Tomblin says he's uncertain whether he'll vote for Obama
Source: Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Democrat Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said he - like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. - does not know if he will vote for President Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney in the fall.
"I do not believe that either candidate has a real understanding of what is important to West Virginia," Tomblin said Tuesday.
Tomblin said in statement released by his campaign that he was a "loyal member of the Democratic Party" but was concerned by fellow Democrat Obama's "misguided policies."
Still, Tomblin is also worried about Republican measures backed by Romney that could affect Medicare and Social Security, two programs crucial to West Virginia's 300,000 residents 65 and older.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.com/News/201205010245
Giantsfootball10
(74 posts)xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)VOTE A STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC BALLOT give the president a Congress!
Daniel537
(1,560 posts)I disagree with some of the Pres. policies too, doesn't mean i'm going to sit home or vote for the other guy, as if Romney is actually going to do anything to help the people of WV, which isn't exactly a wealthy state. Wish more people would actually vote their interest. Its a no-brainer.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)..... they aren't running for President of West Virginia.
How about the whole country?
shawn703
(2,702 posts)With the Democratic party actually moving further right, why do some of these guys like Tomblin and Manchin all of a sudden think voting for Democrats is now a bad thing? They sure aren't threatening to vote for the Green party so it can't be a gripe against them moving too far to the right. What has become so intolerable with Democratic policies now that these guys need to vote Republican, when they seemed fine with them before Obama was in office? What's different about Obama compared to any other Democratic president in recent history?
Yavin4
(35,454 posts)That's what has become so intolerable.
one_voice
(20,043 posts)I remember back in '08 they openly admitted they weren't gonna vote for a black man. They 'weren't ready for that'. Whatever the fuck that means.
these racist bastards piss me off too. I'm mostly white and I love my black President like no other President I've lived though these last 64 years.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)admitted that race plays an important factor in the decision to vote for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama.
First, the Right Wing knew this. That's why they exploited race and pitted Hillary against Obama. That's why they supported her over Obama.
Second, it was the same on the Democratic Party side. The level of racism was amazing! And West Virginia is a representation of that.
So, no, it doesn't surprise me at all that Tomblin and Manchin won't vote for Obama. They need to be relelected.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)WV is a POOR state! If either of these guys vote for the Ryan bill and deprive it's citizens of so much aid...they can kiss their asses goodby.
RitchieRich
(292 posts)your argument assumes citizens will vote based on self-interest, not on hate / ignorance. I assume their statements are in-genuine and meant only to parrot what the populace is receptive to.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Along with my wife's votes...
The "Friends Of Coal" are not friends of the people of West Virginia.
Edit...the Daily Mail is a Reich Wing Rag, but I believe this story is probably true.
Champion Jack
(5,378 posts)alp227
(32,073 posts)like the UK Daily Mail?
Ian David
(69,059 posts)Lasher
(27,664 posts)I've been warning all of you that Manchin is the worst DINO in the Senate. Worse than Lieberman even, who is now an independent. Manchin voted with Senate Republicans to block extension of the Bush tax cuts that excluded incomes above $250K, then voted with them to extend the version that included the wealthy elite.
If that isn't enough to convince you, then consider this: He is the only Senate Democrat who is a member of ALEC.
Tomblin is cut from the same cloth, as you can see in the OP article. But there's just nobody better to vote for.
Right now coal miners are being laid off, mainly because of the abundance of cheap natural gas. Miners blame Obama for these layoffs. Manchin and Tomblin are distancing themselves from him, hoping they can minimize the loss of coal miner votes.
I'm not making excuses for them. I'm telling you like it is. I hate our political climate. But trust me, you don't want wingnut extremist John Raese to replace Manchin in the Senate.
24601
(3,967 posts)agree with you some times to avoid those who disagree with you all the time.
But then again, tolerance for diversity of opinion isn't exactly our strong suit, is it?
Yavin4
(35,454 posts)A vote for Romney is a vote for the Paul Ryan budget which would gut W. Va.
This is a prime example of the working class and poor Whites thinking that everybody else benefits from government spending, and not them, so they vote Republican. Until, they find out that they indeed BENEFIT MORE than any other racial or ethnic minority.
Botany
(70,635 posts).... of "their pastors" who fill their heads w/ hate and lies. Coal is also very strong
in West Virginia and people have been filled with lies that environmentalists are the
enemy and are costing them their jobs.
global1
(25,294 posts)all they care about is keeping their jobs.
siligut
(12,272 posts)They are worried about Obama's clean energy stance.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)We don't need him to win again in 2012
kenfrequed
(7,865 posts)But in this case I completely agree.
We have spent too long reqarding fair-weather conservadems that stab us in the back whenever they get half a chance. Really, we should be hammering away the repukes but these fools would rather waste time and energy and give Romney some kind of credibility. Pathetic.
Lasher
(27,664 posts)No thanks.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Lasher
(27,664 posts)But I don't want my state to be another Wisconsin. Maybe such a thing is inevitable, I don't know. Big money makes sure just about every viable candidate - Republican and Democratic - is to their liking.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)I'd still vote dem
no_hypocrisy
(46,291 posts)West Virginia. It's not a gubernatorial election.
kenfrequed
(7,865 posts)That we supported such loyal Blue dog-shit. Seriously, these are the people that we are told again and again that we needed and once again we end up digging for the dagger in our back.
I have been intensely critical of the administrations polices and how the progressive left is being left out in an effort to appease jerks like these schmucks. The overwhelming majority of us will (despite what a few pretender trolls would have you believe) show up and vote for the president once more. But this is the kind of loyalty that the administration heaps rewards upon.
They should have taken a hard line against Evan Bayh's blue dog senate caucus back in 2009 and put them in line with a bit of executive leadership. If Rahm Emmanuel had actually been the tough guy he pretended to be he could have twisted a few arms and gotten to a progressive policy.
Fearless
(18,421 posts)Kingofalldems
(38,507 posts)Post on a Democratic site. Repeat.
Daniel537
(1,560 posts)and pretend stuff like this doesn't exist? Heh, i guess i prefer to live in reality.
nvme
(860 posts)"Democrat Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said he - like Sen. Joe Manchin",Obviously a Re-puke paper and reporter. If the first word of the reporters story is Democrat, then as a Democratic Party member, I realize the piece is attempt to diminish The president's re-election momentum.
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)Ugh!
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Most of Appalachia seems to be that way. Their hatred of blacks is so virulent that there is nothing Obama can do to gain their support. And they will continue to vote against their interests time and time again. I don't know what the answer is, but the answer is not to coddle them or pander to their interests. Ultimately if we continue to make inroads into Virginia, North Carolina, and the western states, they will be irrelevant.
scribble
(189 posts)West Virginians are pretty much racists. Their governor and new Senator are craven old-school Dixiecrat politicians. The Article was biased and gave away its bias in the first word in the story: "Democrat" instead of "Democratic."
But it's also true, that Obama's Republican-lite policies are not good for West Virginia; that Obama has done nothing at all in four years, to adjust his policies. It's why all of us (not just West Virginians) is still losing manufacturing jobs, still enduring a mortgage crisis, still supporting a financial industry that is preying on us, still paying too much for health care and education, still unable to unionize when we choose to.
Republicans are disgraceful, but Obama has had the hammer and he hasn't used it. I am disappointed in him.
In this case the Dixiecrat is right.
sc
n2doc
(47,953 posts)So I know about dixiecrats. Here they just don't even bother with the democratic party much. And I do agree Obama hasn't done enough to help West Virginia, but I can't see Manchin voting for anything that would help, short of some sort of total cave in to coal mining interests that would boost that sector at the expense of the local and world environment. That's the real problem, as we saw with Health Care Reform, the blue dogs basically torpedoed any hope of a single payer or universal health care system.
The Wizard
(12,556 posts)Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,512 posts)Thrill
(19,178 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,138 posts)yardwork
(61,771 posts)We would not hear a Republican governor say this about a Republican president up for reelection, or if we did, the Republican Party would come down like a ton of bricks.
47of74
(18,470 posts)...next time Mr. Tomblin comes begging for money if that is going to be his attitude.