Fear and loathing in Pennsylvania. H/t Glenn.
And the Times covers Obama's small town remarks. I would say that fairly capture the spirit of the discussion, and I especially like this:
While the Obama campaign initially dismissed the criticism in a written statement from its Chicago headquarters, his advisers quickly concluded that Mr. Obama’s remarks could be a political liability as he sought to win over working-class voters.
Can't sneak one past his advisers.
He responded with unusual force at a town meeting at a high school in Terre Haute, Ind., seeking to explain his statement that voters are bitter.
“Here’s what’s rich,” Mr. Obama said. “Senator Clinton said, ‘Well I don’t think people are bitter in Pennsylvania. I think Barack is being condescending.’ John McCain said, ‘How could he say that? How could he say that people are bitter? He obviously is out of touch with people.’ Out of touch? Out of touch? John McCain — it took him three times to finally figure out that home foreclosure was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch?”
The audience, made up largely of Democratic voters, rose and applauded as Mr. Obama delivered his defense.
I am confident that Hot Air has the relevant video, which I mocked last night:
Slightly scary but mostly funny bit - his big applause line, twice, is (roughly) "People are bitter, and they ought to be." Yeah, let's hear it for bitter! Sounds like a winning platform - Mourning in America. That'll nail down the Nutroots, as if they weren't already nailed down... now if only the rest of the country could get on board the Bitterness Express.
Well, let me sketch out an alternative (and unimaginative) narrative; I will push the starting point back about forty-five years.
The Supreme Court bans prayer in schools. Then it commences to coddle criminals. Lyndon Johnson introduces a great new social program - have a baby, get a check; get married or get a job, lose the check. Only a Harvard PhD could be surprised by the effect that program has on families and the work ethic.
The next great liberal ideas are forced school busing and Affirmative Action. People who worked hard to move to a good neighborhood with good schools are out of luck - their kids are now part of a grand social experiment intended to magically uplift someone else's kids. And even though plenty of Pennsylvanians have ancestors who died to end slavery, and many more have ancestors who arrived after the Civil War, and even though Pennsylvania was never a hotbed of Jim Crow legislation, working class whites are put at the back of the line for hiring and promotions, often in favor of recent immigrants from Jamaica or Central America. Sure, that makes sense, and is wonderfully effective at bringing people together.
So, are working class and rural whites bitter because government is not helping them? If they are bitter at all it may be because government has been "helping" everyone else and making a hash out of it, and their real hope is that these well-intentioned but out-of-touch liberal "helpers" would just go away.
Just a thought. Here is the transcript of Obama's theory as to why rural Pennsylvanians became bigoted, gun-waving religious fanatics.
UNRELENTING: Isaac Chotiner of TNR is especially scathing:
The other problem is this: Obama was essentially claiming that the reason people are not voting for him is because they are bitter:
So, it depends on where you are, but I think it’s fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people are most cynical about government...They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism.
Only a cynic, in other words, could doubt that Barack Obama is going to radically change Washington.
Well, yes - We are the change we have been waiting for, Obama is the change Michelle has been waiting for, and why not - Obama has been the most forceful advocate ever on a range of issues (Geez, I can't wait for his sit-down with the NRA!). Forceful, yet prudent, since his advocacy does not actually extend to doing much of anything.
Ah, well - I love the smell of toast in the morning. It smells like... victory.
MORE: Karl at PW hits Obama's trade hypocrisy, immigration hypocrisy, and much more.
Now now, Obama has now clarified. He "mispoke", what he meant to say is that the people in Pennsylvania are one issue voters.
No story here.
Posted by: Jane | April 12, 2008 at 10:26 AM
As a Pennsylvanian, I hope Ed Rendell reads this and doesn't realize it's "The Onion".
Pennsylvania, second highest corporate taxes in the world (just behind Iowa).
Posted by: Neo | April 12, 2008 at 10:37 AM
what he meant to say is that the people in Pennsylvania are one issue voters.
So Gun rights, religion, and jobs are one issue? Or is being Redneck Hicks one issue?
If this gets any airtime it is going to royally piss off a lot of people.
Posted by: Pofarmer | April 12, 2008 at 10:43 AM
If I have state of the art noise cancelling bluetooth and drive a $35,000 pickup do I still qualify as a redneck hick?
Posted by: Pofarmer | April 12, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I think the bluetooth leaves you out of the running - well is there a stocked cooler in that pick-up?
Posted by: Jane | April 12, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Is it a Cadillac Escalade pickup, po?
Posted by: MayBee | April 12, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Pofarmer: you need a gun or NRA sticker in the back.
Posted by: Neo | April 12, 2008 at 10:55 AM
I want some of whatever TM has been putting in his wheaties.
Posted by: clarice | April 12, 2008 at 10:55 AM
I see that Obama has pissed off a lot of folks in Philadelphia by not providing "street money" on election day.
Posted by: Neo | April 12, 2008 at 11:01 AM
So, are working class and rural whites bitter because government is not helping them? If they are bitter at all it may be because government has been "helping" everyone else and making a hash out of it, and their real hope is that these well-intentioned but out-of-touch liberal "helpers" would just go away.
Exactly.
Why this does not occur to the helpers is beyond me.
And the Marin county voters just want to throw their money at these people who don't want it. Because if they do, if they can elevate the gun-toting rubes, America will not be so darn embarassing anymore.
Posted by: MayBee | April 12, 2008 at 11:08 AM
With Nutter working with Clinton to suppress the black vote BHO would be crazy to lay out street money.
Watch the replay of Rangel's Harlem gambit in PA - Clinton needs to knock down the total popular vote lead that BHO has amassed and she's going to do it with Rendell and Nutter's very capable help. Philly's 110% turnout (in selected precincts) is just going to disappear.
The PA "make every vote count - for Clinton" team is suited up, ready and waiting for game day.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | April 12, 2008 at 11:13 AM
TM is definitely on a roll with this one.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | April 12, 2008 at 11:56 AM
You are being too hard on the O-man.
He just wants to comfort the poor, Midwest hickaninny ... you know, ease his bitterness (after he harnesses it in November).
Posted by: capitano | April 12, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Last time around I sent my money to the SwiftVets (lots more fun than either Bush or the RNC). Is there any right-wing attack machine functioning today? Is there even the prospect of one? I want to help out with all the anti-Obama ads of a kind McCain won't touch.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | April 12, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Iowahawk blast-from-the-past:
Posted by: capitano | April 12, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Is there any right-wing attack machine functioning today? Is there even the prospect of one? I want to help out with all the anti-Obama ads of a kind McCain won't touch.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | April 12, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Well, I proposed back when the William Ayers(sp?) thing started bubling up that someone should organize a Weather Underground Vicitims for Truth group to point out Obama's friendship with unrepentent domsetic terrorists.
Posted by: Ranger | April 12, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Reading the comments at the PW thread TM linked to is a hoot.
Foo Bar showed up and tried to show everyone that Rev. Wright's regection of "middleclassness" isn't what people think. It is not a rejection of wealth. In doing so he laid out that it is really about outright reacism. Short version: Go ahead and get rich, just keep hating the white people.
Posted by: Ranger | April 12, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Obama has apologized for the way he explained his lack of support among working-class Americans.
He didn't mean to say it was because they are racist, gun-owning, religious zealots.
He meant to say it was because they didn't believe he would really bring change they could believe in!
His excuse was that he was speaking to a group in Marin County, Ca. who had a much higher level of understanding than typical small town people.
Posted by: MikeS | April 12, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Feeding the press a question for Obama:
Sen Obama, did you or your wife ever benefit from affirmative action?
(follow-up) Can you describe your most memorable moment where you were victimized, because of your skin color? Have you ever benefitted because of your skin color?
Posted by: paul | April 12, 2008 at 01:21 PM
"Is there any right-wing attack machine functioning today? Is there even the prospect of one? I want to help out with all the anti-Obama ads of a kind McCain won't touch."
I hear hillary is still taking donations.
Posted by: paul | April 12, 2008 at 01:24 PM
from swimming freestyle:
"This video is exactly how Obama should have raised the issue: In the environment these voters live and with an appropriate anger. Rural working class voters have gotten the shaft. They have every right to be frustrated and even bitter about what's happened to them.
Obama now finds himself having to address the issue defensively, Unfortunately, the issue will now likely be obscured by the hysterical anti-Obama rants by the Clintons and McCains. Obama gave them that gift when he spoke in San Francisco last weekend."
http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com
Posted by: Jay McDonough | April 12, 2008 at 01:58 PM
Good one, paul.
Posted by: Elliott | April 12, 2008 at 01:58 PM
from swimming freestyle:
"This video is exactly how Obama should have raised the issue: In the environment these voters live and with an appropriate anger. Rural working class voters have gotten the shaft. They have every right to be frustrated and even bitter about what's happened to them.
Obama now finds himself having to address the issue defensively, Unfortunately, the issue will now likely be obscured by the hysterical anti-Obama rants by the Clintons and McCains. Obama gave them that gift when he spoke in San Francisco last weekend."
http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com
Posted by: Jay McDonough | April 12, 2008 at 02:00 PM
You know I once thought that the Democrats picked the haughtiest and most out of touch member of their whole caucus, 4 years ago with John Longface with his shoot from the lip Rich bitch wife. But apparently they held some in reserve for future battles...
Posted by: GMax | April 12, 2008 at 02:05 PM
WHAT AN UNDESERVED SLAP IN THE FACE BY OBAMA TOWARD "SMALL TOWN" PENNSYLVANIANS. TROUBLE IS THERE ARE SMALL TOWNS ALL ACROSS AMERICA WHO ALSO FEEL THIS INSULT.
I HAVE YET TO HEAR SENATOR OBAMA SAY ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT AMERICA OR THE UNITED STATES. ON "THE VIEW" HE DID SAY "THIS GREAT COUNTRY, WITH ITS' FLAWS". A HALF SHOT AT "POSITIVE" AND IMMEDIATELY SLAMMED WITH A "NEGATIVE". HE DOESN'T SEEM CAPABLE OF POSITIVE STATEMENTS TOWARD AMERICA. PERHAPS IT IS HIS OWN BELIEFS THAT ARE "FLAWED".
COULD OBAMA'S CONDESCENDING ATTITUDE AND INABILITY TO SEE THE GOOD HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE TEACHINGS OF HIS CHURCH AND REVEREND WRIGHT? A CHURCH WE NOW KNOW TO PREACH TRASHING AMERICA, COMPLAINING AND FINDING FAULT WITH ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.
HERE'S WHAT WE DO KNOW. MR. OBAMA HAS TOO MUCH BAGGAGE. HLLARY CLINTON'S SKELETONS HAVE BEEN OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR SOME TIME, OBAMA'S ARE NOT.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Posted by: BONNIE | April 12, 2008 at 02:10 PM
who had a much higher level of understanding than typical small town people.
Ah, so we're stupid, too.
Cadillac Escalade??? Ya can't feed cows with that!!!
Posted by: Pofarmer | April 12, 2008 at 02:26 PM
Gateway Pundit's headline referencing the PW stats:
Obama's Bible-Thumpin Gun-Humpin Comments Not Just Rude But Wrong
Posted by: Sara | April 12, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Via Newsbusters:
Posted by: Sara | April 12, 2008 at 02:46 PM
Via Powerline:
Never allow me? I stopped getting permission on how I run my life when I stopped living under my parents' roof.
Posted by: Sara | April 12, 2008 at 02:52 PM
I doubt he knows what is going on in Pennsylvania anymore, unless he figured out that he is going to get his ass whooped .. big time.
Posted by: Neo | April 12, 2008 at 02:55 PM
Hicks nix clique's shticks
By Mark Steyn
Posted by: Sara | April 12, 2008 at 03:02 PM
Demanding that voters shed their cynicism, by my reckoning, will require them to shed the shallow worldview which holds -- against all evidence, including the fact that fatuous fools like Valerie Maiden Name and her glamorous spouse Joseph Wilson expected to find WMD in Iraq -- that we were lied into a war by Evil Bushco. When that lame scenario is abandoned, then I will know that voters truly have shed their cynicism, St. Barack's healing hands be praised.
Posted by: Crew v1.0 | April 12, 2008 at 03:24 PM
You know I once thought that the Democrats picked the haughtiest and most out of touch member of their whole caucus, 4 years ago with John Longface with his shoot from the lip Rich bitch wife. But apparently they held some in reserve for future battles...
To be fair to the Dem "strategists", Obama was just a promising minor leaguer when they went with the Tall Door One in 2004; Obama ad Michele only arrived in Washington in Jan 2000.
But they sure did go to their bench strength early.
It is spooky to think about The Duke, Al Gore, or John Kerry, and now Barry O - Reps keep painting the Dem nominee as an out-of-touch elitist, and Dems keep nominating out-of-touch elitists.
I see why the Reps stick with this strategy, but what drives the Dems?
Posted by: Tom Maguire | April 12, 2008 at 03:31 PM
TM-
I see why the Reps stick with this strategy, but what drives the Dems?
Bill Clinton kept the memo to himself.
graf-
Posted by: RichatUF | April 12, 2008 at 03:58 PM
Rich, today I'd amend that to "indifferent if not hostile to their economic interests, their moral sentiments and their national security." That's not progress - except, I suppose, as defined by a progressive.
Posted by: bgates | April 12, 2008 at 04:48 PM
A foreigner? You should manage a campaign. A book would be news.
The WMD was found and it was a medical lab. The person who ran it was freed by the Iraqi courts just before Saddam was hung. No one knows where she is; Plame was a good deal, but I don't thing she was the operations officer who did the actual work. She was watched since Ames arrest. Saddam was old work, she would have used to get close.
The Reagan movie 'Red Dawn' got all those memo people made. Regular body work. I guess Republicans are bad. It's a party doing that, well too bad.
Posted by: GH | April 12, 2008 at 04:59 PM
TM, Obama came to D.C. in 2004, I believe.
For those inclined to believe Obama's spin that he just made a poor choice of words, consider the forum in which he chose them. As I understand it, he was in a private home on a street in San Francisco that is as opulent as any in the world; he was talking to a group of very rich white people; and above all he was unaware that his words were being recorded. Poor choice of words, my ass--he knew his audience, and he meant what he said and said what he meant.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | April 12, 2008 at 04:59 PM
Rich,
What I find rather stunning is the continued apparent lack of understanding of the internet as a weapon of memetic warfare shown by both Obama and Clinton. They both appear to be approaching it as an adjunct of media in general, subject to the same rules of control that apply to the MSM.
The clumsiness extends to their minions, who show up peddling crap under false flags with a partial intent of setting up the "look at what those nasty Rethuglican racists did to poor BHO" meme to be used in the event that Rendell and Nutter succeed in suppressing the black vote to the extent that Clinton wins by a margin which gives the Supers a rationale to pitch BHO straight into a ditch.
I wonder if BHO is going to realize that there is no safety, even within a prog plantation such as Marin County? He really can't afford to "be himself" anywhere - RW has too many Flying Monkeys detailed to catch his slightest slip. Bowling, anyone? RW is very good at keeping her manipulations out of sight but if Rendell/Nutter pull the same stunt in Philadelphia that Rangel pulled in Harlem, I don't believe that she will be successful in her coverup.
I'm glad Elliot and Jane are keeping their hand in on live coverage - the debate in Philly should provide some very good entertainment.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | April 12, 2008 at 05:02 PM
Barack has made his "what I really meant" follow-up and it shows that he truly does have no clue. He concentrates his backpeddling on the "bitter" part of his remark and tries to justify that with half-valid explanations, but completely misses what the real insult is in his remarks - the attack on the values that Americans hold dear and that guide their lives.
And the media is just as bad. They are also concentrating on the "bitter," calling the whole flap as "bittergate." In watching coverage this morning, who did they go to for a view on the pulse of the public? Suburban Philadelphia and black leaders. Where were the man-on-the-street interviews with people in the Pittsburgh area or Erie or in God's country up around Kane/Coudersport, what about Somerset, Altoona, Indiana (PA) or Butler? Did they go out to the mining towns, the farm towns? No, instead they interviewed diners at a neighborhood restaurant in Philly. Do they even realize that the opening day of deer season or trout fishing is a valid excuse to miss work or miss school?
Posted by: Sara | April 12, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Just like Kerry got his fabulist tales of Vietnam from Apocalypse Now, it looks like O'Bomba got his fabulist tales of smalltown USA from The Deer Hunter. Don't these guys know that Hollywood makes crap up?
It's probably why BHO, in a brief obligatory nod to the 2nd amendment, will generously begrudge us a rusty old bolt action hunting rifle. Maybe once he's in office he'll learn from his bud Hugo that we only need 5 rounds of ammo per year for that hunting rifle.
Posted by: Bill in AZ | April 12, 2008 at 05:36 PM
There are others influencing Obama, besides Frank Marshal Davis. Look at the background of his political adviser, David Alexrod, as well as others Link
"David’s Mother And Radical Leftist Journalism
Myril Axelrod was formerly a writer for PM, a leftist tabloid newspaper published from 1940 to 1948 in New York City."
"The radicalism of Frank Marshall Davis that was planted in a young Barack Obama appears to have taken root – and the son of a writer for a Communist-dominated newspaper – is running Obama’s political campaign to help him become President and Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces."
IMO, the thread that ties Obama to the the most radical of Communists is Saul Alinsky. Two of Alinksky's star pupils (Hillary and Obama) are in the Democratic race.
"Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties."
Link
"Barack Obama is also an Alinskyite. Trained by Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation, Obama spent years teaching workshops on the Alinsky method. In 1985 he began a four-year stint as a community organizer in Chicago, working for an Alinskyite group called the Developing Communities Project. Later, he worked with ACORN and its offshoot Project Vote, both creations of the Alinsky network.
"Camouflage is key to Alinsky-style organizing. While trying to build coalitions of black churches in Chicago, Obama caught flak for not attending church himself. He became an instant churchgoer."
"That Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama share an Alinskyite background tells us two things. First, they are leftists, dedicated to overthrowing our Constitutional system. Second, they will go to any length to conceal their radicalism from the public."
"That is the Alinsky method. And that is today’s Democratic Party."
One of Alinsky's sayings: "Alinsky once boasted, “I feel confident that I could persuade a millionaire on a Friday to subsidize a revolution for Saturday out of which he would make a huge profit on Sunday even though he was certain to be executed on Monday.”
I think that is where many in America are today, Willing to subsidize a revolution"
Before they get too carried away they might want to look at the results in Cuba or Zimbabwe.
Posted by: pagar | April 12, 2008 at 05:49 PM
"Dems keep nominating out-of-touch elitists."
Because that is the Democrat Party now.Entryism has hollowed out the Party just as it has the left parties of Europe.Like the smile on the Cheshire Cat,the name is all that remains.
Posted by: PeterUK | April 12, 2008 at 05:50 PM
Rick-
What I find rather stunning is the continued apparent lack of understanding of the internet as a weapon of memetic warfare...
Especially when one considers that David Axelrod (sorry its a wiki link, see also astroturfing) is running the show for BHO and that BHO specalized in the sort of perpetual political combat necessary as a "community organizer". Those were some really tone-deaf comments even if they were for some Marin County hot-tubbers.
Posted by: RichatUF | April 12, 2008 at 06:16 PM
pager-
"That Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama share an Alinskyite background tells us two things. First, they are leftists, dedicated to overthrowing our Constitutional system. Second, they will go to any length to conceal their radicalism from the public."
Taqiyya-It's not just for Shi'ites...
Posted by: RichatUF | April 12, 2008 at 06:20 PM
Rich,
Axelrod can't put common sense into BHO any more than Shrum could put it into Kerry. RW can fake the common touch (poorly) because she had at least some contact with non-marxists as a young teenager. BHO (the boy in the Trotsky bubble) has never heard much more than the dialectic at the dinner table. This won't be the last time he spouts false consciousness crap.
I just don't see how RW gets out of the popular vote hole, even with a significant win in PA. She better come up with a live boy/dead girl pretty quick.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | April 12, 2008 at 07:20 PM
Obama gave the media their opening with his follow-up comments, which began with "I said something that everybody knows is true"--i.e. that lost jobs haven't been replaced [then how come unemployment is down], etc. and people are "bitter." It's as if he never said a word about clinging to guns and religion, and disliking outsiders and those who look different.
You can't dodge bullets for seven months. Gonna be all downhill for this rather creepy fellow.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | April 12, 2008 at 07:50 PM
Yeah, but if you're using the popular vote total (which doesn't really mean anything anyway), it makes no real sense to exclude FL or MI (whose votes presumably count just as much as those estimated from a state where the caucus was the decider). Those all-inclusive numbers are very close (Obama +.6%). Concur it's dubious (and she needs a sweep), but not that it's completely out-of-reach.
Posted by: Cecil Turner | April 12, 2008 at 07:52 PM
-i.e. that lost jobs haven't been replaced [then how come unemployment is down]
Worst economy since the Great depression, doncha know!
Posted by: Pofarmer | April 12, 2008 at 08:02 PM
Rick-
Axelrod can't put common sense into BHO any more than Shrum could put it into Kerry. RW can fake the common touch (poorly) because she had at least some contact with non-marxists as a young teenager.
Very true. Axelrod is only as good as the material he is given and "Change, Hope, and Judgement" probably doesn't have the shelf-life he thought. Am curious if you are still working on the "community organizer" piece that you were talking about a while back?
As far as BHO's comments go I'm wondering if anyone has looked at it from the standpoint of Schmitt's "Concept of the Political" and his theories on identity and emnity. Reading the comment, BHO is explaining the "small town" enmity to his candidacy by way of "small town" identity (in this case guns and religion). This interpretation obviously wouldn't help him and I'm just throwing the idea out there. Something I was thinking about: if BHO's politics can be devined from the lcd of Foucault-Alinsky-Gramsci, then his core politics seem to point to the anti-humanism of Nietzsche and his 20th Century interpreters Foucault and Heidegger, in which, Schmitt provides the road map to translate the philosophy into practical politics. (some thoughts here, think I've linked that before). FWIW...
Posted by: RichatUF | April 12, 2008 at 09:50 PM
Rich,
When a lefty goes on the hustle I think they go for a potpourri in their presentations among 'friends' thereafter. We don't know what brand of marxism he imbibed from grandpa - or even, with certainty, that he did. His mom's schtick seems kinda standard CPUSA material (as does this 'false consciousness light' bit he was peddling in the Bay Area). I would imagine that one would have to look at his Columbia profs (and their reading lists) in order to determine which vein of dreck might have had the greatest influence upon him. Certainly Foucalt was still on the menu and someone introduced him to the marvels of Alinsky along the way (probably not mom or grandpa).
I'm sort of more interested in the sell out stage - whether he felt he was using Rezko by allowing Rezko to use him in the beginning or was it a straight "everybody who's getting ahead in Chicago politics is on somebody's pad", so I'll go with this 'new' player, Tony."
I'm still working on the organizer bit but I've shifted focus to examining the prog plantations - trying to pair "intellectual" swamps (WI-3) with their "oppressed" toys (WI-4). It's rather tedious.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | April 12, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Sara has described Pennsylvania to a T.
I grew up in Erie in the forties and fifties. It was then the third largest city in PA. Now it is fourth, having declined from a high in the 1950 census of 135k to somewhere around 104k now. The SMSA (Erie County) is about 300 now.
Erie had four main ethnic groups: Russian, Polish, Italian and WASP, with a few other eastern european and a small AA population.
Now its AA population is about 14% (average for the nation about 12%) with the Italians, Russians and Poles pretty much in control of the city and county governments.
1/3 the County population is still Catholic (mostly concentrated in the City), 1/6 mainline protestant and 10% "evangelical Christian".
The unemployment was %4.1 in the summer 2007, when the nation was at %4.5.
I was in Erie two weeks ago for three days. Guess what:
Not much bitterness there, but they still like their churches, their guns. And their churches
Since the mid 1990s, the International Institute of Erie (IIE), founded in 1919, has helped with the resettlement of refugees from Bosnia, Eritrea, Ghana, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, the former Soviet Union, and Vietnam. The inclusion of refugees in Erie's community augments religious diversity and prompts community events such as cultural festivals.[25]
So much for anti-immigrant attitudes.
BHO just has it wrong. Imagine that.
The point is that
Posted by: vnjagvet | April 12, 2008 at 11:11 PM
Osama is just a clueless elitist but what is scary is that his supporters apparently have the same intellect and point of view that he demonstrates so often. I am frankly amazed at the superlative comments made about this cretin whose resume would make a junior associate at a second rate law firm feel quite superior. I guess we can chalk it up to our education system which churns out students who can neither discern the truth nor have the capability of making logical evaluations based on fact.
Osama is a man for San Francisco and the south side of Chicago. No doubt aside from denizens of these and like areas that is about all he can count on in any future presidential election.
Sad to say, it looks like 1972 again. An unpopular GOP candidate will win a landslide because the Democrats haven't realized that Americans really won't vote for Marxists and don't think a Cuban style of government or economy is needed for the USA.
Posted by: Thomas Jackson | April 13, 2008 at 12:39 AM
Thanks for the link RichatUF. I had thought that the anti Israel part of his campaign was just to appease his NOI handlers and his ME supporters, now I'm going to take another look at it.
Posted by: pagar | April 13, 2008 at 09:15 AM
vnjagvet
You get it right. Out here in flyover country we're not anti-immigrant. What we are against are our borders being swarmed, and our tax dollars going to pay for services for folks who aren't on the tax roles.
Posted by: Pofarmer | April 13, 2008 at 11:23 AM