Welcome to Bittergate!
By Fleaflicker on April 12, 2008 at 2:11 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs, Hillary Clinton, Indiana, Pennsylvania
We all knew it would happen. Finally Obama would say something that would betray his arrogant condescension toward almost all other Americans in a way that was so heinous that even the Obamedia couldn’t cover it up. Yep, it happened. Some people are calling this his Macaca moment. Others, more sensible and tired of all his lying ways, are calling this his CaCa moment. Because he sure let a pant load come out of his mouth this time. And the funniest description of this came from Ace of Spades HQ who pegged it:
Vote For Me, You Corncob-Smokin’, Banjo-Strokin’ Chicken-Chokin’ Cousin-Pokin’ Inbred Hillbilly Racist Morons
.
But the absolute best description for what Obama did to himself is Bittergate.
And this one ain’t going away.
Hillary’s campaign jumped on this one immediately. Spokesperson Phil Singer issued the following statement:
Obama Expands on ‘Bitter’ Pennsylvanians Comment
“Instead of apologizing for offending small town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week,” said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. “It’s unfortunate that Senator Obama didn’t say he was sorry for what he said. Americans are tired of a President who looks down on them — they want a President who will stand up for them for a change. The Americans who live in small towns are optimistic, hardworking and resilient. They deserve a president who will respect them.”
People in Indiana are indeed angry now. At Senator Obama.
Clinton to Hit Obama Over ‘Small Town’ Remarks
“I’m very upset about it,” said Bruce Baxter, who has worked as an assembly operator at the plant for more than a decade. “Being a factory worker, a blue-collar worker, it offended me very bad. And it reminded me why I support Hillary.”
Steve Webber, a production inspector, predicted that Indianans would bristle at the remark.
“It didn’t really offend me at all, but I did think it was not a smart comment to make right now,” Mr. Webber said. “It could really change things for her. Here in Indiana, we like our small towns. We think of Indianapolis as a small town. “
Many people see this as an affront to ordinary Americans. Ed Morrissey thinks it demonstrates Obama’s contempt for people he doesn’t associate with or understand.
This is why rookies shouldn’t run for President
Only a rookie would make a colossal blunder like calling Midwestern, small-town voters a bunch of bigoted, overly religious gun nuts:
~snip~
The matter-of-fact style in which he spoke this shows the unthinking contempt he has for people he has never engaged — an acceptance of stereotypes without questioning them that shows his own bigotry, not to mention foolishness and poor judgment.
Other’s have a different interpretation of the bitterness:
Obama’s None-Too-Bright Remarks
The other problem is this: Obama was essentially claiming that the reason people are not voting for him is because they are bitter:
Someone needs to sit Obama down and have a little chat with him. Maybe the conversation would go something like this.
Well, maybe not. But it sure seems like his advisors said that to him. They probably followed Michelle’s lead.
As expected the Republicans have their take on this to. And to them Obama didn’t just misspeak, he got very stupid all of a sudden. And they are LOVING it!
3. “They cling to guns or religion”. This is revealing for two reasons: one, Obama has been trying to finesse his position on guns to appeal precisely to gun owners and thus we start to see that his repositioning is cynical to the core; two, “cling to religion?” No rural Pennsylvanian clings to religion more than Obama himself, who for 20 years sat silent in the pews, while a hate-spewing minister damned his country and most everyone else. The question is not why Pennsylvanians “cling to their religion”, but why do the Obamas still cling to the Trinity Church that seems far more extreme than anything I’ve seen in rural America.
4. “antipathy to people who aren’t like them”—as in the case of Rev. Wright’s views of Jews, whites, Italians, or Americans in general? In short, Obama accuses rural Pennsylvanians of a racism that they haven’t expressed while contextualizing the racism that his own Rev. Wright has.
~snip~
7. Let me get this straight: Obama goes to the Bay Area to an affluent liberal enclave to give a condescending take on the supposed poor fools that he is currently trying to court. This is not just hypocritical, but abjectly stupid. All of Pennsylvania surely is asking today what is so hip and sophisticated about the Trinity Church and Rev. Wright?
I wasn’t born in a small town. But I grew up in one. And the people I grew to know were nothing like the people Obama describes. Some of my fondest memories as a child and an adult come from going down to visit my relatives that live in rural Kentucky. None of them have much money. And while a few of my cousins have guns, they use them to hunt. The poor people there aren’t bitter. They have learned to accept their way of life and they all pitch in to help each other in times of need. I can’t begin to tell you how many times some neighbor would drop off food for my ailing grandmother. Not because they really even knew her, only because they knew she was in need. These are what REAL small town people are like. They have more heart, soul and spirit than Senator Obama will ever have or understand.
I leave you with one of my favorite songs written and performed by a man that was born in a small town and still cherishes the values that one can only inherit by living there.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
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