Facts about Owsley County, Kentucky... cc: @KirsteninMT

Every once in a while, I tweet something that catches a little attention. Yesterday, I offered up this nugget...

Overheard... The highest food stamp usage in America is in Owsley County, Kentucky which is 99.22% white and 95% Republican. 

I wanted to stress the "overheard" part, as it was something I picked off of a Facebook friend, who in turn borrowed the information from on of his friends.

Well, it would only be a matter of time before a tweet like this would be scrutinized by a #tcot (someone who spends all day parroting Republican talking points on Twitter). This time, a young lady named Kirsten Tynan (@KirsteninMT) asked me to validate the claim. (Note: Kirsten has corrected me, stating that she is a"staunch non-voting, left-leaning, voluntaryist anarchist.")

Damn girl, I'm on vacation! Ironically only 4 1/2 hours away, in Nashville. But this whole thing got my curiosity going, so I decided to give 'er a look see. Here's what I come up with...

• According to the 2000 census, Owsley County has the 3rd lowest median income in the nation. It ranks first among counties with a non-Hispanic white majority population. The claim of 99.22% of the population being white is spot on.
• According to a piece in the New York Times, in 2009, 49% of Owsley County's population received food stamps, tied for first in the nation.
• There was one flaw however. According to Kentucky's voter information website, only 72.5% percent of the county's registered voters were Republican.

That's it, no further spin. I'm back on vacation.