McCain, Clinton Bash Obama's "Small Town" Comments; Obama Campaign Responds

There is a venue where the truth IN Obama's statement would be better recognized. A stump speach is not that venue. I would think that Obama would recognize that. He absolutely doesn't understand why there are so many people who believe in Hillary Clinton. I am not going to try to explain it to him. I had a lot more respect for Mr Obama before he used the term "They" to describe a large group of diverse people. As a president of a very large democracy, Mr. Obama would have to understand the valid concerns of "Them". He would have to understand that "They" have the same rights to their opinions, even if he considers them un-enlightened.

There is a venue where the truth IN Obama's statement would be better recognized. A stump speach is not that venue. I would think that Obama would recognize that. He absolutely doesn't understand why there are so many people who believe in Hillary Clinton. I am not going to try to explain it to him. I had a lot more respect for Mr Obama before he used the term "They" to describe a large group of diverse people. As a president of a very large democracy, Mr. Obama would have to understand the valid concerns of "Them". He would have to understand that "They" have the same rights to their opinions, even if he considers them un-enlightened.

The comments made by Obama illustrate the true man. Take the time to read "Dreams of my father" by him and "Audacity of Hope" to name a few, then you might not be so blind to the charms of someone who delivers a great speech. Obama writes BEFORE HE EVER BECAME A CANDIDATE "if the political winds turn, I will stand with the muslims!! Quote and unquote. He has written many phrases such as " I find a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance & animosity against my mother's race".Scary!! Isn't his mother white?Do you really think he doesn't have that attitude anymore? Yet he gets in front of the world and talks about crossing over the bridge. And last but not least, let's really settle the issue by his own words about pastor Wright in his books BEFORE the candidate race "What I value most about Pastor wright is not his day-to-day political advice. He makes sure that I speak truthfully about what I believe and is my mentor.In other words, his beliefs are the same as the man who calls himself a man of God. Which God?
The more one reads his books the more one can see the prejudice he harbors but
hides so well.For those who think this is a man of change who is full of love for all Americans, YOU ARE BLIND. STUDY HIS BACKGROUND. THEN STUDY CLINTON'S BACKGROUND. AT LEAST, THERE ARE NO INFLAMMATORY AND RACIST REMARKS FROM HER SIDE before they were candidates. . And Hillary and McCain are right, give me one source of research that can prove how much Obama did for his "race' while he was a senator.I haven't found it yet. And now his groups are flooding the African Americans computers with emails that pressure them into voting for Obama or being a traitor to their race. I thought this was a country of Americans, not blacks, whites, hispanics, jewish, or whatever group wants to control and have power over the rest of us. Please spend some time researching these candidates backgrounds before you vote. Don't let the pundits of the news media do your thinking for you.

I am not Freud or mental health expert but Obama's behavior suggests he is a very angry and impulsive man! Please notice that every time he is up in the polls his arrogance will show up (look for the timing on his comments on Hillary look, refusal to shake her hands on Speaker's day, refusal to dismiss Wright and similar friends, and now the dismissal of rural poor). I don't know whether it is Napoleonic complex, alpha male behavior or what, but this gentleman's reasoning is highly flawed and has a temperament unsuitable for the presidency of United States of America. Is there a Nixonian problem here? I suspect he and wife were either humiliated or felt extremely humiliated when attending Ivy League Colleges. As a result, his subsequent conversion to Black church, etc was also a way to deal with some of the perceived racism. Note also that Obama has an urge to demonstrate he is very smart, that he deserved to go to the colleges, not by his race. In fact, he thinks himself as a Professor at U. of Chicago! I am afraid to say that anyone can make a case Obama is a complete basket case, with potentially worse results than GW Bush.

It is interesting, most of those upset with Obama are not the one's who have lost their job but are only looking for another way to condemn Obama.

One of the reasons that Pennsylvania has remained a place to grow up and leave is because so many citizens continue to vote with their eyes and not vote with their brains. Many union members when told that the reason they could not get ahead was because of the people on welfare etc. ran to vote Ronald Regan which resulted in many lost jobs,homes,families and the exit of citizens from the state which still goes on today. These people were bitter and their failure to realize what the real problem was made them their own worst enemy. The state of Pennsylvania has suffered every since because of this type of misplace blame. And I cannot lie there are many Pennsylvanians who refuse to vote for people who do not look like them. This I blame on the old Democratic Party of Pa.which hasn't done much to educate its base. So the state and its citizens have suffered with no jobs,low wages and a host of other problems that come when one would rather be in charge and poor than to be inclusive and prosper as a state.

This must be the joke of the day where the republicans claim someone else is out of touch with America. They support the war in Iraq when a vast majority of Americans are opposed to the war, they support more tax cuts to the wealthy when a vast majority of Americans are opposed to more tax cuts to the wealth, etc. etc.

First, the majority of Pennsylvanians---and citizens throughout the country as well---have NO problem with immigrants, it is the ILLEGALS that they have a problem with. So, Obama is INTENTIONALLY blurring the issue---in favor of illegals, over US citizens/tax payers.

Second, Obama says that their anti-trade sentiments are the result of frustration. Hmmmmmm....hasn't Obama been campaigning on anti-trade and keeping more jobs/companies in the US??? So, he is manipulating his speeches/words to match the groups of people he will be speaking with on any particular day. The words are different, depending on who he will be talking to!!!

Then, he says that religious people are actually religious cultists---using their religion and gun toting as an excuse/crutch, instead of helping themselves!!

I live in Pittsburgh and Mr. Obama's remarks were right on the money. Its something that should of been said a long time ago. Whats sad is that most of the Pennsylvania officials that have endorsed Hillary Clinton are some of the same politicians that have failed the citizens of Pennsylvania in their quest to have a better life. Yes we are bitter and angry.

It is not the bitter part in Obamas statement that is disturbing.
The clinging to guns and religion that implies that the PA people are using it as crutches.Then to go as far as stating that they don't accept anybody that is not like them.
Don't go placing these people in a bubble and generalize the behavior of all the residents there.
The " Uniter" once again proves himself to be a divider.

Cabrini-Green is an architectural insult.

"Condemnation" seems to be the game that political consultants love to play at this moment.

Is Ralph running?

Damn right I am BITTER! I am working my butt off and making less than last year. I got my IRA in the mail yesterday and it's on the way downhill. Our health insurance is out the roof and I just filled my tank and bought groceries and my pocketbook is empty.

But my problems are nothing in comparison to others; one of my friends lost her cousin to Iraq and 2 of my clients have just lost their jobs and they are older folks that aren't highly employable.

Am I bitter? Maybe frustrated and angry are better words for what I feel. And I tell you, I come from a small town with a lot of houses sitting on the market and a lot of people here are on a slow burn.

So, go hide your heads in the sand and say all is well in America. We need some help and fast and I will vote for the man who tells it like it is. Time for all of us to grow up and bite the bullet. OBAMA 08

Robin 47 yr old, middle class, small town typical white woman, who does not drink lattes or wear Birkenstocks.

Also, when are any of you going to turn the page on the Rev Wright story? I guess this was so traumatic. All I heard were two 30 second blurbs. So where are the rest of his racist and and anti-american comments out of the 30 years of preaching. Is that all anyone can find? People go to a particular church for other reasons than the minister.
Obama is racist against whom? His mother?

Bosnia: Turn the page on this one too.
She has explained herself. And the story could be true, she may have mixed it up with another situation. Stop calling her a liar.
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I am just sick of this going back and forth..He is a racist, she's a liar. I am voting for McCain if Hillary is nominee or I am voting for McCain if Obama is the nominee. The Democrats are imploding before our very eyes. The Democratic party has TWO great candidates.
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You are sounding like spoiled children.
Get a grip.

Of course CNN would blame Hillary first and then McCain. Somehow, these two are always at fault whenever Obama missteps. I have totally stopped watching The Obama Channel (MSNBC) and can only tolerate small increments of CNN who aren't quite so blatent, yet still obviously pro-Obama. The media has picked the "Chosen One" and are doing everything to make him look perfect and shove him down our throats. It will backfire, like Obama and his "small town" remarks, it will be the same with the media's tactics, no one likes to be talked down to, no one likes to be a puppet (except Obama). Has anyone figured out who really is pulling his strings?

Apparently words Do matter now according to Hillary. Interesting.

I think Political Punch is just clueless and just plain mean sometimes.
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I read the whole exerpt and I understood it in its full context. This does not appear to be condescending language. When you lose your job, are you bitter?
When you lose your home to foreclosure are you bitter? When you see skyrocketing prices at the gas station aand grocery store, are you bitter?
When you hear about another US casuaty in IRAQ, are you bitter? When you see a government bailout of Bear Stearns and you are struggling to keep your home, are you bitter?
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This is not just small town America; this is also big city America. I am in the clinging on to religion group and I am NOT ashame of it either.
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I am just disgusted by the media that take two sentences out of context and just run with it. You would think he claimed it was the end of the world!
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I don't support one candidate over the other. But this pouncing on 30 second blurbs by any of the candidates has gotten absurd and out of hand.

PS. A millionaire can not understand the bitterness I see everyday.

Which candidate has been most anti-trade in trying to get votes? Barack Obama. Which candidate keeps saying "I pray to Jesus" and uses religion to distract and deflect? Barack Obama. Obama mocked the small town religion, guns, their closeness that recognizes strangers and a desire to protect their own.

Does Obama want small town America to be Chicago? Where parents have to escort children to school because of racial gun violence? Where government corruption is an everyday practice? Where guns, gangs, crime, teen pregnancies is much more prevalent? Obama wants small town America to emulate Cabrini-Green?

Listen my adopted grandparents who owned a dairy farm in Pennsylvania accepted me as if I was one of their blood children. When Franklin was on the verge of dying Doris asked me to come "home" and see him . The one thing he always wanted was to see his "grandbabies". All their foster kids, their five children and I returned to see him.

I met them 30 years ago and continued that relationship until even Doris passed away. She passed away in 1990. She taught me so much that summer when I stayed with them. They were my Uncle Ward's best friends. Since he lived in the men's hotel in the town of Hallstead I stayed with Doris and Franklin.

We lived in a small town in Georgia. Our son was able to take care of himself by the time I went back to work full time. We had a family move in across the street from us. Their son however was a convicted felon from Florida. Our son at times could be impressionable. He shoplifted in the town store at the insistence of this boy. The owner told us what happened which the owner thought was strange because Justin always walking around money. Justin was made to apologize to the owner. When our daughter who lived with her dad in OK came home to visit, some of the new people in town had not met her. While her and my husband were walking through town people walked up to her and said I know who your mother is.

My husband and I were moving to Kansas with our son for a new job. We were just coming into a small town in Georgia near the border of Alabama. I needed to eat since I have diabetes.The only restaurant in town was just about to close up when they opened their doors to us.They fed the three of us.

Those are my memories of small town America. Friendly, giving, warm people. Accepting of newcomers and giving their all.

Obama insulted me and my blue collar husband and kids. He insulted us on our gun ownership. I could never vote for this elitist, condescending arrogant man. I am that typical white, blue collar woman that grew up in small town America.

Interesting. One, it appears most of these posters here are commenting on the political opinion piece and not Senator Obama's words -- in context. Two, isn't anyone else amazed by how Hillary and McCain are seemingly in bed together? Could it be: McCain/Hillary 2008!

So let me get this straight.

Obama says that us working class folks can't get anything done in Washington to help us out on our lack of work, lack of health care, and our inability to hold politicians responsible for the promises of the big "rust-belt turnaround" we get every single election. So we turn our focus and fight tooth and nail for the things that matter morally to us and that we feel we have a say in, like gun control and gay marriage and religion, etc. We stick to what we know--our values, our freedoms, and our fundamental beliefs. Meanwhile the jobs don't come back. In fact more and more go away.

So my question is: What is wrong with what he's saying? How is this insulting? And WHERE is all this outrage coming from? People are using these statements as the final, conclusive evidence proving that Obama is everything from out of touch with the working class to a communist to a racist to a muslim! What is wrong with you people? Is it "elitist" to tell the truth all of the sudden? This guy comes from NOTHING. If you think he doesn't understand the working class you're not paying attention. It takes somebody who's been there to say the things he's said, and it takes an idiot to keep listening to the same crap we've been fed for 16 years.

Once. Just once I wish my fellow "hillbillys" (yet another thing he didn't call us) would act with their heads instead of the chips on their shoulders and realize it when somebody is trying to help give them back a little bit of class and power. But no. We'd rather listen to some 2 bit politician tell us more war stories that didn't happen, tell us how great everything's going to be because we're such proud, wonderful, hard working people, and let's just trust the nice lady (ignore that NAFTA stuff, she didn't really mean it--and while you're at it, ignore all that Colombia and lobbyist stuff too). God forbid we'd ever be able to take the truth--we'd rather get uppity about someone calling us "bitter", and get bent out of shape because we think someone thinks we're ignorant. He never said anything about "ignorant", nor did he imply it. He called it for what it is: People with little control over their source of income and future holding on tightly to fundamental things that they feel they can control.

Tell you what. I'm BEYOND bitter. I'm mad as hell, and I'm voting for this guy because he knows it. Vote how you want, but enough of this "I'm so offended" crap. I'm sick of the political games being played with my future and my job, and I'm sick of being LIED TO! I'd rather have somebody chafe me a little bit, but tell the truth.