"[T]he truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Barry Obama h/t Huff Post
Hendrickson was introducing former President Bill Clinton.
"I normally just come and talk about President Clinton and Senator Clinton at these, but today Senator Obama was out at a fundraiser at I guess a brie and chardonnay crowd in San Francisco," Hendrickson said. "But his quote talking about small towns in Pennsylvania -- and which applies to small towns across eastern North Carolina -- which is why it is relevant to this tour we are doing today. And his quote is 'and it is not surprising that they cling to guns and religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant or anti-trade as a way to explain their frustration.'
"I listened to that quote and I got mad," Hendrickson said, "and I wanted to reach out to Senator Obama and say senator, we are from the rural part of eastern North Carolina. We are very proud of our heritage, we are proud of who we are. We are not frustrated. We are not bitter. We turn to our faith because we believe, and we hunt and fish because it is part of our culture and we enjoy it. h/t ABC
Did Barry Obama just step into it again? He still looks like the old style politician in SF
“It’s being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who face hard times are bitter,” Clinton said during a campaign event in Philadelphia. “Well that’s not my experience. As I travel around Pennsylvania. I meet people who are resilient, optimist positive who are rolling up their sleeves.”
“Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them,” she said. “They need a president who stands up for them, who fights hard for your future, your jobs, your families.”
“It comes off very badly,” Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers said of the small-town America remarks. “They are things that I think in a liberal world sound totally normal, and outside of that world I don’t know that he appreciates how it sounds. And it just sounds very elitist, and it sounds like he’s looking down on people.”
“We’re dealing tonight with a classic Kinseyian ‘gaffe,’ where a candidate says what he means and then is forced to account for it.”
The reason I followed Steve over here in the first place was the boring meta shit at kos. I deleted that bookmark weeks ago and haven't missed it once. Shakesville is ten times better.
Posted by iamcoyote at April 12, 2008 09:25 AMBarack Obama said anti-abortion Democrats are backing him because they feel he respects their opinion on the issue despite disagreement on it. ...."It may be that those who have opposed abortion get a sense that I'm listening to them and respect their position even though where we finally come down may be different," he told reporters at a news conference.
"The mistake that pro-choice forces have sometimes made in the past, and this is a generalization so it has not always been the case, has been to not acknowledge the wrenching moral issues involved in it," he said.
"Most Americans recognize that what we want to do is avoid, or help people avoid, having to make this difficult choice. That nobody is pro-abortion, abortion is never a good thing." Barry Obama h/t open left
He's still selling, are y'all still buying..."mistake"?
Posted by peter at April 12, 2008 09:54 AM"Kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me," he said of his walk down the aisle of the Trinity United Church of Christ. "I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth."Barry Obama h/t Wash Post
"It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God,'" he said. "Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats." Barry Obama from 6/28/06
DailyKos has a superb format and is extremely user-friendly. The platform invites participation and feedback in a way that no other blog seems to equal.
I'm really sorry that the moderators have allowed the discourse to become so lacking in civility that scores of long-time posters, such as myself, have fled for the hills. The level of animosity towards Hillary Clinton and her supporters is beyond toxic.
Posted by Radiowalla at April 12, 2008 10:30 AMObama gives the impression that he is talking down to his audience. This may be okay for him and his fans who like to feel superior to the unwashed barbarians (i.e. non-supporters, especially those who support Clinton). However, that rubs the rest of us the wrong way.
I used to read DKos regularly. When they became an Obama campaign website, I deleted the bookmark.
It doesn't matter how pretty the facade. The message has become toxic and unreadable. I hope he's enjoying his 50% decline in traffic.
Posted by CognitiveDissonance at April 12, 2008 11:22 AMKos' strength has always been that he identifies, or creates, and implements the best technology as a platform for political discourse and activism.
But, I'm sorry to say that I am no longer "enormously confident" that new technology, at least as Kos is now using it, will continue to challenge "our hideous political 'journalism'." Far from it.
Kos, TPM, and John Aravosis (to name three big examples) have in the past few months undone the netroots' critique of political "journalism." They have bought into the media narrative on the Clintons, bought into the most outrageous smears, and have made the once-accurate "reality-based" label less credible than a Tony Snow press release.
Kos' credibility is undone, and no whiz-bang new technology can resurrect it in my eyes. And, where will nominee Obama be when the media turns its guns on him? The shrillosphere (h/t Turkana) has squandered its good will, and it cannot be as effective against the media.
Democrats are divided, and that division has been stoked by Kos. Progressives would be better-served by less flashy technology and fewer hotheads and egoists at the big blogs.
Posted by Joelarama at April 12, 2008 11:49 AMI may have spent the last several months on Mars, I from there, KOS seems to be one of IED the blow up the progressive movement. His hate and ridicule of Clinton and the people who vote for her is racist, cancerous, elitist and damaging to both the progressive movement and the Democratic party.
I habe no clue what you are atlking about.
Posted by koshembos at April 12, 2008 12:08 PMi read horton every day. no one in the tubes was smarter.
Posted by Turkana at April 12, 2008 12:19 PM