There are several issues at hand with Obama's comments.

One is the reduction of "beliefs and values," like gun rights and religion, to material motives, which is to say that clinging to ideals is a way to cope with feelings of failure in one's financial and career life. Personally I agree with interpreting ideals as the outgrowth of economic concerns. Yet there is danger to the status quo when people realize they've been fed ideology as a substitute for real financial gain. Hence much of the uproar that will surely result from these comments.

Another issue is that calling people bitter, even if it is a statement of fact, can be taken as an insult. The phrase "you're bitter" - which is the way Obama's comments might be received by some blue-collar workers and rural people, and surely how they will be portrayed by Clinton and the Republicans - is closely related to memes like "you're just envious," "you're resentful because you're poor," "you need to take responsibility for your own life," "you're a failure because you have a bad attitude" etc.

Calling a person bitter may come across as derogatory because this accusation ties in with a pattern of thought and belief in the U.S. whereby it is shameful for the "have nots" to resent the "haves." Granted it would seem entirely justified for the unprivileged to resent the privileged if their low status derives from no fault of their own, yet the self-made man ideology in American culture makes it taboo for people to be envious and resentful over arbitrary inequalities. Envy, like bitterness, is treated as a sign of weakness, an indication that a person is a failure. It is stigmatized, since a failure is the last thing an American wants to be, what with the rhetoric about meritocracy and the land of opportunity (which is partly accurate yet also exaggerated).

My point is that yes, a big furor will be made over Obama's comments, and it will be motivated largely by political expediency. Yet this does not mean there are not real reasons why these comments are risque. The idea that working-class people's politics and beliefs are motivated by a desire to seek consolation in non-economic concerns, since the economic world poses too many obstacles to them, stems from Marx, which will put the Republicans' panties in a twist. Also, in U.S. culture it is generally an insult to be called bitter, as this accusation evokes a network of related denunciations, all wrapped up with the idea that people at the bottom of the social order deserve to be there due to personal inadequacies, hence many rural and blue-collar people might take Obama's comments as demeaning, even if they are not intended as such.

The value of his comments is that they highlight a particularly important crossroads of ideology: whether bitterness is acceptable or unacceptable, justified or unjustifiable. The self-made man ideology, which is dominant in the U.S., would suggest status envy is never justified, as anyone with talent and drive can be successful, and unsuccessful people deserve to be at the bottom because they lack ability and/or motivation. Commonsense, on the other hand, would say it is understandable when people are bitter because they are struggling economically through no fault of their own.

If Obama's comments raise this debate and call into question the assumptions of the self-made man ideology, then they are valuable indeed.

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...that, on the issues, Hillary and Obama are almost two peas in a pod. That they approach debate differently does not make Hillary a bad choice for president. I find Obama's speeches and responses to hard questions to have a calming effect on me and I hope he'll do the same for others as president. But tough-as-nails Hillary might serve well in some instances as well.

For the life of me, I can't understand why people are so convinced that Clinton is a bad choice for president. On the issues -- the things that matter -- she's neck and neck with Obama.

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That's why Hillary would make a horrifically bad president - she chose the head of one of the slimiest global PR firms to run her campaign. That point to the kind of people she's likely to fill the government with: Democratic versions of Karl Rove (Mark Penn is the one behind the let's-go-nasty campaign that Hillary has decided to run.)

This is the same guy who was negotiating the trade deal with representatives of Colombia's government - see the NYT article, Union Killings Peril Trade Pact With Colombia, Apr 2008 for more on that.

Then there's China. Hillary, child of WalMart, has publicly criticized China for the cameras - but the company whose board she was on, and who she praised effusively, relies on Chinese slave labor to keep its shelves stocked - and guess who is providing PR advice to China regarding the Olympics? Why, Mark Penn and Burson-Marsteller:

"Burson-Marsteller is uniquely placed given its position as the number one public relations agency in both China and Italy while its affiliate, National PR, is ranked number one in Canada. Burson-Marsteller China is establishing a dedicated practice supporting clients who are sponsors of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. - B-M press release.

A total lack of honesty coupled with a vicious ambition - not suitable material for a President. Many Democrats would have a hard time voting for Hillary Clinton if she was the Democratic candidate - and that appears to be why so many Republicans are supporting her.

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So people are bitter? They have a right to be and when conditions are such that people feel they have little control what's wrong with turning to the familiar? Doing what you like is one way to break the crisis cycle and get away from your problems temporarily. So if you feel that God helps: go to church, like fishing or hunting; do it. the world has gone wacky and the news media talks tragedy, crime and mayhem constantly so you like to hang with people like yourself and are wary of strangers; so what?
Once again this is much ado about nothing except for Hillary to continue her candidacy. I read somewhere recently that Hillary's candidacy is analogous to Glenn Close's character in ‘Fatal Attraction’. Just when you think she’s dead, she’s back, spewing water like Hillary spews lies, but, whew, in the end she’s dead.

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This comment subject title was taken from the previous comment:“Because she will do, and has done, whatever will get her re-elected,”

Look at Hillary's vote for the iraq war (2002) and for the Kyle-Lieberman vote, then ask yourself if you can believe and trust her campaign statements. Consider this recent statement. Hillary Clinton’s recent innuendo-dripping remark was that her Christian faith “is the faith of my parents and my grandparents.” That is certainly a code comment to remind voters that Obama “is not a Muslim, as far as I know.”

Her “faith” statement brings to mind to me “faith of our fathers living still, in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.” So it comes across to me as another innuendo suggesting any connection to the religion of Islam is undesirable in a presidential candidate. The issue is not whether she believes that about Islam but that she believes projecting that attitude will help get her elected.

Hillary states Hillary half truths and talks to her audience as if she is a savior. She says she is the candidate of solutions. Her solution number one this weekend seemed to be to seize on one word and attack a fellow Democrat.

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Politics, politics, the art of dissembling.
And what is Hillary but the great dissembler.
Instead of telling an eleven year old child when asking "Is there a Santa Claus"
"There is no Santa Claus?" the dissembler says, "Everyone has a Santa Claus in his/her heart."
The truth to the dissembler is not that bigotry damages this country and especially its small towns but that bigotry is the only answer to elitists. Hillary, please shut up for once.

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Ah, Jane, I'm with you completely. Obama's remarks reminded me of a trip I took last summer out to Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Western Pennsylvania. Gorgeous country, but dotted with absolutely devastated towns and small cities.

I heard Obama's analysis completely differently than it played in the news and in the Clinton campaign: I heard it as empathy, as recognition that we have written off these places and people have a right to feel resentful.

As I said to my daughter, the traditional Democratic approach to such bitterness is to pitch to it, for candidates to "play poor" and to promise jobs that will never be delivered. That's the Clinton approach.

In Obama we have the real thing. He's thinking aloud, not waiting for someone to tell him what to say. We ought to wish every American had a touch of his elitism, the kind that can put itself in someone else's shoes without pandering.

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If an astute physician notices your symptoms, points out them out to you, and then offers a diagnosis, it may be something you are not happy about hearing.

If you got a second opinion from a craven quack who lies to you and then tells you the first doctor's diagnosis disrespects you, it might be comforting at first to delude yourself into thinking that everything is fine.

But then there are those damn symptoms that don't go away.

Ultimately, you'll be grateful for the honest opinion from the honest doctor who told you the truth, and be really angry at the quack who lied to you.

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If Barack Obama is interested in actually being President -- as opposed to impressing a bunch of rich Californians and smug, lunatic-left bloggers -- the road to the White House does not include talk about people "clinging" to their religion or anti-trade sentiment. You cannot spend time parading in front of a bunch of churchy props, or blasting trade agreeements, for that matter -- and talk about people "clinging" to their religion and their anti-trade views. It smacks of Marx's "religion as opiate", which is only good if you plan to lead a coalition of Marxist voters to your victory, and it makes you sound like a condescending fraud.

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This is not Hillary Clinton's war. Let us be very clear whose war this is. This is George W. Bush's war. He lied to get us in it and without his insistence, his arrogance, and his criminal stupidity, it would not have happened. And for all the mileage Obama's gotten out of the fact that he was not a US Senator in 2002, can Ms. Smiley tell us how many bills Obama has introduced to cut off funding for the war?

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Contending that core beliefs are kneejerk reaction to the economy is misguided and suggests either deep misunderstanding of America's diversity or disrespect for it. Senator Obama's comments are startling.

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Apologize to your children for getting their asses killed in Iraq or any number of wars these people engage in, apologize to them for getting them maimed, losing limbs, eyes or worse and fucking up their lives forever. When you have children now, be prepared for all of this and more, especially if you support all this bullshit. Why do you think these assholes are pro birth? So they can keep the bodies they need to fight wars..outsourcing was all part of it...no jobs here, join the military, the only jobs left, and get your ass killed. I guess that's what everyone wants now days, their children and grandchildren killed in the middle east.

Now we're recruiting for the Army in Africa too, obviously to solve their over population problems and because they're the only ones who would join up given their economic situation.

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Hillary says. "When in Pennsylvania cracker land, talk cracker."
"That may sound condescending but it's just politics. Talk guns and beer."
"Barack, however, even tho' he was telling a known version of cracker truth, used a five syllable word plus complicated syntax.That, my friends, is elitist. Shor' is."
"Back when Momma, Poppa and I were on welfare.......and the revenuers were looking for our stills ......"

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"I know Clinton is corrupt to the core" Well... I know you lied in every part of this article but it fits Ma Jones agenda, thus it is presented without interruption or need to back it up. Ma Jones don't like Clinton, so if you don't like Clinton, it will sell subscriptions, therefore print anything you want. Rush Limbaugh could easily have written this article, or any other crap right -wing anger spewing moron. "Get angry" is an action I find myself only doing when I read the diatribes that pose as articles on Ma Jones. "Angry left wing woman" is not NECESSARILY the definition of reporter, although a reporter could certainly be one. Figure out the difference please.

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The trouble is that pop culture is dictated by the mass media and characters in movies like Dirty Harry and John Wayne's marine in "Green Berets". Cops and mass murderers are underdogs battling a corrupt system that protects "bad guys" - who are cartoon like in nature. When someone challenges the image of the US as the definitive "guy in white hat" - he is said to be "elitist". Movies are about feeling good about those in authority and the few bad actors in authority invariably are rooted out and punished by that same establishment. Aren't we all wonderful? Only an elitist would suggest otherwise.

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I'm familiar with small-town Pennsylvanians (relatives) and they sure seem bitter to me. They seem happy only when they can shoot at something, preferably something large enough that they'll have a chance at actually hitting it (deer, proverbial broad side of a barn, etc.). Religion seems bitter enough also. And if they get to a Pirates game once a summer, and to Florida once a winter, that's enough of the outside world for them.

I suppose it was bad politics to say it. Hillary jumped right on it - of course small-town Pennsylvanians are some of the most "optimistic" and "resilient" people you can find, blah blah blah.

But don't Americans in other parts of the country enjoy having their real qualities recognized? For instance, don't Southerners nowadays get a thrill out of being considered angry and resentful? I get the impression they do - is this incorrect? Don't New Yorkers enjoy being considered rude and abrupt? Don't Minnesotans make jokes about their reputation for phony niceness? Don't Californians love being considered parochial and uninterested in the rest of the country?

What's so bad about being bitter?

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I really hope the voters in Pennsylvania catch on to your two-faced, mean spirited, completely dishonest pandering, and hand you your walking papers on primary day. All the polls indicate that they're beginning to see you for what you are and are bailing out on your candidacy.

Is there really that much difference between Obama and Clinton, some ask. Yeah, there really is. The fact that the question is even being asked is disquieting.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: IQ and the Wealth of Nations is a controversial 2002 book by Dr. Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. The book argues that differences in national income (in the form of per capita gross domestic product) correlate with differences in the average national intelligence quotient (IQ). The authors interpret this correlation as showing that IQ is one important factor contributing to differences in national wealth and rates of economic growth, but that it is not the only determinant of these differences. The data, methodology, and conclusions have been criticized.

It would be interesting to undertake a formal study of the correlation between various intelligence measures of individual democratic voter preference - between Senators Obama and Clinton, not just their much discussed educational backgrounds. Put more bluntly, I for one, hope that we can demonstrate to the rest of the world that the US is on the way up the scale from an already shaky position of 26 rather than head towards the unfortunate lot at the bottom of the table which was recently lead by Equatorial Guinea. At the moment Senator Clinton seems to be making a significant contribution to helping the US move down the scale further.

The book may be controversial, but it certainly seems to provide adequate explanation for the current stunning economic growth rates of the various countries at the top of the table. Does the US have irreversibly ingrained and possibly irreparable flaws in its infrastructure? The World is watching. Perhaps we will be successful in finding a leader who will help us head the other way as a nation, otherwise the future doesn't look that bright.

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Obama, as much as I do like him, has about as much understanding of small town white America as Hillary does. Remember he's a black guy belonging to a black church with an eye on black issues.

Making lite of religion, gun ownership etc isnt the way to win hearts of middle America.

Hillary has him on this one - but still will not win the election. In the end Obama has what America needs, a new perspective and the right ideas. Please do not kill it by dumb comments!

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Go here:

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2983450390086951885WApWYj

to see the economic devistation close up. This is my home town. The only option for anyone living there is to leave, as I have. The State democratic party has left the people remaining to fend for themselves. When the people ask "what has the democratic party done for me?" they do not have an answer.
And they are pissed.
Hunting is a big part of the culture and the idea that govment may want to take their guns resonates large. A small portion of the population may vote republican, but many times that simply stay home on election day.

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The facts are as such: PEOPLE ARE BITTER ABOUT LOSING THEIR JOBS.

The fact that Obama pointed it out is simple truth.

If 'blue collar workers' are taking the 'bitter' remark the wrong way, then THEY are the problem. After all, THEY are the ones who en masse are interpreting his remarks instead of hearing it for its face valuye.

But... I don't think they are the problem after all. I know now that Mark Penn's slimeball campaign methods coupled with a MSM that refuses to air (for the most part) the entirety of Obama's answer to this question are the REAL problem.

I'm hearing in newscast after newscast how the MSM wants to stir up the pot and try to produce an issue where NONE EXISTS. They're apparently looking for a juicy story where NONE EXISTS.

Stop listening to the MSM pundits. They are not providing the real story here. And Hillary's campaign is sinking lower and lower into the mud.

We'll end up with what we deserve in the WH if her campaign doesn't stop this sh*t right now.

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THE DEFINITION OF BITTER: 1 EXTREMELY HARSH OR RESENTFUL. 2 INTENSE OR SEVERE. 3 HAVING AN ACRID LINGERING TASTE.
What better word could Obama have used to describe our fustration and absolute disgust with our present government? The worst terrorist to kill and mame... is our own government. Put the shoe on the other foot and start reasoning.

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" He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction."

Another Huffington Post anti-Hillary writer. I didn't take it the way Jane stated it above at all, nor did I hear her 'interpretation' in Obama's attempt at explaining his words. Obama does need to be careful. Keep in mind, he wasn't talking to people who may feel disenfranchised, he was talking, if I'm not mistaken, to the 'elitists'.

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Go back and read Obama's words in context from the transcript, then try to apply a little abstract thought to them so you understand what he was talking about.

When the economy tanks, church attendance, gun ownership & hate crimes increase. That's a fact. What Obama was saying is that the fears behind that phenomenom have been expertly exploited by the sons of bitches on the right to boost their own power trip.

Now your gal Hillary's doing the same thing. And why shouldn't she? It worked for Rove!

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I'm middle class, I have a job, I don't own a gun, my heart is a pantheon of religious acceptance and inclusion, and being from the 'elitist northeast', I have no concerns about being overrun by an unwashed horde of refugees from Ottawa or Montreal, fearing that they will take my job or date my daughter.

But I AM bitter.

I'm bitter.


I find myself, week in, week out...leaping prodigiously over serious economic hurdles...landing with light step and good momentum on the other side, only to find that I must again leap airborne, over YET ANOTHER economic hurdle.

Every SINGLE paycheck, I am faced with yet another economic roadblock. They do not cease.

Last week, my old car needs repairs. $1600. or so...this week, my OTHER slightly newer car needs some repairs...$900. The week before, I must pay the orthodontist for work on my children's teeth that my health insurance doesn't cover...$700, in two weeks, I must pay my property taxes or face a tax deed...$8000. After that I must re-stock the freezer...$600...After that I must pay my car insurance...$950...After that I must buy a tank of heating oil...$1100 after that I must....


There isn't a single day out of the year, that SOMEONE isn't holding out their hand and expecting me to pay, and pay much more dearly than yesterday.

And I lead a pretty simple life. And I get paid pretty well..but pretty well seems to be what you need to just get by.

Oh, I don't have to worry about paying for that vacation trip...you know, the one that I'm not going to be taking.

yes, I'm bitter.

I don't want to be rich. I want to feel that I am, only just once in a while, NOT on the brink.


bitter. that's me.


lexicon.

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More fine writing from a fine writer.

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It is obvious what the reason is behind the various forms of decay we are seeing. It has everything to do with the cubic mile of oil that people consume every year, and the fact that we are no longer able to grow that volume like we have in the past. Pretty damn simple I'd say. Yet Obama doesnt have the guts to actually come out and say it. That makes him no different than the other CFR shills he is running against. They all think people are stupid.

Politics is the process of tricking people into entering the gas chambers by their own free will. And Obama is as good a politician as any!

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the democratic party nominate as presidential candidate someone who has provided so much help to a relatively weak republican candidate?

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I agree 100% with Obama's statement - but it was a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to say when running for office. Presidential campaigns are, after all, popularity contests. Most Americans don't want the truth, they want hopeful charismatic leader who has the "it" factor of an overnight celebrity. Obama was that candidate, but this statement was a departure from his usual message of hope, and it no doubt offended many Americans who just love to think of Democrats as elitist. Have the Democrats learned nothing from the mistakes of past candidates? Campaign season is not the time for honesty if you want to win. Mondale was being point-blank honest when he said that he would raise taxes (and so would Reagan). He was honest, and he was right... but it was a dumb thing to say. He probably would have lost anyway, but that statement still hurt.

If Obama would have said this AFTER he was in the White House, I would be cheering him as an honest president who isn't afraid to tell Americans what they need to hear. Now I'm not so sure he will get there. It was just the wrong thing to say at the wrong time.

Fortunately the media isn't (so far) going into a frenzy over it, so maybe it won't hurt him too much...yet. You can bet that the McCain campaign machine will use this to their advantage in the general election.

Fortunately Obama didn't wait for the media to misinterpret his statement, and he immediately offered a thoughtful and clear explanation that may have done some damage control. Only time will tell.

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Culture an be expressed only in relation with our relationship with life- family members, and others outside it like the people in the society and Nature. This relationship belongs to the System of Life, all the systems that we make should help in the expression of this System. Corollary to it is the fact that culture declines when we give importance to the products of the civilization such as religious faiths, commercial products, ideologies, arts of culture,.....

There is a mass decline in culture in America due to the conquest of consciousness by the products of the civilization. There is no doubt Americans have the best roads, cars, and other such products. When it comes to human relationship there is a decline due to the takeover of all rules by the money makers. Usually in a democratic country the elected representatives work for the welfare of the people. But, here, the representatives switch sides once they get elected- they stand with the instruments of the regime to which the Govt has delegated its duties. The Govt. cannot help the citizens directly, all services should go through the traders who stand for profit. This was seen at Katrina, the Govt could not give even a bottle of water to the thirsty. Even now the Katrina victims live in mobile homes that belong to the business people. The same we see in Iraq and Afghanistan where the development funds go to the American private armies and contractors.

If America should belong to the people they must teach their representative the basic rules of patriotism and democracy. In a democracy the Govt. uses the tax that it collects for the welfare of the people, for giving them education, and for helping them lead meaningful life. Life becomes meaningful only if we can relate ourselves to the relations of life. In the civilization that is obsessed with its own products this possibility is on the decline. This is how the products of the civilization intoxicate people as at time of the decline of the Roman Empire.

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Obama said in private what he would never say in public. It's all over now.

He spoke from his heart and it wasn't good, but at least we now know that this man stinks!

I know so many people - across the fruited plains - who regret they ever voted for him - even before this.

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Last week I criticized Obama for his "bitter" small-town America comment.

In hindsight, I was WRONG.

Some pundits say Obama should have chosen his words more carefully. I disagree.

Clearly Barack thinks out loud on the stump, in stark contrast to Hillary who spouts off campaign speaking points with little thought involved. For a coat-tail politician who has lived in upper-class society most of her life, claiming she's not an eltist is one of the most absurd things I've heard Mrs. Sniper Fire say this year.

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam vet, ex-USAF pilot, lifelong registered Republican, ONCE AGAIN AN ARDENT Obama supporter and the editor of www.PhonyFighterPilot.com, the only website about George W. Bush that presents irrefutable, smoking-gun proof of White House corruption.

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I for one am sick of hearing about either of these two disastrous Candidates of my party..

There's plenty to be bitter, about pissed off over, angry, furious, enraged to the point of revolting over..

I don't think either of these two are willing to take on the Corporations and restore the Constitution and or undo the Unitary Dictatorship Bush has established, or get us out of that corrupt thieving cesspool of hatred and murder Iraq any time quick enough..

Also they both put themselves over what's best for We The American People and with 14 states still using electronic voting with no paper trail I think most of this stupid gossip is useless as there is every likelihood that McCain will have an automatic handicap of states already in his pocket thanks to ESS and Diebold..!

With McCain only running a few points behind within the margin of error behind Obama and Clinton after nearly 8 years of Republican ruin lies theft corruption senseless war the destruction of our Military and Economy and so many of it's families and the average American family either Obama or Clinton should be 20 % ahead of McCain or at least strongly in the double digits..

Think of it as bad as these last 8 years have been these two losers idiots as far as I am concerned are barely ahead or even with McCain and the Republican Candidate..!

That tells me they suck totally suck..!

Edwards was our best hope in 2008 and much should be said for Joe Biden and his vast experience and great record instead we get frick and frack-off..!

Why aren't Obama and Clinton raising Cain about that issue among so many others..!

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what is obamas whole campain based on. Change. what change exactly? The economy which was wrecked by bushes war. For the sake of agrument, let's say bush could, and did wage war all by himself. what's obama going to do to fix it? what's his magical plan of change? Now, how's he going to fix the economy? so he clicks his heels three times and brings back all of our military in three hours. amazingly enough, our economy is still in disrepair. And, we now have osama, the Irainian prez, and every other anti american terrorist saying see, we told you it would happen, america left another country in ruins. Now, we have not one allie in the middle east, and the terrorist orginizations are free to rebuild. meanwhile, our economy is still in a state of disrepair. obomas solution, Free healthcare for everyone. Now, just as obama's buying a house for everyone, something that hasn't happened on bushes watch occurs. the biggest attack on american soil ever. hundreds of thousands dead, and the economy falls. damn, there goes our free healthcare. My point? this man will, if elected, bring an end to this country. I'm willing to debate anyone on this. I challenge all obama backers. prove to me Obama deserves a shot at being president. tell me how he couldn't tell wrights rants weren't wrong, when it only took three words from Imus for him to call for his firing. tell me why I'm wrong in thinking he's as big of a racist jesse jackson. tell me why his words weren't offensive to thousands of americans, was it just a mistake? do you want to take the chance he'll make the same mistake on the world stage. why does he refuse to where the american flag pin. he claims to be different, in my oppinion the only difference is he honestly feels that he shouldn't be held to the same standards as everyone else

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in youngstown, ohio- homes are cheaper than cars ...check out realtor dot com. if i lived there, i would be bitter also. what harm comes from telling the truth?

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What's more "elitist" anyway?

To observe that many people who know they've been left behind are "bitter" or "angry" or "alienated"?

OR

To say that it's "elitist" to make such observations?

The truth is "elitist"????

Who's complaining anyway? Those who Obama correctly identified as being "bitter" or Clinton and a chorus of pundits, all of whom are saying that it's a no no to raise the issue of class?

After I read "What's the Matter with Kansas?" I thought it was tragic that so many voters felt reduced to voting their fears and their prejudices rather than their interests. The Republicans cynically and successfully manipulated fear and anxiety. Aren't we done with that?

Obama takes voters seriously and speaks to and about them as intelligent adults. Is he overestimating us? The worst one could say is that it could be a mistake, but not that it's wrong.

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Let's be honest for a minute.

Everyone with a brain knows that Bush ran on the three-G's: God, Guns and Gays. He kissed up to religious conservatives who wanted Roe v. Wade overturned and prayer put back in schools. He kissed up to the NRA who believe it's perfectly reasonable to stockpile the kind of arsenal that would make our military jealous, and he kissed up to the homophobes who were more worried about gay folks getting married than they were about the outsourcing of jobs overseas. Now, all three of these groups are whining because things under Bush are worse than they were under Clinton. Our economy sucks, we're in a quagmire that is getting worse everyday, and the working-class are finding themselves one paycheck away from the streets. But at least those people who voted on the three-G's can sleep well because homosexuals can't walk down the aisle in better tuxedos.

Yeah, the Archie Bunker contingent are cynical and angry, but I'm even MORE pissed off because they bought into the three-G's without thinking and ended up taking the rest of the country down with them! I for one am glad Obama spoke truth to power. The sick thing is Hilary calling him an "elitist".

Whatever.

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Who cares if Obama labeled some in small towns as "bitter". We are all bitter to a certain degree,and now after this long hard winter of darkness felt by this administration, more of us are than not. To be bitter in sentiment, is to have lingering feelings about something that didn't meet up to your expectations. So.. you can have expectations that are unrealistic or just basic. You can feel bitter that your boyfriend dumped you. That you gotten passed up for the promotion that you have been gunning for at your law firm that you didn't get.
These are as varied as you expectations are.
The "bitterness" that most people in America are experiencing now is relatively simple and shared. We are in a Democracy that is supposed to protect its citizens with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights so that we as individuals can live free and productive lives. The Democratic government is supposed to .. be the referee is this big game and we are the nation's players. We, the majority of 99% are "bitter" only because the game isn't fair anymore. All I want is access to health care care that I can afford, healthy food I can afford, education for my children that I can afford, a job that pays me an adequate salary.
When economies are experiencing recessions alike ours, these events are tragedies to families and individuals. It is tragic when you cannot find a job or feed your family or get kicked out of your house because you can't afford your mortgage. Persons cling to religion not to pray for things to get better, but to understand that we can persevere through anything if we have faith in the individual to survive if we stick it out together. Plus, we can also see that there is always a life more tragic that that of our own. Humans need each other not things. Religious faith allows us to let our bitterness go. As for the gun yielding ones who hunt habitually or traditionally- I have no answers. These individuals cling to killing animals for food and or trophies of manhood which empower them in ways that their current status in society does not. Take away or outsource peoples jobs and they become depressed and anguished and abusive sometimes if they have felt that they were abused. Yes, this is bitterness.
We are sad, but not all bitter, just resigned to it all just trying to survive. We need fairness in: credit, in banking, in health care for all, education, taxation, fiduciary spending on our country infrastructure vs abroad, human rights of our citizens, and our civil liberties to express ourselves without oppression. I will not be bitter when the courts apply to equal justice to everyone, and our congress,senate and supreme court can balance the executive branch. Until then, I resort to faith and hope in Obama-- call me naive, but it is better than being bitter!

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"I infer that to actually see what has gone on in the US in the last 20 years is unAmerican...If you don't support fundamentalist religion, job outsourcing, and free access to guns, then you are not even American."

I am against fundamentalist religion (including Islam, btw) and job outsourcing. However, I can see that Sen. Clinton's remark was directed at Obama's referring to people as 'bitter', for exercising their (constitutional) rights to worship or bear arms. His tone was 'elitist' and 'out of touch'. It seeks to explain a complex socio-economic enigma like an algebra problem. Clinton's statement went to bitterness, and certainly didn't imply that you were 'un-american' unless you carried a gun in one hand and a bible in the other.

As to the closing harangue about guns, I've bought them myself at gun shows, know plenty of others who have, and we have no intention of shooting anyone we don't absolutely have to shoot. And being educated gun owners, we know the difference between situations where you should and shouldn't. Perhaps the author's anger would best be directed at the purveyors of some hip-hop, creating a sub-culture that celebrates violence and criminality. Or the movie, internet and television culture which is de-sensitizing children to the real effects of violence (google 'video beating Florida cheerleader'), and producing the odd psychopath along the way.

This article is elitist and out of touch.

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i don't understand why it is so terrible for obama to have used the word "bitter". maybe there are negative connotations to it, but i have no problem admitting that i am bitter after the past two presidential terms. no problem at all.

reacting to that word merely diverts attention from the real problems that have caused the undesirable situations this country now faces. i wish the american public would be adult enough to have a conversation that did not involve knee jerk reactions and over-reactions.

until this country can address its issues and problems like mature adults, the u.s. deserves everything it gets and has gotten. i will no longer feel sorry for anyone that votes on issues like gay marriage over war. those people deserve to have incomes and rights eroded, because in the end, it was their choice.

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Am I bitter? Is my husband bitter? During the seven years of the Bush Administration we have had permanent jobs only half the time, working temp jobs or actually being unemployed half the time. We just barely make ends meet, and our combined first and second mortgage payments are $1157 a month. The only thing new I buy is food. I take public transportation everywhere except to the grocery store. We have watched two stolen elections, an illegal war waged in our name, torture done in our name, and are we bitter? You bet we're bitter. If Barack thinks people in small towns are bitter, he should take a look at the educated pseudo middle class in the cities.

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Senator Obama correctly declared that there are many citizens in this country who are bitter about their economic plight (among other things).

He correctly pointed out that (as a result of an inability to do anything about their economic situation), they "cling to" these "single issue" types of things that they either think will help them in their pursuit of happiness or that explain why they have a right to be bitter.

His blunders come about in two important omissions: (1) there are bitter people all over this country - not simply in rural areas, but in big cities, in suburbia, etc. (Proof: read all the diatribe above!) and (2) politicians (supplemented by the media) plant the gun issues and the abortion issues, and the religion issues, and the immigrant issues, etc., in order to mask what is REALLY going on: the corporate greed that is bankrupting (literally and figuratively) this country.

We have become so accustomed to hearing the lies, I'm afraid we can't handle the truth.

Can hope turn make bitter better? No, but it's the first (and very necessary) step.

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CLING TO guns and religion.

I'm an atheist, but my father is a preacher of the Gospel. He doesn’t CLING TO religion. It’s insulting to working people to say that they CLING TO religion because economic times are troubled. People grew up in religion, just as their parents did. They believe because it brings meaning to their lives, not because they seek distractions out of bitterness.

I grew up spending my summers in the countryside. I was born into hunting and fishing culture. I got my first rifle - a .22 - when I five years old. All my male relatives hunt, as do I. We don’t CLING TO guns because of troubled economic times. (By the way, I'm a Marxist.)

So this Obama fellow travels throughout Pennsylvania to see what’s up. He then flies to San Francisco and meets up with his wealthy liberal elite donors to report on what he discovered among the cavemen in Pennsylvania. He delivers a crackpot sociopsychological conclusion about what moves rural and working class people to CLING TO guns and religion.

Obama is not simply a self-impressed snob, he’s also an intellectual lightweight. He did not tell the truth about rural and working class Americans because he doesn't get them. They are alien to his superficial understanding of America.

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There isn’t any outrage to Obama’s so-called elitist and condescending statement. Not when it’s true. But the neo-cons (Clinton included) will continue until these kinds of attacks don’t work any longer. TG there not working this time

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My father grew up on a southern farm and left after the 10th grade to find work. He worked in factories in the North to support his family. He migrated back South and started a small business by himself. Though not well educated he taught us to respect people, poor or rich, black or white, factory worker or owner, farmer or business merchant. He said that people want and need dignity and respect in their lives. Many people in this country may be blue collar, low wage workers, or unemployed but they all want and deserve dignity. People don't want to be analyzed or placed into categories or explained by politicians. Just give them the dignity that comes with being human.

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made famous by the Republics. They see a motivated Democratic Party, and they dig into their bag-o-tricks and pull out this beaut! Pitting "elitists" against "working-class" Democrats is a sure-fire trick that always works!

You gonna fall for it? If you are, then I'd like to introduce you to President McStain!

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Is that we've been getting the short end of things for more than 20 years (the WE being most of us ordinary citizens), and many of us ARE bitter, and rightfully so. The reason for resentment on the part of some of us is that we can't handle the truth. We'd rather think that the vanished jobs in Bethlehem, Pa. or Youngstown, Oh. will somehow magically reappear along with the smokestack industries that polluted so horribly and were so dangerous to work at. I was born in Scranton, Pa., when your choice was to be a coal miner or work at the lace mill, two really crappy jobs in my view. Those days are long gone, folks. Pining over the "good ol' days" gets us nowhere, and only serves to make us bitter and apt to retreat into the fantasy that is religion. Obama was right and born rich and Yale educated Hillary Clinton was dead wrong calling Obama an "elitist". How can we confront the horrible truths all around us if someone doesn't speak about them? Our industrial heartland CAN experience a revival, especially if a crash program of research and manufactoring aimed at removing our dependence on fossil fuels or anything else combustible, is undertaken. We can expect fierce resistance from the "energy" companies, but to hell with them; what real good have they ever done for us anyway? This is ANOTHER truth we don't seem to want to face.

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People get angry when their lives are torn apart, they become bitter when they realize that it's gonna stay that way.

I think Obama's use of the word 'bitter' does more to explain what he really knows and wants to happen in America and that is that things aren't going to change at all under him. It's still gonna be a free ride for elitists and it's gonna be on the back of underpaid illegal-or-not aliens coming into this country and Americans are still going to get pushed out more and more.

'Cling to their guns and religion'? This statement alone tells me that not only is Obama out of touch but he is also all the more ready to engage in discriminatory, inflammatory and bigoted thoughts and actions. To reduce and characterize any Americans anywhere with these words is nothing less than to characterize them as morons who can't think their way out of a four-way stop.

The only word he left out that would claify his true position was 'white'.

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I do not understand why when a politician tells the truth, that he get's so much back lash. Most people have been having a very hard time and have grown synical from their frustration. So it seems to me that Barack Obama is correct, and he just called it like it is. Clinton and McCain are the ones out of touch. It is time they took a real look at the degeneration of this country by those who capitalize on the plight of others.

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This was used with race a while back too.

The general form is:
1. there are victims.
2. someone points out they are victim.
3. that someone is attacked for demeaning those people as victims.

Remember when Bush said that saying the Iraqis were being victimized was racist -- was saying that people who complained that the US was violating Iraqi self-determination were saying that Iraqis were not capable of democracy?

We've also heard that saying that women were victims of discrimination was demeaning women and saying that women could not get ahead on their own.

We've heard that saying that people on welfare were not being treated fairly was saying that the poor were too dumb to lift themselves out of poverty.

The attack on Obama is much the same as these: saying that ponting out the truth is 'elitist' and demeaning to those who have been victimized.

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Maybe we Democrats should save the party and America and start a Draft Edwards movement with Wesley Clark as V.P. before it's too late..!




~Draft John Edwards and Wesley Clark as V.P..!~

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All the masses have become bewildered sheep. While I am not completely thrilled with Hilary, at least I know what to expect. But, this Obama is a sheep in wolves clothing. You are all going to regret supporting and voting for him. Think for yourselves. Listen more carefully. There is no substance to anything he says. His phony, down-home "folk"sey, sly way of talking has you all hyonotized. If he is the nominee, McCain is going to be your next President. And then God help our souls; and the rest of the world, too. And you will only have yourselves to blame.

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Writer Joe Bageant has written an entire pre-Obama dissertation regarding the working poor in his hometown Winchester, Virginia. If you either don't understand or don't believe Jane Smiley or Obama's remarks, find Joe Bageant's book, titled above.

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As a 59 year old, I grew up believing the American Dream. I believed what they taught us in school about Democracy and our Govt.
Now I feel like one of 'the suckers born every minute'.That's what I resent the most....in a weird way I miss being stupid. Lol, what do they say? 'Ignorance is bliss'?
I don't really mean that of course, it's a reaction of having been stripped of all my beliefs and dreams.Reality is a bitter pill to swallow.
When I was young in the sixties, I didn't believe a word the govt said, I was an advocate for the environment and I lived simply. Then like so many of my peers,I began the process of working,parenting,and living. I chose to reinvest myself in the American Dream and now I believe the mess we have invented for our children.
Someone in here mentioned their Irish Catholic mother...I have often been grateful that my parents died already and didn't have to be as disillusioned as I am.

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What Obama said was absolutely correct! Many of the working (or out of work) poor really do "cling to religion," worry that the gummint will take away their guns, find immigrants to be a major threat, believe there's some great ethnic underground cesspool full of welfare mothers who are sucking their money down the drain, and think that gay marriage will somehow infiltrate their own families and destroy their relationships. (I, for one, was thrilled to find that gay marriage is the reason for the occasional tensions between me and my husband!)

Unfortunately, class, culture, and education are often denigrated and called "elite" by those unable or unwilling to achieve those goals. Anyone who has worked in a factory has probaby heard about the young guy with the college education who's not worth a damn compared to those who came up the hard way. This is understandable (and sometimes even true), but the only reason the mainstream culture would cater to this notion that it's somehow better to be uneducated, to lack social graces, and to speak poorly is that it serves the interests of the truly elite to keep the masses in the dark.

Although working class Americans have a real right to be bitter, and even if it's true that they gain comfort from their religion, have a fierce commitment to their "second ammendment rights," resent those who don't have to struggle constantly to survive, and believe that their lives are threatened by people who are different from themselves, they did not come up with those ideas on their own. These are opiates intended to prevent them from seeing who the real enemy is. And it's not the "liberal elite" who drive volvos, drink latte and wear burkenstocks. It's the political and corporate powerhouses who have reduced them to economic irrelevancy and who have attempted to keep them ignorant.

Where was the outrage, the corporate media's intense coverage, the feeling of betrayal when George W. called the "haves and the have mores" his "core"? Now that is true elitism, but somehow his surface reputation as a guy you could have a beer with glossed over his actual words and behavior. So a spoiled, Yale graduate (albeit a C student, which does detract from his elite status, to be sure), New England-raised, preppy brat gets a pass. But Obama is reviled as "elite."

I guess this is not too surprising after seeing how the media and the rightwing noise machine turned actual war heros (including one who lost multiple limbs) into effite wimps and possible non-patriots while elevating a draft-dodging, AWOL rich kid to the status of "real man."

Jane Smiley, as usual, has articulated my own beliefs. Anyone here who has not read her perfectly wonderful books should do so as soon as possible. Ah, yes, but reading is so... oh... I don't know... elitist!

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I cannot believe how angry this makes me.

I just saw red when I read in the paper that Hillary Clinton has decided to attack Barack Obama because he has actually noticed how republicans use emotional wedge issues to con voters into casting self-destructive votes.

Like Jane, I'm finding it harder and harder to tolerate people who are still gullible enough to think there is any possibility that Hillary can repair the damage caused by the Bush administration. Apparently she's so out of touch she's not even able to see what's broken.

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Liberal true colors surface again. Elitism is alive and well in the soul of the Democratic Party. I remember the liberal talking heads crying to the world about how the backward bible thumping idiots of Middle America lost the election for them in 2004. Many of us will not forget liberals bashing the Midwest over the 04 election.
Mr. and Mrs. Progressive please keep explaining how the toothless masses of the Midwest, those mouth breathing trailer dwellers that sleep with their guns and bibles while dreaming of Klan rallies to come, are too stupid to be trusted the responsibility of a vote. Those of us that live and vote in the Midwest are not amused. We’re a great deal sharper than we are portrayed on T.V. and in movies. Our memories are much better than you would hope. We remember when a candidate insults our region and our way of life. We remember when surrogates of the Democratic candidates blame the superstitious gun totting bible thumpers for losing an election in 04. Progressives should not be surprised when no votes come their way from the Midwest in 08 after insulting us in 04.
Go McCain 08

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Obama is right of course but you can't win an election in this country telling the truth, and of course hillary made her responding comments to pander to the crowd, I'm sure that underneath she agrees with everything that he said, she's an intelligent woman. they're really pretty similar, both social progressives. the real question is why do people think that he is so much better than she is? he has lobbyists working for him and hobnobs with big corporate donors after blasting the policies of their companies. obama's run a campaign talking about how he can "disagree without being disagreable", sexist code for who wants a tough bitch woman running the show. they're both political hacks, already beholden to special interests, he's just a better orator. Obama is an opportuntist, a pretender to Martin Luther King's throne, shamelessly comparing his campaign to the civil rights movement. I don't trust him, and I think that people will end up disappointed. until we have campaign finance reform, it's all the same old SH**. and yet, I am happy, thrilled that the democratic party has at last a woman and a black man vying for the nomination. I never thought that I'd see it in my lifetime. too bad the system is so f**ked up.

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Forget about voting FOR anybody..who cares they're all conceited self serving jerks..

JUST VOTE AGAINST FASCISM..THE REPUBLICANS...!

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And right at the top of my list of things to be bitter about is NAFTA. Or how about the screwed up US health care system; since I can't get decent health care I'm DAMN BITTER about that.

The war: Bitter
The real estate scam:way Bitter
Watching the scammers at Bear Stearns get bailed out first:Bitter

Basically at 43 with a bad back and no degree,(rising college costs:bitter) I can look forward to part-time work interspersed with homelessness.

Hillary should STFU and sit down. I've voted for Democratic party candidates in every election since 1984 but I WON'T VOTE FOR HILLARY.

If I wanted a republican in office I'd vote for a real one; McCain. Why accept imitation?

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Several years ago, the Los Angeles Times wrote an engrossing story of Broken Bow, Nebraska, and how there are few opportunities for its youth. A young population is crucial for small towns; if they leave the town may die. Once in the American hinterland it's a struggle to make a decent living although the cost may be cheaper, but you're further away from top notch conveniences. (I'm not talking about 7-Elevens or Wal-Marts).
Life is hard for small towns across the nation where jobs and services are left wanting.
Here in California's San Joaquin Valley, towns like Delano, Visalia, Mcfarland, Tulare, et al. are struggling. I met a family in Delano last year and the children all expressed a desire to move to a bigger city, like Los Angeles to attend UCLA or to experience life away from the fields. The SJ Valley is isolated and to get emergency care a family has to make a trek to Fresno, Bakersfield, or Los Angeles to get adequate health care. That's the way it is.
Obama knows how life can be in small cities, to a degree, if a person feels trapped by economic uncertainty and despair. So the natural choice is to move to another city where people have more choices. Ekeing out an existence in Apple Valley, California is not easy. If it wasn't near an interstate highway people would simply keep on driving.
It's lonely in these little towns when you see a neighbor move or when a school or hospital closes. It's the end. You wonder if there's a tiny ray of hope in places like Broken Bow or Delano. Our government doesn't seem to care about you in these little wayward places.
You're angry because there's no work, your children are subject to peer pressure and may use drugs to cope with the drudgery; and you have nowhere else to go.
Obama was right. I once lived in small town in Texas and his description of anxiety was correct. He should not have to apologize for that.

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I know I'm bitter. I'm also pissed. And depressed. Is there a doctor in the house? No, wait. One thing I'm not yet is broke. Don't call a doctor. Call the liquor store. That I can afford.

You know why I am all of the above? Look at the number of comments on this thread. See how long this silly crap will get play in the media. Over what, exactly? Two, three sentences? Were those sentences, those words used to convey a lie, like something to the effect, say, that sleep deprivation is the cause of all things foul and evil, such as total and complete premeditated falsehoods? No. Actually those words conveyed what is probably very true.

Were Pennsylvanians all freaked out about those words? I doubt it. I also doubt hardly any heard those words until the Clinton campaign spun them to the media. Why? Because they have run out of issues and are rapidly running out of time. Just as Bill Clinton questioned the meaning of "is," all the Clinton campaign can do at this hour of the day is parse sentences.

I keep hearing all this "empty suit" rhetoric concerning Obama. How empty can he be if his statements carry this much weight? What has Clinton got left to say? Other than lying in wait to pounce on every word of her opponent, I have heard nothing except all of a sudden in Ohio and Pennsylvania that she has transformed herself into a stalwart union supporter. Remember, she was against NAFTA before she was for it like she was for the war before she was against it. I think. Are you starting to get confused? But, then, isn't that the point?

Observations from
Satan's Neutral Corner

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I agree 100%. I am extremely angry at Hillary Clinton over the way she's attacked Obama over these comments particularly since her husband said something very similar in 1991.

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Little Hil Annie Oakley & Her Wild Bill have a lot of nerve collecting $800,000 from Columbia for 'speaking fees'. Talk about ELITE. Since Annie is now anti-trade, maybe, someone should suggest that they return these fees as a show of good faith. In the meantime, this circus show goes on complete with duck hunting & boiler makers. How many small towns are now shuttered and desolate? When our manufacturing base disappeared and Walmart gobbled up small main streets everywhere, many suffered. With Bush, this trend has now affected the majority of us. So now Annie Oakley & Wild Bill in their most cynical way tell us not to be 'bitter'. Obama was talking honestly about economic issues and
and wedge political issues that confuse voters into voting against their own economic welfare. I can't pretend that I knew how devasting NAFTA would be but I remember wondering where all the "Made in the USA" labels went. So now Annie and Wild Bill want us to forget about their support of NAFTA and to ignore their own personal funding from free trade interests. Tell you what, the real Annie Oakley & Buffalo Bill probably gave an entertaining show for an honest dime. This circus show is not entertaining - it's based on lies, pandering, hypocrisy, and a lot of dishonest dimes.

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No normal individual could withstand the endless pressure and insanity of the American electoraly system. Being a psychopath, disengaged from any reality beside your own as is Bush, is an advantage.
The relentless campaigning with the necessity to shape every utterance to both the immediate audience and the broader community. The deliberate (e.g. Fox) and accidental distortions by opponents and by the press. The constant pressure to perform and to skirt every vested interest and to avoid offending even the most deluded and self-interested lobby place unsupportable burdens on any individual who wants to gain the presidency. Any normal person would crack under that pressure.
Your system is a failure in this day and age. It needs to be simplified. No other country subjects itself and its political leaders to the degrading, exhausting and destructive idiocy of the American presidential election process.
So many countries go to elections and change governments in a matter of weeks. Australia, Seven weeks between the calling of the election and the change of government. Why not look at changing the system
Hilary may be a bitch but she needs to be to survive the utterly wasteful and ludicrous system in which she is working.

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Can America be worn out, maybe, or so self-indulged, passive, fearful, and complacent that there simply are no buttons to be pushed anymore. If we can't get a couple of thousand or twenty thousand people in the streets demanding that one of many outrages, the Iraq War/Occupation, an orgy of murder, fraud, chaos, and destruction, perpetrated in our name, stop immediately, how is it to be expected that anyone will say or do shit because some folks other than themselves are being utterly and completely screwed by a corrupt system that has gotten totally out of control. When an ex-president can accumulate 110 million dollars in six years doing nothing more than delivering a collection of hackneyed speeches and acting as a front man for a host of less-than-admirable business deals, some might even venture to say "shady' or, horror of horrors, "crooked," and no one hardly raises an eyebrow, then I would have to conclude that this nation's capacity for outrage is hovering right about zero.

That we can on a nightly basis sleepwalk through the evening news which very occasionally talks of 40 million people with no health coverage, which sporadically speaks to the issue that 35 million children are going to bed each night malnourished, which periodically mentions that presently in this country 2 million people are incarcerated, half of whom are non-violent offenders, and most of that half for victimless drug "crimes," indicates to me that outrage is not even close to being on the menu.

Outrage! I would settle for dim awareness. As American freedoms are being dismantled on a regular basis by the present government with the full acquiescence and complicity of our elected representatives where is there any outcry? All of these Acts, the Patriot Act, the Protect America Act, the FISA Surveillance Act, The Military Commissions Act, and Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act, 2006 (Martial Law Provision, and hundreds of "signing statements" are breezing through Congress with barely a whimper. Where is the demand that Congress, and only Congress, has the Constitutional right and responsibility to declare war? Where did we get off giving the president carte blanche to send off our sons and daughters to die with no debate, no sober consideration? Have we become insane? If we in our somnolent passivity elect a madman (or woman) to the presidency, where is the check on this pathology?

Where is the outrage that Paul Wolfowitz is back in the State Department with a paying position, the same Paul Wolfowitz who was instrumental in hyping the fraudulent case for war, the same Paul Wolfowitz who was wrong about every single thing he assured the country, the same Paul Wolfowitz who was rewarded for his abject failure with the presidency of the World Bank and flamed out in the stinking flames of corruption, is now back in OUR government? Outrage? Where are the riots? Where are the demands for their heads? But impeachment is off the table. Yes, impeachment is off the table. Go to sleep now, my children, this is much too big a thing for you to worry about. We, your "leaders," will keep you safe.

A rant from
Satan's Neutral Corner

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and anyone who thinks otherwise is just not paying attention.

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The gun-toting, bible-thumping, bigot crowd will never vote for a Democrat when it really matters anyway. Why do we keep pandering for them?

Reminds me of an old Beat Farmers song:

"Let's pack up the kids & take a break get away,
Leave the hustle & bustle of living from day to day,
We all know that the crime in the city is gettin' worse,
So we're goin' on down down to the Gun Sale at the church."

"Well our 2 main men are Jesus & ole John Birch,
So we're headed on down to the gun sale at the church"

"We'll ask the lord to forgive us of all our sins
While we look at the latest in gold-plated firing pins..."

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Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama represent the same power structure. They both want cheap mexican labor to depress wages. They both want a European style welfare state to keep the masses beholden to government. They both want more Federal control over every aspect of your life.

You started losing your freedoms with the income tax and mandatory social security. A national ID card ( " your papers, citizen'! ) is in their agenda. They both want an electronic medical record data base.( would you go to a doctor to treat the nose problem from the blow you did last night ??? ).

Fools..............all

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OBAMA HAS JUST LOST MY VOTE

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I'm in a small midwestern town, and I can telly that some of the people are fairly sharp and others about as sharp as a bowling ball. That was also true in the New York City suburbs, and Manhatten too. The problem with small towns, however, is that they do tend be culturally isolated without access to decent newspapers or educational systems -- but that's changing now with the internet. They are also more vulnerable: if a rural factory moves away and tosses 1,200 people out of work, there's no place left to go which can handle that many people. We probably have fewer well educated people, though, because those who become well educated often go the cities for good paying jobs and better cultural facilities.

As for whose to blame, it's not really the Democrat, as such, or even the Republicans, but the fascists who have largely taken over both parties -- although the Republicans to a significantly greater degree.

Obama may not be the 'best' candidate but he is way ahead of the other two major ones. The best one is/was Kucinich, but anyone of his quality is beaten down by the fascist (real elite) machine and media.

So if you aren't going to vote Green, Socialist, or whatever (and very few people will do that) then vote for Obama and get back to work organizing with the working people and labor unions -- who are the only ones who can bring the fascists down: no politician, not an Obama, not even a Jesus, can do that alone without the people behind him -- sometimes in support, and sometimes prodding with a sharp stick.

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Supposedly some words of wisdom off the Internet.

“When a person who is filled with anger, seemingly towards you, the best way to deal with them is to simply remember the fact that it's not about you, it's their problem, their issue”.

Maybe that is true for Obama, I don’t know, but one thing is for sure when McCain called Obama an elitist something imploded in Obama. Remember it was McCain who started this thing. But, for good reason Obama campaigning for Pennsylvania goes to La Angles behind closed doors and does commit to insults, and bigotry about people of Pennsylvania to big money people. Yikes. Then turn in defense on both Hillary and McCain for making the comment. Here is the thought, from now America will wonder what hell Obama does behind closed doors. That Obama is shaken, was caught and has no excuse. Old man McCain just showed America the young puppy, Obama, is in a real tangled mess. Political, yes, and there are a lot of sharks in this game as Obama likes to call it. This is how Obama will deal with negotiations in world affairs? I suggest those sharks are bigger and meaner than McCain.


Important and not talked about totally avoided is the attitude of Obama appears very reactionary if you do not believe in him. And, Just as Islamic radicals exploded when a simple cartoon of Muhammad was printed in the daily news paper, Obama explodes. And very crudely lashes out to call Hillary the Western America Annie Oakley. That’s odd but not as severe as when Obama talks about White Southern Men Talking to their son’s saying “Nigger” this and “Nigger” that. Here, Obama imagines that in his book the Audacity of Hope. Surprisingly in the media or the blogs have not had the courage to call him on that and ask him what it means where White Southern men talk to their son’s saying “Nigger” this and “Nigger” that.

Obama’s Presidency is going to have to have an hour speech for everything he does to explain what the hell he is doing. Because the confusion is getting so deep Obama is showing America that he does not have any ideal what to do. Obama will likely always seek advice. With that said one could see there is no leadership there. Most of what Obama talks about are Hillary’s talking points; Obama has always been behind the Hillary leadership curve. Mainstream Media knows it.

To let you know, my job once was with a company that went to Mexico. I also went through two down sizes. And a failed company went bankrupt. Each time I was not bitter but embraced the change like many Americans. Obama is forcing everyone, forcing everyone to believe, they should be bitter. Those who begin to think like Obama will likely fall in line with his theocratic leadership. But here Obama thinks Islam is the traditional laws a culture should embrace. That frightens me, worse than Bush.

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I was born and raised in the Central Pennsylvania region, and know directly that many of the residents of the area are most certainly resentful, racist, reactionary and defintely "cling to" their guns, their religion and fundamentalist belief systems. I was shocked to discover I had uncles and neighbors who were "secret" KKK members, in brotherhood, if not actually wearing the white sheets, who didn't blanche at the very mention of denigrating minorities of all persuasions, race or religion. Class lines were very sharply drawn, and religion, once again, was used as a cushion to mitigate their bias and prejudice, which even as a small child I knew was wrong. Their understanding of their economic plight was even more disturbing to me, as I would hear them, and neighbors, focus on the very "wedge issues" that would divide and further keep everyone in the resentful cycle of always fearing the "other", those who were different, whether by religion or race. I am still astounded how they continue to vote against their very own interests, preferring the platitudes of the right-wing tallk machine, which inflames resentments by the bushel.
I would hear how Pennsylvania was the most "southern" state in the North, and didn't understand what could they be saying, until I was older to recognize those mountains harbored more than deer and other targets. I was led to believe we in the "North" were superior to the slow-talking, miscreants of the dumb-down South and their overt racism, when I could see the covert racism of the North was almost as virulent. The state was described as "between Pittsburgh and Philly, it was Alabama". The state hasn't changed much in between those Democratic bastions, and the rural character is something both quite wonderful, with the natural environment very beautiful, hard-working farmers, et al, and yet socially, can be deeply troubling. Obama actually has it quite right. And, predictably, the opposition forces are using the very methods he is decrying, of calling him elitist (more "code", like the "L" word - Liberal, etc), which is ridiculous, except that as a Presidential candidate, I actually DO want someone who IS "elite" and not the doofus currently in the White House, or the cabel led by the neo-con Cheney . I actually thought having a person of high calibur was the whole point of picking a President, one of the nation's Best, and not some yahoo to have a beer with. I LIKE having a person of keen intelligence, creativity, etc. providing real leadership. I'm not saying I want, or the nation should have, an elitist snob, or suffer the narrowmindness of ivory tower obscurantism. We all need and should have the best minds in our government. I think Obama is that person, given the field of choices right now. To all my family in Penna., snap out of it!

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I think folks should come to those of us who have had our force reduced (been fired) so that some shareholder or owner could have adequate ROI. Not all of us will have the same opinion, but here's mine.

A decade or so ago, my company, the company I'd worked my tail off to promote and grow was sold by our two owners. I was a part of senior management, the senior person responsible for the "people" side of the business and so probably had some impact on their success. They pocketed $500 million and some change for a couple of decades investment and some risk (not a lot--it was, and is, an extremely secure industry).

I received some severance and a check for a little more than $100,000. These were nice. I lost a six figure salary, my house, my retirement, some health, etc. I considered myself one of the extremely lucky ones because others who received far less have done far worse. The owners said things like "well, folks just need to live within their means;" another time I heard them say "no one told her to have all those kids." There was always a reason when folks couldn't stretch their checks. I worked there for over a decade. We always made budget; some times we had to reduce our force to get there, but we always made budget.

And, I'm not sure how bitter I was at the moment of my firing. I didn't have time to be bitter. I had a family and I had to get moving. I took a job paying a third of what I was making and then took another job paying about half. This last January I came close to where I was ten years ago (still short) in terms of compensation. My retirement now will be when they’re throwing dirt on top of my head, but that’s sort of okay because I don’t do “twiddle” particularly well. I am still a hell-u-va-lot luckier than many, many people I know who have lost their jobs through similar circumstances.

Even as relatively easy as my job loss was, the executives that made the decision to reduce my force, if they knew, should count themselves very fortunate for a number of reasons. (1) I had an incredibly supportive family, (2) I had hope (that simple word that Barack uses to such great effect and everyone else makes light of because they were too stupid to embrace it themselves) and (3) I don’t own guns—that was probably the big one.

This “let’s line our pockets at the expense of people” stuff simply pisses folks off in a really, really big way and I’m never amazed when someone goes on a shooting rampage; I’m amazed more do not.

I write the preceding to ask the following: Let’s make an educated choice this time. I feel like I have educated myself about the candidates. I’m going with Obama. My choice. Your choice may be different and for you that’s okay (I’d argue with you, but what for). But let’s not make our decision based off crap like “He’s elitist.” This comes from someone who made $109 million in the last seven years and from someone else who owns I believe seven houses. Elitist? These folks are running for President. They better be a cut above; if they’re not—well—we have one of those right now. Make a smart choice. On this one, ask those of us who have lost a job to this “profit” nonsense and if we’re honest I think the majority will say “I was a bit bitter” and some will say “I blame it on the illegals” and others will say “I found solace in my church.”

Since he has this nomination pretty much won, I would have preferred he not stir up the hornet’s nest, but Barack seems to sort of say what he believes most of the time. I personally believe that’s a good thing; others prefer to be told stories. That's our choice.

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I had an interesting discussion yesterday in a discount tool store (Northern Tool). I started talking to a man that I took to be at least twenty years older than me(say mid-seventies). He started talking about how he didn't know what to do. He felt like the Democrats had forgotten they're roots. Instead of getting what we need a Give'em Hell Harry we get this milktoast that doesn't even know why what he said was insulting. He noted that Obama started off by saying that he didn't have any ties to special interests. A complete lie!! Any politician that gets beyond city government has to have money from large donations(special interests) to run for office. Now this! He said that he hated the idea of voting for a woman but he could get used to having a woman in the White House a lot easier than being sold out to who knows what.
I feel very comfortable with a professional politican like Hilary. In fact I walked over a mile each way with a messed up back(took over an hour) to vote for Bill the first time!! Thursday I'm voting for HILARY!!!!

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Well, I see that AlterNet seems to be almost completely Obama country and anti-Hillary Clinton, as is HBO's Bill Maar show, "Real Time." Along with the Republicans, many Democrats (and others) are continuing to try to demonize Hillary Clinton. I think all of the polls are wrong and that Obama cannot be elected President. I also believe that the Republicans know this, and are supporting Obama with money and other support wherever they can, while not letting the public know that they are doing it. They fear that if Hillary Clinton were nominated, she would likely be elected as the next President of the U.S.

No one wants to admit or acknowledge it, but regardless of how many people give money to Obama, or vote and support him in preferential primaries, or even support him at the Democratic convention, the majority of the voters of the United States, many of them presently Obama supporters, when actually casting their vote in November, are not going to be able to make themselves vote for him. I am sorry, but the nation will not elect an African American as President at this time in our history, regardless of what the pundits or the polls show. In an ideal world this would not be true, but we don't live in an ideal world. I hope that I am wrong, and nothing would make me happier, but I fear that I am not.

Although I supported John Edwards until he left the race for the nomination, Hillary would probably make a good President. Obama might also make a good President, but he will never get the chance since, although he will be nominated as the Democratic candidate, he will not be elected. Like it or not, that is the way that it is. I regret that my party is again on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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The more I read and hear people's comments about Obama's "bitter" speech, the more I am convinced that many of my fellow Americans are just plain stupid!

Barack Obama is far from an "elitist". He has spoken to and about the issues that REALLY matter to ALL Americans, regardless of region, race or gender. Should we consider him an "elitist" because he now owns his own home (he and Michelle recently paid it off)? Is he an elitist because he worked his way through college, unlike Bush who probably flunked every class save Beer Guzzling and Coke Snorting 101? I'm willing to bet that Bush never had that problem paying for HIS home, and McCain married his sugar mama, who also happens to be bankrolling his campaign.

Just like before, Obama spoke the TRUTH and if any of the shrill sheep ever bothered to pick up a history book, they would see the same pattern echoed throughout time. When times are bad, the populace needs a scapegoat or something to lean on. Think back to the Clinton era--was illegal immigration as big a deal as it is now? No, because everyone had a job and things were going great. But under Bush, with his failed economic policies and a costly war, suddenly we need an enemy to blame. Bush ran on the Three-G's: God, Guns and Gays and he won. The powerful and the greedy prey on the honest and sincere faith of the less powerful by offering simple answers and ascribing blame on the group du jour--be they blacks, women, illegal immigrants, gays, muslims, etc.

Having made this point before, the real problem is the fact that the MSM, the Archie Bunker contingent and the oppression olympics feminists have NOTHING on Obama, and honestly, they're terrified of this massive movement he's created, so they'd rather muddy the waters and try to destroy him. First it was some guy who claimed to have had sex with Obama, then it was Michelle Obama's speech, then it was Obama's pastor, then accusations of not being "patriotic" enough, and now this. The truth is, way too many people are looking for any lame excuse not to vote for Obama and they refuse to be honest with themselves. The Archie Bunker contigent are too cowardly to admit their racism, the oppression feminists are too cowardly to admit that one cannot place racism and sexism in one-two slots--that both 'isms are bad.

I admit freely as a working-class American who just got majorly stiffed by Uncle Sam (again) that I AM BITTER! I don't have a problem with the verbiage. I am bitter because I'm seeing my hard-earned tax dollars go into a quagmire that has made us less free, less safe and less respected. I am bitter because here in California, the governator wants to cut billions from education and we have a federal administration that believes in the one-size fits all teaching to the test mentality. I am bitter because the cost of living is skyrocketing but wages are not keeping up. I am bitter because a small and narrow-minded bunch of bigots think it's their right to tell me what to believe, how to worship and what I can do with my body. I am bitter because no matter how much a law-abiding citizen I am, no matter how articulate, I am STILL judged by the colour of my skin.

The only thing I wish is that Obama didn't apologize. He has NOTHING to apologize for. The people who are angry are the same people who aren't voting for him anyway, so why appease the unlettered rabble? Go Obama, continue to speak truth to power!

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I hope those "family values" taste REAL good on your plate and that you can use them to fill up your gas tank. I hope those "family values" will keep your enlisted sons and daughters and mothers and husbands safe in Iraq and that they don't come home shattered in mind, body or in a casket. I hope those "family values" will help keep your home from being forclosed and keep you one paycheck from the streets.

But hey, at least you don't have to worry about those gays saying "I do".

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Americans are bitter. Support for two illegal wars, an unprecedented, mindless drive toward theocracy, an atmosphere of racist paranoia and the re-election of the worst president ever prove it. The history of the last eight years, with the jobless recovery and lowest rate of job creation in post WWII history and the consequent disappearance of the US middle class, has thrown small town America into a fit of frustration and anger. What Obama saw, but which most Americans including Hillary Clinton were not able to see, was the Historic social basis of fascism developing right before their eyes. Obama understands that fascism is the political expression of a dying middle class in the throes of capitalist crisis. Fascism also tends to eliminate the very middle class which, in all its frustration, supports fascism as a last ditch effort to prevent its extinction.

In the US this expression has recently come in the form of clerico-fascism. Religion has definately been exploited in America to the advantage of the far right. As Max Horkheimer once remarked, "Those who do not wish to discuss capitalism, should also keep quiet about Fascism."

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If he were running for election in a zero-year, I'd worry. But this is not a zero year so he's safe. I believe that BO will live to be one of our greatest presidents ever.

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Yes, I know what a -- is. She has destroyed America, lied to the American people, 'puffed up her resume'. Is in court for campaign fraud in fall, agaiiiiiin. Has screwed America big time. Fired from 'Watergate'..dishonesty, falsifying documents, trying to change the "Constitution" with her corrupt junior lawyer buddies, tried to talk to Dems..to rule "no counsel allowed by Nixon". You would not believe the extent this woman goes. I really do believe smokescreans gallore have prevented anyone from appraoching her as having a serious mental 'pathology'. There has been so many scandels of fraud since and including Arkansas. Hitler is too good a name for her. It's all about power, Bill also.

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People should look up his resume', check him out, listen to his word's, feel his 'strength' of all the obstacles in life he had and at 46 how he is doing. Just payed off his 'elitist' loan for his education. Worked with Community groups, church groups. If you look at the way she was the other day on the Compassion debate, my children and grandchildren know how to express the Bible better than this woman. She talks about God's grace, instead of his 'spirit', Sunday School bible stories instead of the real meat and potatoes of the bible. This is a 'wolf in sheeps clothing', She is joked, laughed at (Bill too) around the World. They can't figure out how / why people put them in power in the first place. I have to admit.....their right on. They are two of the type of leader you expect in a third world country. I know if she's in power, I'll worry like crazy about National Security (remember Sandy Berger the theif, stole classified document's from WH archive's, so Clinton could't be tied to 9/11 neglect). Wake up America...these are important issues, and she has hired him again as her security advisor? Pathetic, dangerous, it's so sad... I can't do anything but laugh and wait to see what people in PA will do.

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"Rules for Radicals" is the name of the book...one of Hillary Clinton's rule books..no guf. What she is doing is one of her rules....pick the "target", "freeze" it, "personalize", "polarize". Unfortunately Barack, got a bit caught, when he let his guard down.....Hillary pounced.

This is Clinton's (Rodham's) teaching..."This generation of leaders, chosen, taught, celebrated by elite academics embrased an inexpressible ideal, whose core characteristic was a feeling of unending 'entitlement'. This is Hillary Clinton's, Saul Alinsky...taught at a tender age....still uses the old rule book of radicalism.

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Another eight yards of AlterNet posting.

Ten percent of the people know the truth about the words being discussed, and are here to discuss them in context, and debate them.

Thirty percent know what the words were, but choose to ignore the meaning so they can make the point they want, usually the point they always make.

Fifty percent, the usual, don't really know what the words were, but don't really care, because they're enamored of their own words, and can't get enough of putting them down at great length.

And ten percent just saw the name on the article, and came to take a piss.

This is getting to be a giant bore.

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Senator Obama may have been right about the economic status of some areas of PA but his remarks were personnal and belittling to the hard working residents of the area. Obama's ego gets in the way of rational and common sense when he is OVER-trying to impress the voters. And the more he tried to right it, the bigger his foot in his mouth, just like his trying to excuse the HATE pastor and his Black Liberation Theology Church. And he hasn't told the truth about Tony Rezko either. Maybe, that will come out soon by the investigating reporters. Interesting stuff.

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Senator Obama would be a very dishonest and corrupt electee as he has been since he graduated from that famous school. He has distorted his life, deeds and policies for the future. His political agenda is more Marxist than Americans want or need but he has fooled millions by his great oratory cleverness. Hopefully, we will not have a racist, hate- America man in the White House. The media has really given this man a lot of leeway when it comes to telling the truth, the absolute truth the first time.

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Obama Dogged by 'Bitter' Remarks

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Dearest Jane Smiley . . .

Your title alone spoke to and for me. As I read your essay, I was enthralled! You, as a citizen of this country, feel as frustrated as I believe many might, and you expressed your deepest angst aloud, even in a public forum.

I too penned a tome on the topic. However, I did not specifically address the Hillary Fear Factor as you have. I did share this thought . . .
When individuals do not feel as though all is fine, when distressed, emotional reactions may be exaggerated. Many persons prefer to deny that they feel distraught. The press, the powerful, and persons who wish to be more prominent understand this. Each is expert in the art of persuasion. Tell us that we are doing well, that we are strong, that they will help bring certainty, security, and safety to our lives, and to our country, and we will croon along with them.

In my missive, I focused on what I believe was the foundation for the statement Barack Obama offered. Americans are "bitter." A recent CBS News-New York Times poll released on Thursday, April 3, 2008 reports 80% of Americans Dissatisfied

People in the cities, the suburbs, and in the countryside, resent the precarious position their leaders have placed them in. Economically, the average American fears her or she will not survive. Foreclosures flourish. In February 2008, sixty percent more citizens walked away from the abode they once called home. Property values plummet.

Environmentally, the planet is in peril. Employment is precarious. Numerous citizens believe, those born outside the borders, are prepared step into jobs Americans once held, or wish to fill.

In the United States, the Middle Class and the poor feel the government has failed them. Even the affluent, those who are not among the super-rich, feel a pinch.

Invite your review and reflections . . .
Issue Number One; Economic Insecurity Breeds Bigotry, Bias and Bitterness
You may also enjoy an art editorial essay by Andrew Wahl.. His "Off the Wahl Perspective," for me is always wondrous.
A 'bitter' reality check

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org

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What truth? That my faith is not true and pure enough to come out of positive reasons??? That it must come out of negative reasons just because Obama and OBAMASOLES say it???

Jane, here's a pointer:
If a candidate is supported by Alternet and MoveOn, he will NEVER get elected. Check your records!

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is government runs business away. a bunch of know-nothings come in and tell someone how to run their business and people are surprised when the businesses move to other countries? it doesn't take a genius to get that.

liberal/socialist alike are good at running businesses away but pointing the finger elsewhere. wait till there is nothing left but government and you'll see how much faster this country goes down the tubes.

most of you hate this country anyway so electing Barack will fulfill your desires.

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As much as I respect Jane Smiley, I have to say that her interpretation of Obama's remarks is stretching it. Maybe what she says he said is exactly what he meant--but it is most definitely NOT what he said. What he said sounded awful. It sounded judgmental, and, yes, elitist. While I might even agree with his judgments of small town Americans, I'm not trying to make them vote for me to be their leader. He will not get elected putting people down, and more and more I worry that McCain's going to be the next president.

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sounds like someone some where from some dark place is trying to say "uppity"

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Senator Obama has always tried to pander to his audience. If he had mostly people of his own race,religion and convictions, he remarks would be very different than when he is speaking to a group of San Francisco business people. He panders trying to make a positive but false impression. He is as two-faced as they come. Clinton and people of PA were correct in their interpretation. His remarks showed a lack of respect. And because of lack of respect for all Americans, he should not be elected. He is not a uniter but a divider.

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How about Senator Clinton always harping on the fact that she has won all the BIG states. Now, should small states feel insulted? I can take that as Clinton dimishing the significance of smaller states in this election.

However, all she is trying to do is marginalize Senator Obama's success in this primary.

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because Clinton and Mcain and their supporters have been spinning Obama's word to make him seem like an elitist. I now wish I had never given money to Hillary in 2000 to be a thorn in the side of Republican as Senator from new York. But her ego made her run for President and she is my last choice among those who started but i will still vote for her if she wins the nomination as Mccain is a conservative Republican and deep seeted militarist.

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