According to the Google Machine, Stuart Rothenberg, a senior editor at a Washington DC-based political site that brags in its header about “Nonpartisan Analysis,” is both white and 70 years-old. And so, like many old, white Democrats, as more and more time passes, more and more his hatreds and bigotries reveal themselves. On Thursday night, Rothenberg all but used his Twitter account in place of a white hood as he smeared the good people of West Virginia, and did so with provable lies.
While President Trump was wowing his supporters last night at a West Virginia rally — where the governor of that once-Democrat stronghold announced his shift from the Democrat to Republican Party — Supremacist Stu let loose a few; unleashed a torrent of prejudice against an entire state filled with more than 2 million Americans. The problem is, it was mostly lies — flat-out fake news.
Rothenberg, a plugged-in and longstanding member of the DC elite, started with this smear about the people of West Virginia being unable to support themselves or speak English:
And yet, according to the most recent data I could find, West Virginia’s unemployment rate is just 4.6%, which ranks it above California, Delaware, Illinois, Connecticut, and Washington DC — all Democrat strongholds.
As far as English speaking, according to this map from the Washington Post, that isn’t even close to a problem in West Virginia.
After the Internet struck back, Mr. Nonpartisan Analyst attempted to justify his ignorance with — “West Virginia ranks 42nd in percentage of high school graduates” — which, as you can see here, is not even close to true:
According to a report dated April 2017 from the Department of Education, Rothenberg is lying. While the national high school graduation rate is 83%, West Virginia’s graduation rate sits at an impressive 87%, which elevates it well above such cherished left-wing states as California (82%), New York (79%), Washington (78%), Oregon (74%), Minnesota (82%), Rhode Island (83%), and Rothenberg’s precious Washington DC (69%).
Moreover, those provincial hicks in West Virginia somehow manage to enjoy a graduation rate that ties with the oh-so progressive Massachusetts and Delaware.
By the way, according to Wikipedia, Rothenberg lives in Maryland, which is also tied with West Virginia.
But bitter Rothenberg wasn’t done spewing the hate. He went on to attack all of West Virginia as “close-minded, provincial, angry & easily misled.” And the reason Rothenberg knows this? His wife’s dad was a coal miner in a completely different state:
Grandpa’s getting angry!
But I’ll bet my house that through popular culture, vacations and schooling, a whole lot more West Virginians have spent a whole lot more time stewing in urban culture than Rothenberg has in West Virginia or any rural area. So who’s the real provincial here?
Rothenberg did tell one truth, though, one very sad truth about our media… Although his hate is high, his bigotry apparent, and his facts wrong, he never has to fear losing his job nor fear being shunned by his fellow bigots in the national media:
Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I had the pleasure of spending a few days in West Virginia. From what we saw, it is a beautiful and inviting place. If you want to visit the kind of dystopia Rothenberg describes, try leftwing hell-holes such as Detroit, DC, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, and Los Angeles — places of despair where Rothenberg’s leftwing politics have been allowed to roam free and unfettered for decades.
And remember, Grandpa Stu doesn’t give a single damn about West Virginia or its people.
He hates them … and all of us.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.