# McCain campaign claims Northern Virginia isn't 'real Virginia' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 18, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565 "2008-10-18T21:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/61 "2008-10-21T02:27:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > What’s really silly is this whole notion that somehow “small town values” are somehow holier (or even more preferable) than anybody else’s values, or that somehow somebody living in Wasilla is more American that somebody living in NYC. Why do you hate America? Hey - at least _I’m_ joking! Unlike some politicians named in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/62 "2008-10-21T03:17:32Z")
I think you have to give Biden a pass. He represents the state of Delaware. Where else is he going to go when he’s not working? Would he be more authentic if he flew off to Idaho when the Senate wasn’t in session? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/63 "2008-10-21T12:05:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Not my intention at all. Off and on, I lived there for 2-3 years and loved it. My point was that when you spend a large amount of your time living in a large city and when you travel in the circles that McCain, Biden and other longtime pols travel in, trying to pass yourself off as someone in touch with “small town America” is largely nonsense. Politicians are not government workers going to their cubicles. While you may come from a small town and have some romanticized notion of what that life entailed, 20 years in politics will distance you significantly from what that life was really like and probable bear no relation to what it’s like today. > > What’s really silly is this whole notion that somehow “small town values” are somehow holier (or even more preferable) than anybody else’s values, or that somehow somebody living in Wasilla is more American that somebody living in NYC. Yeah, I agree that actually being a politico in DC is a rareified thing, and that them trying to say they have small town values is demagoguery. But let me assure you, after spending the first 22 years of my life in small town Arkansas, my notion of small town life is anything but romanticized, which is why I left and stayed gone. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/64 "2008-10-21T14:09:38Z")
Wilmington is still a dump. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/65 "2008-10-21T20:04:39Z")
It seems to me that people who have never been to DC have a fantasy in their head that its population is made up exclusively of politicians who all live in Georgetown (actually, most of Congress lives in Arlington). Here’s what living and working in DC is like: Eating a half-smoke with chili for lunch Going to the 9:30 Club on a Friday night Eating doro wat and injera in Adams Morgan Reading the latest George Pelicanos crime novel while drinking a Dogfish Head draft at Kramerbooks Hanging out by the fountain in Dupont on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Catching the latest art house hits at the E-Street Cinema Sure, the federal government drives our economy, but we don’t spend our lives as if we were permanent guests on The McLaughlin Group. We play and drink and fuck like everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/66 "2008-10-21T21:53:13Z")
gobear! I haven’t seen you in a _long_ time! ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/67 "2008-10-21T22:08:20Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > It seems to me that people who have never been to DC have a fantasy in their head that its population is made up exclusively of politicians who all live in Georgetown (actually, most of Congress lives in Arlington). > > Here’s what living and working in DC is like: > > Eating a half-smoke with chili for lunch > > Going to the 9:30 Club on a Friday night > > Eating doro wat and injera in Adams Morgan > > Reading the latest George Pelicanos crime novel while drinking a Dogfish Head draft at Kramerbooks > > Hanging out by the fountain in Dupont on a sunny Saturday afternoon. > > Catching the latest art house hits at the E-Street Cinema > > Sure, the federal government drives our economy, but we don’t spend our lives as if we were permanent guests on The McLaughlin Group. We play and drink and fuck like everyone else. DC itself is driven by government work but that is fairly different from politics. For most people who work for the government, it isn’t until you hit your boss’s boss’s boss that you deal with a political appointee who is someone you never heard of and won’t hear about unless they really really screw up. Most of the political circles tend to be pretty closed and the great majority of folks won’t see them and interact with them regularly. There are a few universities in DC as well so you see a good number of young people out who don’t work or play in those circles. When you get out to the suburbs, you have a good number of tech companies and a good number of consulting firms. It is perfectly possible to have a good job in the Metro DC area without ever meeting a politician **gobear** , where are you getting your half smoke for lunch? I haven’t had a really good one other than Ben’s Chili Bowl. The lunch carts in DC are kind of scary. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/68 "2008-10-21T22:27:42Z")
I was born in NoVA and lived there til I was sixteen. I frequently heard, from Virginians, that all of REAL Virginia was south of the Roanoke. Considering that my house was only eighteen miles from the White House, and that my mother’s daycare center had a few kids who were the children of Middle Eastern diplomats, I’m fine with calling Fairfax a suburb of DC. Oh, and nobody in my school had a Virginia accent either. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/69 "2008-10-21T22:44:39Z")
I’ve lived in Northern Virginia my entire life. Well, I suppose some of my childhood years that were spent in Western Loudoun in the early 90s are probably closer to the ROVA way of life than the NOVA one. Either way, as such, I do find part of the “not REAL Virginia” offensive since it directly addresses my home, but at the same time, it addresses a truth, that Virginia is in the midst of an identity crisis, and it is only getting worse. As a relevant anecdote, my ex lived in DC and hated the fact that I lived in Virginia and was loathe to even consider moving there, even though both her fiance and her job were a significant commute. Granted, she turned out to be elitist and prejudice, but that’s really incidental to the point. The point is, most of the rest of the country look at Virgina as a Southern state, full of blue collar workers, conservative and/or small town values, and whatever else goes along with it. This was true of ALL of Virginia up until recent decades, and it’s still true for ROVA. The entire concept of NOVA is completely foreign to anyone who is outside of Virginia or the immediate DC Metro Area. Hell, even the road signs on the I-95 say “To Northern Virginia” not “To Virginia”. So what is the “real” Virginia? Is it the part that’s pretty much had the same values for multiple generations? Or is it the part that is full of an influx of people from all over the nation coming here for government and technology jobs and bringing their “yankee” political ideals with them? Quite frankly, though it may be offensive to people, I think it’s probably the right move for McCain’s campaign. He pretty much HAS to win Virginia to have a chance of winning the election. People in ROVA already think of themselves as the “real” Virginia and, as others have mentioned, resent Northern Virginia. McCain needs to energize that base with the fear that NOVA really has enough clout to potentially swing the state for Obama. And really, who does he hurt in NOVA? Most of the people around here are either already voting for Obama, and so offending them doesn’t matter, or they’re the type who live in NOVA and resent the fact that it’s been taken over by all those damned yankees and thus also need to be gotten out to vote to make sure Obama doesn’t take the state. To the OP, really, save your ire, it’s not worth it. If you’re voting for Obama, which it would seem you are, could he really say anything at this point to change your mind anyway? As for me, I don’t really care, because I’m voting third party ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/70 "2008-10-22T20:02:51Z")
As someone from Central Virginia, I’d agree that NoVa is like a suburb of DC. It’s very densely populated, lots of traffic, lots of government jobs. Way more liberal than most of Virginia excepting maybe the Tidewater region and Charlottesville. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/71 "2008-10-22T20:30:48Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > McCain needs to energize that base with the fear that NOVA really has enough clout to potentially swing the state for Obama. The funny thing is, he’s pretty much right, it does. Northern Virginia has a third of the state’s voters, and it’s overwhelmingly liberal; I believe Kaine and Webb both won without winning rural Virginia, although they also didn’t lose it by much. I seriously don’t think there’s any way McCain can really win Virginia at this point. Not the way the polls are going. > [@](#): > > To the OP, really, save your ire, it’s not worth it. If you’re voting for Obama, which it would seem you are, could he really say anything at this point to change your mind anyway? As for me, I don’t really care, because I’m voting third party I can’t think of anything reasonable that would make me vote for someone other than Obama; that doesn’t mean that I’m not entitled to take offense at something McCain says. I’ve lived in this state for twenty years, nearly all of which time was spent within walking distance from the Beltway, and I am damn well a real Virginian.. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/72 "2008-10-22T20:39:59Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > It seems to me that people who have never been to DC have a fantasy in their head that its population is made up exclusively of politicians who all live in Georgetown (actually, most of Congress lives in Arlington). No, actually I think most people who have never been to DC have a fantasy that its population is made up exclusively of dangerous, drug-addled negroes. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/73 "2008-10-22T20:41:49Z")
What’s a half smoke? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/74 "2008-10-22T20:42:38Z")
It’s a spicy sausage that’s served like a hot dog, on a bun, with toppings. > **[Half-smoke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-smoke)** > > A half-smoke is a type of hot dog found in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region. Larger, spicier, and with more coarsely-ground meat than a regular hot dog, the sausage is often half-pork and half-beef, smoked, and served with herbs, onion, and chili sauce. > The etymology of "half-smoke" possibly comes from the original half-pork, half-beef composition, the ingredients and smoked method of preparation. Another possible explanation is that the texture and flavor is halfway between smoked... ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/75 "2008-10-22T20:44:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No, actually I think most people who have never been to DC have a fantasy that its population is made up exclusively of dangerous, drug-addled negroes. DC ain’t all flowers and puppies. My innocent self went to DC on a field trip when I was about 10. We were near the Washington Monument and I wandered around a shrub or something, only to be presented with a bunch of homeless people sleeping on vents. It was an eye-opening experience, I don’t think I’d even considered that homeless people existed. And I have a step-cousin that was murdered in DC. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/76 "2008-10-22T20:50:30Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > DC ain’t all flowers and puppies. Who said it is? But it’s not some weird un-American place where the laws of physics don’t apply. > [@](#): > > My innocent self went to DC on a field trip when I was about 10. We were near the Washington Monument and I wandered around a shrub or something, only to be presented with a bunch of homeless people sleeping on vents. It was an eye-opening experience, I don’t think I’d even considered that homeless people existed. Ooooo. A city with homeless people. Who’da thunk it? Ever been to New York? Seattle? Portland? San Francisco? Or maybe those places aren’t really American either. > [@](#): > > And I have a step-cousin that was murdered in DC. And, of course, nobody’s step-cousin has ever been murdered in any other place in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/77 "2008-10-22T20:53:00Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Ooooo. A city with homeless people. Who’da thunk it? Ever been to New York? Seattle? Portland? San Francisco? Or maybe those places aren’t really American either. I was ten, you dumb shit. Just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/78 "2008-10-22T20:54:53Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I was ten, you dumb shit. > > Just sayin. And you’re still applying this 10-year-old experience to tell you something meaningful about Washington, D.C.? Who’s the dumb shit? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/79 "2008-10-22T20:58:47Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > And you’re still applying this 10-year-old experience to tell you something meaningful about Washington, D.C.? Who’s the dumb shit? That would be you. Read the whole thread. I’ll write simple, easy to understand words. Look at the topic. “McCain campaign claims Northern Virginia isn’t real Virginia.” Earlier in the thread, we talked about how NoVa is perceived as part of DC rather than part of Virginia. I live in the “real Virginia.” I had never even seen a homeless person while growing up. It’s all rural and fields and woods and small towns around here. Clearer? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565/80 "2008-10-22T20:59:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No, actually I think most people who have never been to DC have a fantasy that its population is made up exclusively of dangerous, drug-addled negroes. It’s all that footage of Marrion Barry what convinced us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-claims-northern-virginia-isnt-real-virginia/468565.md?page=5)