-_-

Wow, this is one of the most ignorant things I've seen in a long time.

I am from Arkansas and I would like to add that the point made is completely valid. In this area, I had many people who I thought to be very open minded completely lose their decorum when Obama was close to the white house.  They made many excuses not to vote for him, that were not valid and lobbied behind McCain in order to keep him out of office. So many comments heard were, “the world is not ready for a black president” or ” I am scared of what will happen with a black president” and little or nothing about his credentials. His name even came into play! I am not voting for anyone with Hussein in their name! Excuses! Around here, there are still areas that blacks are not allowed, towns where we cannot move to for fear of violence from whites. Yet, there is a side that many do not understand. Many black people here voted against Obama because he is black. The statements I made were from other blacks in the area.  There is a racial divide, even within the racial divide.

The point is NOT that voting McCain is racist, the point is that the states that went more republican map exactly onto the southern belt, a fact that as a whole is hard to deny.

I THINK ITS RATHER IRONIC THAT THE AREAS THAT ARE DEEMED TO BE THE MOST RACIST ARE THE PRIME LOCATIONS TO WHERE SLAVES WERE SOLD ONCE THEY LANDED ON THE SHORES.. PEOPLE WHO WERE CONSIDERED LOWER THAN PETS WILL INHERANTLY HAVE A HARD TIME BEING CONSIDERED “EQUAL” NONE THE LESS… A “LEADER” SUCH AS PRESIDENT.. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF ALL OF A SUDDEN YOUR DOG STARTED TALKING, WEARING CLOTHES, DRIVING A CAR AND SAID HE WANTED TO BE MAYOR? AS CRAZY AS THAT SOUNDS IS HOW RACIST PEOPLE LOOK AT BLACK PEOPLE. BLACKS WERE CONSIDERED “PROPERTY” TO THEM.. YOU DONT SEEM TO GET IT..
GO ON YOUTUBE SND SEARCH FOR “RACIST PALIN RALLY” YOU WILL SEE SEVERAL EXAMPLES INCLUDING A YOUNG GIRL WITH HER PARENTS WHO, AS THEY WERE CRITICIZING OBAMA, SHE BLURTS OUT “YEAAAA AND YA GOTTA WEAR A GLOVE TO TOUCH HIM”.. AMERICA IS PLAGUED BY WHITE GUILT AND PENT UP BLACK AGGRESSION. NO ONE TRUSTS THE OTHER, BUT THUS FAR, ONE SIDE HAS HAD NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER.

In response to the maps posted by Mr. Jonah Peretti, it is a good thing that your vote is not based on how many square miles of property you occupy, otherwise McCain would be president.

So everybody points out the logical flaws at work here and Jonah Peretti admits that he is only “partially correct” but this post with the title “America's Racist Belt” persists. It will continue to show up in the related stories cluster at top right, what, forever? This post should be taken down.

Those fuckers in Arizona that voted more republican are straight up hate filled racists. No other explanation for it. Also, anyone want to point to the flipside that apparently 78% of counties voted more socialist than they did in 04? Holy shit, McCarthy was right!

This is unbelievable!!! I know there are racists in America, both white and black, but just because there is a swing in democrats voting for the republican doesn't mean they are racist!!! For some it may, but much of it might be the face that Obama has very little experience, or maybe they don't want to give their hard-earned money to the poor! Most of those people didn't agree with his policies!  Now here's a question for you….Isn't it just as racist for a black person to vote for Obama just because he is black?

This is the dumbest article i have ever read so I'm racist b/c i didn't agree with Obama's views of “economic justice”, “sharing the pie” and “spreading the wealth” Why don't you make a new map showing those who voted mostly republican instead of democrat in past elections and see what it looks like

In Arizona's defense, we only voted for John McCain because he lives here. Oddly enough though, Yavapai County, where he and his wife own a ranch only went up by <5% and Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, didn't show any gain. We voted for Barry Goldwater for the same reason in 1964. We're not a racist state, we just offer the nation batshit crazy Republican presidential candidates. Sorry, America. Forgive us, we're the youngest of the lower 48.
FoxThePoet

I'm not going to say that voting for McCain over Obama makes you racist, or even that voting for McCain over Obama if you're a Democrat makes you a racist. I will say, however, that if you were a Democrat who voted for McCain over Obama but would've voted for Clinton over McCain, then, yes, you probably are racist. Clinton and Obama are so similar as far as policy is concerned that it makes no sense whatsoever to vote for McCain instead of Obama.  The fact is that McCain's only supposed advantage was “experience” especially in foreign policy. Yet as the race progressed it became quite clear his experience didn't keep him from making a shit-ton of mistakes and his foreign policy ideology was best summed up as “confrontational”. Toss in the ridiculous VP pick, and you have to forgive us for wondering about people who picked erratic, fear- and hate-mongering McCain over Obama. If not racism, then what? Ignorance?

From the beginning I have held the belief that no matter which candidate was elected we were screwed, just in different ways.

We have a new President come next year, so quit your whining or analysis of the process. The people spoke, move on. We have bigger issues to worry about, like repairing our economy, our foreign policies, and taking our rightful place ALONG-SIDE the other nations of this world in defeating hungry, disease, and war.

I'm getting tired of being labeled a racist just because I vote Republican. Is it to much to accept that Obama was elected on his merits and that people may have voted McCain based on merit as well? The problem is that McCain spent most of his advertising money on trashing Obama, instead of telling us about any of his merits. I know he's a war vet, I know he's pro-Iraq, it seems he's pro-war. He gets confused at things like Shi'ites and Sunnis, so it's hard to give him much foreign policy credentials. He himself said he's bad at financial policy, and would rely on his VP for that. Or, in a nutshell, if he spent the majority of his time telling us how bad the other guy was, and we obviously didn't believe that, we still don't know much about the merits of John McCain.

It is just as racist to vote for Obama because he is partially black as it is to vote against him because he is partially black. Italians have voted for Italians, Irish for Irish, Catholic for Catholic, and no one calls that racist.  Racist has an explicitly negative connotation. When folks vote against, say, Irish because they're Irish, yes, that's racist; when folks vote *for* Irish because they're Irish, that's racially based, but not racist. Lesson of the election #397: racists have a limited vocabulary.

My county voted 2 to 1 against Obama. I am surrounded by racist. Everyone that commented to me before the election feared the 'black man' will destrory the country. I have never seen so many white, fearful, racist, ignorant people in my life.
While I am ashamed to be a member of this community, I can now say again that I am a proud American.

It is just as racist to vote for Obama because he is partially black as it is to vote against him because he is partially black. Now, answer that.