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My family background is not as deep in Appalachia as yours, at least recently, though it does go back to the earliest settlers fleeing the wrath of Lord Berkeley.

That, notwithstanding, I deeply resent the insinuation that these people are racist. Many of them ran underground railroad stations and fought for the Union in the Civil War. West Virginia, the center of Appalachia, was so pro-union that it split off from Virginia.

Eastern (Appalachian) Tennessee was solidly Republican from the Reconstruction Era while the rest of the state was part of the solid south for Democrats.

Appalachian North Carolina was so pro-Union that the Confederates wrote it off early in the war as not worth either defending or exploiting. The famed abolitionist Levi Coffin and other Quaker groups operated openly.

Even the famed Shenandoah Valley of Virgina only got fully on board with the South during the later years of the war in reaction to ill treatment by the invading Union armies.

Our own western Pennsylvania, of course, was a prime recruiting ground for some of the best and bravest of the Union Army, including General Thomas Kane whose service in the cause was so faithful that he was later given a town site which still bears his name.

What the Appalachian people deeply resent is outsiders who tell them that somehow certain folks are better than others. Does anyone prominent in American politics fit that group of elitists any better than Obama and his supporters?

That, notwithstanding, I deeply resent the insinuation that these people are racist. Many of them ran underground railroad stations and fought for the Union in the Civil War. West Virginia, the center of Appalachia, was so pro-union that it split off from Virginia.

What I deeply resent is the insinuation that "pro-union" equates with being "non-racist."

And my heritage is deep into Applachia as well.

That, notwithstanding, I deeply resent the insinuation that these people are racist.

I'm just telling you like it is, man! I was born and raised there and know exactly what the people there (at least in Southwest Virginia, Southern West Virginia, East Tennessee, and Eastern Kentucky) say and think, when reporter reporters hovering around looking for a sound bite. (My mom's family arrived in 1642 and my dad's in 1682)

That Hillary got 90% of the vote throughout this whole region during the Rat primary should speak volumes about what is really going on there with the Democratic vote. It's not about Liberal or Conservative, or even Republican or Democrat. It's about not voting for Obama there because he's black and was a member of Wright's virulent church.

Just wait until election day, and you will see that McCain will win that region by AT LEAST 70%.