Bette Midler Apologizes For Calling West Virginia “Poor, Illiterate, And Strung Out”
Bette Midler is backpedaling after criticizing corrupt coal profiteer Joe Manchin for refusing to join Democrats in voting for Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Yesterday, Midler attacked the state Manchin pretends to serve, West Virginia, by tweeting, “He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate, and strung out,” and while her comments were met with feigned outrage by the left and right, she was 100% correct. Compared to other states, West Virginia ranks 50th in public health and 44th in education, and the median income is $26,000. In short, the state is a genuine shithole, and that’s not residents’ fault, it’s the fault of people like Manchin and other political “leaders” who’ve failed to do their jobs in making West Virginia a nice place to live. Midler shouldn’t have apologized (she was criticizing quality of life in the state, not individual people who live here), which she did last night:
Midler quickly received criticism for her tweet, which she followed up by apologizing to “the good people of [West Virginia] for my last outburst.” She asked of Manchin, though, “Is he really the best [West Virginia] has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!”
Midler’s original comments drew backlash both from the left and the right, with Donald Trump Jr. saying “this is exactly what they think of good hardworking Americans that live outside of their elite bulls–t NY/LA bubbles,” while The Young Turks host Ana Kasparian wrote that West Virginians “overwhelmingly support the social spending package” that Manchin came out against and that “directing hate toward them is terrible.”
