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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
And kudos to it for trying. A left wing newsite ought to support Democratic candidates in difficult times. Three cheers for Salon!
Now if what is said in the article is remotely true (and I have my doubts) then maybe- just maybe- Obama can get through this slip up unscathed. It may be evidence that some of the staunchest Republican voters are taking a second look at the choices and don't like something about McCain. There is no longer an immediate negativity to Democrats. This means they may hold their noses and vote for a Democratic nominee.
Or maybe I'm fantasizing. Thanks for letting me daydream Salon.
People really need to learn to read between the lines and beyond the hype. In this case, good job Salon and Mike Madden.
When the "controversy" jumped from the salivating mouths of the mainstream media I knew it was baloney and I didn't think any regular working stiff (sighted in the article) would think it's offensive.
Honest people answer with honest answers and understand straightforward talk...unless you push their hot buttons (a standard issue GOP trick). People like guns and religion and when the going gets tough, they grab both. Like duh.
Barrack Obama will emerge from this because non-media individuals will understand it was poorly worded honest at worse.
Frankly if this is all McCain and Hillary have on Obama, he'll do fine. In comparo -- McCain has Keating S&L, crazy "red button" temper nut job and warhawk written all over him...oh yeah, and he's a GOP.
"...decorated war hero and comparative centrist..."
You mean like Mad John? He may well experience the same fate as Kerry. McCain's got enough baggage of his own to deal with.
Oh! You mean Hillary? Same thing. Hell, she's even a war hero!
Yes, after we drank the Kook Aid we all got Obotamies. Too late. Brains...give us brains...
What's that scratching at your door? Don't answer! For the love of god, don't open that door!
just to set the facts straight.... obama's now famous comment was part of a long response while answering a question. he was basically asked what some of those in the room who were going to campaign for him in pennsylvania might expect. his answer was basically that rural voters no longer believe in government to help there economic situation, explain what my campaign can do for them and recognize that they have been driven by wedge issues: religion (antiabortion, gay marraige), guns (2nd amendment issues), and immigration.
read for yourself and see if the media (and clinton and mccain) have turned this into something it wasnt.
OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.
Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).
But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.
Obama liberals don't give a s. about science though - just all drivel, vitriol and emotion. The days when Liberals were the educated party are clearly as far in the past as the days the Republicans were high class.
I never thought I'd see the day when "liberal" was used within the Democratic party as a slur. I've pretty much sat out the he said/she said flame wars as I've already voted in my state caucus. My preference was by a slim margin and I could happily vote for either Clinton or Obama in the general. That little bit of invective just takes the cake, though. Shawn, that was truly worthy of Elephantman.
BTW - McCain may have been a centrist in 2000, but that was a long time ago and this ain't the same John McCain.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
