Comments on: John Murtha Calls Western Pennsylvania Voters RACIST

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:10:03 +0000

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.

By: Dodd

Dodd — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:10:56 +0000

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.

By: John Murtha Calls Western Pennsylvania Voters REDNECK | FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:03:09 +0000

[...] Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania Remember last week when Democrat Congressman John Murtha called Western Pennyslivania voters racist? Then he [...]

By: Jared

Jared — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:01:56 +0000

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.

By: Shocker: John Murtha APOLOGIZES for Calling Western Pennsylvania Voters RACIST | FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:23:32 +0000

[...] Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Congressman has sort of apologized for his comments he made yesterday: Democratic Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that [...]