Obama on Small-Town Pennsylvania...

[Ban my account ffs!]

"The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so," he told the North Carolina newspaper. "And I hear it all the time when I visit these communities."

It is a purely Republican trait to pretend that the economy is doing great and that people are doing better than ever, despite drops in real income for all but the richest, especially in rural America.

It's offensive that they would sit around and do nothing for the well being of Americans and continue to hand our way of life off to Chinese, who treat their own inhumanely.

[Torie]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

[Alcon]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

I'm ashamed to admit that I was hoping for it to be a pastry.

[Democratic Hawk]

American towns (built after 1820 or so) have purely capitalist functions if they are not a county seat. And every region of the country has seen its small towns not connected with a more dynamic economy shrink.

All the more reason to invest in and regenerate local town economies then. Bring a bit more opportunity to the people. Whether this is accomplished through public or private investment or a combination of both, does it really matter as long as it works in that the net benefits outweigh the costs

Even I acknowledge you can't solve problems just by throwing money at it

Dave

[Torie]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

I'm ashamed to admit that I was hoping for it to be a pastry.

Ya, bon bons are different than bon mots. The former are corporeal, the latter incorporeal.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

I'm ashamed to admit that I was hoping for it to be a pastry.

Ya, bon bons are different than bon mots. The former are corporeal, the latter incorporeal.

Who are you trying impress?

[Torie]

Myself of course, because I can. But just what is wrong with an old man, sharing some vocabulary with younger folks? Words are gleaming toys to savor, at least to me. They enrich one's life. And what is the point of a site, if not to share that with which we know? Long after I have assumed room temperature, Alcon might still remember bon mots.  And so it goes.  JMO.

[tik 🪀✨]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

I'm ashamed to admit that I was hoping for it to be a pastry.

Ya, bon bons are different than bon mots. The former are corporeal, the latter incorporeal.

Who are you trying impress?

He's just demonstrating his perspicaciousness.

[Sam Spade]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

And, of course, some people find a certain sort of pity even more offensive than outright contempt.

Ah, so in other words, people who are poor and downtrodden and bitter don't react sympathetically to someone saying "I feel sorry for you, son, because you're so poor and downtrodden and bitter that you've started doing X."

Of course, I suspect this sentiment extends far beyond "small-town America".

[Torie]

I thought the comment was a tender  bon mot of endearment actually. Pity that you cleansed it. Thanks for the links. I will inspect this chap with in interest.

I'd pretend that I know what a bon mot is, but it's clear you're so far over my head you could be in a fighter jet, everyone probably knows I don't already.

Meet Mr. bon mot

I'm ashamed to admit that I was hoping for it to be a pastry.

Ya, bon bons are different than bon mots. The former are corporeal, the latter incorporeal.

Who are you trying impress?

He's just demonstrating his perspicaciousness.

It's a grand word isn't it?  My Dad taught me that one. He loved it. Blame him for this character flaw of mine, if you must.

[tik 🪀✨]

It seemed to me that Obama's intention was to say that people in these economically downtrodden small towns cling to guns and religions as their new passion for civic involvement, by the way. Of course, that was only after his second speech.

[zombones]

I can not wait for the Dem Primary to be officially over.

[Torie]

It seemed to me that Obama's intention was to say that people in these economically downtrodden small towns cling to guns and religions as their new passion for civic involvement, by the way. Of course, that was only after his second speech.

Does that thought ring true with you? (Notice the string of monosyllabic words.)

[Flying Dog]

Uh oh! The Republicans and Hillary Hacks have the bulldozers out! They must be trying to make another mountain out of a molehill!

I can't believe you of all people are so anxious about towing the line for this guy.  He's a fraud.  The hope he claims to offer is a fraud.  His whole "search for self" is a fraud.  His claims to be able to unify the country and about how he loves and respects everyone are a fraud.  It's all fake.  How can you buy into it?

Then, pray-tell, tell us all naive 18-21 year old, never worked a day in our lives, liberal Internet Obama-Hacks how you know this.

Also, how is expressing my own opinion on the matter "towing the line". Oh wait. I'm just one of those insecure losers who look to Obama as a Demi-God.

[Beet]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This one is a little more than "regret."  It tells us something of his ideology.

What would that be, pragmatic progressivism?

Dave

Try regressive to atavistic.  He's talking about an issue of 25-35 years ago.  You might to took at the Billy Joel song Allentown (written in 1982).

It started 25 years ago, but those places are still losing population.

They are losing population because the local jobs are not there (though that is changing).  There are not hoards of unemployed.  What you generally have now is an older population (that is dying off).

You're splitting hairs now. Obama didn't say there are hordes of unemployed.

[Brittain33]

Obama went to Columbia and Harvard.  Good argument.  Using your guidelines, McCain is easily the least elitist of the bunch.

Interesting. How did Obama's parents get him into Columbia and Harvard, again?

(reread my "guidelines" if you're confused why I'm asking that.)

[Stranger in a strange land]

what Obama said was entirely true. People who would get blindly offended at them are probably not democrats, and would probably never vote for a democrat.

[12th Doctor]

Uh oh! The Republicans and Hillary Hacks have the bulldozers out! They must be trying to make another mountain out of a molehill!

I can't believe you of all people are so anxious about towing the line for this guy.  He's a fraud.  The hope he claims to offer is a fraud.  His whole "search for self" is a fraud.  His claims to be able to unify the country and about how he loves and respects everyone are a fraud.  It's all fake.  How can you buy into it?

Then, pray-tell, tell us all naive 18-21 year old, never worked a day in our lives, liberal Internet Obama-Hacks how you know this.

Also, how is expressing my own opinion on the matter "towing the line". Oh wait. I'm just one of those insecure losers who look to Obama as a Demi-God.

I know this because little moments like this are very revealing.  I know this because, as I have said before, the most disturbing thing about Obama is that he is not asking for work, or sacrifice the way great, truly inspiring leaders do, the sum of his message is "vote for me and it will all be better."  He offers a false Shibboleth, a false sense of a community and peace that doesn't exist and that he can't produce, because he doesn't even believe in it; as comments like this and "average white guy" reveal.

People put so much faith in this charlatan, because for some odd reason there seem to be alot of people out there who are desperate to believe in something.  A real leader like Kennedy or Reagan would tell them to believe in themselves.  Obama isn't a leader, he just wants you to follow him, which aren't the same thing.

"He has a personal story..."  What?  Inane psycho-babble about his search for self-identity?  Big ass whoop.

His wife says that the first time she was ever proud of America was when it cheered her husband... does anyone else not find that disturbing?

Did anyone else lose even a little bit of faith in his sincerity (which is the standard of his brand) when he claimed never to have heard the comments of Rev. Wright when, according to all accounts, he was either lying about not hearing them, or lying about going to church there on a regular basis?  Hell, Gov. Huckabee gave a better statement on the whole affair than Obama, who resorted to another meaningless pep-talk, culminating in throwing his grandma under the bus.

Obama is "just word".  The difference between his words and the words of others he sited in his ripped off speech are that those words meant something, they made sense, they made a good argument.  Sounding good doesn't make someone's argument better.  The country doesn't need a meaningless pep talk... we've had 16 years of that.  We need substance.

I have to congratulate the Democrats on one thing though.  They have successfully managed to find someone who makes Republicans say "man, I'd take Hillary in the White House over them."

If Obama were the average run of the mill politician, then I would think "who cares" and move on, but Obama's who image and cult are built around the notion that he is somehow morally, ethically and mentally superior to everyone one else in Washington.  It's the only way he has managed to get this far.

It's simultaneously sad and scary.

[12th Doctor]

what Obama said was entirely true. People who would get blindly offended at them are probably not democrats, and would probably never vote for a democrat.

Well, no, what Obama said is not true, and while you might not be hearing about it down in Texas, its currently flooding the airwaves here and people all across the board are pissed off.  You people seem to have forgotten that you have a base of old school, lower class white Democrats who often make the difference in election... and who also happen to be a major factor in all those congressional districts you took back in '06.

[Torie]

I think the thing is that many Dem voters in the swing category, just think Obama is more honest and has a better temperament than Hillary. He exudes a calm and collected personage. His slips of the tongue will have to erode that image, his core appeal, in order for Hillary to break through the Maginot Line arrayed against her.

[Sam Spade]

what Obama said was entirely true. People who would get blindly offended at them are probably not democrats, and would probably never vote for a democrat.

Well, no, what Obama said is not true, and while you might not be hearing about it down in Texas, its currently flooding the airwaves here and people all across the board are pissed off.  You people seem to have forgotten that you have a base of old school, lower class white Democrats who often make the difference in election... and who also happen to be a major factor in all those congressional districts you took back in '06.

Depends on which part of Texas, but not the part he's in, for sure.

[Torie]

Obama went to Columbia and Harvard.  Good argument.  Using your guidelines, McCain is easily the least elitist of the bunch.

Interesting. How did Obama's parents get him into Columbia and Harvard, again?

(reread my "guidelines" if you're confused why I'm asking that.)

His "race" got him there. Perhaps if he were "white" he would have got there in any event (he's a smart and literate guy), but I doubt it. What was his SAT score?

[Sam Spade]

I think the thing is that many Dem voters in the swing category, just think Obama is more honest and has a better temperament than Hillary. He exudes a calm and collected personage. His slips of the tongue will have to erode that image, his core appeal, in order for Hillary to break through the Maginot Line arrayed against her.

You may be quite right on this one.  Of course, it is quite possible (as I am currently leaning more and more to believing) that the amount of Dem voters in the swing category during this primary may be as numerous in percentage terms as those voters in the 2004 general.

[Torie]

I think the thing is that many Dem voters in the swing category, just think Obama is more honest and has a better temperament than Hillary. He exudes a calm and collected personage. His slips of the tongue will have to erode that image, his core appeal, in order for Hillary to break through the Maginot Line arrayed against her.

You may be quite right on this one.  Of course, it is quite possible (as I am currently leaning more and more to believing) that the amount of Dem voters in the swing category during this primary may be as numerous in percentage terms as those voters in the 2004 general.

If you mean, there aren't any swing voters in play relatively speaking as between Obama and Clinton in the Dem primary, I tend to think that is not the case. The key of course is for one of them to appear to run much better against McCain than the other, to break things loose. Most base voters tend to be partisan hacks. Who knew?

[Alcon]

Chris,

A few points.

Obama has repeatedly said "there will have to be sacrifice" as part of his platform.  I don't for a moment believe he can enact it, but the vision of America he's putting forth is one in which people have to sacrifice for their community.  It's all pretty trite and transcendentalist, but it's hardly akin to "vote for me and it will all be better."  If anything, I think that's the message that McCain and Clinton give off more (especially Clinton).  Then again, that is essentially the traditional political message.

Of course people are desperate to believe in something.  Some find religion, some find politics, others just manifest it interpersonally.  And, as far as I know, Obama's campaign has been all about "believe in yourself."  Again, I don't think it's realistic, but you are misrepresenting his candidacy -- or at least misrepresenting the meaningless mantras.  Besides, we have President Bush because a huge portion of the electorate are "desperate to believe in something."  Hell, we have the Republican Party, Democratic Party, every party, for that reason.  Or at least, they do believe in something zealously, which I guess is your definition of "desperate to believe in something."

As for the comments about his wife, I feel that you're representing what she said in the light that best fits your argument.  But that's pointless to rehash.  It's been hashed elsewhere sufficiently.

I like Obama.  I like McCain.  I personally think they are both decent people.  There are parts of both of them that frighten me.  I'll admit that I'm mostly posting this because I think your "burn in Hell comment," non-Christian that I may be, was unacceptable.  I suppose you may see Obama as some sort of antichrist figure, preying on those in need of something to believe.  Maybe my positive view of Obama is a rationalization; maybe your negative view of him is.  Maybe they're just coincidental.  I'm not sure.  But I do think vitriol is generally less necessary than our emotions tell us that it is.

Anyway, whatever, cheers.

Edit: I'm getting too involved in this bullsh**t