Working Class Voters Angry, Bitter
About Being Called Angry, Bitter
Richieville News Service – HARRISBURG
Over the last few days, Tim Johnson has heard working class voters like himself described as angry and he says that makes him mad – fighting mad.
“When people describe me as angry, it just makes my blood boil,” says the machinist from Scranton, Pennsylvania. “The idea that some politician would say I’m angry makes me want to punch someone in the face.”
Johnson is not alone. Across this hotly contested primary battleground, blue-collar voters are incensed at the very suggestion that they are irate or ticked off, even if they have very good reason to be. Clara Bilanko, who was laid off after working 23 years at a pipe fabricating plant outside Allentown, shares Johnson’s sense of betrayal.
“Don’t call me angry,” she said on a recent morning, pounding her fist on the counter of Hank’s All-American Diner, a favorite gathering place for unemployed factory workers. “I lost my home, my car and my health insurance but calling me angry is the last straw. Anyone who says that deserves to burn in hell.”
Sitting next to her, Marty Cargill nodded furiously. “That word bitter, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Just because I resent that I’m 67 years old and my company went bankrupt and I lost my pension and now I’m working for minimum wage at WalMart doesn’t mean I’m bitter.”
In numerous interviews, voters in the hardscrabble mill towns that dot this state suggested that not only are they vexed at being characterized as wrathful, but they are also irritated at being told they are peeved.
“I wish politicians would listen to how enraged we are about being called angry,” said Mr. Johnson. “But I feel powerless to stop them. If only we had some way to make our voices heard. It’s very frustrating.”
MAN STILL PEEVED OVER URINE BAN: Six years ago, South Carolina’s Kenneth Curtis made headlines by selling his urine over the Internet to customers intent on flouting company drug tests. After state legislators crafted a law banning such sales, Curtis was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail, a term he completed last April. Curtis, 47, recently spoke with staff writer Jennifer Rothacker.
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