Opinion of West Virginia

[RINO Tom]

They showed their true colors in the 2012 Democratic primary.

Serious question: Why do you think Hillary Clinton won the NH Democratic primary in 2008? And don't tell me that Obama was too liberal for the state.

Probably for the same reason Bernie won Michigan: voters wanted the primary to go on and not have a coronation. NH on paper should've been a comfortable Obama win (like the polls showed), and vice versa for MI.

Had the media not crowned Obama as presumptive nominee (like if Edwards won Iowa, for instance) I bet Obama would've won it. NH loves to be contrarian.

And by the way, if NH is as sexist as you claim, Hillary would've done a lot better than 39% in 2008 and 38% in 2016. Shaheen also would've beaten Sununu in 2002. She also would not have underperformed Obama in 2008. Doris Haddock also would've not gotten crushed in such a massive landslide in 2004.

Don't be ridiculous: NH magically became the most sexist, inelastic liberal state in the United States one day (in a very similar fashion to when our two major political parties agreed on a nice, clean contract that allowed them to totally switch platforms in the '60s!).

[Thunderbird is the word]

Can't say I've ever been there though I imagine it's somewhat similar culturally to central PA. Does have an interesting history.

[Intell]

HUGE FF state.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Lean horrible state. My exposure to the state is basically entirely WVU, and they are some of the most disgusting college students outside of Columbus, OH. Their treatment of Rich Rodriguez' family when he left for Michigan was appalling. Whenever the win something or lose something the couches go out to burn. They throw batteries, coins, and bottles during games. I don't root against West Virginia and I don't wish ill on the state, but I don't have much affection for them at all.

Well....yeah, they do that. My aunt and uncle were at WVU in the early 90s and still reminisce fondly about burning couches, eating pepperoni rolls, and verbally abusing Pitt founds.

True story: my uncle voted against Arch Moore during the '88 gubernatorial election because a Moore supporter who was registering students to vote refused to give him a pepperoni roll because he was already registered. My uncle told the old bag that he'd vote for Caperton, and he apparently did. He wouldn't vote for another Democrat until 2008 when Obama ran.

[Figueira]

They showed their true colors in the 2012 Democratic primary.

Serious question: Why do you think Hillary Clinton won the NH Democratic primary in 2008? And don't tell me that Obama was too liberal for the state.

BUT HILLARY

Wait. Wrong poster.

[DINGO Joe]

Massive Freedom State.

Except the roads. They've managed to make the trip down I-64 through Charleston and the mountains worse than the trip down I-94 through the entire Chicago metro area.

Poor state plus impossible terrain equals horrible roads.  Goes for things like water and broadband access too.

[SATW]

Lean horrible state. My exposure to the state is basically entirely WVU, and they are some of the most disgusting college students outside of Columbus, OH. Their treatment of Rich Rodriguez' family when he left for Michigan was appalling. Whenever the win something or lose something the couches go out to burn. They throw batteries, coins, and bottles during games. I don't root against West Virginia and I don't wish ill on the state, but I don't have much affection for them at all.

Ah, yes, painting an entire fanbase as horrible is a totally reasonable thing to do. WVU is a good school and most of their students are good kids.

[Derpist]

Literal Freedom State.

West Virginia is the only state whose entire raison d'etre is human freedom and dignity.

[Figueira]

Literal Freedom State.

West Virginia is the only state whose entire raison d'etre is human freedom and dignity.

They were looking for an excuse to leave Virginia, but I'm sure a lot of them were genuinely anti-slavery.

Anyway, FS, but very tragic as Nathan said.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

They showed their true colors in the 2012 Democratic primary.

Serious question: Why do you think Hillary Clinton won the NH Democratic primary in 2008? And don't tell me that Obama was too liberal for the state.

BUT HILLARY

Wait. Wrong poster.

BUT HASSAN

[Reginald]

Terrible.

Hilarious how people here are so defensive over it, and not so much over similarly "unfortunate" states like Mississippi and Oklahoma.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I see that you have a Texas avatar.

[IceSpear]

Terrible.

Hilarious how people here are so defensive over it, and not so much over similarly "unfortunate" states like Mississippi and Oklahoma.

West Virginia is the only state you can't insult here without a mob of angry people with pitchforks coming after you for your "elitism", bigotry", and "latte liberalism." lol. Funnily enough, this Atlas taboo just makes me want to insult it more.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I don't think it should be acceptable to talk about Mississippi the way some people do either. Insulting Oklahoma is an Atlas meme but if it weren't I'd feel the same way about it. You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

[Goldwater]

I don't think it should be acceptable to talk about Mississippi the way some people do either. Insulting Oklahoma is an Atlas meme but if it weren't I'd feel the same way about it. You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

TBF the making fun of Oklahoma meme isn't really funny either.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I don't think it should be acceptable to talk about Mississippi the way some people do either. Insulting Oklahoma is an Atlas meme but if it weren't I'd feel the same way about it. You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

TBF the making fun of Oklahoma meme isn't really funny either.

I'm finding it less and less funny as time goes by, actually. Mostly why I still find it slightly amusing at this point is that I think 'Oklahoma' is an inherently funny word.

[Reginald]

You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

Not sure if you're addressing me or IceSpear here, but don't get me wrong: I don't find WV to be among the very worst or anything (that's reserved for states like Iowa). Breaking away from the Confederacy gets some points no matter what's happened since. It's just odd that this one state gets such a disproportionate amount of defense; probably shouldn't have phrased it so passive-aggressively. Not what I try to be about. And yes I wasn't really talking about you since I know you have an appreciation for the rural and quote-unquote traditional.

[RINO Tom]

You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

Not sure if you're addressing me or IceSpear here, but don't get me wrong: I don't find WV to be among the very worst or anything (that's reserved for states like Iowa). Breaking away from the Confederacy gets some points no matter what's happened since. It's just odd that this one state gets such a disproportionate amount of defense; probably shouldn't have phrased it so passive-aggressively. Not what I try to be about. And yes I wasn't really talking about you since I know you have an appreciation for the rural and quote-unquote traditional.

Have you ever even been to IA?

[Mr. Smith]

I don't think it should be acceptable to talk about Mississippi the way some people do either. Insulting Oklahoma is an Atlas meme but if it weren't I'd feel the same way about it. You're perfectly welcome to try to make insulting West Virginia a meme too, but forced memes tend to not go over too great.

TBF the making fun of Oklahoma meme isn't really funny either.

I'm finding it less and less funny as time goes by, actually. Mostly why I still find it slightly amusing at this point is that I think 'Oklahoma' is an inherently funny word.

To be fair, so is Mississippi.

[Gog]

Neither, it's just a state. That's all.

[Enduro]

Nice place, but unbearable boring.

[Reginald]

Have you ever even been to IA?

If we suddenly have to visit a place to have an opinion about it, this forum would cease to exist. Like it or not, most of these judgments rely on generalization and stereotypes (which is why we shouldn't be taking them very seriously, come to think of it). Iowa is actually a pretty clear-cut case for me though. Among other things, I hate our primary system and the caucus is a good symbol of that, and Big Corn is Big Corn. Any positives it may have don't offset those.

[Frodo]

PPP, West Virginia. President Obama gets only 28% approval there.

WV is a cesspool.

I wrote a little essay -- What is wrong with West Virginia?

The state came to rely heavily upon one industry (coal) and was ill-prepared for its demise. All extractive industries eventually go belly-up. The state failed to invest in schools and roads. This was when the Democrats ran the state and utterly dominated statewide politics.

When things fell apart, they really fell apart, and the Republicans got to take over quickly.

Michigan had much the same problem with the auto industry, and the state really is a cesspool in politics and economics. Unlike West Virginia, Michigan has a fairly-strong agricultural sector and tourist trade. Also, unlike West Virginia, the state used to be slightly R when the auto business started to decline.

If Republicans can turn West Virginia around (I am not sure if that is even possible), I'll tip my hat to them.  

[SNJ1985]

Massive Freedom State.