The harsh truth of the matter is that western Pennsylvania is an anachronism, a place stuck in its hard-scrabble past. If not for their electoral significance and the constant public fretting of talking heads (and Pennsylvania natives) like Chris Matthews and Michael Smerconish, these people and their peculiar culture would be right where they belong--barely visible on the faded edges of our cultural map.

This region, by clinging to its regressive attitude about race (not to mention its guns and religion), willfully chooses to remain backward and thus, irrelevant when compared to much of the rest of America. The author pleads for empathy toward these people, yet his rendering of their collective character is unsympathetic. I think our future president has already figured them out.

Hmm - I think you're doing much more harm that good here. Your post does nothing but bolster the charges of Obama being an elitist. Also - you seem to insinuate that you would be ok with the future president ignoring/discarding areas that you deem regressive. That's problematic to me, as it refutes the claim, and how I feel, that many of the folks in Western PA are voting against their own interests when they vote against Obama strictly based on race. Please stop.

I actually think Obama will carry Western PA, or at least, much of SW PA, but treating people who are voting for him despite their reservations, regardless of how irrational/unfounded/backwards they may be, with contempt does not help that effort. You don't have to say anything nice about them - just keep the venom to yourself.

Also - how is the area's attitudes about guns or religion regressive? I ask that as someone lacking both faith and firearms...

You're misreading what I wrote. I said these people cling to their regressive attitude about race, just as they cling to their guns and religion--not that they're attitude towards guns and religion is also a regressive one.

As for the rest of your comments, I don't understand what point you're trying to make. You scold me for my "venom" and lack of compassion, yet many of these people, as described by the author and Jack Murtha, are full of "scary" racist venom and little else. At least, he offers no evidence of any redeeming qualities. So perhaps you should take the matter up with him. Here's a quote near the end of the article,

"I don't hear this kind of talk as frequently these days, but I have no doubt a scary portion of the population is still seized by the underlying prejudice. Its expression has become forbidden, but I'm white enough to know the code, and the code is widespread enough for me to recognize it many places."

I hope western Pennsylvania does end up voting for Obama. But I for one, am frankly fed up with our country's electoral fate being decided by groups of willfully ignorant and woefully uninformed people who make voting decisions based on fear and prejudice. They're not only voting against their own economic interests, they're voting against our nation's interests, and I hope this election they will stay home.