I have a really hard time taking someone who rode the coattails of her husband's name and carpetbagged her way into her senate seat seriously when she calls someone "elitist" and "out of touch". Sorry, Hillary, but people *are* bitter.

Billy, what bugs me about this stuff is that it's all such a pile of bullshit. I'm no more a fan of the 85 recommended posts about Obama's COUNTERPUNCH than I am of your post.

You've got a bunch of mostly educated, middle-to-upper class bloggers debating about which educated, middle-to-upper class candidates most authentically connects with working class people based on soundbites that have been prepared by their campaigns. It's nonsense from every direction.

As this story progresses, we will eventually see it settle squarely on the side of Obama's benefit, since he has once again chosen the path of truth and political courage and risk, and Clinton has once again chosen the path of hypocritical and cowardly demagoguery. There is nothing false in what Obama said. Obama believe voters can handle the truth; Ultimately they will reward him for it.

Hillary said it! It must be true! Because everything that Hillary says is always true! It has to be, because I love Hillary and she would never lie to me! We have this personal relationship that goes way back, you see! And my whole world is built around that truth that is Hillary! And she has an untarnished record of truthfulness! And I'm happy and optimisitic because Hillary said I am! And I have posters of Hillary and puppydogs and butterflies on my bedroom wall! And I'm so happy that Hillary thinks that I am happy! And that just goes to reconfirm my hope and love and trust in Hillary! Oh happy day! I'm going to go frolic in the fields and dance with the bunny rabbits now! Hillary still loves me!

Hillary Clinton accusing Obama of being elitist. Hillary, the voice of the people.

And McCain jumping on the same faux bandwagon.

And Fox covering it like it's worse than Watergate. The longer they stretch this out, the thinner and thinner it gets.

I don't know what voters will fall for this weekend. Maybe they'll buy it.

But as this plays out, has Hillary cast this elitist narrative that will ultimately boomerang and end up being a far more fitting narrative for her and Bill?

Is she digging herself into a larger hole?

I think the saying "when you point one finger at someone else, you're pointing three back at yourself" might play itself out pretty clearly here.

I think the Clintons will throw everything they have left in their arsenal at Obama in the next 10 days.

Meanwhile, the most damaging issue that has faced the Clintons lays out there without much coverage; Bill's million dollar commitment to Colombia Free Trade. To me, this is the height of hypocrisy. It's also the issue the Clintons are most fearful of.

If it's covered right, who do you think will appear elitist?

Hehehe... I enjoyed the exponent, Ben.

;-)

I don't know how this will play out in the long run. That's a pretty good play from Hillary, nicely worded. But the Clintons' greatest strength was that their opponents always overplayed their hand. Hillary's frustration could easily lead her to another "Shame on you..." moment.

Personally, I think Clinton will lose to McCain, so I hope this doesn't get traction. Obama, like Bill Clinton, benefits fron the fact that people like him. That, to me, is what political "teflon" is.

Great post. It will be interesting to see if Clinton can run with this to the convention. It is not the first time Obama has used "ill chosen" words and likely won't be the last. This definitely defines his charactor in his own words and adds to the guilt-by-association he's already been grappling with.

Clinton's remarks today are excellent and may help make this a defining moment in the campaign. That she and McCain are on the same page is sweet because it further helps show how out-of-step Obama is and will help keep her and McCain's campaign on better, more substantive terms.

Matthew
http://www.TheProblemWithObama.com

Two Faced Hillary is at it again.

Back in 1992 she looked down on people "who stay home and bake cookies, or stand by their man".

Looks like Hillary has now gone through a election death bed Family Values conversion.

Can you say political expediency and Tuzla Airport Windsock, Boys and Girls?

The problem is, Billy, that Hillary will have a hard time running from the elitist construct in the GE. The whole frame was devised by the republicans for the republicans.

Remember Kerry?

Remember $109 MILLION dollars of income?

the "elitist" game is a downward spiral.

"I can't wait for someone to say that they were the son of mill worker." (just a little post for genghis)

I'm sitting here reading tpm and eating a nice venison steak. Road kill I picked up a month or so ago. Its hard to poach where I live now in Florida. I haven't been able to poach a deer since I left Bethlehem PA. My father worked at the Bethlehem Steel mill. Fortunately he retired with a nice pension at the first downsizing, several years before they closed down the plant.

I reach for my Rugar (22 cal automatic pistol) thinking about the uncountable squirrels I've killed and fried up. Not in a corn popper like Huck, I use a cast iron skillet. A person's home is their castle its said and even though I live in a 27 foot Winnebego RV, well, its a castle to me. So I do keep a gun loaded and near by at all times.

There was a time when I thought I liked to hunt. I thought I liked wild free high quality meat. I thought I held the second amendment to the constitution as sacrosanct as the first. I thought an armed populace was a necessary check on authoritarian government. I know, "It can't happen here." But now I'm beginning to wonder if it all comes back to the closing of the steel mills in my home town. It's not surprising I got bitter, I cling to guns as a way to explain my
frustrations.

I'm guessing I'm just a bit different than most of the posters here. I'm guessing many will find this post hard to relate to. Spin Obama's little gaffe anyway you want but there's a lot of people in my home town who grew up like me. This was more than a bad choice of words by Obama. Its not going to play well with folks like me. It does seem like obama just doesn't get it and it does seem condescending.

You can take the son of a mill worker out of the mill town but you can't take the mill town up bringing out of the man.

Ah well, it probably won't lose him the nomination but it surely will move some undecided people into the Hillary or McCain column.

And in case you're wondering, While this was somewhat tongue in cheek none of it is made up. Bon appetit

Oh, yeah. When she shows up in the hills of central Pennsylvania, in hunters' orange and her favorite shotgun, to shoot whatever critter is in season now, she will have sealed Pennsylvania and the nomination!

Someone call Ted Nugent -- it would be one king hell of a photo op if he joined her on the hunt!

Obama took himself apart.

He thought there were no reporters when he spoke in front of the elite large donors in SF and could speak like the real Obama.

Obama is to blame for losing.

"People don't need a president who looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them."

So wait, I'm confused... which candidate is the one who called my state insignificant?

Quote: "He thought there were no reporters when he spoke in front of the elite large donors in SF ..."

And you know this... how?

BTW, did he also think there were no cell phones?

I think when you're worth >$100,000,000 you sort of forfeit the right to call much poorer folk "elitist." High net worth isn't the only thing that defines elitism, perhaps. But who's kidding anybody about knowing how poor people live?

Also, I don't think you can simultaneously claim to be an Arkansan, New Yorker and midwesterner. When the Puerto Rico primary comes up will she find a way to call herself Puerto Rican?

Two thoughts.

If this has 20 recommends, could people please give a rest to the "nothing complementing Hillary ever gets recommended" cant.

Also, Matthew Weaver needs to put Allsburg down.

The fantasy-wish that she's taking him apart, as the embodiment of American values, is simply silly. It's so Hillary that she runs as values only in negative distinction to another. Her values in these areas were never offered up affirmatively as a major point of emphasis, only later as a critique of another, as she morphs into another essentially negatively drawn statement of herself. So tiresome.