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Here’s the First Video of Obama on Billionaire’s Row [Critical Update]

By SusanUnPC on April 12, 2008 at 7:14 PM in Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Media, Media Bias, Obamedia, Pennsylvania

How convenient: Politico‘s Ben Smith reports that this clip is from the video “taken by somebody at the San Francisco event” [check out Billionaire's Row, where Obama spoke]. “[I]t’s the passage just before the lines everyone is now focused on, in which he talks about the skepticism he encounters,” says Smith.


Well, isn’t that special.

Now show me the rest of the damn video.

God, if that was Hillary making that gaffe, and the actual quote was missing from the video, they’d accuse her of Nixonian trickery with the video camera, and the videographer of being Rosemary Woods. UPDATE below:

UPDATE: YOU SEE, those small-town Pennsylvanians are just too small-minded and too bigoted to get big idea, brainy Barack.

Perhaps it’s just because this is new — it’s the first time I’ve seen these remarks at that billionaire’s row event in San Francisco — but I find this even worse.

He’s saying that white people in small-town America don’t have the sophistication or the mental acuity to “get” him. Because he’s black (and those bigots will NEVER be able to “get” what a black man is saying).

Then the millionaires’ and billionaires all laugh at his put-down of the small-minded small-town white people in Pennsylvania. (Well, they won’t be laughing in November if he’s the nominee.)

He’s also, as I said in a post below, laying out his excuses to his rich benefactors for why he can’t win Pennsylvania.

Which brings up the inevitable question: If he can’t win essential states like Pennsylvania — and all the other major “blue” states that Hillary has won convincingly — how in the hell do he and his elitist benefactors presume that he can capture those must-win states against the centrist war hero John McCain?

I wanted to write about this National Review commentary in a separate post, but it’s important that you all see this, and discuss this now:

The McGovernization of Obama [Victor Davis Hanson]

I still believe that by August, Obama, the half-term rookie Senator, will have become the second George McGovern. Cf. his latest declaration to the Marin County faithful (coming on the heels of the crazy anti-Semitic rant of Rev. Eric Lee, a prominent LA Obama supporter): …

READ ALL.

THIS IS WHY you can’t let a bunch of young kids and latte elites be the ones who get to select the Democratic nominee! You have to be able to appeal to the bedrock Americans who comprise the majority of the reliable voters in this counry.

Hillary can get those “bedrock” votes. Barack cannot.

But he’s already paved the way for the excuse for his sure-to-come losses: They couldn’t “get” him because he is black. Because they’re too bigoted and, as we’ve already heard in the first set of comments, too narrowly focused on single issues like guns and religion.

The limousine liberals won’t be affected by his loss in November. They’ll get to blame those bigoted small-town folk while their extremely comfortable lives will continue. But the millions of economically middle- and lower-class Americans will suffer. The millions of people whose Hillary’s far more encompassing economic relief and heath care proposals would truly benefit.

(Special thanks to Andy for locating the video with better audio.)

____________________________
____________________________

Original post: And that reminds me of Big Tent Democrat’s most excellent post this afternoon on the media’s continued bias against Hillary and for Barack. Mind you, BTD leans towards Obama and, I believe, voted for him in a primary. But, unlike the subject of his criticism, Ezra Klein, BTD has the rare capacity to see beyond his own preferences and call out the media, and other bloggers, for their inconsistencies. To wit:

Ezra Klein is now upset about the Media coverage. Obama is getting hit so it bothers him now:

It’s not damaging because we think it foretells him doing something harmful to the country. It’s not damaging because it suggests his policy agenda is poorly conceived, or his priorities are awry. If you think of policy and politics as two circles in a Venn diagram, this is damage that only exists in the politics circle, and doesn’t even come close to the area of intersection.

Indeed. Funny how Ezra Klein, noted health care blogger, has not a WORD of concern about how Hillary Clinton was falsely smeared on the Trina Bachtel story. Even though Hillary Clinton was actually making a substantive point about an actual issue (indeed, one Ezra claims to care a great deal about), health care. Paul Krugman noticed. Ezra Klein chose not to. …

BTD reminds us of Eric Boehlert’s thoughts on how Sen. Clinton has been covered:

What’s happening online now is potentially dangerous: HRC has gotten dreadful press, not fair, “gotcha,” and so on — there’s a portion of the blogosphere that has ignored that and there’s a portion that has encouraged that.

It’s dangerous because the media criticism has to be consistent and relentless, and we can’t very well say, “You can’t go after our candidates … except this one.” I get nervous about pushback regarding disingenuous coverage – our response needs to be, “You can’t treat Democrats this way.” When people in the left blogosphere are quoting an anonymous Matt Drudge source, it makes me nervous.

Read all of BTD’s post, “The Blogosphere Has Its Comeuppance? Boehlert’s Revenge” and the interesting comment thread.

BTD replies to others’ comments about his story. Here’s one of his better responses:

I think his [Obama's] statement is a political gaffe. that is what it is. the reporting has been accurate. You can not tell people how they should feel about it. They will react as they react. Obama should not have said it, imo, not because it means anything policywise, but because it was politically stupid.

What I can not stand is Ezra Klein’s smarmy newfound concern about media coverage after he stood silent as Hillary was falsely smeared by the Media and Left blogs on the Trina Bachtel story – a story with very serious policy implications about an issue Klein claims to care about – health care.

Sorry, on this, Ezra comes across as a clownish cartoon to me. He is no better than a Wingnut.

In the meantime — until we see the rest of the damn video, dammit — we are treated to the spectacle of the Obama campaign using the infamous “kitchen sink” approach to their desperate backtracking on Obama’s gaffe. From Mark Halperin:

Campaign also lashes back in written statement citing Bosnia, lobbyist ties, and other Clinton vulnerabilities that have nothing to do with what Obama said. Read full statement here.

Ah yes, from the campaign that decried what they called the “kitchen sink” attack approach by the Clinton campaign.

  • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

    Hey those must be all those “little people” he says he gets all his money from, right?

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Uh, right.

      I read a great post a while ago about how that is an urban myth: That a good percentage of his money comes from big-moneyed contributors. But I’ll be damned if I can remember where I read that.

  • Mel

    “We won’t be lectured on being out of touch by Senator Clinton, who believes lobbyists represent real people and is awash in their money and who can’t tell a straight story about her lengthy record of supporting trade deals like NAFTA and China that have devastated communities in Pennsylvania and Indiana. She won’t change the broken Washington system that all too often leaves American workers behind, but Barack Obama will.”

    Lobbyists Obama, like your entire Campaign Finance Commitee is made up of Lobbyists you mean?

    NAFTA, like how you sent Goolsbee to tell Canada it is just campaign rhetoric and not to worry about it?

    Change Washington Obama will, how by leaving an empty chair in the Whitehouse like his commitee he accepted Chairman of being on NATO and Europe?

    Is the Obama campaign drinking from the kool aide tap again?

  • Fleaflicker

    I find it less than even remotely likely that someone’s video camera just failed at this point. I want to see the missing 18 minutes.

    • Mel

      the 18 minutes went the way of Nixon’s 18 minutes, opps!

  • Karen

    The entire audio is on Huffington….all 51 min.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-exclusive-audio-on_b_96333.html From the woman who broke the story.

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      If that’s the same audio I listened to last night, it was just awful — the sound quality was terrible.

      I’ve asked our video whiz C.S. if he can clean up the sound somehow. He’s going to try.

      I HAVE AN UPDATE VIDEO — GOING UP IN A COUPLE MINUTES.

      • Fleaflicker

        I think you accidentally added the same video.

        • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

          It was the same one…. thought I’d found more. Ah well. The audio is better on the second, it seems.

  • ebonyscrews

    Beautiful, Susan. This definitely needs to get pushed out there…images are worth a thousand words i.e. Kerry windsurfing, it’s unsettling on many levels…this is the environment where Obama found the solace to let it rip on average, every day Americans (like the ones in the pictures running like zebras to park the cars of Obama’s teeny donors). Striking:

    “Wait just a minute there. If you do the math, on just this one day in the Bay Area, Obama went to four events, three of which had $2,300 minimum donations per ticket, and the other $1,000 minimum per ticket. Each of the events, from the various descriptions, held as many as 400 people (the Getty mansion has a ballroom that reportedly seats at least 300). 400 x $2,300 = $920,000 per event, times three events = $2.76 million, plus the other event, which undoubtedly puts him over $3 million in contributions for this one day alone. And who knows how many other similar days he schedules in other parts of the country.”

    Michelle Obama (and other Obama campaign spokespeople) aren’t telling the truth. It seems that a signficant portion of Obama’s monthly campaign contributions are coming from “large donors”‘ — i.e. rich people, not just the “$20 to $50″ donations they’re constantly bragging about.

    • fooj

      Of course they aren’t telling the truth. They are the Obamas. Honor and integrity doesn’t work into their equation.

  • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

    Video sounds much better now, thanks! WHen in doubt, mention race.

  • http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Mary Jo Kopechne

    About Obama remarks in CA, Mudcat Saunders says, “It could mean he’s rendered himself unelectable….This is a perfect example of why Democrats lose elections.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/us/politics/13campaign.html?hp

    • beebop

      Wow … an amazing article. And in typical BO fashion, the lashing out is in place of taking responsibility. With Wright, WE were the problem, with this latest gaffe, WE don’t get what he meant.

      He’s the first candidate I can remember who placed all of his failings on voter reaction. Does he understand that he’s supposed to be applying for a job and that it is customary not to stick his finger in our eyes?

      • s. hall

        So if we don’t get him then its our problem. No Mr. O its your problem. Funny how in 1932 people without much education got Roosevelt, a well educated super rich man who didn’t talk down to the electorate. Yes they voted–young and old, rich and poor, women and men, black and white. He won in a landslide. The difference between Roosevelt and Obama is that Roosevelt genuinely wanted to make people’s lives better and end the Great Depression and Obama just wants to get in before people see what a fraud he is.

        Sorry but people already get it. You can’t fool all the people all the time. Lash out and buy that expensive Arugula–or better yet buy a lettuce like the rest of us Archie Bunkers. WHATEVER

    • TeakWoodKite

      Mudcat had raised some valid points, and is on the money here.

  • dmchicago

    Imagine that I am a white 60 year old female running for President of the United States and I go to a wealthy white suburb of Chicago to give a fund raising speech with an excerpt as follows:

    . . .You go into these inner cities in Illinois and, like a lot of inner cities in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these cities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

    And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to churches, conspiracy theories about AIDS and drugs, music, basketball and Nikes or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”. . .

    Now the word gets out through a reporter who attended that I have given this speech. What do your think would happen? (And what has happened with the parallel Obama statements?)

    1. My supporters would say – “Right on.” It’s true isn’t it.”? (Obama supporters claim this.)
    2. Black people in Chicago would be pissed? (Are people in PA pissed?)
    3. My opponents would use this against me? (Hillary and McCain have done this)
    4. My opponents would be criticized as being ridiculous for using this against me? (Yes, Obama and the media did this.)
    5. A TV commentator would say that the inner city of Chicago is a breeding ground for Al Queda? (Jack Cafferty did this.)
    6. I would loss the election because of my stupidity? (We hope.)
    7. I would win because everyone would feel guilty for the way people attacked me because after all, I am a women? (We hope not.)
    8. I would weasel out of what I said by claiming over and over againin a loud voice how angry people in America are and should be? (Obama did this, focusing only on the anger part and not the put down part.)
    9. I would neglect to say that I really thought black people were stupid which is implied in my remarks. (Of course, we can’t say something like that and be President of the USA or a decent person)

  • Fleaflicker

    North Carolina has decided to weigh in on the controversy as well. Here is an open letter they sent to Obama today:

    Dear Senator Obama:

    This week at a fundraiser in San Francisco you denigrated people who live in small town America saying that “they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiments or anti-trade sentiments as a way to explain their frustrations.”

    We are from small town America – we are the people you are talking about, the people you say are leading “bitter” lives. Well, Senator Obama, nothing could be further from the truth. Here in small town America we lead productive lives full of belief in God and country. We live in communities where we go to church because we are hopeful, not because we are bitter. We believe that our passion for fair trade is born out of the principle of fair play, not frustration. We believe that the future of our country is bright and reflected every day in the stars and stripes of our country’s flag.

    We need a leader who will stand up for small town North Carolina and all Americans. Someone who understands that we are a resilient and hopeful people who are proud of our values and our communities. That, Senator Obama, is what this country needs.

    Check out: http://bluenc.com/big-names-small-towns for all the details.

    • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

      Whoa. Coward Dean and Donna Brazille must be having a really bad weekend.

    • fooj

      Ouch.

      Truth is our most powerful weapon.

  • http://noratings.blogspot.com/ Bud White

    The laughter from the elites is sickening. Obama uses races as casually as Bush uses the flag. He’s shameless.

    • scott

      Who the hell is he talking to when he faces away from the camera, theres no one behind him. Can he not look people in the eye when he’s spewing bullshit.

    • s. hall

      Obama learned well from 20 years of attending Rev. Wright’s Church where its always someone else
      s fault.

  • http://noratings.blogspot.com/ Bud White

    The laughter from the elites is sickening. Obama uses race as casually as Bush uses the flag. He’s shameless.

  • ebonyscrews

    Obama’s Myth of Popular Money

    Since January, Obama has steadily received millions more from wealthy donors than Hillary Clinton. But from the Sound and the Media Fury, you’d never know this.

    In fact, in February Obama received only 4 % more of his money from the “grassroots” than Hillary, but chose February as the month to go on record ridiculing Clinton’s lack of “grassroots support.” The media Fury amplified the music.

  • ebonyscrews

    Dmchicago…very good point…

    And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to churches, conspiracy theories about AIDS and drugs, rap music, basketball and Nikes or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”. . .

    I made one minor change :-)

  • 30 yrdem

    He was not in a room of rich people…..

    PILGRIM: Mayhill, please set the scene for us. What kind of a crowd was assembled here, first of all to set the scene, the context of these remarks.

    FOWLER: This is a fundraiser, the fourth in the day. This last Sunday in San Francisco and Marin and the South Bay in California. And it was at a house in Pacific Heights. There were maybe 350 to 400 people there. Quite a crush. Quite a crowd. These were people that had maxed out their donations to Senator Obama and among that group is myself.

    PILGRIM: How would you characterize them, prosperous, middle class, wealthy, what category?

    FOWLER: That’s a very good question. You shouldn’t have the impression these were very wealthy donors. These were mostly middle class and upper middle class who, I’m guessing, like myself, had slowly given money over time to Senator Obama until they reached the $2,300 cap.

    There was the wife of an army surgeon. There were Safeway grocery store union workers. There were professors, there were house wives, it was quite a cross-section of prosperous California.

    PILGRIM: And they had maxed out their $2,300 donations.

    Source:LOU DOBBS TONIGHT

    Senator Obama’s Small Town Remarks Largely Criticized
    http://tinyurl.com/3zqeap

    Now if I am wrong I am sorry but he was not in a room of millionaires’ and billionaires according to this transcript. This mistake is being repeated over and over. Maybe you have a source that says different than what I have found.

    • Sam

      If they can give $2,300 to a presidential candidate, I think it is fair to say they are not suffering one bit…they are NOT the folks that he was looking his nose down too, that is for sure.

      • 30 yrdem

        Sam,

        I thought this site checked the facts before they put something up. I see now they don’t. It just makes them look bad and makes Hillary look bad also. Anyone can make up a story, I like facts in mine. I find a story with facts goes further in making a point.

        • SensibleWoman

          The fact is also that he was among a group of people that evidently found his comments humorous at the expense of someone else.

          • s. hall

            Randi Rhodes also found an audience that laughed when she called Geraldine Ferrero and Hillary Clinton F’n Whores. So far Obama has not said anything to refute those remarks made by his rabid supporter. The great united Barack Obama loves nothing better than to divide people.

        • BloggerBoyz

          Why don’t you encourage Obama to expose the fact that $2300 donors are poverty stricken and need more capital gains relief.

        • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/04/12/heres-the-first-video-of-obama-on-billionaires-row/#more-2147 waldenpond

          You could provide the facts. Median income….

          Penn $43,714
          KY $37,046
          NC $40,863
          IN $43,217
          CA $49,000
          and SF……. $57,496. Give me a break….SF, is in one of the 4 wealthiest counties in California. Middle and upper middle class is different here than in the rest of the country.

          google is your friend.

        • Andy

          The facts are what he said and where he said it (the Getty’s). That is what this post and the story is about. That is what is outrageous.

          You worry that maybe not all attendees were “billonaires” ? Ok. maybe not all there were billonaires like the Getty’s and some of his friends. Maybe others were only millonaires.
          Do you really believe that someone that over a year can donate 2,300 to a campaign is the same as being invited to Getty’s mansion on what is known to be Billonaire’s Row where you had to put on the spot the 2,300 per capita (that’s why they bring the kids by the way) ?

          Who do you believe got an invitation from Mr &Ms Getty to such an exclusive event?

          In the Haight, stencils of Barack Obama’s smiling face are decorating the sidewalk. But in real life, he is turning up in more lucrative venues: The candidate will be around here on April 6, at a series of events that includes three $2,300-a-head maximum-strength fundraisers: Sara and Sohaib Abbasi are throwing a luncheon in Atherton; he’ll zip up to Nancy and Bob Farese’s house in Kentfield in mid-afternoon; and proceed from there to Ann and Gordon Getty’s in San
          Francisco.

          Atherton and Kentfield are two of the cities with the highest-per-capita net worth in the entire United States

          The most expensive part of the most expensive neighborhood in one of the nation’s most expensive cities is the last few blocks of Broadway Street. It is called Billionaires Row. Many luxury homes occupy this part of Broadway Street.

          The most expensive are 9 houses that belong to:

          1) Fred Pavlow, Add-a-Garage, 27XX Broadway.
          2) Trevor Traina, stepson of Danielle Steele, 2780 Broadway.
          3) Norman Stone, heir to insurance tycoon W. Clement Stone, 27XX Broadway.
          4) Peter Haus, Levi Strauss heir, 28XX Broadway. In 1996, Haas’ Levi holdings were valued in a news report at $2.2 billion.
          5) James Klingbeil, of Am. Apt. Communites, 28XX Broadway.
          6) Peter Sperling, U. of Phoenix heir, 28XX Broadway. In 2003 he had about $1.5 billion.
          7) Larry Ellison, Oracle founder, 28XX Broadway. In 2003 Forbes set his worth at $18 billion.
          8) Gordon Getty, Getty Oil heir, 28XX-28XX Broadway. In 2003 Forbes Magazine estimated his fortune at $2.1 billion.
          9) George Jewett, Weyerhaeuser heir, 29XX Broadway.

          Info from San Fransisco Chronicle online (Leah Garchik) and
          http://www.zombietime.com/obama_visits_billionaires_row/
          and links therein.

          • http://speaktruth speaktruth

            That zombietime site that you just linked also has great photos and description of people arriving at the event, shows parking valets running to park cars blocks away, then running back for the next one.
            I couldn’t tell from the pics exactly how rich these people are but clearly they are more than middle-class.

      • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

        Poor and middle America don’t max out for presidential hopefuls as a rule do they now?

    • BloggerBoyz

      Uh,I’m sorry but people who are able to contribute $2000 to a politician would be considered rich by just about everyone. Let’s try to look more elitist and out of touch.

    • blobert

      Professors aren’t even close to prosperous. Most would be in the $20 to $50 giving range.

      • BloggerBoyz

        Yeah, but I bet they borrowed a couple grand from the grocery store workers or Army spouses. :)

      • 30 yrdem

        blobert,BloggerBoyz,Sam

        Listen… I am a Hillary supporter, I think it is going a bit to far saying they are millionaires and billionaires. This thing has been going on over a year. 2,300 is not a lot to give in 14 or 16 months. A lot of people are maxed out and can’t give to Hillary anymore and they are not millionaires and billionaires. Would you want this said if the tables were turned?

        • Catriley

          People bring checks from friends, and employees, and from their own children, to these events to circumvent the limits. It’s called “bundling.”

        • BloggerBoyz

          I wouldn’t care if the tables were turned, 30 year dem. The point is, $2300 is a damn lot of money. I don’t know anybody who could afford that even over a two year period.If we’re trying to make a case that $2300 donors aren’t wealthy, we look like out of touch elitists. There are many people in America who can’t even imagine having that much disposible income. It may not be rich to you, but it is to millions of Americans. So getting into a big throwdown over how much disposible income makes a person wealthy when most people plan ahead for $20? Pointless

        • s. hall

          Why didn’t Obama tell people in one of the small towns he’s talking about — how bitter they are and how they won’t open up to someone like him? NO he hasn’t got that kind of courage. He goes across the country gets his big bucks and then tells the crowd how hard it is to run in some of these small towns where the people just don’t get him.

      • BloggerBoyz

        Yeah, get Obama to expose the fact that $2300 donors are poverty stricken and in dire need of capital gains relief.

    • http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Mary Jo Kopechne

      30 yrDem,
      From Fowler’s description of the event on HuffPo, she writes “Obama made a problematic judgment call in trying to explain working class culture to a much wealthier audience.’

      A “Much wealthier” crowd meeting in a home in Pacific Heights, with people from SF and Marin means these were people of means. And that it included a Safeway union worker (what does that mean, anyway?) and the wife of an Army surgeon does not mean otherwise.

      • 30 yrdem

        FOWLER: That’s a very good question. You shouldn’t have the impression these were very wealthy donors. These were mostly middle class and upper middle class

        • http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Mary Jo Kopechne

          30yr, I don’t know if you live in or around SF, but no one lives in PH who isn’t very well off. Fowler calls them ” middle class and upper middle class.”

          I’m not sure why this worries you so. I thought the “Billionaire” title was a funny exaggeration. Billionaires don’t go to fundraisers–fundraisers go to them.

          I know and love SF but I could not afford to live there and I’m middle class.

          Susan, I think Victor Hanson’s piece is brilliant. He was (and maybe still is) an academic who ran a family farm. He’s very conservative but he knows from what he speaks.

        • Andy

          30 yrdem:

          Atherton and Kentfield are two of the cities with the highest-per-capita net worth in the entire United States.

        • TeresaINPa

          and we should accept Fowlers judgment on this why?

      • Catriley

        The Army surgeons in my neighborhood are wealthy. Don’t let anyone fool you on that. Wealthy would be a 3,000+ square foot new house in a gated community, a few Hummers, a vacation home, and trips to Hawaii a few times a year, private schools for the kids. I’d say that would be considered “wealthy” by most standards.

        • The Gringo’s Wife

          Man, do you live next to the Berverly Hillbillies? 3,000 s.f. home around these parts would set you back a half mil at the low end.

          I maxed out with Hillary at $22.55. The Gringo wanted to spend it at the Golden Coral.

          So the family and I are going to go pick up some shotguns this weekend, take them to church before we go drag racing. Bitterness is manly work ain’t it?

    • scott

      Go alway little tiny john

    • rwc

      Half truths.

      It depends on Fowler’s definition of middle-class and given thats it was held in uber wealthy Marin county, middle-class is probably considered those with six-figure incomes.

      It would be more believable if it was held in Bakersfield.

      Still it boils down to this, these are not a cross section of typical Californians but very well heeled folk. Anyone whose been up there knows that.

      Also people who can afford to drop $2300 for political donations are not middle-class period. They do not have that kind of disposable income to waste on a political campaign.

      Look, even if its done over the course of a year, it still amounts to $200 a month. Which is a lot of money if you got a family to support on say $45-55k a year.

      IMO Fowler was lying out her ass. Much like Cafferty, Toobin and Blizter have been doing since this story broke.

      • Andy

        rwc :

        IMO Fowler was lying out her ass. Much like Cafferty, Toobin and Blizter have been doing since this story broke.

        Exactly; I think that you summarize it pretty well.

        • Andy

          And let’s not leave out the pitiable Gloria Borgia

      • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

        It was held in Pacific Heights.
        http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/sf/neighborhoods/pacheights.shtml

        This privileged, elegant neighborhood embodies Hollywood’s vision of San Francisco, and its blocks of Victorian mansions and its Cinemascope views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge make the area a perennial favorite with visitors to the city.

    • s. hall

      The problem for Obama is that he stood there and attacked one segment of Americans to another segment of Americans. This is a no no. He made small town people seem foolish. Now he’s the one looking like a fool. First rule when running for the Presidency is to like the people in the country you want so badly to represent.

      I guess Obama’s tired. Kinda like the Bataan Death March for him. By the way, Vets are still furious over that thoughless comment.

      • lifelong dem leaving party

        exactly. rather than argue over the precise degree of wealth owned by the contributors at this particular event, how about just the basic picture of this guy campaigning in pennsylvania pretending to be a regular guy and trying to bowl, then going to san francisco and talking about the pennsylvanians to other people (in a setting where he didn’t know he was being recorded) and referring to them as “they” do this, “they” think that, (all of it negative). almost like referring to another species, a lower level one at that. shows that he’s more than willing to kiss our behinds then talk about us behind our backs.

        i guess that’s what regular people are to obama – a different and lower species.

        • http://speaktruth speaktruth

          I got that from the bowling thing, too. Surprised that nobody picked that up. But then, the media wouldn’t, would they?

          The guy bowled 37, meaning he probably never bowled in his life.
          But that’s not the problem. He doesn’t have to bowl. Problem is that he truly believes that the people will vote for him if he fools them into he’s one of “them”. He has no clue that what the working people want are real programs, solutions to the economic turmoil going on around the country, which comes from an elite wealthy government that caters to a 1% constituency and leaves out the rest of us.
          So the bowling thing was undervaluing people’s ability to know the difference.

    • TennDemocrat

      Seems Fowler was telling a lie. Here are photos of the event. I can’t get the link option to work so you will need to copy and paste the link

      http://www.zombietime.com/obama_visits_billionaires_row/

      The fundraiser at the home of Ann and Gordon Getty, on what has come to be called “Billionaires Row,” reputed to be the wealthiest block in the world.

      • TennDemocrat

        Well the link tool worked so just click and see.

    • fooj

      Here’s a play by play photo description. You decide.

      http://www.zombietime.com/obama_visits_billionaires_row/

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Interesting. I searched YouTube with the terms “Obama San Francisco” and chose those posted in the last week.

    Found this one:

    Barack Obama in San Francisco
    Barack Obama talks about voter skepticism at a fundraiser in SF….barack obama politics

    But when I click on it, I get a message that the user has removed the video. Wonder what he had up. There are several more videos but they all seem to be about the now-infamous quote.

  • FNelson

    These wealthy people never met a problem they couldn’t buy the self-serving answer to.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Here’s an interesting, balanced piece from The Moderate Voice blog:

    “Democratic And Republican Critics Say Blast Obama’s “Smalltown” Comments Calling It Presidential Disqualifier.”

    • beebop

      Don’t even read any of the comments there though … the kiddies are all out and the language is foul.

  • Mel

    Well it is getting late, I need to go clean my gun and make it all shiney, after all it is church day tomorrow, and I need go listen to my preacher spew his “god Damn America” sermon while I am praying I find me some road kill to feed my family a nice hot meal while I tend to my moonshine while hopin to shoot me some Washington Fed agent, but tomorrow I even settle for me to shoot some lyin politican who don’t relly like me, but enjoys lookin down his big ole nose at me, usin me as an example of a bitter person!

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      What you doin’ on some fancy blog, you hick bumpkin? Thems Internets ur fer the rich folk … whooopppsss … thar’s a squirrel. Kapow!

    • s. hall

      Great comment Mel. — Kind of hard to eat the road kill when your front teeth are missing. ^5

  • beebop

    The posturing “professor” speaks of “successive” administrations …. who other than Bush, Clinton, Bush is he talking about?

    He’s more than just a little disengenuous when he talks about “job losses for 25 years” as though it has been (excuse the plagerism) the bataan death march of job loss. God only knows where the young(er) Obama was during the Clinton years, but job prospects were good at that time.

    The fact that Gore got f+++ed in 2000 and that Kerry couldn’t close the deal in 2004 is somehow the fault of the working class that votes guns, faith, and anti-immigrant? Is that the pathetic point he was trying to make in his breathless arrogance? So, since the Dems haven’t had a strong candidate and people have voted for a Republican, he’s the antidote … From where I sit — here in my gun free Ohio home — he is the second dose of John Kerry and a total non-closer against McCain in November.

  • Janis

    I could spit nails when I think about him going into that room full of smarmy rich assholes and badmouthing where I came from, like an anthropologist making theoretical pronouncements to his defense committee about the quaint and barbaric customs of the people he studied.

    And his idiot followers have been swallowing this DREK — “He gets his money from The Little People!” What?! He raised a quarter of a billion dollars from “the little people”?! Are you all NUTS?! Do you creatures even know how much a quarter of a billion dollars IS?!

    I suppose not — these are all kids who think they’re going to be millionaires by the time they are 30 — all they need is to get a job when they graduate. They have no idea how much money that is, or how you go about accumulating it. Here’s a hint, Obamabots: You KISS RICH MEN’S ASSES or you pick Barron Hilton for a grandfather.

    • griff

      Janis,
      you, and some of the people on this blog are beginning to sound…what’s that word? Bitter ?

      • BloggerBoyz

        Well, see, that’s what happens when people get insulted. Know what else happens? They’re unlikely to vote for the tone-deaf idiot who insulted them. So unless Obama stops spending so much time turning water into wine and starts using his divinity to turn anti votes into pro votes, slight problem.

        Ah well, he’ll always have sockpuppets.

  • Janis

    Hey, here’s an idea to put this into perspective:

    Barack Obama raised in ONE CAMPAIGN more than twice amount of money that BOTH CLINTONS made in over a freaking decades of constant work. And he was a freaking president!

    And they slam those two over being rich?! And to make it worse, they think that Obama just raised that by ones and twos?!

    If they believe that, I’ve got some beachfront property in Wyoming that I can let go for real cheap …

    • Strawberrybitch

      Janus, you made me laugh, thanks, I really needed that today.

  • john567

    Off topic,but has anyone been to Taylor Marsh sight tonight? I tryed to sighn on and am just getting a blank screen.

    Thanks.

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      It came up for me. http://www.taylormarsh.com/

      Maybe her site went down for a bit. I see she’s got her guest-blogging weekend going — the latest is from Scan on BO’s foreign policy cred.

      Some cred. Well, you have to say one thing about him, he’s got audacity:

      Ironically, this is an area–foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain.

      Oh for sure.

    • s. hall

      Me too — It was the same last night.

  • Hope

    Typical San Francisco Pacific Heights crew. Typical.

  • Catriley

    You know I keep reading that “Obama shouldn’t have said it”, and that’s wrong. He did NOT get facts mixed up, he stated an opinion which are his feelings about everyone east of NYC and West of San Francisco (pretty much.) How can people say “he shouldn’t say that”? He should keep to himself his elitist attitude and dismissive words about the people who represent the Democratic Party? What is wrong with seeing, FINALLY, what Obama really thinks about us?

    I used to believe that all that Archie Bunker crap came from Axelrove and Obama’s other handlers, but we’re seeing that it starts with the candidate.

    I’m white, I don’t have a college degree, and my family was strictly blue collar from the Midwest.. yet oddly enough, Obama, I “get you” LOUD AND CLEAR! How dare he act as if he’s sooo special and sophisticated that only the billionares and elite “get” him? What a cocky jerk.

    • Catriley

      LOL — that would be WEST of NYC and EAST of San Francisco (unless I meant Europe and Hawaii) My indignation works faster than my brain or fingers sometimes.. duh.

  • 30 yrdem

    I didn’t know Hillary supporters were so rude to other Hillary supporters…….You all are sounding awful bitter……

    • PMS

      Sorry. Don’t mean to be. It must be carrying around this Bible and a .45 that are wearing me out.

      • The Gringo’s Wife

        I know where you went wrong. Leave the bible at home next time. Want a swig of m MD2020? I’m so bitter I”m gonna get drunk and practice my shootin’ on the family dog.

    • BloggerBoyz

      Donna?

    • Doug

      John why don’t you use your real name or the name you use on your blog rather than unclecracker and 30yrdem and what ever else you go by. We’ll just call you troll.

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Oh, go find a more sunny place, like the Big Orange. That’d be the perfect place for you.

  • PMS

    Ahhh… San Francisco. The gift that keeps on giving!

  • ebonyscrews

    OT, but here’s the Times Online in the UK quoting Larry Johnson in the article below (few paragraphs down)…who knew? :-)

    ‘Terroist’ Link Puts Barack Obama Under Fire

    • Andy

      That’s a good article; the first comment interestingly is pounding on Larry J. as if trying to discredit Larry could be used to erase the dubious and questionable relationships of BO.

  • Dawnelle

    oh my this is just turning into an endless list of EXCUSES for Odrama-foot-in-mouth & his Wife, Pastor, Friends and Associates.

    First Michelle doesn’t think she can vote for Hillary if she is the nominee

    Then I find out the BIG BROTHER Anti Hillary ad was the KICK OFF Axelrod special

    Again Michelle says she’s never been proud of this country until her husband became a potential candidate

    some where in there BO made the stinky comment that Hillary was “nice ENOUGH”

    all the while things about Rezko, his MANSION in Chicago, his hundreds of “empty” votes, Nafta-gate, race-baiting, crazy militant spiritual advisors, the list is just endless and keeps growing!

    Is it OVER YET??? Can we MOVE on from this train wreck and embrace the only REAL candidate with a chance against McKook and the Repelicans in NOV. sigh.

    This is like a really BAD April FOOLS JOKE!

    • Catriley

      I missed that.. the Big Brother ad was an Axelrove special? I though it seemed far too well produced and timed for something that was just put up by supporter…. do you have a link for that? I’d love to see it. thanks.

  • angca

    I’m a typical white bitter small town guy.

    Where my gun? I’m on my way to church. ;)

  • john567

    SusanUnPC

    Thanks, must just be my problem. I can’t get it to load.

    • lililam

      john567

      I have tried many methods to load for hours to no avail. It was down last night, but returned at about 2 AM PDT. Now down again for some.

  • Dawnelle

    12 reasons ‘bitter’ is bad for Obama

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9561.html
    (here are 3 of them)
    1. It lets Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) off the mat at a time when even some of her top supporters had begun to despair about her prospects. Clinton hit back hard on the campaign trail Saturday. And her campaign held a conference call where former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Pittsburgh native, described Obama’s remarks as “condescending and disappointing” and “undercutting his message of hope.”

    2. If you are going to say something that makes you sound like a clueless liberal, don’t say it in San Francisco. Obama’s views might have been received very differently if he had expressed them in public to Pennsylvania voters, saying he understood and could alleviate their frustrations.

    3. Some people actually use guns to hunt — not to compensate for a salary that’s less than a U.S. senator’s.

  • http://www.notofthebody.blogspot.com Hype-Jersey

    The short video is enough to make me hurl. It’s the spectacle of rich elites fawning over The Chosen One and everyone laughing at the private joke between them, that has been told at the expense of the working people.

    Let them eat cake.

  • Dawnelle

    an interesting commenter makes note of where this all took place (supposedly)

    Katherine7:25PMApr 12th 2008
    http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/04/12/clinton-comments-on-rivals-bitter-words/#cont

    Wait a second. I just found out that Obama made these statements about small town USA not only in front of elitist rich people in Pacific Heights…

    But it was a fundraiser at a multi-millionaire’s mansion with many millionaires present and the media was disallowed. So, he was speaking as though no one else would find out.

    The mansion is owned by multi-millionaire “Pakistan native and ardently Muslim Sohaib Abbasi (CEO of Informatica)”….

    Here. Look at all the pictures of the string of millionaire and billionaire fundraisers Obama went to in San Fran:

    http://savagepolitics.com/

    http://www.zombietime.com/obama_visits_billionaires_row/

    • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

      A Pakistani fund raiser. No! Say it can’t be so……

      • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

        Well at least it wasn’t Rashi Kahlidi this time.

        • Dawnelle

          This flat earth thing is something else.

          A few years ago I would have LAUGHED out loud (literally) if you had told me I would be blogging about billionaire Pakistanis in San Fran? being entertained by the first potential black candidate for Pretzeldent!

          I would have ROFLOL! Then asked you what kind of drugs you were on.

          crrrrrrrrrrrrazy

  • http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Mary Jo Kopechne

    Great coverage from the UK Timesonline. Damning to BO

    http://tinyurl.com/4jbdop

  • truthteller2007

    Obama will insult small town, middle class voters in the posh home of a fundraiser in San Francisco, but he will not allow himself to be photographed with Gavin Newsome. And did Obama confuse the bitterness of Trinity with small town Pennsylvania? I believe he did, for not every church in the Midwest is the God Damn America Church he and Michelle attend with their children on Sunday.

    Perhaps someone should create a prosthetic teleprompter for the Senator from Illinois who is all to easily confused.

    • Catriley

      Excellent point. I think that the Gavin Newsome story should be front and center every single day, for every person that cares bout GLBT issues.

      Obama has a lot of nerve accusing small town folks of being.. when his pastor apparently invented that word.

      • Catriley

        I’m not having lots of success posting tonight… the missing word here: Obama has a lot of nerve accusing small town folks of being.. when his pastor apparently invented that word. is BITTER. Sometimes a word will just disappear. I think I’ve been typing too much.. .ack.

        • Dawnelle

          You are NOT alone!!! I tend to drop the last letter of many sentences especially when I’m in a hurry! And sometimes whole words the same! LOL!

  • http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Mary Jo Kopechne

    Someone just posted this on TM–does anyone know where these stats come from? It would interesting to follow up. John King is from CNN, I imagine.

    “John King just went over stats for Marin County where the fundraiser was held and where most of the people who attended were from…over $900,000 for the AVERAGE home in that county”

    • The Gringo’s Wife

      Oh come now! That’s middle class by today’s standard!

      Where do you all live? The last time I saw a million dollar home with a backyard was 1993.

  • blobert

    Wow. That first cut is amazing. Obama feels comfortable enough with the educated audience in SFO to confide that he is out of touch with his voters in PA. Ironically, he was doing quite well, all things considered, so it probably surprised the people he had charmed and were cheering him on that he felt no rapport.

    What this tells me is that Obama is carrying around preconceptions. He is still judging situations from the POV of a guy from South Side Chicago.
    I come from a small town in a red state and know that it takes a long time to shed regional baggage.
    He is nowhere near ready to run for president.

  • Samantha

    Hillary Clinton on Oblabba:

    “The people of faith I know don’t ‘cling’ to religion because they’re bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich,” she said.

    “I also disagree with Senator Obama’s assertion that people in this country ‘cling to guns’ and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration,” Clinton added.

    “People don’t need a president who looks down on them,” she said. “They need a president who stands up for them.”

  • mel
    • http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

      They can make 20 more and the people he ticked off will still stay ticked off. Don’t kid yourself, they put their finger in the air and checked the wind and that is why they apologized. Frankly, I think not apologizing right away instead of being even MORE arrogant would have been more helpful to Obama. In that vein, I am glad he was arrogant about it.

      • mel

        watc the videos first!

        • english teacher

          damn you!

  • Joe

    The laughter from the audience shows that they share Obama’s belief that rural Pennsylvanians are racist. clearly, in Obama’s world, anyone who doesn’t support him is racist and turn to guns and God only because Washington doesn’t give them jobs.

  • glennmcgahhee

    He could easily be talking about inner city Chicago. Thats where the kids recently have been gunned down going to and from school. So much so, that curfews have been enacted and the kids are being escorted by police as they arrive to and leave school. Last time I heard, 20 kids have been killed recently from gun violence there. Add that to the good Rev. Wright’s church and you will see everything he talks about. Bitterness, church and guns, all in Obama’s backyard.

    • beebop

      But. That isn’t his point. He wins there. Bitterness is a small town thing. See? See? Work on it. You’ll come ’round to it …

  • glennmcgahee

    Here’s a link to the inner city violence that is ravaging Obama’s own backyard. Talk about the pot calling the kettle, violence, church, its all there. More than 20 kids have been killed going to and from school in Chicago’s inner city neighborhoods. Whats Obama done to help that except attend the church that promotes anger and violence as a means to rile up more anger while Obama works with and promotes the corrupt developers (Rezko and Co.) that have stolen the money that was supposed to provide the low cost housing that these people need. Here’s Anderson Cooper’s report:
    http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/08/more-children-killed-more-children-changing-the-world/

  • http://www.gratisnet.com Bob Sakowski

    Am i the only one struck by the fact that “The One” seems to have lost his “revival preacher” delivery to this group?

    Does he reserve that personna for the rubes in the fly over states?

    Obama is a snake oil salesman not unlike the “Flimflam Man” (showing my age with that reference) but not near as likable.

  • bmc

    Ha, Yeah, I’ve always said Obama sounds like a Southern Baptist preacher in front of CERTAIN audiences. And, then, he re-wires his dialect and accent for CERTAIN OTHER audiences, like the ones around SF.

    The man’s a con artist, the myths don’t resemble the man in the least.

    But, here’s a question for all those who are quibbling over the meaning of “middle class” or “upper middle class”:

    Does someone who makes $190,000 a year belong in the middle class, or the “upper” middle class? They are, after all in the upper 5% of income earners in this country, practically in the upper 2% of income earners in this country, when you look at the statistics. So, is that “upper” middle class, then?

    Get a grip. That wife of an army surgeon? Her husband makes $150,000 or more a year, if he’s an 0-6–that’s Colonel, for those who don’t know. And, SHE could also have money. Is that “middle class” then? Or “upper middle” class?

    Sheesh. Some people don’t get it. These people wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have money and connections. And, these are the people Obama gave ACCESS to–not those making $37,000 a year. That’s who he’ll be beholden to if he’s president [not gonna happen, but that was the point of inviting them in the first place, dontcha know?]

  • Toothless in PA
  • typicalwhitebitter voter

    So if Obama doesn’t get my vote, he and his supporters think it’s because I am racist. Pathetic. Who exactly is bitter and clinging in that scenario?

  • http://360.yahoo.com/ommotherlifeforce fred heidrick

    the point on rove is WHO WAS THE FIRST LIER.

    the bushies concoced thes lies to go to iraq to get some cheep oil. so to say the people that repeated the ORIGINAL ROVIAN LIE are wrong is not right . the first liers are the ones that are wrong

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