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Dodd
Look — I lived in Western PA for 10 years (in 4 different towns); I went to school in Pittsburgh for 4 years before that; I have family still in Zelienople, Slippery Rock, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Uniontown, Youngwood, … that 14 year experience leads to me to agree with Murtha wholeheartedly … in general, there is a strong strain of prejudice and racism in Western PA … it’s not a cruel or divisive thing to say, in my mind, it’s a simple statement of fact. Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone is a racist, it simply means that there’s a general feeling of mistrust of (and in many, a dislike and fear of) people who don’t fall into the white, Christian, conservative, working-class mold. I routinely heard extremely ignorant and vile things said about (and witnessed mistreatment of) black folks, Jewish folks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Muslims … they’re not bad people, but in my experience, it’s a rather insular, isolated and parochial part of our country — many Western Pennsylvanians were born there, raised there, married there, worked there, and retired there … there’s a large low-income working class, they don’t travel much, and their world view is therefore narrower. They feel threatened by “the other.” All Murtha did was describe a discernible characteristic of his area — maybe it’s unwise to do that, but it’s not an untrue statement, in my opinion. He could have provided some context to his statement — for example, he could have said “Not everyone is racist, of course, but there is a strong strain of it here, more son than in many other areas of the country.” Still not diplomatic, but not a lie. I travel for business quite a bit — Florida, California, Illinois, Née, NJ, Boston, Charlotte, Kansas City, Denver, Dallas, etc. In my opinion, I was more aware of race in PA than anywhere else. The people make it an issue more often other places I’ve been.
Jim
To the fine residents of Pennsylvania……you ignorant dopes! How could anyone re-elect a bum like Murtha. He accused our US Marines of “cold blooded murder” and after each of them had been exonerated he refused to apologize and actually acted like he never said it, he called you racists and redneecks and you still voted for him…..you must be kidding.
Johnny
Maybe Pennsylvanians appreciate the 1st amendment and blunt honesty, even when they may not like what they have to listen to.
That’s true democracy. Either that or people just don’t know what Mr. Murtha really thinks of them.