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Bill Clinton on Obama's 'Bitter' Comment
April 13, 2008 3:36 PM
ABC News' Sarah Amos reports: When former President Bill Clinton took the stage in Bloomsburg, Pa., early this afternoon he wasted no time before mentioning Sen. Barack Obama's now infamous remarks about rural America.
"Folks, I was shaking hands and taking a few pictures backstage. This fellow looked at me and he said, 'I just want you to know, the people you're about to see are not bitter. They're proud,'" Clinton told an applauding audience.
"They just want this country to go in a different direction. They want to restore the middle class, reclaim the future for our kids, reform the government and take it away from the special interests, restore America's standing in the world, bring our troops home for Iraq, and take care of our veterans and our men and women in uniform. That's what Hillary offers," Clinton said.
It was the former president's first mention of the remark today, having earlier stayed away from the topic during an event at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.
Clinton again shared the story with the crowd at his last event of the day, in the small town of Jim Thorpe, Pa.
"Folks, once in a great while something happens in a campaign which reveals what the choice is. And I have to tell you, right before I came out at my last event, a man came up to me and he said, 'Mr. President, I want you to know something about the working people of Pennsylvania. We're not bitter about anything. We're proud. But we do want a better deal for the people of our country and for our children," said Clinton, who went on to tell the young people in the crowd they did not need the be discouraged or in despair.
Clinton's message was clear and concise, but it was not the only Obama comment Clinton had on his mind today. Immediatley after sharing the backstage exchange with the Bloomsburg audience, Clinton moved on to another remark Obama has made -- one that has continually irked the former president since the Nevada primary.
"There's been a lot of hoopla about who said what and who shot John in the last couple of days. But one of the things that I thought was kind of overlooked in all this is that one more time, the campaigns opposite Hillary said, 'Well, there really wasn't any difference in the Clinton years and the Bush years. Rural Pennsylvania really didn't do very well.' Do you agree with that?" Clinton asked.
In response he received a loud "NO" from the audience.
Clinton chuckled a bit at the reaction, adding "I just thought I'd get a few witnesses here. You know I'm a, I'm a Baptist. On Sunday we look for witnesses."
April 13, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (193)
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Clintonistas would like to let people think that Bill and Hill's Tax returns issues are away, Hill the Bosnian Genral's Bosnian sniper stroy is away, that Penn and the Colombiangate 800 000 is gone, wake-up. Twisting Obama's words will not make it. Telling people that they are happy while they are suffering is not real, paternilizing them won't make. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.
Posted by: BKMC | Apr 13, 2008 3:45:11 PM
You're right, Bill. Hillary will restore our middle class! She'll also help the Obama zombies not to be so bitter about it.
Posted by: Emily | Apr 13, 2008 3:47:47 PM
I think the less Bill talks the better.
Posted by: Maritza | Apr 13, 2008 3:50:07 PM
I think the less Bill talks the better.
Posted by: Maritza | Apr 13, 2008 3:50:14 PM
I hate Hillary's attacks.
You can't tell the citizens of a country in the midst of a recession not to be "bitter"
God Bless Obama. God Bless America.
Bitter PA and Blue Collar
Posted by: pa blue collar | Apr 13, 2008 4:04:16 PM
Bill Clinton the bastion of truth :)
Posted by: Thinking | Apr 13, 2008 4:06:23 PM
We didn't have a war but we did have hard times and then we got Bill and say what you will but Bil Clinton was a good president and time we have a chance for a landslide the left of the left gets some one to run and then here we are IMO
Go Hillary
Posted by: Bishop | Apr 13, 2008 4:06:54 PM
I find it interesting that Obama is supposed to be a Democrat devoted to his party and what it represents, yet he denigrates the Clinton years whenever he gets a chance. Could that be that he is just like every other politician afterall, and really just wants to win? Afterall, he did say it would be really cool to sit in the Oval Office on Day One.
Posted by: dwc | Apr 13, 2008 4:07:48 PM
Well Karl Rove is so proud of the Clinton campaign for learning from him how to destroy a political rival.
Problem is, the only kind of candidate who wants to do this is someone we wind up miserable with, embarassed by, sick of, and very, very injured by.
Seems very simple. If this is what they'll do to get your vote, this is how they'll govern.
Or, as Dr. Phil puts it, if they'll do it to you, they'll do it with you. Or was that about something else?
Posted by: Gaias Child | Apr 13, 2008 4:12:08 PM
Emily, you have to redo your history lesson, Bill has signed NAFTA and that is what Hill has said, because she was opposed to it as to the Rwanda genocide but behind the close doors. Hill the Bosnian General will not get away from this. Bill's words have surfaced saying exactely in 1991 when running against GHB what Obama has explained today. But instead of fixing the issues confronted by the middle calss, Bill and Hill have shipped jobs overseas and are again doing the same thing in Colombia with the support of Penn. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.
Posted by: BKMC | Apr 13, 2008 4:12:48 PM
NONE of Bill Clinton's comments from the 90s condescend in the way Senator Obamas comments do. Pontificating to the overly liberal San Francisco elite -- he attacks small town people for their love of God and embracing of guns and hunting. Listen carefully to he and his wife when they give speeches -- particularly when they think the press isnt listening or watching. This is only the tip of the Obama Iceberg -- theres a lot more of it underwater and he will sink the election and the country. HILLARY O8
Posted by: Richard | Apr 13, 2008 4:14:33 PM
BKMC
Yes -- it's a shame all those plumbers and doctors and such have been shipped overseas. A real shame!
Posted by: S | Apr 13, 2008 4:15:03 PM
@ BKMC
Tell Texans NAFTA should never been passed!
Posted by: Bob | Apr 13, 2008 4:15:11 PM
Obama supporters are stunned that people can struggle with grace. They don't think it is possible for people who are struggling to have a noble nature too. They don't believe that such people can be struggling yet be hopeful. Because Obama invented Hope. It is not possible for struggling people to have had Hope in their lives before him.
Posted by: Umbria | Apr 13, 2008 4:15:50 PM
Telling the truth is worng in the US, people dont want to hear the truth, they feel they are being talked down to.
Any wonder honest people cant say it like it is, because Americans love to be in denial.
Dollar at an alltime low, economy in recession, no jobs, no healthcare, gas $4 a gallon, schools failing grades....
but please dont speak the truth, because.... We're Americans.
Posted by: David | Apr 13, 2008 4:17:42 PM
I'm tired of Bill and his comments. We really don't need a Bush, than a Clinton, a than another Bush, than another Clinton again! Yikes! We need something new. Go Barack Obama!
Posted by: Robin | Apr 13, 2008 4:18:20 PM
Obama supporters on....
Reverend Wright...."We agree with the Reverend"
San Francisco comments.... "We/The Middle Class are/is bitter"
You all agree and nod!
Posted by: Jayson | Apr 13, 2008 4:18:54 PM
First let us take a deep drag while we listen to Bill Clinton's excuse for Hillary's Bosnia lie. "It was midnight and she is 60" doesn't sound like anybody wants her on the phone at 3 a.m., does it? Bill and Hill take your meds and and be quiet, it was 9 a.m. after a day of rest when she concocted the Rambo story.
Posted by: Robert E. Lee | Apr 13, 2008 4:22:37 PM
If Obama's non-differentiation between "the Clinton years and the Bush years" is just another gratuitous campaign soundbite, it's asinine and petty, but who cares. If he believes it, the Deaniesque messianism is pretty troublesome.
Actually, his most odious storyline is "I know her supporters will vote for me but I don't know if mine will support her. This is the attitude that put W in position to be appointed a second time.
Back then, it was bitterness about perceived marginalization by the DNC and the "progressive press". With the disenfranchisement of Michigan and Florida voters by HoDean and the vile, relentless, mostly baseless and smug attacks on Clinton from the likes of Keith Olbermann and David Sirota, seems like the shoe's on the other foot.
Posted by: prospero | Apr 13, 2008 4:22:39 PM
Yes, Texans don't think NAFTA should have been passed.
Posted by: Branden | Apr 13, 2008 4:24:40 PM
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