GUNS AND BITTER: Obama on small-town PA: Clinging to religion, guns, xenophobia. That’s gonna win ’em over.
UPDATE: Owing Austan Goolsbee an apology? “Behind closed doors — among his fellow educated, upper-class liberals — the real Obama sounds very different from the one who threatened to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Huffington Post has audio. And there’s this reaction: “It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking.” But Armando thinks he’ll get away with it. Plus, Obama’s response.
MORE: “Why not just call them rubes?”
STILL MORE: Jim Geraghty notes that after the Jeremiah Wright debacle, Obama is in a poor position to cast aspersions on angry, bitter xenophobes.
Plus these thoughts on playing both ends against the middle: “Perhaps when Obama returns to Pennsylvania to ask for votes, he will charm the locals with tales of the aging Bay Area hippies who just do not understand how US trade policy is destroying the our manufacturing base and the lives of upstanding Americans in the heartland who bowl better than he does.” Heh.
MORE STILL: Obama had better hope that this reaction isn’t typical:
First of all, Pennsylvanians…especially those of us in the western part of the state, really get irked when we are called “midwestern.” The Midwest doesn’t start until the Ohio border, and unless you’ve lived in both Pennsylvania and Ohio, you wouldn’t get the difference.
Second, the comment about “people who are different” is just so insulting to those of us who live in or around Pittsburgh, an area noted for its ethnicity. I can go 25 miles in any direction from where I live and see churches, temples, neighborhoods, signs, social halls, stores, etc., for many different ethnic groups from every part of the world. I can also pass through many small towns and not notice anyone who is hoping for a remake of “Deliverance.” Honestly, Obama is such a sham. He doesn’t have a clue about anything having to do with real life. What an idiot.
OK…I’ve ranted!
Best,
Jean Spik
Moon Township, PA
Like I said . . . .