WOW ! SW Virginia newspaper endorses KERRY....Virginia goes BLUE !

[diamond14]

The Roanoke Times (South West VIRGINIA) endorses Kerry....VIRGINIA is now OFFICIALLY BLUE !!!! Go Kerry...Virginia leads the South to take back OUR Country....


http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/12328.html


Sunday, October 17, 2004


Sen. John Kerry for president


Voters presented with a clear choice for president this year should halt the nation's downward slide and oust George W. Bush.

America faces a pivotal decision in this year's presidential election: Continue down the current road, built on deceit and defended against challengers by barriers of fear, toward an imperial America that acts, probably briefly, with impunity in the world.

Or return to a United States that follows its own people's narrative of its history: a country made stronger by steadily expanding individual liberties to the oppressed. A country whose leaders submit to the rule of law and make war as a last resort only, never as a reckless gamble. A country of vast power that other free nations envy, perhaps, but do not fear.

President George W. Bush has failed that iconic America and the somewhat flawed real thing. In four years, he has damaged the United States at home and abroad. He does not deserve re-election; he has richly earned defeat.

We believe Democrat John Kerry can do better.


---------------------------------------------

Circulation area for The Roanoke Times....

[Renew Deal]

1. Who did they endorse last time?

[diamond14]

4. this is the "solid reTHUGlican" area of Virginia....an area where

people openly display their guns and their confederate flags....


notice the endorsement....a lot of it is because of the bush* removal of OUR rights....moaning the loss of OUR "Individual Liberties"....

[PROGRESSIVE1]

28. Who did they endorse in 2000?

[electricmonk]

30. Gore

About a month ago they had an article about all their past endorsements and ever since the 80's they've endorsed the Democratic candidate.

Election returns for Roanoke City for 2000
Gore/Lieberman Democrat 17,920 53.59%
Bush/Cheney Republican 14,630 43.75%
Nader/La Duke Green 603 1.80%
Browne/Olivier Libertarian 202 0.60%
Buchanan/Foster Reform 63 0.19%
Phillips/Frazier Constitution 18 0.05%
Write Ins 6 0.02%

[Progressive420]

44. if you look on your map up there Pulaski County

is where I live and every elected official in our county is a democrat I've been saying VA is going blue since the primaries but everyone was always saying that the only way it would happen is if its a landslide i think we are going blue either way.

[smirkymonkey]

2. Great news to wake up to!

This was the first post I have read today!

[Fluffdaddy]

3. Is this a major paper ?

[diamond14]

6. this is the ONLY newspaper for South West Virginia...it's read by

all the local people, who can read....


doubtful that the Washington Post is allowed distribution down there...this is the HEART of reTHUGlican country...the Confederate flag-waving, gun waving, and currently massively unemployed South West Virginians....

mad about the loss of their "Individual Liberties"....Love it....


the MOST IMPORTANT indication of this endorsement: Kerry will WIN Virginia....the reTHUGlicans have awakened and are voting KERRY !

GO Virginia....time to lead OUR country out of this bush* mess.....boot the criminals OUT !!!!

http://www.JohnKerry.com

[ncgrits]

7. I grew up in SW Virginia and guess what?!?

I can and do read!

I really get very tired of the posts about the South or Appalachia, in which everyone from those regions is an inbred miscreant. Please, people, back off the knee-jerk putdowns. Please.

The other paper for that part of Virginia is the Bristol Herald-Courier out of Bristol Virginia/Tennessee. . . . Don't know who they endorsed. . . .

[PCIntern]

9. Well done...

I grew up in the northern part of Bucks County, PA, and was sick and tired of having people ask me what our schools were like up there - one room or what.

It is imperative to reach out to all people. This is not the Skull and Bones Online Review.

yes, and I KNOW Kerry is/was a member.

[underpants]

19. Can we discuss Pulaski county?

Just kidding.

[realcountrymusic]

33. Right on

And on that note, in case you missed the earlier threads on this, download this KICKING anti-Bush *country and wester* song:

http://www.takinmycountryback.com

RealCountryMusic

[ncgrits]

34. Thanks! I LOVE IT!

I just downloaded it and put it on my Ipod!
I especially like that they included that line about "cussing out people on the Senate floor"!

Bubbas Unite!
B-)

[realcountrymusic]

36. Long thread on this song is at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1074359

Learn who sings it, what you can do to get it circulated in red states, and more.


For those who have not downloaded "Takin' My Country Back," even if you think you hate country music, you MUST PLEASE give this a listen:

http://www.takinmycountryback.com

[Lefta Dissenter]

39. that's ok

I've been asked if we have buffalo and cows just roaming around in our yards here in WI. And one of the MSM press photogs here at a Kerry event asked us where the cheeseheads were. Like everyone in Wisconsin walks around 24 hours a day wearing a stupid-ass yellow foam triangle on his head. :eyes:

I happen to think you live in one of the most beautiful regions of our country, so I'm a little jealous!

[underpants]

17. Yes-it has a very liberal or Big D Dem editorial page

Living in Richmond it is a great treat to read the Roanoke Times when we visit my in-laws.

Roanoke itself was a railroad/union town. They tend to vote Dem.

The weird part is that there seems to be about 6 different Virginia's

Northern Va-is seen as the liberal bastion though the Repubs have made inroads. My stepfather, a native Virginian, told me that there have been measures in the General Assembly to cut NoVa off from the rest of the state-let them be there own state. I don't know if it is true but it is funny.

Hampton Roads (SE Va.) is shipyard and military country.
ON EDIT- There are at MOST 2 degrees of seperation between every single aspect of daily life and those two institutions in Tidewater (it was 2 names thank you). Oh and Va.Beach is "Rosemary's Baby" clan of Virginia-big money and big votes for Republicans (Ollie North got ~90% of his money for the Senate run from the beach) and guess what 6 out 9 third graders in Va.Beach are on mood suppressant drugs (study a few years ago).


Richmond is the whining controversy driven seat of power.

Charlottesville is better than everyone else and they don't even want to hear different. NOTE-I64 between Richmond and C'ville is the only part of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway system not paid for by the feds. The powers that be in Albemarle county DEMANDED that the interstate go to C'ville when the original plans (based solely on population centers) was that what is now route 460 was to be an interstate. Our friends in C'ville could stand only having a dual divided highway so 64 goes to C'ville and stops-you have to take I81 south and then 64 restarts west near Staunton. Lynchburg is the largest city in the US not served by an interstate.

Roanoke is its own little kingdom. I don't mean anything bad by that it's just that they don't seem to care much for anyone outside of the valley and Richmonders don't seem to know it exists...unless they are going to a Va.Tech game.

The same can be said for Richmond-Hampton Roads, neither one seems to know the other exists and don't seem to care much for them anyway.

There is a strong link between Richmond and NoVa and some to C'ville as you see the hoitytoidies around here like to go up on Mr.Jefferson's mountain and look down on everyone else.

The last part is FAR SW Va.-the Bristol area. No one seems to even no that it exists (I can't speak for how they look at everyone else) but that area was what elected Mark Warner as Governor as he did what no one else seems to have ever thought of doing...he actually showed up there and reminded them that he knew that they exists.

There is a KerryEdwards office in Wise county (Norton ?) that is doing a lot of good so I hear. I swear all Kerry OR Edwards would have to do is show up there and Va. would easily go Blue! It would offer some really good footage that the rural voters would love to see.

[spooky3]

21. interesting--and as a NoVA resident, I'd be happy to secede!

but happier to persuade the rest of beautiful VA, and it truly is beautiful, to come over to our side.

[underpants]

24. Ha!

It is amazing the changes and hour (or two) drive in any direction from here (Richmond) brings with it.

[huckleberry]

5. I LOVE it!! Great line --

In four years, he has damaged the United States at home and abroad. He does not deserve re-election; he has richly earned defeat.

[ollie3]

8. I just don't get it....do you folks really want to win?

So do you want Virginia to go blue....or not? If you want it to go Red, call SW VA a bunch of hicks. That'll insure Bush victory. I used to live in Roanoke. There are more no more hicks in VA than anywhere else.
Northerners sometimes like to look down on the south, as if they are superior or something. They aren't.

[KittyWampus]

10. Thanks For The Reminder To Be Civil & To Embrace People

[ncgrits]

15. Thanks, folks!

Thanks PCIntern, ollie3, and cryingshame! Embracing people is _exactly_ what we need. There are a lot of fine folks in the mountains of Virginia. And calling people names doesn't really encourage their participation does it?!

My dad still lives there. His care-giver and her husband won't be voting for * this time. Pretty smart "hicks," wouldn't you say? :)

[spooky3]

23. as a former resident of parts of the Midwest, I know exactly what

all of you mean about stereotyping and you are right.

[Cha]

37. I lived in the South and have met

some good and bad people just like in the North, East, and West..

It's not the territory..it's the People!

To non Koolaid Drinkers everywhere! :toast:

[Onlooker]

11. That's pretty amazing

If Democrats start to make inroads into areas like this, it may be just a matter of a few years before the majority in our Congress and the majority of our state houses are Democrat.

[peppersnick]

12. CNN just said Kerry was endorsed by 16 newspapers

5 of which are in Florida. looks good even though they said all of these papers endorsed Gore in 2000!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

14. They are so full of crap. Apparently the Oregonion and the Seattle

Post-Intelligencer both endorsed shrubya last time and are for JK this time.

[mcg]

27. In 2000 the Oregonian endorsed Bush.

From the Oregonian web site:

"In 2000, the newspaper endorsed Bush."

<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/public_editor/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1097323439152041.xml>

CNN 'misspoke' (a euphemism for ....).

[mcg]

29. The Seattle Post endorses Kerry (they backed Bush in 2000)

<http://209.11.49.220/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000663358>

It looks like the Seattle P-I endorsed Gore in 2000. Here's a good article from the P-I:

<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/192828_joel29.html>

In the Northwest: Bush-Cheney flip-flops cost America in blood

[cmf]

31. The Seattle Times endorsed Shrub last time

The P-I was for Gore. Both papers are endorsing Kerry this time around.

[Bo]

13. I miss Tazwell...the trail of the lonesome pine...

[ncgrits]

16. You and me both!

I grew up in Emory, near Abingdon, and my grandparents all lived in Clintwood.
I really, really miss the mountains. (Living in central NC now.)

[gratuitous]

18. I'll bet I know part of the reason

A former pastor from my church relocated to Roanoke a few years ago (and we still love you and miss you, Rusty and Karen!). He's incredibly active politically, writing letters to the editor, attending meetings, organizing things -- an all-around terrific guy.

His representative is Bob Goodlatte, a real piece of work. But he stays in contact with Goodlatte, works him like a coach working a referee from the sidelines. And somewhere in Mr. Goodlatte's voluminous correspondence with Rusty is a photograph of yours truly standing next to an old-growth Douglas fir tree, an example to Mr. Goodlatte of what true old-growth timber looks like.

[jbane]

20. Living in Richmond, grew up in Pulaski...

The Roanoke Times usually goes Dem. The Richmond Times Dispatch would endorse Hitler over any Democrat. I would be very ....and I mean very, suprised if the Old Dominion goes blue.

[underpants]

22. H Ross MacKenzie

Okay did the hair on the back of your neck stand up?

"Was the deck commander of the USS Cole missing on maternity leave?"

Close to an actual MacKenzie quote- :grr:

The Brookins cartoon with "Clinton military readiness" in the hole on the side of the Cole generated massive amounts of negative e-mails to the Times-Disgrace as it should have.

For anyone reading this unfamiliar with the T-D---That IS how low they are.

[carrowsboy]

32. In Richmond, too

The other day (Thursday), I was driving around all over the west end and near RIC airport, so I decided to count political bumperstickers. Throughout the course fo the day, i counted 10 Kerry stickers vs. 3 Bush stickers.

Friday, I counted 5 Kerry stickers vs. 3 Bush stickers.

Seems like the debates woke a lot of people up around here.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

40. I hope VA does go blue, so the RTD can kiss our collective Dem asses!

[MacGregor]

43. It would be a beautiful thing to witness...

Not that it would happen, mind you (I would direct you to their Op-Ed and LTE pages). No single newspaper that I've ever personally laid eyes on is quite so vomitous as the RTD (up to and including that execrable rag The Virginian-Pilot). The Roanoke Times endorsement, OTOH, doesn't surprise me all that much (Va Tech alumnus).

Obligatory Aside: I relocated to the Richmond area out of necessity, and I'm bugging the hell out in my desire to leave: Hampton Roads? Been there, done that, it's become Wingnut Central, and if you want to work, well, I hope you like call center jobs! (which I don't, and is all that I've been able to find in Richmond either). Roanoke/Blacksburg area? Won't have me, I've actually gotten interviews out there and been rejected each time. NoVA? I think I'd be closer to Being Among My People, but it's way out of my price range, which right now is "free or less."

IOW, Virginia sucks, much more so if you're a liberal looking for your vote to ever count. Anyone (preferably in a blue state) looking to adopt?

[UpsideDownFlag]

25. um... rural va is solidly red. nt

[Rex_Goodheart]

26. Holy moley... That's a big Republican area...

Fundy central.

Big news.

[Zhade]

35. No. Freaking. Way.

I moved to Los Angeles from Roanoke. My son lives there with his mom. Very fundie area.

WOW. Just, wow.

[DemocracyInaction]

38. That was very well written

I like the references to the downward slide of this nation. Why can't the stupid assholes of this nation figure out that when your sled just keeps picking up speed towards the big crash at the bottom, you bail the hell off??!?!?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

41. Downward slide of the nation. If a small paper like this can figure that

out, howcome we never hear about the nation's "downward slide" on the big fancy networks and cable? :shrug:

[sofa king]

42. It's also college country.

Radford, Ferrum, Hollins, Roanoke, NRV, Virginia Tech, Washington & Lee, and VMI, to name some.

When I was going to school down that way, the local communities tried hard to disenfranchise the students--and largely succeeded. What's the status of student voting in Virginia these days?

[MADem]

45. This paper

http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/ covers the Norfolk area. I don't think they have endorsed yet, but last time they went for Gore.

BTW, on their front page today, there's a WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR poll--right side, down a bit. Click on it, never know, might influence their decision!