Those Retarded Republicans Democrats

Posted by Brandon Crow on 07.17.2008

Will Barack Obama's chances for the presidency be sunken by retarded Democrats?

A recent AP/Yahoo! poll suggests that the Democratic Party constituents, particularly those staunch Hillary supporters, are not nearly as torn over supporting Barack Obama. 53% of those who backed Hillary Clinton before Obama became the presumptive nominee said they now support Obama. Those who responded confessed to still having bruised feelings, however, they also stated they are now in Obama's camp because party loyalty trumps their personal feelings. Many of them want to present a united front in November as a way to ensure a Democrat gets elected president in this historic and crucial election.

This piece of information did not surprise me. I was a supporter of John Edwards and when he stepped out of the race, I was disappointed that my candidate (and my hopes) were out. To this day, I still have not chosen between Obama or Clinton.

However, I was completely stunned when I ran across another segment of this poll. Many Democrats—read that again, Democrats—openly said now that Clinton is out they are determined to vote for Republican John McCain. If this was a decision made up of something intelligible, then I'd understand perfectly. However, these crazy Republicans Democrats offer "reasons" no better than the most stereotypical rednecks in the Republican Party.

One woman, Kristie Hartle of NewYork, a Democrat who has never supported a single Republican candidate in her life, said "I'm Republican all the way now." Hartle's reason: It [Obama's name] sounds to me like a Middle Eastern type of name and whether or not he's born here in the United States, he doesn't seem like, to me, somebody who is trustworthy." As if that wasn't idiotic enough, she then proffers the death blow: "who's to say he's not a terrorist and we just don't realize it yet?"

Though I would love to toss Hartle on to the smelly heap of fatuous Republicans and dismiss her as one of very few ignorant people still left in this country, I can't. And neither can the Obama camp. Truth is, Obama's "weird name," his family background and his skin color, are huge factors in this race because that is about as deeply as some people will ever look.

The sad, and ghostly truth is there are plenty of people like Hartle living in America still. And they're not just Republicans. Hartle, if you recall, was a life-long, registered Democrat.

Most troubling, Hartle is not alone. She has a "friend" in Dean Johnson of Alabama. When asked why he would vote for McCain over Obama, Johnson replied, "I refuse to vote for an Arab to be in my White House."

And then of course, there is the man recently highlighted on CNN's "AC 360," Bob Silverton of Memphis, Tennessee. When interviewed by CNN correspondents and asked why he would not vote for Obama, Silverton said, with a straight face, "Obama said he's about change. Well, the only change I've seen when it comes to blacks is usually in a cup."

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said, "Democrats are consolidating behind [Obama, but] we still have a lot of work to do."

A lot of work indeed.

The Obama campaign can certainly work harder and reach out to the undecideds and to those who are waiting for Obama to show them something more, but there is nothing they can do to convince the morons in either party that think—and I use that term VERY loosely—the way Hartle, Johnson and Silverton do.

Truth be told, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as frightening—and simultaneously depressing—in this country than the truly ignorant and retarded. And they're Democrats (in this case). Now that's disheartening.