(the three of us), Flutters, Whenifhow, and LasVegasDave.
Posted on 05/20/2012 4:30:07 AM PDT by Kaslin
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Dave Betras is known in “The Valley” for his colorful language and his political antics and drama. Last Wednesday, however, when Vice President Joe Biden visited a local industrial park, Betras was all about numbers.
“Oh, the valley is going to turn out big for Barack Obama this year, big!” he said, spreading his arms wide for emphasis. The chairman of Mahoning County’s Democrats pointed to the shipping warehouse of M7 Technologies, a local manufacturer, filled with people waiting to hear Biden speak. “Turn-out like today, a full room,” Betras, 52, said.
If his job is to turn out Obama supporters on Election Day, he may want to check on their allegiances before he buses them to the polls. Many of the Youngstown attendees at Biden’s event do not support him or the president.
Bob McClain and his wife, Myra, went to M7 Technologies to support their friend’s family business. Neither supports the Obama-Biden ticket.
“We are friends of the owners – that is why we came, to show support for the Garvey family,” said McClain. At 71, he’s retired but volunteers full-time as a counselor for Mahoning Valley small-business owners.
“Our vote is going for who is best to lead on the economy. That is Romney, for us,” said Myra as her husband nodded.
Richard Furillo stood with his son Matthew at his son’s place of employment; a lifelong Democrat, he voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t again. “I don't know why I did it but I cannot stand anymore ‘change,’ ” he said, referring to the president’s old campaign slogan.
Father and son both said they attended the event to support the company.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a sitting vice president,” added Matthew, also a Democrat. He, too, said he will vote for Romney.
Standing beside them, Jeff Cunningham echoed their sentiments: “The biggest challenge in this country is creating jobs that last, jobs that sustain families.” The 36-year-old valley native said his vote will be for Romney.
Montgomery “Monty” Deruyter sat several rows from where Biden stood, addressing the crowd. The 43-year-old father of two started working at M7 as a machinist two months ago; uncertainty is driving him to favor Romney.
“I hold both parties at arm’s length but trust Romney’s business skills to lead on the economy,” he said.
They were only five of more than a score of people interviewed who said they will not vote for Obama in November; they were the audience members not captured by TV cameras, who sat respectfully during Biden’s 30-minute populist speech while the party faithful – gathered up and bused in by Betras – leaped up every time Biden’s voice pitched several decibels.
Even then, discontent was voiced among those faithful – and worry that some of the community have no reason to vote for the president next fall.
Joe Louis Teague, 70, a black community icon who has run several failed campaigns for local office, is in charge of coordinating the Obama campaign’s voter registration in the Mahoning Valley. He is worried about the black vote because “people are discouraged.”
Black-on-black crime is out of control; drugs and poor parenting are at the heart of that problem, he said.
“I am going to be honest, I think he could have done more,” he said of the first black president’s attention to the black community. “I think he needs to do more.”
As Biden switched between fiery class-warfare rhetoric and whispers about his upbringing in neighboring Pennsylvania, two things stood out: no mention of coal or Marcellus shale natural gas – the resources that are bringing prosperity back to this region – and his rhetoric about middle-class resentment.
“They don’t get it! They don’t get who we are!” he shouted after one pitch about how Republicans don't understand the little guy in places such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
That’s an interesting take from Biden, considering Obama's “understanding” of those same gun- and Bible-clinging embittered voters that he famously described at a high-dollar San Francisco fundraiser in 2008.
It probably is why last week’s Quinnipiac poll showed only one percentage point advantage for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in the Buckeye State.
WHY the HELL do Democrats have to BUS in people??? Republicans wouldn;t THINK of doing it, and NO self respecting Republican would get ON the bus!
Dear Liberals and Conservatives: It’s the Economy.
We need to cool it on anything else. At the local and Congressional level get the most conservative candidate you can. Evict Obama and get the economy moving and the rest of your agenda is fine with America.
Because at its root, the Democrat is the “GIMME MINE” party. They have to bus people in because if they don’t, they won’t show up. And there better be a free lunch on that bus.
I suppose Democrats get on the bus because they want to see what it is like.
They are so used to being tossed under the Obama bus they do it just to be different.
If you don't know where your going or why or going there and someone offers you lunch money, you get on the bus.
1. Assemble at the Union Hall and lubricate the crowd at the bar.
2. Show them the cases of beer stacked beside the buses.
3. Load the cases on the buses.
4. Open the doors to the buses and watch the crowd follow the beer.
5. Drive the crowd to the demo.
Do you understand now?
Bump
Because 50% of the people are used to having everything done for them, which is why we're in this mess in the first place.
The Democrats have turned into a “GIMME YOURS” party.....they’ve gone way beyond “GIMME MINE”.
Gold Star post for the day !
Ohio ping
Good article. Alhough, no mention that only dolphins can understand what Biden is talking about. :)
I saw TV coverage of Biden’s speech .... it was nonsense. He sounded drunk to me. Does Bite-me have a drinking problem ?
The ‘Lie’; and Narcissism; are the bedrock of religious Liberalism.
He must have
Given that our next President is either going to be Obama or Romney, this is probably the best of our remaining options.
DemonRats have a fetish for forced-busing.
No, Biden is Larry Mondello.
Loading up a bus with beer and chips and driving past democrat party headquarters is the equal of dragging a c note through a trailer park.
Some Freeper should follow Biden around on his campaign stops to shout “YOU LIE!” during his nonsensical speeches. That’d be entertaining.
“Does Bite-me have a drinking problem ?”
In his case I would recogmend it.
oops..
recommend
And when republicans do get a good turnout for any event, the dems accuse them of bussing them in.
Alot of plagiarists in the democrat party.
And fake auto-bios.
And fake claims to ancestral lineage.
And fake bios of relatives.
And fake credentials.
Actually, Biden’s three brain cells (aka Curly, Larry and Moe) are wont to get out of synch from time to time.
We all didn't trust him and he couldn't figure out why CEO's may be great with some numbers but when it comes to the intuition of people most don't have a clue
Dolphins laugh at Biden, then ignore him....
I'd be interested to have Matthew how his life was enhanced by that moment. A tingle in the leg perhaps?
There's supposed to be an odd tombstone in Massachusetts that reads:
Here lie the bodies of James and John Jones.
One went to sea
The other became Vice President
Neither were ever heard from again
It’s interesting how a Democrat usually votes purely on emotion verses a Conservative that will usually vote based on a degree of logic.
It appears there were some independents in that sample too that look like they will break for Romney this time.
Sorry old Joe, we do get who the hell you are and that is why you will be fired. Yelling will not do a damn bit of good.
Heck, a few weeks ago Zero gave a stump speech about a mile from my apartment, and a couple of my friends were all a-twitter about getting to see the president. I made plans to be elsewhere that day!
Some years back, a politician with a sense of humor was asked why he always tried to be the Grand Marshal in a parade. He replied that when a circus comes to town, everybody wants to see the clown.
Yes, and don't ask them to clean up the trash they leave behind when they're finished eating that free lunch either.
I never realized it was such a big deal to see a sitting Vice President. I've seen two men who at the time were former Vice Presidents (Nixon, G.H.W. Bush) and one who was a future Vice President (Cheney), but none who was in office at the time.
My niece in Toledo got a photo taken of herself with Obama the week he ran into Joe the Plumber. She is a staunch democrat and her husband a staunch republican (good for him). Toledo is a strong union city and customarily votes according to what their unions tell them to do.
“Dolphins laugh at Biden, then ignore him....”
That is likely true because dolphin are smart. Whereas Biden is a big dummy.
Also, Dolphin are not plagiarist.
they were the audience members not captured by TV cameras, who sat respectfully during Biden’s 30-minute populist speech while the party faithful – gathered up and bused in by Betras – leaped up every time Biden’s voice pitched several decibels.
Triumph of the Will
AMEN to that, it is STILL THE ECONOMY that is to be the MAIN FOCUS.
Correct and it really always has been. Imagine that we consistently had a conservative governor and statehouse in 26/50 states over the last century. That’s local politics, but with national implications. Those conservatives could have fought for state’s rights, given a bad name over unConstitutional racially biased laws, and perhaps we could have kept the Leviathan in check. Imagine a FedGov half to a third the size we have now with less than a tenth of its regulatory power.
The SCOTUS will also be critical. We have to keep control of the thoughtspace no matter who is POTUS. I believe that Romney is the better choice right now, but electing conservatives from dog catcher to governor will do more to ensure liberty than fretting over Romney’s RINOism.
“I am going to be honest, I think he could have done more,” he said of the first black president’s attention to the black community. “I think he needs to do more.”
Yes, Obama had a rare opportunity to improve the lot of the black community but gave it up for political advantage.
But honestly he probably never recognized it after a life time of indoctrination by the likes of Rev. Wright in the philosophy of Black Liberation Theology.
What Obama could have done is spoke truth to power (Black Power) as the Democrats are fond of saying. He could have told the black community that they are destroying their own future, that blaming whitey does nothing to improve their lot, that black men making babies with multiple women that they have no intention of marrying or babies that they have neither the ability or the desire to raise will not improve the black community and will only make their lives worse.
He could have told the black community that none of these things is the fault of the white race and that the responsibility to change these things is entirely that of the black community and that only the black community can change these things.
But Obama is completely happy with things the way they are because all of these things keep the black community at home on the Democratic Plantation voting for Democrats 90% of the time.
These are things that a charismatic black leader needs to say to the black community. These are things that the black community needs to hear and things that they need to do something about. But Obama “the First Black President” has abdicated this responsibility and has missed the opportunity. The First Black President is coming to the end of his tenure as president having done less than nothing for his core constituency. The First Black President will leave office having only made things worse for his people; that is all of his people.
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