LMAO Obama Calls Penn State The "Nittaly Lions"!!!!!!

[J. J.]

There goes Centre County.  

He's doing such a great job relating to Pennsylvanians.  

[J. J.]

I don't understand. Could someone explain this to me?

Nittany Lions = correct.  Nittaly Lions = incorrect.

This is of roughly the same order of magnitude as Kerry's calling the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field "Lambert Field" (like the St. Louis airport) in 2004.

IIRC, he lost the state.

I knew the son of the  Chairman of Cambria County GOP Committee in 1964.  He vividly remembered his mother telling Nelson Rockefeller to pronounce the name of the county the way the locals do, so that "Cam" (short "a") rhymes with "jam," not "Cam" (long "a"), rhymes with "lame."  To do it would have cost him votes in the county.

I saw Dwight Evans make a similar mistake in the Democratic gubernatorial primary debate in 1994, except he called it "Cambridge County."

[J. J.]

I don't understand. Could someone explain this to me?

Nittany Lions = correct.  Nittaly Lions = incorrect.

This is of roughly the same order of magnitude as Kerry's calling the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field "Lambert Field" (like the St. Louis airport) in 2004.

IIRC, he lost the state.

John Kerry lost Wisconsin?

Almost, but I thought it was referring to MO.

[J. J.]

I don't understand. Could someone explain this to me?

Nittany Lions = correct.  Nittaly Lions = incorrect.

This is of roughly the same order of magnitude as Kerry's calling the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field "Lambert Field" (like the St. Louis airport) in 2004.

IIRC, he lost the state.

I knew the son of the  Chairman of Cambria County GOP Committee in 1964.  He vividly remembered his mother telling Nelson Rockefeller to pronounce the name of the county the way the locals do, so that "Cam" (short "a") rhymes with "jam," not "Cam" (long "a"), rhymes with "lame."  To do it would have cost him votes in the county.

I saw Dwight Evans make a similar mistake in the Democratic gubernatorial primary debate in 1994, except he called it "Cambridge County."

Too bad you don't RC.

RC?

[J. J.]

How many votes will this affect?

The paying membership of the Penn State Alumni Association is 160,742, with maybe about an equal amount not paying.  A number of non affiliated fans.  Probably 2/3 of that live in PA, most are probably registered voters.  Most will make up their minds on other issues, but it could affect a few thousand votes.

[J. J.]

I don't understand. Could someone explain this to me?

Nittany Lions = correct.  Nittaly Lions = incorrect.

This is of roughly the same order of magnitude as Kerry's calling the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field "Lambert Field" (like the St. Louis airport) in 2004.

IIRC, he lost the state.

I knew the son of the  Chairman of Cambria County GOP Committee in 1964.  He vividly remembered his mother telling Nelson Rockefeller to pronounce the name of the county the way the locals do, so that "Cam" (short "a") rhymes with "jam," not "Cam" (long "a"), rhymes with "lame."  To do it would have cost him votes in the county.

I saw Dwight Evans make a similar mistake in the Democratic gubernatorial primary debate in 1994, except he called it "Cambridge County."

Too bad you don't RC.

RC?

You said IIRC, which stands for If I Recall Correctly.

Actually, I do recall it, because a friend of from Cambria County called me and said, "Who's the black guy."  She was actually laughing through it.

(Dwight Evans is an African American State Rep who came in second that year; he actually had an impressive plan that was quite good, and moderate.)

[J. J.]

LMAO

LMAO

LMAO

LMAO

Don't say that to a

PENN STATE

fan.

(I'm actually not one, but it probably is a few thousand votes to McCain)

[J. J.]

Yea i agree Its just so funny seeing Obama trying to fit in with the white working class in PA..
Remember him bowling..That is going to be one for the history books...

You know i was watching Biden talking to  a crowd today I think he was in Scranton? He just looked so natural and at ease speaking with the folks..

I honestly think Obama hasn't been around blue collar white working class people much in his life before running for president..That's why he has trouble connecting with them...

If this ticket were reversed  Biden/Obama i think it would stand a MUCH  better chance of winning in Nov

You've hit on it, and this doesn't help.

I've said to someone recently that I don't think Obama is "elitist" but I do think he's "insular."  She was from Central PA and said that he was definitely "elitist."

[J. J.]

Anyone else agree with JJ that slightly mispronouncing part of a local sports team's name will result in "a few thousand" voters switching from Obama to McCain?

To me, that's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard on the forum in weeks.  How many Penn State fans will even be made aware of this mispronunciation?  And what percent of those that know are undecided?  And what percent of undecided voters will make their decision purely based on this statement?

I think we're looking at 5-6 voters, realistically.

Dream on.  It reinforces the "Obama is an elitist," "Obama is out of touch," "Obama isn't one of 'us,'" perceptions.  If he'd mispronounced "pizza" or "subliminal," it wouldn't have made a difference.  This does, in the worst place it could.  It's not a lot, and a few thousand votes isn't a lot, but sure didn't help.

[J. J.]

Anyone else agree with JJ that slightly mispronouncing part of a local sports team's name will result in "a few thousand" voters switching from Obama to McCain?

To me, that's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard on the forum in weeks.  How many Penn State fans will even be made aware of this mispronunciation?  And what percent of those that know are undecided?  And what percent of undecided voters will make their decision purely based on this statement?

I think we're looking at 5-6 voters, realistically.

Agreed. Almost as ridiculous as calling Pennsylvania a tossup when McCain hasn't led in a single poll there since April.

QFT

[J. J.]

Anyone else agree with JJ that slightly mispronouncing part of a local sports team's name will result in "a few thousand" voters switching from Obama to McCain?

To me, that's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard on the forum in weeks.  How many Penn State fans will even be made aware of this mispronunciation?  And what percent of those that know are undecided?  And what percent of undecided voters will make their decision purely based on this statement?

I think we're looking at 5-6 voters, realistically.

Dream on.  It reinforces the "Obama is an elitist," "Obama is out of touch," "Obama isn't one of 'us,'" perceptions.  If he'd mispronounced "pizza" or "subliminal," it wouldn't have made a difference.  This does, in the worst place it could.  It's not a lot, and a few thousand votes isn't a lot, but sure didn't help.

What sounds more like a dream?

Option 1: This slight slip of a sports team name will not be common knowledge and only a small fraction of fans will know of it.  Of these, only a slight fraction will be swing voters.  Of these, only a small fraction will vote for McCain when they would have otherwise voted for Obama, completely based on this mispronunciation.  JJ is projecting his own beliefs onto the electorate as a whole.

Hardly.  We have 400,000+ alumni and possibly 75, 000-150,000 die hard fans, figure 500,000.  Maybe 2/3 live in the state, 330,000.   Figure half will hear about it (already 180 hits for it on Google), which might be low depending on the play in Central PA media, 115,000.  figure of those 80,000 are registered, and it makes a difference in just 1%, that's 800 votes.  I frankly think those numbers are low.  

In stead of fans, we local people that know the team name as a brand name (I'm one of them) and think that Obama's faking it to try to sound local when he gets it wrong.  It that area, probably another 300,000-600,000 voters.  Take that figure down as above, you probably have another 600-800 voters.

It's not a lot, but it isn't 5-6 voters either.

It's not 100,000 voters, but probably 1000-2000.  Not enough to swing the state, but it's those little things that all add up.

[J. J.]

Isn't having good policies on the issues a bit more important than remembering what to call every dumb sports team in the country?

In the election where Dwight Evans mispronounce "Cambria" he ran a commercial where he had his plan and slammed it down on the table.  A coworker, and good friend, who was black (as was Evans) and dyed in the wool Democrat, exploded when I asked her about Evans.  She thought he was nasty, arrogant, and was turned off completely.  I though it was a good commercial.  If just 0.5% of the voters reacted the way she did, he probably lost 1000-5000 votes.

The irony is, his plan was actually very moderate, not what anyone would expect from a black politician in Phila, and something I could have gotten behind, at least in part.  Because of the commercial, my friend didn't even look at the plan.

These kind of gaffs and comments make small changes in the electorate.  If there is enough of them, they damage the candidate.

Here's a link to the site of the video:

http://www.bucksright.com/bitter-clingers-rooting-for-their-nittaly-lions-885

Note the URL address.

[J. J.]

JJ, all of your numbers are absurd.  Half of 500k Penn State alumni will hear of this?  I doubt if half of the total American population can name both vice presidents' first and last names.   No way.   I give up on this thread, peace.

You forget somethings in your premise, first, that the local media won't catch the story, which is unknown at this point, and that you have graduated from Penn State for this to bother you.  "Nittany Lions" is a brand name in Central PA.

Second, for the alumni, you have a better educated group than average. 

It's not a lot, it may not make a difference, it would not in a state like NY or CA.  It might in PA.

[J. J.]

I honestly think Obama hasn't been around blue collar white working class people much in his life before running for president..That's why he has trouble connecting with them...

Such as his own mother.

The one with the Ph D?

[J. J.]

I honestly think Obama hasn't been around blue collar white working class people much in his life before running for president..That's why he has trouble connecting with them...

Such as his own mother.

The one with the Ph D?

So you have something against a poor single mom who later in life manages to get a PhD? Yeah, too bad that she wasn't a stupid heiress, then she would be a common person. Republicans need to stop with these bullsh**t attacks of elitism on people who aren't rich.

Ah, she was married and a college student at the time.  They divorced  when the father went that bastion "blue collar white working class people," Harvard University.

She then married another student, who served as the government liaison to an oil company, Mobil, IIRC.  That was in Indonesia, where I don't recall hearing about many "blue collar white working class people."  Hey, I lived in West Central PA for 25 years and I don't remember "blue collar white working class people" heading out to the late shift in Jakarta.  They were too busy clinging to God and guns, or going bowling.

Of course Obama came back to the US to go to elementary and high school, where he lived with his grandmother, that "blue collar white working class bank vice president." I guess she had a lot of heavy lifting in that job.  I wonder if the loan applications were on an assembly line?

[J. J.]

If everything J. J. said was bad for Obama really was, and if Obama was performing so badly among demographics as he expected McCain would be up by 10 points now. Hell probably at least 20 since that's what it would take for McCain to have a chance of winning white Democrats (yes, J. J. has said there is a realistic chance Obama can lose the white Democratic vote because apparently there are more white Democrats in West Virginia than California or something.)

I didn't a single bad thing about Obama in that last post.

I think it's good to born to parents that are married.  I'm not happy about divorce, but I think it's fine to remarry, especially to a prosperous oil company liaison (he had his degree in geology).  I really do not know of any "blue collar white working class people" in Indonesia; I'm sure there were a few, someplace.  I would suspect that those I actually know were not some of them.

But lets be blunt; Obama had a nice upper middle class upbringing.  He wasn't poor, but he wasn't rich.  There is "bad" about that, so far as I'm concerned.  The only bad thing is to lie about it.  His mother, Dr. Durham, was not "blue collar white working class."  She wasn't a "poor single mom."  I've known a few hundred of those as well, from grade school until today.

On this thread, I've not referred to Obama as "elitist."  I said I didn't think he was.  I said "insular."  That's different, actually very different.  It's part of something I'm planning for post election segregation post.

What I object to is attempting to build the log cabin Obama was born in, in Hawaii.  The real story is fine, its compelling and not dishonorable. 

[J. J.]

http://www.bucksright.com/bitter-clingers-rooting-for-their-nittaly-lions-885

Note the URL address.

OMG A RIGHT WING BLOG IS ATTACKING OBAMA THAT'S SO NOTABLE

I note that the bloggers are spreading it, and this one is from Bucks County, a place that Goldenboy has discussed.

[J. J.]

And BTW, Obama might loose the white working class vote.

[J. J.]

Im offended...really Iam.

but....what?

I think there is a good possibility that Obama will lose the white working class vote.

I think Obama may not connect with the white working class.  I think he had some problems in primary with that demographic.  He wouldn't be the first Democrat to have that problem.

[J. J.]

Noted that so far, no one has agreed with J.J. except for J.J. himself, approximately 20 times.

Britain I agree with J.J.... What did it say in the late primaries against Hillary that the voters of West Virgina , Kentucky , Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania  knowingly voted for someone that everyone in the media says had not shot at winning..

You know normally when you have a front runner in the primaries the whole party rallies around the front runner , See the percentage of the vote Kerry got in the primary in Pennsylvania in 2004, See the percentage of the vote that Gore got in the primary in Pennsylvania  in 2000

Do you think this event is going to cost him several thousand votes?

I would probably be in the low four digits.  As a percentage it's not gigantic.  The question is, how close will PA be.

[J. J.]

http://www.bucksright.com/bitter-clingers-rooting-for-their-nittaly-lions-885

Note the URL address.

OMG A RIGHT WING BLOG IS ATTACKING OBAMA THAT'S SO NOTABLE

I note that the bloggers are spreading it, and this one is from Bucks County, a place that Goldenboy has discussed.

So one guy in Bucks County says so. Wow. Definitely a sample of the whole county. I can bring up blogs then that prove McCain is in trouble in Texas.

No, but it is being spread in Bucks County, one of those key suburban Phila Counties, where Bush went up in 2004.  This deals with dissemination.

And BTW, Obama might loose the white working class vote.

Typical J. J. bait and switch. Say something ridiculous, get called out on it, and then change the topic to something incredibly obvious and only remotely related.


[/quote]

I did think, at one point, that Obama might lose the white Democrat working class.  I don't now.  I do think that losing the white working class vote is possible, and that has happened.  I also think that if he does, he's lost the election.

What "bait and switch?"  You are the one that raised the issue.

[J. J.]

Wait, wait, are you seriously suggesting that Obama might lose TWO THOUSAND VOTES over this??  Are you f***ing kidding me?

No, it's in an area where the electorate is very unsure of him.  It reinforces the "he's not one of us" image.  If he'd said a "Penn Stater," or mispronounced "Volvo," it would have had zero effect.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It's an Amerindian name, and is the name a mountain and valley in the area.  It is basically a local brand name.

Bluntly, it has the potential of annoying two groups, rabid Penn State fans and locals.  It's a bit like, seriously, referring to the Longhorns as the "Texas Bulls," or the "Longlegs."