CLUELESS VOTERS IN HARLEM

It never fails to amaze me how ignorant many Americans are, even some of the more "educated" ones. If you've watched the "Jaywalking" segment on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, where Leno asks peoople off the street some questions regarding current or historical events, you know what I'n talking about. A good number of those who gave stupid answers to simple questions from Leno, were college students.

Salvatore Governale, better known as "Sal the Stockbroker," is one of the shock jock's regular sidekicks on the Howard Stern Show. On October 1st, Sal went to Harlem to interview some African-Americans about their choice in the coming presidential election. Believing that the Harlemites will vote for Obama simply because he is black, he attributed some of John McCain's policy positions to Barack Obama. He interviewed two men and one lady who said they would vote for Obama and one man who said he would vote for McCain.

When he asked the Obama supporters if they were satisfied with his pro-life position, they answered that they were. When he asked them if they agreed with Obama that our troops should remain in Iraq, they answered that they did. And best of all, when he asked them if they were satisfied with Gov. Sarah Palin as Obama's running mate, they answered that they were. When he asked the McCain supporter if he was satisfied with Sen. Joe Biden as McCain's running mate, he answered that he was.

If you want to listen to these interviews, just google up "sal interviews black voters in harlem" and you will find a whole bunch of web sites that will allow you to do so. By the way, Howard Stern claims that Leno stole the idea for "Jaywalking" from his program.

Those interviews should make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Laugh at how ignorant some people can be and cry because these ignoramuses are going to play a part in selecting our next president. Although Sal played a practical joke on the people he interviewed, he did show that the Obama supporters knew little if anything about their candidate other than that he was black, thus proving they were voting for him only because of his color.

Now it should come as no surprise to people that many African-Americans, instead of supporting him for his policies, are voting for Obama only because he is black. That is no different than when many Catholics voted for John F. Kennedy simply because he was a Catholic. And it's the same as when Latino voters support a Hispanic candidate only because he is one of their own.

Had Sal interviewed a good number of Harlemites, would he have found some who would have caught on to his practical joke? Of course he would have! And I'm sure Jay Leno has found people who gave the correct answers to his "Jaywalking" questions. He just doesn't show those on the Tonight Show. In both instances though, Jay and Sal have demonstrated that there are a lot of ignoramuses walking around.

If one vote can make a difference, then a bunch of ignorant voters can, especially in a close contest, have a significant effect on the outcome of an election. It makes me think that next year, when all is said and done, we will have a president who was elected thanks in no small part to a group of clueless voters.