[Madcow9000]

I come from Southern Mo. This area is seriously hardcore pro republican, racist, whitest, most anti Obama area in the country. And A lot, and I mean a LOT LOT LOT of these people would benefit greatly from Obama's healthcare reform, but they oppose it and encourage everyone else to oppose it simply for the reasons that he's a Democrat and not white. In the Ozarks, if you ain't white, you ain't right. That's how a the majority of people feel here. Their willful ignorance galls me and if you call them out on it, you're essentially out shouted by people who declare their own personal virtues very loudly.

Yes. At least around here, race is very MUCH a factor and people aren't afraid to say it out loud either due to the cowards assuming that they have the support of their peers. Take them out of their element and their racism disappears until they can find more people who agree with them. Half the people that live around here havn't even SEEN a black person in the flesh.