Obama talking about the economy is literally like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. First of all, he's a lawyer. Lawyers are well reknowned as being the WORST people to opine on the economy. Second, he has no practical business experience. None. Third, I detest people that speak with a high level of confidence when they actually know very little at a topic at hand. That's just called deceit. The applause line for the libs about 'shipping jobs overseas' is ridiculous. Was Juwan Howard's job SHIPPED OVERSEAS when we signed Luis Scola? Huh? Should we tell Yao and Deke and Luis to go back home because they are taking Americans' jobs away? No, of course not, yet this is what Obama is espousing with his empty rhetoric. Think about that analogy libs and you will realize how ridiculous that stupid libpig applause line is.
via TPM Obama responds -- Here, from Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor, is Obama's response to Hillary and McCain's criticism of his comment about small-town America: No mention of Hillary -- only McCain. --------
I think there's lots of good and lots of bad - not sure which outweighs which. The biggest good is that Obama is building grassroots organizations and exciting voters in states like PA while McCain isn't. That should be really beneficial when November rolls around. I also don't think the campaign has been as destructive the last week or two as it was before, so that's also been a big boon. I was a big believer that she should have dropped out after TX/OH if she lost either one. Since she didn't, I have no problem with her staying in the race as long as she doesn't go nuclear on the eventual nominee. I am excited about the day when the party is no longer the Clintons' party though. I think there are two potential dropout points: if she loses both NC and IN; or after last primary. Any other time in there doesn't make sense (unless she loses PA - but my opinion is that she'll win by double digits).
More detailed response here, for what it's worth. I'm not sure this is the best strategy - might be better to just let it die. Maybe the one response and then move on. And so people end up- they don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement-- so, here’s what rich. Senator Clinton says ‘No, I don’t think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack’s being condescending.’ John McCain says, ‘Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he’s obviously out of touch with people.’ “Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain—it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch? No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania. I know what’s going on in Indiana. I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.” http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Obama_explains_SF_comments.html
I'm glad he didn't try and back down from what he said. Obama has said many times he wants to tell people what the need to hear, not what they want to hear. You said that he's probably going to lose PA by double digits (I'm hopefull it's a little more competitive) so I don't really see how this will hurt him. In fact, as he said, people are fed up with Washington and they are bitter about how the country is going. He's speaking truth.
More honesty, and more flip-out from media desperate to do "reporting" that involves them sitting on their asses playing you-tube clips. In my view, the only bad part was mentioning religion, guns and what-have-you. But saying someone is "bitter" ... what's wrong with that? I'm f*ing bitter about my government over the last 8 years, in Cali, in TX, and in the nation. Sign me up as bitter, and call me such. Thanks. Seriously: I think the idea of the political system creating great leaders died sometime in the last 30 years. It's just dead dead dead. You cannot have an election where every comment of every person is recorded and broadcast, 24-7, and hope to elect anyone who is not either: sociopathic, boring to the point of stupidity, or a well-controlled puppet. Bill was a sociopath. Bush I was boring, and Bush II is the last option. Assuming we get Obama vs McCain, it will be sad to watch the media focus on little remarks while the candidates want to talk substance, but that's what will happen. Much easier for a Hannity, Limbaugh, or Stefanopolis to just blather about a one line quotation than to do the slightest bit of homework. And McCain and Obama will definitely not be saying boring things. Count on that. They'll both speak their minds, unless their handlers use thorazine. And we'll have 98% of the "election coverage" spent on 0.002% of the candidate's thoughts and words (or those of their wives, or people that once changed the oil in their cars). We'll learn f* all about their capabilities and what they can bring to the table, the types of people they'll appoint. Truly, think about it folks. Think about your job, whatever it is. Can you just walk into meetings with your boss without doing any prep whatsoever? That's essentially what we get from major media 24-7 now. People who can talk nonstop in a sometimes entertaining fashion. People who can queue up the you-tube clips. Newspaper outlets just quoting media appearances and other media outlets.
Least well-off person at the best private school is suffering? I doubt being raised by an affluent Hawaii socialite living in a high-rise is suffering. He was smoking it up and snorting coke with all the other surfers growing up if you call that suffering. Point is - The guy never suffered in his life. The only suffering he faces now is a wife that is completely nuts. He chose to be on the southside of Chicago for POLITICAL reasons. He cherry-picked a district that he KNEW he could overtake from an old Illinois politician. He's never EVER known what it was like to work for any kind of business or run one. So I have plenty of points to make about Obama's suffering.
I get what you're saying and I get what he's saying, but Barack would still be better off not having made the comments in San Francisco at all, rather than being forced to respond to himself. (I was kidding, earlier. mostly kidding) That's what he's doing. He can couch it, in part, as a response to Hillary and McCain, but he's really responding to his own comments, of course. I just wish he could get a better grip on the "foot in mouth" disease afflicting him. Until recently, Clinton and McCain had been doing most of that, being busy keeping their toes clean, I guess. Endless examples of Hillary doing it... McCain with his (paraphrased) "don't know nothin' about the economy" and "100 years in Iraq? Big deal. Look how long we've been in South Korea, etc." Obama's aren't as bad, in this case, but needlessly provide ammo for the opposition in the remaining primaries and in November. ...so, here’s what rich. Senator Clinton says ‘No, I don’t think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack’s being condescending.’ John McCain says, ‘Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he’s obviously out of touch with people.’ “Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain—it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch? No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania. I know what’s going on in Indiana. I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.” Yes, I think your instinct that he would have been better served letting it die was on target. In the quote above, he sounds like any other politican spinning a mistake. I don't have a problem with that at all, but a large part of Barack's campaign is based on him not being "any other politician," so this doesn't help win him converts. Trim Bush.
Affluent socialite? Wow, I didn't know regiional bank branch managers married to itinerant furniture salesmen were held in such high esteem MIght as well make her an heiress to a pineapple fortune if you're going to keep lying. Aren't you a dyed in the wool Hillary fan? Maybe you can apply to his grandmother for a loan........her campaing needs the $$$.
Regional bank manager? Try VICE PRESIDENT of a Hawaii Bank. So what LIE IS THERE? What else am I lying about? That he didn't go to the best private school? That isn't cheap in Hawaii. Hawaii has one of the lowest poverty rates and one the highest income rates in the United States. If you think furniture salesmen don't make money ask Mactress Mac. So YOU TELL ME HOW OBAMA SUFFERED GROWING UP? TELL ME? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T!! Nope I'm not a Hillary fan at all. I voted in the Texas primary for Hillary because I thought she was better suited than Obama. I just don't like ANY OF THE CANDIDATES to be honest. If we had a third party candidate like Bloomberg that is who I'd vote for.
Deckard what you call "foot in mouth" disease, some people call speaking the truth. Since when did democrats become so spineless? People in America ARE angry and bitter right now! And rightly so! We're in a war of no end, the economy is in the crapper and we have a government that seems oblivious to what Americans are concerned about right now!
and here it is... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_el_pr/obama_clinton_5 Obama concedes remarks were ill chosen By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writers 8 minutes ago MUNCIE, Ind - After a full throated response to criticism that he is condescending, Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that that comments he made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion" were ill chosen. "I didn't say it as well as I should have," he said. As Obama tried to quell the furor, presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hit him with one of her lengthiest and most pointed criticisms to date. "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch," she said, campaigning about an hour away in Indianapolis. "They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans." At issue are comments Obama made privately at a fundraising gathering in San Francisco last Sunday. He explained his troubles winning over working class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions: "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." The comments, posted on the Huffington Post political Web site Friday, set off a storm of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and a number of other GOP officials. The flap threatened to highlight an Obama Achilles heel — the image that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and carries himself with an air of superiority. The campaign has been quick to react, hoping to defuse any damage caused with working class voters that Obama needs to win over in upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania and Indiana. "Lately there has been a little typical sort of political flare up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois who are bitter," Obama said Saturday morning at Ball State University. "They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through." "So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country or they get frustrated about you know how things are changing." After acknowledging that his previous remarks could have been better phrased, he added: "The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to. "And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives, and what we need is a government that is actually paying attention. Government that is fighting for working people day in and day out making sure that we are trying to allow them to live out the American dream." But Clinton struck hard, calling Obama's comments "demeaning." The increased attack showed that Clinton is eager to hold on to her working class support and is looking to open new questions about Obama's judgment that would make voters and Democratic officials reconsider their support for the Illinois senator. "I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America and its policies," she said. "Now, Americans who believe in the Second Amendment believe it's a matter of constitutional right. Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith. "I grew up in a church-going family, a family that believed in the importance of living out and expressing our faith. The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich. "Our faith is the faith of our parents and our grandparents. It is a fundamental expression of who we are and what we believe." ___ Associated Press Writer Charles Babington contributed from Indianapolis.
War was coming regardless. We were already at war. If not Iraq, it would've been somewhere else. The economy is in the crapper but not entirely because of the war. Oil prices are high thanks to China and India's demands and stiff government regulations. I agree that we have a CONGRESS that is oblivious to our needs. That is why I can't seem to vote for ANY of the candidates. So yes Americans are bitter because for the first time in our history we have 3 HORRIBLE CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT!
This coming from you, the GWB supporter. bwahahahaha. That's rich. Watching you post is like going to the freakshow at the circus.
As many of you know, I am in a business that touches directly on foreclosures. Historically, there is a mortgage default rate of about 2.5%. Presently, there is a default rate of 4% nationally. It is certainly high, but I believe that you don't have a crisis when 96% of mortgages have no default problems at all. I think that something needs to be done. The reasonable thing would have been the amendment to the Bankruptcy Code that the Senate Republicans shot down last week. Obama chose to bring this up. Are we to assume that if he gets elected, he will repeal the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005? I doubt it. It is likely more lip service. I doubt he even cares about this issue.
That's what I find so odd. Since when is it the government's job to bail out Mortgage companies like Bear Stearns and Countrywide for making their own bad business decisions? Seems like the other mortgage companies and as you said 96% of all the other homeowners have no problem paying their mortgages. So why does the government have to reward these companies and homeowners for making bad decisions?
She becmae *A* bank vice president after working her way up from trainee. Which means she could DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS. But anyway - please tell me of the "affluent socialite" story that you were citing. Which parties did she go to, etc. Are we talking junior league here? Which high rise did they live in? How many bed-rooms? Penthouse? (for the record, the best description of it I read is "nondescript" - wow now that sounds enticing). Now you're lying again and saying that his grandfather was a multimillionaire like Jim McIngvale - while all accounts he traveled across the country looking for work in furnitue stores. But anyway don't listen to me - there's plenty of better sources out there that you ahve been copying and pasting from!
