Obama steps in it! Gives Hillary second wind?

[Thorgrim]

To his credit, he's doing a decent job of trying to turn lemons into lemonade...if he can do this all election I like his chances a lot more than I did 48 hours ago...if it gets media time...

YouTube Video

However I still think he could have done a better job if he would have said "wow, i have no idea what I was thinking when I phrased that, I'm human and I make mistakes and this was a stupid one, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart to all the people I offended because I've loved my christian support and I've always respected traditions not just in religion but hunting as well" and then followed up on how "I used the word bitter because it's so much stronger than frustration, it's a powerful emotion that is hitting these people and I've seen it in my home state for decades"

That would have been the perfect "12 hours later" response...now it's been 3+ days and he's just now getting SOME of that across

[Thorgrim]

Rasmussen:

2* Obama said that in small towns in Pennsylvania, people “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Do you agree or disagree?

25% Agree
56% Disagree
19% Not sure

3* Senators Clinton and McCain said Obama’s comments showed he was out of touch with hardworking Americans. Do Obama’s comments reflect an elitist view of small-town America?

45% Yes
37% No
18% Not sure

4* In response, Obama said, “No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. I know what's going on in Pennsylvania, I know what's going in Indiana, I know what's going in Illinois. People are fed up. They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter, and they want to see a change in Washington.” Do you agree or disagree?

56% Agree
32% Disagree
12% Not sure

5* In political terms, is Barrack Obama conservative moderate or liberal?

4% Conservative
30% Moderate
52% Liberal
13% Not sure


NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

Better numbers than I thought he'd get...the bolded part especially looks good for him

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Scrum

The Lou Dobbs show on Saturday devoted the entire hour to this Obama story and how it was "devastating" to his campaign.

Meanwhile this came out on friday and got nothing.

That's overblown.

President Bush is so last year, nothing he does is news.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

YouTube Video

annie oakley

However I still think he could have done a better job if he would have said "wow, i have no idea what I was thinking when I phrased that, I'm human and I make mistakes and this was a stupid one, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart to all the people I offended because I've loved my christian support and I've always respected traditions not just in religion but hunting as well" and then followed up on how "I used the word bitter because it's so much stronger than frustration, it's a powerful emotion that is hitting these people and I've seen it in my home state for decades"

That would have been the perfect "12 hours later" response...now it's been 3+ days and he's just now getting SOME of that across

that is because he didn't think he did anything wrong, which shows just how out of touch he is.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

that is because he didn't think he did anything wrong, which shows just how out of touch he is.

Again, what did he say that was false?

Someone who thinks that people in the rust belt are bitter are wrong? Or are they wrong to think that bitter people cling to god, guns and xenophobia?

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Scrum

Again, what did he say that was false?

Someone who thinks that people in the rust belt are bitter are wrong? Or are they wrong to think that bitter people cling to god, guns and xenophobia?

I will let my brother from another mother explain it:
Obama steps in it! Gives Hillary second wind?

not exactly how I would word it, but I agree basically.

[kinggovernor]

McCain just gave a speech about how when Obama was insulting small town Americans, he was insulting veterans and members of the military (most of whom come from small towns)

This could have been phrased better than by Jim Webb:
"You might not pick this up in K Street law offices or in the halls of Congress, but once you enter the areas of this country where more typical Americans dwell, the areas that provide the men who make up our combat units, it becomes obvious. Inside the truck stops and in the honky-tonks, down on the street and in the coal towns, American men are tough and violent."
Women Can't Fight - News & Politics (washingtonian.com)

[kinggovernor]

Full transcript of what Obama said:
OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.

Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns 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 communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.

Mayhill Fowler: Obama: No Surprise That Hard-Pressed Pennsylvanians Turn Bitter - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

McCain just gave a speech about how when Obama was insulting small town Americans, he was insulting veterans and members of the military (most of whom come from small towns)

Of course he was insulting the troops. McCain is a one trick pony.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Scrum

Of course he was insulting the troops. McCain is a one trick pony.

small towns are where the military is made up off, the military is made up of people who cling to religion, guns and tradition. Not $5.75 Lattes.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Scrum

Again, what did he say that was false?

Someone who thinks that people in the rust belt are bitter are wrong? Or are they wrong to think that bitter people cling to god, guns and xenophobia?

Doesn't matter whether or not he was right, it matters whether or not he offended and permanently alienated a specific demographic of voters

[motivez]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

small towns are where the military is made up off, the military is made up of people who cling to religion, guns and tradition. Not $5.75 Lattes.

I love how it's acceptable for people to insult a decently well off demographic that likes coffee, but god forbid someone insults a redneck who lives in the back woods or a tiny town and has a cache of weapons.. that's unconscionable.. who dare suggest anything negative about people like that

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by motivez

I love how it's acceptable for people to insult a decently well off demographic that likes coffee, but god forbid someone insults a redneck who lives in the back woods or a tiny town and has a cache of weapons.. that's unconscionable.. who dare suggest anything negative about people like that

if I was running for President, I wouldn't insult the Starbucks crowd in public.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

small towns are where the military is made up off, the military is made up of people who cling to religion, guns and tradition. Not $5.75 Lattes.

That's still one hell of a leap to say that this was some kind of swipe at members of the military.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Scrum

That's still one hell of a leap to say that this was some kind of swipe at members of the military.

When I first heard it what Obama said, it made me immediately think about what Jim Webb had written. It goes to show the disconnect between Obama and small town America.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

It goes to show the disconnect between Obama and small town America.

There's a disconnect between every candidate and small town America. The only difference is that he's willing to call a spade a spade while Hillary and McBush will say whatever is necessary to get their votes .

This still has nothing to do with "the troops" and people are smart enough to see through those 2004/Karl Rove tactics.


I don't see how this is going to hurt him. The people who may be offended by this weren't going to vote for him anyway.

[Thorgrim]

I think it's hilarious that someone who grew up in such a shitty situation he snorted coke, and until he joined the senate he was paying off his student loans

then we have military-rich boy Sidney III son of the admiral who is the son of an admiral, who dumped his wife because some trophy bimbo came along, and spent the rest of his life in luxury in the senate, notably selling out the american people in keating 5, and even since then, sits there in the senate

and he thinks obama is out of touch?

the only "real" moment is mccains life was his capture, and that is something 99% of americans can't connect with...the rest of it was pure pampered and elite lifestyle

four years ago Obama was paying off his student loans while raising a 2 and 5 year old

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Scrum

There's a disconnect between every candidate and small town America. The only difference is that he's willing to call a spade a spade while Hillary and McBush will say whatever is necessary to get their votes .

This still has nothing to do with "the troops" and people are smart enough to see through those 2004/Karl Rove tactics.


I don't see how this is going to hurt him. The people who may be offended by this weren't going to vote for him anyway.

we can disagree about the first part, but this will definitely hurt him. He was already polling low with blue collar democrats and this will not help.

[7960]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

we can disagree about the first part, but this will definitely hurt him. He was already polling low with blue collar democrats and this will not help.

It can just as easily be explained by saying these are people who were waiting for a reason not to vote for him. They've been "undecided" (but not really) all along, and now clinton has an almost semi-decent reason to call him an elite reverse racist and it's enough for them to finally have a reason to overcome their guilt about not voting for the black candidate instead of the female candidate.



cliffs: they were waiting for a reason not to vote for him, so it's really not going to hurt him because if it wasn't this it would have been something else.