TOOBIN: And, by the way, what Obama said is factually accurate.So folks according to the geniuses at CNN, if you've been downsized or cry at the pump you're just a hop, skip and a jump from beatin' up them there foreigners and flying into buildings!
CAFFERTY: Right.
TOOBIN: It's been true throughout history that people who have economic problems lash out against various others.
[snip]
CAFFERTY: Look, Jeff's right. They call it the rust belt for a reason. The great jobs and the economic prosperity left that part of the country two or three decades ago. The people are frustrated. The people have no economic opportunity.What happens to folks like that in the Middle East, you ask? Well, take a look. They go to places like al Qaeda training camps. I mean there's nothing new here.
View the atrocities here.
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16 comments:
Clinton's really trying to play this one for all she can. "Pennsylvanians are resilient"...what bad faith politicking, what pandering, what non-sense--the last-ditch effort of a candidate who knows for whom the bell tells and is trying to spin anything that she can in order to hurt her opponent. Does anyone doubt for a moment that Clinton has stayed in the race this long in the hope of digging up some serious dirt on Obama, the stained "blue dress" that would completely wipe him out? Is this the best she can do? Trying to portray him as an "elitist," which mind you was the exact same tactic employed by the Bush campaign against John Kerry? Appearing with Scaife in the Trib-Review, trying to pass herself as a feel-good optimist a la Bush. And who's the democrat? Absolutely pathetic.
Obama's right. People are pissed. They're sick and tired and they don't want anything resembling the White House we've had for the last 16 years. I'm not going to beat up any "ferners," but I will express with delight my black-hearted bitterness at the ballot box in the PA primaries.
Shane
There must be no criticism of Barack Obama! Especially if you're running against him!
However, he is free to slam her as often as he likes.
He is free to use republican talking points against her.
he was asked why he can't get blue collar, small town people to vote for him and he said it's because they cling to guns, god, fear of trade and fear of the other.
Why does he cling to god?
Do people in urban areas not cling to some of these things?
Wasn't he playing to the crowd?
Is this any way to win over Reagan Democrats which he needs to do?
On a serious note, the Clintons now appear to be "all in." Her recent emergence as a gun-totin', whiskey-downing basher of elites who is willing to use hard-edged intramural ads probably makes this campaign an all-or-nothing proposition for the Clintons. Either she will overcome the odds and get the nomination, or she will be ostracized by her party. A senator who is disliked by the president, by many fellow senators and by nearly half of the American public is not likely to be a force in American politics.But after watching Sen. Clinton's recent ad, I prefer to focus on Sen. Obama. I hope he will continue his focus on a positive message, and avoid stooping to reminding voters of Webb Hubbell, Monica Lewinsky and the Rose Law Firm billing records. I hope he will resist the temptation to match his campaign's level to that of his opponent, by recalling what caused so many voters to experience Clinton fatigue the first time around -- the FBI files, the incredible investment performance, the Marc Rich pardon and Hugh Rodham pardon fees, and the self-inflicted wounds (from recklessness and misconduct) that robbed the first Clinton presidency of its promise and set the stage for the disastrous presidency of Bush Jr.Mainly, I hope everyone refrains from dredging up the point that the first Clinton presidency also provided to many Americans the experience of discussing oral sex with their eight-year-old daughters at the dinner table. Today's eight-year-olds deserve better than the previous generation did.Disregard the mud, Sen. Obama, and stick to your, er, guns. Please address Sen. Clinton's desperate campaigning the right way . . . after you have been elected. Until then, offer your country a desperately needed service and save your ammunition for the Republicans.
Well, not to belabor the point, but he didn't actually say that he can't get the small-town, blue-collar vote because these people cling to guns, god, fear of trade and fear of the other. In fact, he said that people in small towns, after the labor and trade policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations, are leery of and angry at government and politicians. Their "bitterness" at the govt. in turn is channeled in various ways--guns, god, fear of trade and fear of the other.
While what Obama said may be an over-generalization of people in small towns (although coming from a small town in Missouri, I don't think that it's that far off the mark), Clinton's attempts to spin it into a sign of Obama's elitism (and since when did the former President of Wellesley's Young Republicans become so "people"?) seem desperate.
I'm sure the "people" that Clinton the populist is supposedly speaking for will also see this as the desperate act of a dying campaign.
I'm not opposed to legitimate criticism of Obama. Criticize the hell out of him. Make him talk about specific points of policy. Make him get beneath the superficial rhetoric of "change". Just don't equate smear with criticism. It's not the same thing. Saying Obama's an elitist is tired, hackneyed, and hypocritical.
Shane
...oh, by the way, I do sincerely appreciate the blog that you two have taken the time to organize.
Thank God for the blogging community of Pittsburgh. With the current state of the P-G and the Trib-Rev., it seems to be the only true fouth estate.
Shane
That's just not fair, Maria. He never implied that people were one step away from becoming terrorists.
But I also strongly encourage you to study the results of economic/political inequality, which is largely responsible for producing most of the hate and violence we see in this world.
To suggest that people are not bitter about the country right now is probably the understatement of the epoch. And having lived most of my life in rural Butler County, I know precisely what Obama was talking about - or is the slogan "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers" not proof enough for you that some people take their guns and their gods very, very seriously, to the point, at times, that it is not healthy.
What about all those pick-ups with bumper stickers that read, "My president is Charlton Heston?" Are you really going to suggest that a lot of people have an unnatural and unhealthy obsession with guns?
And are you suggesting that it would have been better had he taken a page from Clinton and pretended to be something he's not(no one believes that she's a gun enthusiast or sees her as a deeply religious person)?
As for complaing about attacks on Hillary, I would refer you to what has been a mantra for the Clinton Camp - if she can't handle this, how is she going to deal with Republican attacks in the fall?
Why was it alright for Hillary to misspeak(though it was clearly a lie told to dress up her very weak foreign policy experience) but it's not ok for Obama? The fact that she launched right in on this is only further proof to me that her Tuzla explanation was b.s.
And how is that going to play in the fall? I'd rather defend a candidate who might say some things that people disagree with, but how do you elect someone that the majority of Americans don't trust?
If you are not happy with our papers, take a listen to KDKA. Kevin talks about the "residue" in a steel workers voice, "huge money" (is it 2ft. or a mile long?).Is he even literate? Fred thinks we all make so much money that 18 cents means nothing,(he works his fat bum at home,doesn't have to drive, makes his money advertising junk). KDKA has to take a look at their Hillbilly Talkers. And they think Obama is "out of touch"! I know, I'm guilty of listening, but I keep hopeing I'll hear something smart.
"That's just not fair, Maria. He never implied that people were one step away from becoming terrorists."
If by "he" you mean Obama, I agree with you 100%.
The gasbags on CNN, however, were completely over the top.
"Are you really going to suggest that a lot of people have an unnatural and unhealthy obsession with guns?"
I'm not sugesting that, but the killings we hear about are not in anyway related to "lawful" gun owners. I shoot, better than Annie Oakley (maybe that's a stretch), but Hilliary is defending the people who use guns to Hunt (squirrell tastes better than chicken, Venison keeps our families fed over the winter). She knows why people want guns, but she also knows that illegal guns kill people. Obama thinks we're all a bunch of Ridge Runners who won't vote for him out of ignorance and prejudice. He's wrong! We are a little smarter than he thinks.
The "gasbags" at CNN are entirely over the top. So is most of the MSM. I am tired of hearing how small town America, middle class America and working class America have the inability to hear words and understand those words for themselves. We can! If I have to hear "Joe 6 pack" one more time, I may throw something at the t.v.
I wish they would simply run what the candidates have to say and not spend an endless amount of time telling us what they said based on an excerpt lasting less than 30 seconds. I doubt this will happen anytime soon.
Of course, there can be and (there is) legitimate criticism of Senator Obama. I am pleased to agree that Senator Obama is an intellectual elite (thank God!). However, he is not an elite in the typical understanding of that term. That label most closely fits our current President (he went to Andover! and has ties to 3 of the oldest most elite American families). It does not fit Senator Obama who grew up with little, who has no family connections and whose net worth is more than 80%-90% contained in his family home. Also, I don't think many wealth elites just finished paying off their student loans a few years ago.
--Kim
"I hope everyone refrains from dredging up the point that the first Clinton presidency also provided to many Americans the experience of discussing oral sex with their eight-year-old daughters at the dinner table. Today's eight-year-olds deserve better than the previous generation did."
Who do you think you're kidding? Our kids are so obsessed with sex that schools are seeing 8 yr. olds giving head on school busses. That didn't start with the Clintons (and why are you letting your kids watch so much T.V.?) That started when comercials started selling the promise of sex if "little wifey" used Worchester Sauce on steaks. That's where Clinton got the idea that sex was the same as nourishment. Do you really think your kids, who obviously watch a lot of TV, have a different idea?
I doubt that my daughter developed those questions from television -- she was watching cartoons and Saved by the Bell (also a cartoon, in some ways) and Full House, as I recall. Instead, I remember that she was learning about current events on the playground, the school bus, and the like. It was hard to avoid the issue at the time.
That ability to divine my children's television habits from such scant (if not nonexistent) hints prompts me to inquire: How much change is in my right front pants pocket?
.Your
Maria,
Your using religion and guns as wedge issues to smash the 'American-ness' of another Democratic candidate is most sad.
And, where exactly did I "smash the 'American-ness'" of anyone?
Secondly, could you put your words into English?
I got scolded for my writing from Ms. Maria.
Shame on me!
Should I go back to the 10th grade?
Retired millhunk says: I feel for you Anon 12:06 but you must remember you must not speak ill of Sen. Clinton to Maria, Hillary can lie get Americans killed she was too busy to read the NIE, she was too busy to vote on the telecom immunity bill because she was campaigning although Obama MADE TIME to vote against telecom immunity, but you are not allowed to speak against Sen. Clinton to Maria how dare you. Maria why do you want your fellow citizens spied on by their own government?
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