home on the range, and the range is racist

I've taken a brief hiatus from DC to head home to California, where I've been on the campaign trail with Mom for exactly two weeks.

From the (seemingly) Democratic and diversity-loving stronghold of northern CA, I've had an interesting time observing the intersection of fear and politics. For those of you who didn't know, my home is in Yolo County, which is a largely rural county in the Central Valley. While Sacramento, our neighbor to the east, is both the state capitol as well as the most diverse city in the nation, it turns out that it is also home to the same breed and caliber of unabashed racists as we've seen over the course of this oh-so-long campaign in other states. A few of my favorite selections below:

Tina Graham, Dickenson County, Virginia:

"I never really thought about whether or not that I was racist, or however you want to put it," said Tina Graham. She fears Obama would focus on African-Americans at the expense of poor white people like herself. "It's just the fact that I think that he will represent them, and what they want, and what they need. ... They're his people, they're his race." (NPR.org)

Gayle Quinnell, Lakewood, Minnesota:

"I don't trust Obama. I have read about him. He's an Arab." (AP, Reuters, CNN, where has this not been?)

And of course, my favorite:

Plantation Descendant "Obama Monkey" friend in Johnstown, Pennsylvania:




I must say that John McCain was admirable in immediately "repudiating" (everyone's fave word these days) these distasteful and uneducated remarks by his backwoods supporters. But, that doesn't mean that the average white voter doesn't scare the crap out of me.

So, what's going on here, you ask? What does my home state of northern California have to do with a county in western Virginia that has a total population about half the size of where I went to undergrad? Or a Minnesota township that's basically Canada?

Well, holy shock to my system, Sacramento is just as racist as Obama Monkey Man from Scarytown, PA.

The Grand Ole Party of our neighbor to the east, the capitol city of the 7th or 8th largest economy in the world, is publishing this sort of horrifically bigoted drivel on its website, Sacramentorepublicans.org.

(Sacramentorepublicans.org)



(Sacramentorepublicans.org)

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME. I apologize for yelling, but seriously. Seriously?

The leader of the racism wolfpack, Craig MacGlashan (husband of Sacto County District 4 Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan, no less) initially didn't give, but later retracted his ignoramus statements, saying:

"At first, I did not realize how offensive the material was, and in the rush to move past it, I didn't take it seriously enough." (Sacramento Bee)

The offending "campaign materials" have been taken down, proper apologizing and falling over oneself to make things right, and firing of the volunteer responsible have all happened in rapid succession. But this B.S. makes the Palin mind tricks of free associating "Obama" and "terrorist" in the same sentence seem tame by comparison. If this level of gross insanity, misinformation and idiocy exists in my own backyard, Lord help us all.



< /end angryblog >