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by JAWVMM
While I was contemplating how it was possible for Truman Chafin to believe that West Virginia coal interests could possibly be seen as having any remote resemblance to those who brought Obama to the dance (and listening to a high-pitched whining sound from the west which I am convinced is Harry Truman spinning in his grave), Ken Ward reported on the latest evidence of Chafin's moral bankruptcy and apparent belief that Mingo County is the center of the universe.
Chafin supported Clinton's candidacy even when it was more than failing. During her May visit:
Clinton...implied that the party could lose in November if he is the nominee. Stopping for breakfast at Tudor's Biscuit World in Charleston, she said, "I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia."
May 12, 2008 Associated Press
Perhaps he remembers this and not that the current President actually did win without West Virginia.
Chafin's wife Trish, but not the man himself, was on the hastily put together West Virginia "Obama for America Advisory Committee," formed barely a month before the election.
But, he spoke out in support the week before the election Even now, he acknowledged, in places like Mingo, "there's probably not a lot of enthusiasm for [Obama]. It comes down to what's best for me and my family."
Washington Post, Monday, October 27, 2008
Oh, wait - that's not exactly strong support, is it?
Of course Mingo County was just an exception - the southern Appalachian mountaintop mining counties went overwhelmingly for Obama - oh, sorry - out of the whole region, the UMWA, not the Dems, managed to pull out only Boone Co. and McDowell Co. for Obama. And how about Martin Co., Kentucky - 76% McCain.
So who brung Obama? Not Chafin, not the southern Appalachian coal fields, not the majority of West Virginians.
Now Chafin is suggesting Rockefeller threaten to hold up health care reform unless the EPA is restricted from doing its regulatory job. 14,000 mountaintop removal workers (in a small area spread over four states, not just West Virginia) are far more important than the health care of the whole country, including those communities and the rest of West Virginia. Their kids, their truck payments, their house payments are more important than anyone else's, and more important than the health of the country, including those downstream and downwind of the mines and the power plants.
JBdem4usa points out in a comment that
From Summit Point to Point Pleasant the perception of the coal industry is the same, WV can't survive without the mining of the Black Rock. WVABLUE readers know otherwise, Coal Tattoo afficianados realize the truth but how do we get the word out to the majority of voters that this taken-for-granted, oft-repeated propaganda is just that...a lie? There must be a way to educate the public as to the fiscal realities of coal.
We need politicians who will speak the truth, with equal passion, that the state as a whole is not dependent solely on coal, and that the state can no longer be driven by the needs of just the southern coal counties. Studies, facts, editorials, and commentary will not convince people, especially when most of our elected officials keep repeating coal's panicky spin. Nick Rahall has come closest. Our Senators are both in positions to speak out regardless of immediate consequences.
Perhaps Rockefeller will be so repulsed by Chafin's base suggestion that he extort favors for the coal industry in exchange for healthcare reform that he will speak to the truth that coal is not West Virginia's only hope. Perhaps he will use his position to speak the truth that even the welfare of the miners and the southern coalfield communities has to be balanced against the welfare of all of West Virginia, the country, and the world.
Meanwhile, we all need to tell our state senators that West Virginia does not need a majority leader who openly espouses using power to extort favors for a few. |
