West Virginia was created because a Republican Administration which defeated the South broke Virginia in half in hopes of preventing Virginia from ever again being a strong and powerful state.
It has always been a resource rich area of low income working whites; primarily coal miners and timbermen.
Standard of living has always been lower than most of the affluent states, and the people there have always led lives of "seclusion' away from New England or the West Coast.
In short -- people always think of West Virginia as a beautiful state full of trailer trash white people with satellite dishes out front and three old decrepit cars setting on cinder blocks in the front yard.
Surely an exaggeration, but the "working class miners" know from past experience that without Democrats and men like Senator Byrd they haven't got even half a prayer in life.
That's why they traditionally vote Democrat.
Byrd did more for the entire state than anyone else ever has -- in the same way as Senator Jesse Helms is the "ornery bigoted redneck" who did more for North Carolina than anyone else in the state's history.
Much of their "hick" act is exactly that: an act necessary to keep support of backwoods miners and lumber yard workers.
Those who still believe that "Repubs good & conservative / Dems evil and liberal" are living in willful self delusion.
I'll take a backwoods "bigot" who stands for the Constitition as written, was a KKK member (another prerequisite for success in the days in which those men grew up and lived), is a Democrat Party member, and says clearly to your face what they think about matters, any day of the week -vs- some "slick" GOP New Englander Yale elitists who speak with forked tongue for 'conservative family values' while supporting abortion, homosexuality, and open borders.
It's not too difficult to figure this all out.
Jews in America and Israel are told to believe that Rabbi Kahane and Chaim Ben Pesach are fascism and evil incarnate, and are told to believe that JTF is a terror organization.
They are told that Netanyahu and Sharon are "real right wingers" and "hard-liners" who keep the Jews in danger by their refusal to compromise with the PLO & Hamas.
Whom do you trust?
