comment #1

D.Z. says ...

It looks like Mike Meyers is officially in it for the money now.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080411n.php

comment #2

buckzollo says ...

Swish. Good game though Hillary.

comment #3

christian says ...

Smartest thing I've heard yet from Obama. Methinks he's doomed.

comment #4

truefaith says ...

Methinks he's doomed too. Whenever Obama gets defensive, it seldom helps his causes. He should just admit that his true colors came out in S.F.--that he's condescending, arrogant snob.

comment #5

Nate West says ...

Obama will have to try much harder if he wants to compete with Hillary in terms of arrogance and cultural condescension.

"I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life."

"You know, I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette."

Oh, wait, she's the patron saint of the working class now. I forgot. Carry on.

comment #6

Mark G. says ...

If Obama becomes president all his supporters will get a rude wake-up call. Because after a couple of months in office people will find out that he's just human and not the second coming of the Messiah. He will struggle with the same problems as every president before him, but his approval ratings will tumble much faster because the hopes of many people in this man are so sky-high that the disappointment will be much bigger...
Sometime in the middle of 2009 there will be a huge collective hangover all over the U.S....

At least with Hillary the expectations aren't that high and her approval ratings will never start at a high level in the first place...

comment #7

Zac Bertschy says ...

What is it exactly that attracts so many obnoxious Hillary supporters to this site?

Or so many obnoxious "well this is over for Obama now!!!" people so eager to leap all over everything he says, so desperate to rip it apart looking for every tiny morsel they can possibly spin negatively?

Do you have this blog on your "click here to bitch about Barack Obama" bookmarks list?

This speech is a frank and intelligent response to the dumbass opportunistic hissy-fits Clinton and McCain threw the second they caught wind of him saying something that wasn't 100 percent pandering crap to the rural poor in Pennsylvania.

comment #8

LFF says ...

Reachin out for somethin to hold... lookin for a love where the climate is cold...
Manic moves and drowsy dreams... we're livin in the middle between two extremes.
Smokin guns, hot to the touch... would cool down if didn't use em so much.
We're soul alone... and soul really matters to me...

comment #9

Mgmax says ...

Although a large, Victor Buono-like part of me suspects that Obama comes from the Stevenson-Bradley don't get your hands dirty actually campaigning school of doomed Democratic candidates, I have to say, I didn't find this "gaffe" all that egregious. Wow, the candidate said something about a group of voters and what motivates them! Here we are, living in a world where every campaign is a Rovian operation microtargeting the country precinct by precinct, and we're supposed to believe the candidates themselves never look at it that way? (I'm sure Hillary never did, before going out to Iowa to give a speech on ethanol's important role in our national security.) Even the real giveaway here, that Obama evidently doesn;t believe the anti-free-trade BS both candidates are putting out, improves him in my eyes because I hope to God whoever's elected doesn't make the present mild recession much worse by igniting a trade war.

Anyway, this whole thing boils down to, POLITICIAN CAUGHT APPEALING TO VOTERS. Maybe that disappoints some of you who see St. Francis and a little lamb every time you look at him. I see a slick buppie operator who started going to a church full of crazies for gangsta street cred and has profited handsomely off the corrupt Chicago machine, so my illusions have a much shorter distance to fall.

comment #10

JackeyAces says ...

Obama does not want admit he has no real answers so he came up with this line of bunk. This is a sissy boy trying to be tough against the right. It won't hurt him much because the people most offended are already not voting for him. People don't like that some jobs are leaving but they know we can't do much about it. We're not going pull out of the WTO or other free trade agreements. They may stop SAFTA but so what.

comment #11

Ogami Itto says ...

"It looks like Mike Meyers is officially in it for the money now.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080411n.php"

Was Meyers ever "in it" for anything else?

comment #12

T. Holly says ...

Hillary Clinton regards honesty as a liability and is not just out of touch, but out to lunch. She's not crazy, she's just strange.

comment #13

Caustic712 says ...

Thanks, LFF. Philly represent!

comment #14

Ogami Itto says ...

"Methinks he's doomed too. Whenever Obama gets defensive, it seldom helps his causes. He should just admit that his true colors came out in S.F.--that he's condescending, arrogant snob."

Yeah, Obama should just drop out of the race now so The Annointed One will have time to raise money and campaign for the general election against The Ancient One.

comment #15

JackeyAces says ...

DZ you have it half right but its not just about money. Its like a toddler reaching for his woobie after seeing something scary. Think of Kevin Smith doing Clerks II, Will Smith doing MIB 2 (turning down the Matrix) & so on.

comment #16

kidkosmic says ...

Obama reality check: Why ARE people angry and frustrated? Because politicians like Obama go around telling them that "Nobody is looking out for you, nobody is thinking about you."

Despite all the damn drum beating about money spent in Iraq, in 2007 ALONE the US government spent double the defense budget on social programs. Approx. 1.7 trillion dollars were taken from taxpayers and spent on "Health and Human Services" and "Social Security" (in quotes because I see neither as a service or secure). This is one fiscal year, mind you (and it doesn't include education spending, agriculture, labor, HUD, etc.).

If virtually every single Democrat campaigns on the "America has never done nothin' for the struggling and poor" theme, we should expect some angry and frustrated people. And what's worse, these people will continue to be angry and frustrated throughout their whole lives because--news flash!-- though we're spending billions of dollars a WEEK on the sick, needy and poor, the government solution of throwing money at the problem has never, ever worked.

comment #17

Glenn Kenny says ...

What's most fascinating about this is how the right-wing noise machine that's constantly trying to keep Obama playing defense (and I do include Mickey Kaus in there, right alongside Glenn Reynolds, Powerline's Assrocket and all those other enlightened members of the commeteriat) screech like banshees at every perceived "gaffe." Wright? "Now we've got him!" A Thomas-Frank-style class analysis? "Now we've REALLY got him!"

I mean, Instapundit's been hammering Obama forever (a year ago "Not ready for prime time" had become even more tiresome than "Heh, indeed") and yet...Obama's still here. I imagine he must be doing something right.

comment #18

buckzollo says ...

WTF people? Obama is communicating. He hears what it being said and is responding. All of you crystal ball owners out there should patent and sell those things (hangover predictor). How about four years of someone listening and communicating and hopefully inspiring? Hmmm...a statesman.

comment #19

gruver1 says ...

Wells to True Faith: Obama said what any poll taker or politician will tell you after a drink or two anywhere, which is that the Reagan Democrat bubbas of Pennsylvania and other areas are NOT full of optimism and hope. Of course they're bitter -- they're 50-something or 60-something or 70-something and they're hanging on, at best. Their lives are what they make them and, I'm sure, are full of love and support and comfort from friends and family (hopefully) but they aren't teeming with promise and possibility...give me a break and come up for air. Politicians attempt to play them around election time -- they know it, you know it, Obama knows it....and Obama said it. They love their guns and killing animals in the woods on the weekends because....you tell me, but I think we both know why. Are you telling me there are no such things out there as despair and futility and bitterness in people's hearts? And it's...what, a crime to say such things exist and thrive inside of millions? You and your cynical ilk make me want to bend over and vomit. The truth is the truth is the truth, and if a couple of desperate, pandering, patently dishonest lame-os like Clinton and McCain come after you for saying what's real and true, you have no choice but to give it back to them in spades and restate the truth of things once again. I mean, for God's sake...

comment #20

Pelham123 says ...

Seriously, what Obama said is considered "controversial"? Are you kidding me? How long is a certain amount of the American population going to keep their heads in the ground? How long can they afford to? The chickens are coming home to roost and it's time for everybody to pay attention.

comment #21

Mgmax says ...

I wuz visitin some of mah kin out in Kanzus and they shore were happy that that Obammer feller is gwin help em out with their empty meaningless lives working the land and hunting and enjoying sports and gwin to church and watchin satellite TV and how sad they all is that they all caint lead the lives of people in L.A. who are all fulfilled like and not the least bit neurotic or consumed with class envy of each other

then they took their second Hummer to get it detailed

comment #22

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: "because I hope to God whoever's elected doesn't make the present mild recession much worse by igniting a trade war."

Yeah, who cares about dead Tibetans or union kidnappings in Colombia? The free market will sort it out, just like it did after the Industrial Revolution, with protesters against horrible working conditions being shot by the police.

"I see a slick buppie operator who started going to a church full of crazies for gangsta street cred and has profited handsomely off the corrupt Chicago machine,"

You're right. Obama needs a legitimate cult like PNAC, and he should be profiting off of women getting stoned in Saudi Arabia like true wealthy Americans.

Jackey: "Obama does not want admit he has no real answers so he came up with this line of bunk."

He needs to be evasive like General Petraeus.

"This is a sissy boy trying to be tough against the right."

A guy who actually hugged one of our vets is a sissy, compared to people with no war experience who like to slash their benefits while sending them off to die, and who don't even take the time to visit their graves? Seems to me the real wimps are the ones with the big mouths...

kid: "Why ARE people angry and frustrated? Because politicians like Obama go around telling them that "Nobody is looking out for you, nobody is thinking about you." Despite all the damn drum beating about money spent in Iraq, in 2007 ALONE the US government spent double the defense budget on social programs."

You mean they spent double the defense budget slashing social programs, while getting paid for it.

"Approx. 1.7 trillion dollars were taken from taxpayers and spent on "Health and Human Services" and "Social Security"' "

Actually, most of the money was spent on free trips.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/233567.php

"(in quotes because I see neither as a service or secure)."

Yes, nothing's more secure than being trillions in debt for an illegal war which has led to $4 gas and more a weakened economy.

"And what's worse, these people will continue to be angry and frustrated throughout their whole lives because--news flash!-- though we're spending billions of dollars a WEEK on the sick, needy and poor, the government solution of throwing money at the problem has never, ever worked."

Yeah, those socialistic Europeans are really inferior to us in every way, except for longer life expectancies and a stronger currency...

comment #23

Matthew Lucas says ...

Out of touch? No, he's spot-on. But politicians can't be that honest nowadays without being blasted for it.

comment #24

dangovich says ...

If Obama becomes president all his supporters will get a rude wake-up call. Because after a couple of months in office people will find out that he's just human and not the second coming of the Messiah.

Right, Mark. Because that's how all Obama supporters view him.

comment #25

bb says ...

Wells, your comment illustrates exactly why Obama's statement is seen as condescending. You assume to know something that you have no way of knowing. You assume to know it because you assume that you are smarter than the people you are talking about.

I'm not a hunter but I've lived and worked with hunters all of my life. Although I don't enjoy the sport, I respect the passion that hunter's have for it. Of course I'm not saying you should try to understand this but your comments only betray your ignorance on the subject.

comment #26

frankbooth says ...

Liked that one, did you? I almost said Severn Darden, but then I realized I had the wrong movie.

comment #27

redmond says ...

I live in rural Pennsylvania and am surrounded by the people Obama just described. Shit, some of them are even my family members. What Obama said is 100% true. These people have nothing going for them so they hang on to religion and guns for dear life. Now should Obama have made that comment? Probably not. But the people he just alienated weren't voting for him anyway. Or Hillary. The gun/God crowd is Republican all the way because voting red means killing Brown people with a different faith and being allowed to keep a bunker full of AK's. For huntin' of course.

comment #28

Mgmax says ...

"What Obama said is 100% true. These people have nothing going for them so they hang on to religion and guns for dear life."

Quit talking about the black South Side of Chicago in that racist way.

comment #29

Edward says ...

Bitter was a perfect choice. I'm bitter too, we have subsidies to big oil and to rich farmers. We have an unwinable war. The Democratic Congress is a travesty. Bush should be impeached, the subsides should end and the jobs that have been outsourced overseas need to be replaced. It's Clinton and McCain who are out of touch.