John McCain's campaign is attacking Barack Obama for Obama's rather indisputable comments about the rise of anti-immigrant fervor in small town America. Obama said that the rise of such fervor has a lot to do with bitterness.
But wait - didn't John McCain say something similar in December to the New Yorker?

Anti-immigrant passion also owes much to the disproportionate influence of a few small states in the nominating process. National polls show that, as an issue, immigration is far behind the Iraq war, terrorism, the economy, and health care as a concern to most Americans; a recent Pew poll shows that, nationally, only six per cent of voters offer immigration as the most important issue facing the country. But in Iowa and South Carolina, two of the three most important early states, it is a top concern for the Republicans who are most likely to vote.
"It's the influx of illegals into places where they've never seen a Hispanic influence before," McCain told me. "You probably see more emotion in Iowa than you do in Arizona on this issue. I was in a town in Iowa, and twenty years ago there were no Hispanics in the town. Then a meatpacking facility was opened up. Now twenty per cent of their population is Hispanic. There were senior citizens there who were-'concerned' is not the word. They see this as an assault on their culture, what they view as an impact on what have been their traditions in Iowa, in the small towns in Iowa. So you get questions like 'Why do I have to punch 1 for English?' 'Why can't they speak English?' It's become larger than just the fact that we need to enforce our borders."

Sure, it's not exactly the same, but it's pretty darn similar. In fact, McCain seems to be saying something far more controversial. While Obama is saying economic hardship breeds anti-immigrant feelings, McCain is saying lots of rural people just hate Hispanics. That may or may not be true - but the fact that McCain's campaign is feigning outrage over Obama's truisms when their own candidate has made thematically similar statements strikes me as...what's the word...oh yeah - dishonest.  

Diary #4!

of new leather for the trolls to gnaw on!

he is going to lose PA.  To him it is the fault of gun loving unemployed bigoted religion soaked white  people.

I like the policy on preemptive and on the job training.  I will help working class stay competitive in the job market.  Her plan is specific and provides in details how to make it happen.  It will give a new opportunity for the working class to learn new value added skills.  

It's hard to believe that Obama is actually this stupid. But time and time again he demonstrates for all the world to see just how narrow minded and prejudiced he really is.

Stupid is as stupid does.

That's what typical white mama always said.

"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 are most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...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. They feel so betrayed by government that 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, then that adds another layer of skepticism.

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What is the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- to close tax loopholes, you know, roll back 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.

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. And it's not surprising then 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."

I realize that context ruins a good smear, but I figured I'd try to add some anyway.

Let me get this straight:

White people become bigots when they are poor.

Is that it?

Well, at the very least it strikes me as condescending.  But mostly it strikes me as Obama trying to intellectualize something he just doesn't understand.

Obama doesn't get white people of a certain class.

I think not.  Forgotten why you were banned so soon?

Obama tells the truth, you obviously have a problem with that.

These Obama trolls zero rating anything they don't like is ridiculous. Singer and the Cultists have made a mockery of this site.

without the context. Nice cherry picking, and nice company you keep.

I guess you can't bear being spoken to as an adult.

This place is pathetic.

Here is a very inconvenient truth- We in PA are clinging to our PATRIOTISM! We love our country, and we have NO USE for Obama, with his elitist attitude, his whining wife or his Anti-American hate spewing pastor.
Clearly the man has no clue about us, about what we think or what we want in a President.

Come April 22, he is going to find out!

In 2000, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania published "An Attitudinal Survey of Pennsylvania's Rural Residents."

The number one concern among rural Pennsylvanians? Jobs and economic development.

How do people cope with economic uncertainty? Involvement in their church was the most-reported community activity.

The majority of respondents also shop locally, are concerned about outside influences that affect their way of life, and trust their local government much more than they trust Congress.

The report did not find that people are "bitter," per se, although it documents frustrations in many areas. However, the survey was conducted nearly a decade ago, and given the direction that the country has been moving, it's probably a safe assumption that people are more frustrated today then they were back then.

Since your title (and really...is this a surprise?) implies racism, would you mind pointing out what this has to do, singularly, with white people?

Barack Obama is too black.
Barack Obama is not black enough.

Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Barack Obama is a radical black activist Christian.
Barack Obama belittles religion.

Barack Obama is lucky to be black.
Barack Obama can't win outside the black states.

Barack Obama can't win because he's not patriotic enough.
Barack Obama's "USA" chanting crowd is a cult.

CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Politico, ABC, CBS (I forgot they existed until the Bosnia story) - can you stop spinning long enough to tell me clearly which awful person Barack Obama is?  Can you make up your mind which thing about Barack Obama we're supposed to be scared of?

Obama has been an elite snob from the beginning and he's still an elite snob.  If you read his book it seeps through the pages. He's above the rest of us, that's clear. This is obvious too in his donors: rich Wall Street lawyers and Big Oil, Big Coal, defense contractors, and big business in general.  This nonsense that he gets most of his donations from "individual donors" (the lower classes that he looks down upon) is not true at all!

He even thinks two issues involving our most important rights -- Freedom of Religion and the right to bear arms (1st and 2nd amendments, no less) are for the disaffected, unemployed poor.
I hope people wake up to this guy before it's too late.

There is a real pattern here......wright's Anti-american rants, Bill Ayers (Weather Underground) not sorry that about his domestic terrorism, Michelle Obama "proud" of America for the first time and now this.  

He and his radical cronies are completely out of touch with the American heartland.

What an elitist snob BO is!  Does he think he can bowl a few frames and fool PA voters into thinking that he's one of "them?"

What utter and complete elitism.  He thinks PA voters are stupid.  I hope they trounce him, big.

Great diary.

I cannot believe B O can be that bad that he actually said that about Pennsylvanians.

Apparently he doesn't know pride, hard work and true community.  That's Pennsylvanians.  

Pensylvanians are like my hard working Uncle who fell into a Galvanized tank at the Mill.  Having to put him on ice because of the burns all over his body.  

He lost fingers, toes and had countless operations and skin grafts to save his life.  He was hospitalized for 1 year. He survived, but he wanted to serve his country.  Even with missing toes, he placed one foot under the other when he had to stand on his tip toes to pass the physical (the stories we heard) and he still managed to serve our country in the Army.

My neighbors from 40 yeas ago, who still live in the same neighborhood, they grew up in the same neighborhood my mother did and bought a house next door to each other in the new neighborhood when the both married.  When the rivers flooded, they walked down to save and help as many of their friends as they could.

Those are Pennsylvanians!

I would say that being out of touch with certain aspects of Middle American life would be a huge plus for a president from my point of view.   We've had enough of brush clearing as a cultural activity to last us ten lifetimes.

dear self-described snob, what an amazing thing to want to call yourself. I am speechless!

Although the any "intellectual" can construe this event in ways that attempt to reframe it as "merely speaking an opinion" or can argue its finer points, a broader view of what happened, in sum is simply:

Harvard educated Barack Obama, speaking for an audience of wealthy upscale California attendees, insulted the hell out of the less fortunate and less affluent voters in upstate Pennsylvania.  The San Francisco audience cackled, cheered, and laughed along with him.  

Whether what he said had some "truth" in it is completely irrelevant to the question of whether what he said was condescending (it was), appropriate (it wasn't), or a smart thing to say (definitely not) about a group of people whose votes you're trying to win in less than two weeks.

"In my opinion Barack Obama needs to stop attacking people hit by job loss and ecomonic hardship and start admiring their grit. He needs to realize not everyone went to Harvard and so not everyone can parse the difficulties of their lives into readymade stereotypes."

He thinks he gets it but he actually gets squat

On Obama's part he should've probably left this one alone.  I think he's stating the truth, but people don't want to hear that, especially from a politician.  It's risky territory when you make factual statements about the American people, the same people who you want to cast a vote for you.

Geeze. Two reccd posts bleating about the same purposely misunderstood speech. Like I wuz sayin' to Owl:

True to form, some of the loudest bloggers on this site have taken a quote and completely twisted it out of context in order to prove that Obama is the villain they want him to be. I'm losing track, but so far I think they have him at Sexist Black Supremacist Who Wields Enormous Power Over The Democratic Party And All Cable News Channels (excluding FOX, of course).  

Now, lo! he's an elitist!  Now, a thinking person might wonder how a former community organizer from a troubled, humble background (and who has by far the lowest income of the remaining candidates running) could be an elitist. Not to worry:. we have our own GOP Opposition Research Staff right here. They're more than willing misunderstand whole speeches and present to all damning quotes that fit their preconceptions.

Shameful.

Please don't drop to the BHO supporters level. this comment is innocuous and not really objectionable. all it has really done is draw out some of the more rabid and bitter of his 'supporters' to comment here.

I want Someone who is not carrying around a grudge against white people or black people or gay people or handicapped people or senior people or little people or Jewish people, or Any People.

I wonder what a Clinton supporter would say if an Obama supporter were to claim that they want "someone" who is not carrying around a grudge against men.

Probably not something very nice, and rightfully so.

I don't like thinking that Hillary's supporters, at least some of her more enthusiastic supporters around here, are racists, but really, they are one breath short of the n-word in every sentence I see in these diaries.  And sometimes, not even that.

It's not pretty.  

In my opinion I understand what Barack was trying to explain in SF...now if any open-minded Clinton supporters will indulge me I will try to explain.

First, it was a poor effort on his part to explain this a little further to his audience in SF, but I think he did a good job in Terre Haute, IN tonight explaining what he met.

Second, his point is that , and I will quote him in tonight's town hall meeting:

"Because for the last 25 years they've seen jobs shipped overseas.  They've seen their economies collapse.  They have lost their jobs.  They have lost their pensions.  They have lost their healthcare.  

And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said we're going to make your community better.  We're going to make it right and nothing ever happens.  And of course they're bitter.  Of course they're frustrated.  You would be too. In fact many of you are.  Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur.  The same thing has happened all across the country.  Nobody is looking out for you.  Nobody is thinking about you.  And so people end up- they don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody's going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."

Lastly, what I believe the point he is trying to get through is that many of these voters have lost confidence in candidates who promise to help them out economically.  They have been fooled over and over again by administration after administration.  Therefore, they latch on and vote for the candidates who will secure their core principals, such as the "right to bear arms" and immigration reform.  They also take refuge in their religion and vote according to a candidates religion as well.  He is pointing out a problem for the our party that the working class and poor do not believe in Washington anymore to make their life better economically so they  digress back to voting on issues/candidates they feel they have some control over.

Please do not respond unless you want a legitimate conversation.

Boy have we seen this before.  The night after super tuesday dkos posted a long series for threads saying HRC is a racist.  The darkened clip.  The 3 am ad was really racist since the little girl was white. I could go on and on and on.

Now on this page BO is getting slammed by his own doing and for refusing to apologize.  But get this most HRC on this page are racist.

This really ticks me off.  Tell me what do you know about racism.  You read some books and saw a tv series on discovery.  I am old enough to have seen real racism in all is awful expressions and when i see some throwing around rasist like this it is really disgusting.  If you knew anything about real racism you would not be making these statements.

david

The reaction to this Obama comment is over the top - just as the reaction to HRC's Bosnia story was over the top. However, the two cases are similar in that each played to the candidate's weakness - in HRC's case, her alleged lack of truthfulness, and in Obama's case, alleged elitism and anti-white racism. Since the media wants to destroy them both for some sick reason, the media is happy to open up with both barrels, getting the already incited supporters even more riled up.

I wish both our candidates would stop shooting themselves in the feet, stop giving the press fodder. HRC and Obama are both supposed to be smarter than this.  They need to get on message and stay there. So, in my book, yeah, the press sucks, but our candidates are not helping themselves.  

Bitter rural Americans clinging to religion => BAD

Bitter African Americans in church gleefully preaching "God Damn America" => GOOD

Time and again the Clinton campaign and its most vociferous supporters think they've found the 30-second soundbite that will destroy Obama.  Time and again they found they've underestimated the intelligence of the electorate.

I'd say listen to what the good reverend Wright has to say in his sermon "The audacity to hope".

"The real lesson Hannah gives us from this chapter--the most important word God would have us hear--is how to hope when the love of God is not plainly evident. It's easy to hope when there are evidences all around of how good God is. But to have the audacity to hope when that love is not evident--you don't know where that somewhere is that my grandmother sang about, or if there will ever be that brighter day--that is a true test of a Hannah-type faith. To take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope--make music and praise God on and with whatever it is you've got left, even though you can't see what God is going to do--that's the real word God will have us hear from this passage and from Watt's painting."

There are small towns in PA w/a majority of African Amercians.  Whose race baiting anyway?

I don't think it makes sense for anyone to generalize any group of people with such a broad stroke.  That being said, a lot of people do vote solely on wedge issues, when it is wholly against their economic self-interest, because there has not been a lot of economic help sent their way.  In the lack of a clear economic reason to vote one way or another, why wouldn't you vote wedge issues?  I think Obama wants Democrats to work on economic issues to make these wedge issues (gun rights, religion in schools) and nativism less powerful for the working class.  I think he said it in a poorly worded way, but many many Pennsylvanians (I've only been here a year, but I have seen a lot) see religion and guns as the most important issue to them.  In fact, students all get out of public high school without penalty on the first day of hunting season (in November I believe).  Having lived in MA for 10 years, this was a shock to the system.  I have nothing against most kinds of hunting, but I had never seen it so widespread as a part of the culture.

Axelrod planned this moment. It wasn't initially spun very well, but now it looks brilliant after McCain and HRC pounced on it to show their lack of understanding the problems of Middle America.

I agree that Obama's premise is a little complex for an uninterested voter that would prefer to watch Bass fishing over World News Tonight . . . but for those of you that bit on this trap:

veteran75 I am sending the admins a post about the classism and prejudice in this photo.

Man, whoever is left at that excuse for a campaign just don't get it do they?  Obviously non of them have ever been laid off because if they had they would know its a very bitter experience and it makes you agnry and you start to look for people to blame.  Hillary is too fake and hack to speak the truth on how it really is for people in this economy.  I guess the Clinton's are too busy get million dollar bribes from Colombia to pass trade deals so more American job can be sent overseas, so I understand why she wants everyone to be happy that their lives are turing to shit.  Her response to this was laughable!

And you to plug the typical white person line is disgusting.  I guess too thick to understand that this is exactly why Obama won the nomination.

   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 are most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...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. They feel so betrayed by government that 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, then that adds another layer of skepticism.

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

   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. And it's not surprising then 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.

It's nice to see you being consistent in your views.

I am fairly new to this site but it is shocking to see the amount of ignorance, total incapability of understanding basic truths and general lack of insight on the part of these Hillary supporters.

Alot of you really come across as being simpletons.

Maybe if the Hillary Clinton supporters on this site would OPEN their minds and ears to Barack they could learn a thing or two.

Heh...wishful thinking.

Sometimes a rose is rose, a skunk is a skunk. And BO insulted the rural folks in this country. A classist comment without a doubt. No amount of flowery explanations changes that. Again, BO folks think only they can understand the complexities of things. Please...understanding complexity requires a knowledge of simplicity. And again, we need more than just words to address the problems facing this country.

they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment

No negativity in that? Suuuuurrre.

But it's the people he's TALKING about whose reaction matters -- for November, when the GOP plays the actual quote over and over.

If they don't see the actual quote sooner.

As someone who lives in a bitter rural area that has seen family income fall by almost half in the 30 years, I thing Obama did fine on this and Hillary was tone-deaf. Sure there are some who are so nuts about guns that any mention of them renders them crazed but for the most part people know only the dysfunctional behaviors that flow from increasing poverty, and appreciate that Obama acknowledges them. If anything he was too understated-- me didn't mention the alcoholism, crank, domestic violence & suicide that we see through out our bitter neighbors.

It is Hillary's happy-happy-joy-joy pep rally stuff that the people I know would find offensive. There are reason Obama is winning the white rural areas. Lack of such bullshit varnish on the pain an on the incredible wealth being amassed at the same time by the very few are some.

ROFL, well maybe he did...she's agonna win it!

Why this is even a story baffles me. Everything that Barack said was quite accurate. Obama is an extremely intelligent and grounded hu man being and some of you may mistake that for arrogance or elitism. Unfortunately, that says more about you than it does about him.

Fortunately, this unique individual continues to draw crowds by the tens of thousands, continues to lead in pledged delegates and continues to rake in those dollars by the tens of millions.

The same cannot be said for the ms.clinton. He will survive this silly nonstory and will be sworn in as our president in January.

Billionaires on Billionaires' Row notwithstanding, Barack Obama doesn't have the faintest clue about the struggles of most Americans, black OR white. And he spends the vast majority of his time with people who despise most Americans, their values, and their culture. Obama is a narcissist; everything is about HIM. So, if people aren't supporting him; it's got to be a problem with THEM, not HIM.

But, the time is coming, when people will begin to wonder about Barack Obama because of the company he keeps.

April 11, 2008, 6:00 a.m.

The Company He Keeps
Meet Obama's circle: The same old America-hating Left.

By Andrew C. McCarthy

Why is Barack Obama so comfortable around people who so despise America and its allies? Maybe it's because they're so comfortable around him.

He presents as the transcendent agent of "change." Sounds platitudinous, but it's really quite strategically vaporous. Sen. Obama is loath to get into the details of how we should change, and, as the media's Chosen One, he hasn't had to.

But he's not, as some hopefully dismiss him, a charismatic lightweight with a gift for sparkling the same old vapid cant. Judging from the company he chooses to keep, Obama's change would radically alter this country. He eschews detail because most Americans don't believe we're a racist, heartless, imperialist cesspool of exploitation. The details would be disqualifying.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTh jYTU1ZDBjNmQ2YzcwNzU1MmYwN2JiMWY0ZGI0NDA =

Obama is totally out of touch -  to insult working class people is an abomination.  What an arrogant, snob, jerk he is!

I do not want this racist, arrogant, unpatriotic man as my President.

Well, I think Hillary jumped on it pretty quick, before Obama could put out a clarification. Then he jumped on her anti-bitter statement, taking up 'bitter' as a new rallying cry, or something. 'Rubbing raw the sores of discontent' as he did as a 'community organizer' in inner city Chicago?

Maybe they are simply going for different voters among that demographic. He goes for the ones who DO feel bitter, and she goes for the ones who as Maggie Williams (or Maxine whosis?) said, already HAVE hope but need HELP.

Hers may be the better tactic, as the bitter people might be more likely to vote for McCain anyway.

I think Obama's latest faux pas is really a Carteresque faux pas. It reminds me of Carter's televised speech, knee deep within that staggering inflation and unemployment of his administration, in which he admonished the American people for being too materialistic. It sounds to me like a wonderful, learned hypothesis from a wealthy person, like a Georgia peanut farmer or the husband of a Wal-Mart distributor executive, who has no idea how people less fortunate live or what they believe.

This diary earns another twenty for the Obama campaign.