Commentary: Poor Whites Voting Against Their Own Interests Out of Racism Only Reap More Poverty, Hardship

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com

He should have just come right out and said, “So long, suckers.”

Vice president Dick Cheney -- the power behind the hubris-padded throne of George W. Bush -- recently gave a verbal middle finger to all the poor white people who voted them into office -- twice.

During a question and answer session at the National Press Club, Cheney talked about how his wife, Lynne, had researched his roots, and had learned that he had Cheneys on both sides of his family.

“And we don’t even live in West Virginia.” he said.

Then to eliminate any doubt about his intent to insult West Virginians, he added: “You can say those things when you’re not running for re-election.”

In other words, he was saying: “To hell with you hillbillies. I’m outta here.”

Not surprisingly, he apologized later. Yet while some pundits have decried Cheney’s insult as proof that poor whites are the last group that can be insulted with impunity, I say that for the majority of them, the condition is largely one of their own making.

COMMENTARY....