http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/13/mississippi-republ icans-for-hillary-what-gives.aspx

This is one reason why I favor closed primaries.

Where does it show any racism, because people dont think Obama is qualified to be CINC? I don't think he is either. Not because hes black, Gen Powell would be qualified, as would Condi Rice.

12 percent of Democratic primary voters described themselves as Republicans, but a stunning 75 percent of these crossovers chose Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. The numbers were shocking because of how sharply they broke with established trends (because Mississippi Republicans are whites who don't like blacks).

91 percent said Clinton is more qualified to be commander in chief, while only 3 percent said Obama is more qualified; 94 percent said Obama does not inspire them "about the future of the country"; 89 percent would be dissatisfied if Obama were the Democratic nominee"; 86 percent said Obama is not "honest and trustworthy"; 86 percent said Obama has not "offered clear and detailed plans to solve the country's problems"; and 82 percent said Clinton should not pick Obama to be her running mate if she is the nominee. For comparison's sake, consider the latest Newsweek poll: 41 percent of Republicans had a favorable opinion of Obama.

Nationwide, most Republicans like Obama more than Clinton (in the same poll, she earned an unfavorable score of 73 percent). But the few driven to vote in Mississippi's primary were hard-core Obama haters.

Bottom line, the Republicans that showed up for the Democratic primary did so out of hatred for a black candidate. There can be no other answer. Luckily, Mississippi does not matter nationally, and these closed minded GOP bigots are a small and irrelevent minority compared to the general population. But then again, what would we expect from a state that is at the bottom nationally in both literacy rates and per capita income?

"But then again, what would we expect from a state that is at the bottom nationally in both literacy rates and per capita income?"

Precisely. Those rankings are more significant than any poll is.

It happened because the Republicans feel that Hillary will be easier to beat in November so they want her to be the candidate. Their candidate, John McCain already has the Republican nomination.

You can count on the radical lefties to try to turn it into a race issue. That always happens. It has about as much meaning as stepping on an ant.

The only people turning it into a race issue are the Clintons --and their "nothing else matters" supporters.

The rest of us are just pissed off.

"The only people turning it into a race issue are the Clintons"

And the person who started this thread and created the headline.

Deane, what explains the huge variance between Republicans in Mississippi compared to Republicans elsewhere when it comes to opinions on Obama? Why the hate for Obama in Mississippi? The answer is crystal clear. White Republicans from Mississippi are bigots and hate blacks. This is why they showed up to vote in a Democratic primary...

Sez you.

There was an organized effort to get the Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary. The reason is the Republicans feel Hillary is beatable, Obama may not be. That's the reason.

Now, do some folks in the south have a dislike for blacks. Absolutely. But to say it's Republicans who hate blacks but white Democrats love them in the south tells me you're further gone from reality than I may have realized.

Deane does have a valid point here. The same thing happened in Texas ... I wouldn't be surprised to see it in a lot of stops now that McCain has wrapped up the GOP nomination, the Republican votes mean nothing in those states, and let's face it here, McCain stands a much better chance against Clinton than he does Obama.

Texas is not Mississippi! Look at the stats and the break in the trends. What gives? Racism.

Texas is not Mississippi, you're right. But the same thing happened in BOTH states. Why is it blatant racism in one state and just a coincidence in another state?

I'm not denying racism existing in Mississippi, God knows that it does. But to blame the whole thing on it is wrong.

Vitalogy, show us something that indicates it's more than your opinion that it was racism that got the Republicans to cross over.

We're not talking about whether or not there is racism in the South, there is. What we're talking about is why the Republicans crossed over and voted for Hillary after they were told repeatedly to do so.

Keith Olbermann was absolutely right last night. I believe that every American, regardless of party, needs to take a deep look inside. If they think this is wrong, regardless of party, they should speak out loudly and clearly.

The voter racism is not nearly as acute among the GOP as one might think. Many have voted for Obama, but their numbers are obscured by things like the "Rush Limbaugh Effect." To most Republicans, this is all about November. The intense desire to hand Hillary's head on a platter to the American people is the overwhelming reason they want to see her nominated.

Virtually all of the current racism going on in this election has been coming from the Clinton camp. Whether whispered or hollered, she has been playing the "Southern Strategy" like an old-school Republican (or Democrat) for months. Outside of a few wingnuts (e.g. Rep. King) this division is a Democratic Party problem.

If members of the party paid attention to this back in Iowa when Clinton staffers were caught sending out "madrassa" spam, it would have stopped. If they detected the "dog whistle" from Bill early on, this would have stopped. If they stopped this when Ferraro was privately spewing her bile at fundraisers for months, this would have stopped. The party itself is either too hippy-dippy to police their own, or they share the racist philosophy.

If the party did not see this coming in Iowa when negative campaigning was already eroding her base, how can they redeem themselves? Well, for starters, they can stand up for the American ideals they preach, but do not practice. Until then, as far as I am concerned, they have regressed to the party of plantations.

So, until I see a huge crowd of super delegates with some spine making this primary about winning against McCain, and not identity politics, my opinion is still out about whether any Democrats deserve my time, my talents, my money or my vote in the future.

The intense desire to hand Hillary's head on a platter to the American people is the overwhelming.

To continue to disgrace her husband no doubt. They just can't leave him alone... He's been out of office for almost 8 years and they just keep pounding on him. WOW! This shows the intelligence of the EXTREME Right.
The next eight years is going to be so much fun!!!! We can all continue to kick the living shit out of DUHbya.

It almost sounds like the 50s and 60s with the Dixiecrat sect of the Democratic party ... which definitely hurt the Democrats nationally.

It sure did Brianl! In fact, it almost killed the party when they had to fight this fight back in those days of intense racial divide. Never forget, those fire hoses in Alabama and Mississippi were mostly held by Democrats. Along with many well-meaning voters, those racist folks also voted for Clinton. Even in the "liberal" party, the work is far from done.

We finally have a generation of kids who can use the web to research a candidate. They are a new "information breed" who judge folks more on merit than some pie-in-the-sky idealism. Remember, they have guns in schools that are falling down. They have classmates whose bodies are strewn across the Middle East. They have no chance of achieving any Horatio Alger bullshit, but they still have hope and faith in our nation.

They get together to fight against racism. They get together to fight against the war. They get together to help after Katrina. They even run for office, like the Mayor of Pittsburgh. When finally given a chance, they get together behind a candidate and the Democratic Party tells them that they are delusional.

I sure can't wait until these baby boomers are done having the philosophical fights that they started in college. It seems to me that this decades long political pissing match has jailed, killed and injured a whole lot of young folks, put a whole lot of folks out of work, divided folks by class, gender and race, and left a whole lot of old folks lacking basic needs.

So, will we clean this ugly mess up, or live in denial for another generation?

I'm not the only one with the opinion that racism played a part. The author of the article agrees with me.

And, it's one thing to vote for HIllary to screw things up, but it's the EXIT POLLING that really raised my eyebrows:

"91 percent said Clinton is more qualified to be commander in chief, while only 3 percent said Obama is more qualified; 94 percent said Obama does not inspire them "about the future of the country"; 89 percent would be dissatisfied if Obama were the Democratic nominee"; 86 percent said Obama is not "honest and trustworthy"; 86 percent said Obama has not "offered clear and detailed plans to solve the country's problems"; and 82 percent said Clinton should not pick Obama to be her running mate if she is the nominee."

Clearly it's more than the GOP trying to screw with the votes. These white GOP voters really dislike Obama, and I believe it's because of the color of his skin.

Okay, you are entitled to your opinion as an outsider to a competing party. I was the first to bring it up in another thread, but I reached a different conclusion. I know of few folks who subscribe to your theory on either side of the aisle.

Now, how about focusing on the real issue here. The GOP knows that Obama is a very strong candidate. Forget race, gender, middle name and all the rest of that claptrap. He could win this running away. The GOP also knows that Clinton is like a 7,000 pound elk. Plenty to shoot at and plenty to go around when the feast begins.

Hillary cannot win this election without stealing it, or screwing the party until 2012 when she makes another run. So, with that writing on the wall, I would say that she is damn lucky that Barack Obama is not a white man. Because if he was -- and had his current lead after over a year on the stump -- the whole party would have already anointed him. We would be focused on November, and we would not be having this discussion at all.

With that said, I am not sure that any member of the Democratic Party is excluded from blame for letting this kind of politics exist. Now that the ugly parts are exposed, do we have an open dialog about race and gender as a party? Or, do we stay the course and simply turn our backs on black folks and moms except for a brief flirt at election time?

I am serious as a stroke here. What kind of party lets this kind of politics go on and on unchecked without reacting en masse? What kind of country watches a woman and an African-American rise above a whole field of capable white guys, then decides it was some magic that put them both in the final stage of the contest? Where did all that pride and party unity go, or was it just a charade?

If the Democratic Party thinks it has a future with this kind of behavior, they will be in for a very rude surprise in November and many Novembers to come. In every state, every candidate is in jeopardy right now because of a sore loser who ran a race out of entitlement and not a sense of urgency. Obama is the only choice. Clinton has forced it to be that way. The super delegates need to step in right now.

Well, I've made my phone calls and pretty much will not vote for Clinton.

Don't like any of it.

Obama is doing well because of Obama, nothing else.

If that means not voting period, I'll do that.

And if that's 4 more years of Bush like politics, then that's how it will be.

Have to call Hilary and her bluff on this matter. It may cost, but it's gonna have to just cost.

Obama only, or nothing.

Should she run again, there will be no vote then either.

The Clintons are trying to leverage it, and that's just not ok. They are also counting on lots of people voting Dem no matter what.

I am no longer among those people and I spent some time letting others know about it.

Do I think some of this was going on?

Absolutely. Nobody is perfect and that includes us Americans. However, I also think it was not gonna impact Obama winning overall.

Hilary can't leverage the need to clean up the nation like this and have anything good come of it. If she succeeds and costs us change --and that's Obama, then it's gonna get very ugly.

Major bummer too.

90% of the blacks voteed for Obama, isn't that racist?

No, that is called an informed choice.

What is your motivation for voting for any white candidate?

I vote for any candidate as an informed choice regardless of color, gender or religion.

In spite of what the Democratic Party is doing right now, it makes me a pretty average white guy these days.

Ask around, most average white guys are disgusted with these regressive politics. In fact, most folks regardless of party, gender, race or background are sick to death of it.

Missing_KSKD, I am of the exact same mind. I will be voting for Obama in November, even if I have to write him in on my ballot.