A top aide to John McCain said on October 18 that John McCain still has a strong chance of winning the state of Virginia because of his support in "real Virginia," the downstate areas far removed in distance and political philosophy from the more liberal northern part of the state.
"As a proud resident of Oakton, Va., I can tell you that the Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into northern Virginia," McCain senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer said on MSNBC. "And that's really what you see there. But the rest of the state, real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Sen. McCain's message."
Program host Kevin Corke asked Pfotenhauer if she wanted to retract the comment, prompting her to reply, "I mean 'real Virginia' because northern Virginia is where I've always been, but 'real Virginia' I take to be the - this part of the state that is more Southern in nature, if you will. Northern Virginia is really metro D.C."
Here's my open letter to Ms Pfotenhauser:
Excuse me, little girl, you don't know what you are talking about. I am an eighth generation Virginian living in "real Virginia." I have an ancestor who was in Virginia in 1660. I have never lived in northern Virginia. I did not move to the state from Washington DC.
I was born in Virginia's Piedmont and now reside in the Roanoke Valley. I am a life-long Democrat and proud of it. There is nothing about John McCain's message that resonates with me.
I have a great-great-grandfather who gave his life in the Civil War as part of the 19th Virginia Infantry. Three other great-great-grandfathers also served in the Confederate army, two of whom were wounded and one a prisoner of war. My ancestors built this state, and I know for a fact that they would be proud of me for supporting a man of the people, a man who will look out for the welfare of the working people of the state we love. That man is NOT John McCain. It is Barack Obama.
My proudest day as a Virginian was in 1990 when I watched in Richmond as the Old Dominion finally overcame its past and inaugurated L. Douglas Wilder as the first African-American elected as a governor in our nation's history. (I spent a pretty penny on that dress I wore to the Inauguration Ball in the fine capitol of the Confederacy, and I thanked the Good Lord that my home state had finally taken a giant step into the future. I look forward to another such step on November 4 as we inaugurate a man who can lead this nation out of the mess that Republican mis-management has created.)
Now, little Miss Nancy Pfotenhauer, I feel sure that that this cradle of our American nation - the home of the real first Thanksgiving, the mother of eight presidents of this great land, the land that nurtured my ancestors - will finally turn from the past and joining the majority of the United States in electing Barack Obama as the next president of this fine nation.
By the way, little lady, you might need reminding that real Virginians don't appreciate somebody telling them what they think or what they will do. Where were you born?
Living in Richmond, according to her, would be part of this so called realness of Virginia. I am glad to know that I live there as I am decidingly real. How does that make me more of a real Virginian than Lowell, or Josh? Ask McCain I simply can not figure out this new English that his campaign uses in everyday talk. Or the new math they use to make them feel as if McCain is extremely far ahead in this race.
Pfotenhauer makes it sound like the Democrats surged into DC, took over and than moved into Northern Virginia to continue to surge of "fake America."
Anybody for boiled peanuts?
She is racist! and virginia has gottin rid of its racist ways.
More so than "northern states" like ohio and indiana
Well, my father, mother, and both sets of grandparents were all from Southwest Virginia. I graduated from Virginia High School, same as my parents and my maternal Grandmother. I consider myself a real Virginian even if Pfotenhauer doesn't.