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New Pro-Obama SEIU Ad Subtly Replies To "Small Town" Flap
Looks like a pro-Obama outside group is coming in to rescue him from the "small town" flap. SEIU's new ad for Obama in Pennsylvania pushes back against Hillary Clinton on the "small town" controversy, using the energy issue as a pretext:
It's not exactly coordination so much as outright imitiating the themes in Obama's latest ads, that he doesn't take money from energy company lobbyists. But the imagery of ordinary, working-class people talking about how Barack Obama is different definitely seems to be a rebuttal to Hillary's own ad on the "small town" comments, which is running as her only ad in many parts of the state.
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As a bike-riding, latte-drinking liberal, I'm disappointed that Barack is taking votes from SUV-driving tough guys.
Slightly more seriously: gee, filling the tank costs you $75? Get a fuel-efficient car.
April 17, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
some guys actually have to drive big ass trucks to do their jobs
April 17, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
although i think it is important to drive fuel efficient whenever possible there are people that require larger vehicles for a variety of reasons perhaps the automakers should get a clue and develope a more fuel efficient truck suv or mini van
April 17, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
This gas price hike is a serious issue that needs to be looked at throughly and discussed.
I believe the root of this oil hike is not from population expansion, but more so due to the War in Iraq which has kept OPEC prices at an all time high per gallon. I think the current promoted solution of alternative fuels as as ethanel oil is a terrible idea because it is driving up the prices of food, as farmers are now subsidizing their agriculture for energy alternative uses. Now when I go to the store I do see a jump in prices for certain foods, e.g. a bag of chips that's been $0.25 cents for for a good 15-20 years is now $0.50 cent, candy bars have gone from $0.45 cent to $0.80 cents, a gallon of milk which use go on sale for $1.99, that price is now given to a half-gallon of milk for sales. A gallon of top branded orange juice is over $3 dollars now, premium ice-cream $5.00. At the same token jobs are becoming scarce, unemployment is going up, these aren't good signs for working class Americans who work to put food on the table.
3rd world countries are being hurt the hardest by the increased price of food as they aren't able to afford foods exported to them and famines are once again on a sharp rise.
but issues like flag lapel pins, verbal mistatements, and indirect connections to 1960s radicals are far more important matters. *sighs* Alas my liberal thinking gets the best of me.
April 17, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
The cost of filling up is based on the size of your gas tank not the fuel efficiency of your vehicle. I drive a fuel efficient car but it costs me $150 to fill it up but of course I don't live in the US where gas is cheap.
April 17, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyway, I think with robo-calls and TV saturation and ads like this the Obama camp* may drive the voters of PA crazy.
*not his campaign, necessarily, but you know what I mean
April 17, 2008 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish I knew why some vids work for me and some don't. That one won't.
I guess it's because I'm on a mac, but still - this shouldn't happen so often.
dammit.
April 17, 2008 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm on a Mac and was able to play it, if it helps to narrow the possible problems?
April 17, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not everyone can afford to ditch their old vehicle and get a new more efficient one.
That's where liberals sometimes do get carried away and a tad elitist - thinking everyone should be able to just drop what they are doing and become a member of GreenPeace.
I wish it worked that way.
April 17, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Part of that sentiment comes from living in cities. Sure, for the minority of Americans that live in rural areas (and it's becoming an ever smaller minority), there might be reasons for less fuel-efficient vehicles. Sure, it doesn't make good financial or even environmental sense to dispose of a working vehicle in favor of a new, fuel-efficient one.
However, for those of us who live in cities, we all too often see people with new and expensive gas guzzlers. These are not being used to haul anything but large rear-ends. That's what makes many of us mad. I saw one sporting a license plate that read "8 MPG", as if it was something to be proud of.
April 17, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
MY FUEL EFFICIENT CARAVAN STILL COSTS $50 TO FILL UP WITH REGULAR. I LIMIT MY DRIVING TO WITHIN 15 MILES OF HOME. GAS WAS 69 CENTS A GALLON WHEN I STARTED DRIVING IN 1983.
April 17, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Coming in to rescue him"
Eric - have you seen any polling that based on this "flap" he needs rescuing?
April 17, 2008 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Take that, Gerry McEntee!
April 17, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Many people in small rural towns have to drive pickup trucks with 4-wheel drive.
April 17, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Darlin, I know. I live in Dallas, Texas. Do you have any idea how many jackasses here still drive Hummers?
I couldn't agree more. I've just had numerous disagreements with city dwelling liberals who have never been west and don't understand how much open land there still is in this country. On the western slope of of the Rockies, in Colorado - most people have to drive 50 to 100 miles to the nearest doctor.
April 17, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric:
Did we not learn anything from the last couple of days??
"rescue" from "small town flap?" What "flap?" Why in need of "rescue?"
How much of the story was media-generated, and therefore how much are "journalists" (or whatever) responsible for the "flap?"
How might we move to a different time in which Americans do not think in silly terms of "rescue" and "flap?"
Again: What "rescue?" Was Obama in dire straights from the made-up "flap?" If so, then where is your evidence that he needed a "rescue?"
just asking...
April 17, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree - who needs rescue here is ABC.
Obama is fine.
April 17, 2008 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric - Simply saying "to bolster his Small Town support" would have been sufficient and accurate explanation.
Obviously the ad is intended to connect with the voters who might have been turned off by the "bittergate" episode; but to go so far as to say that they are trying to rescue him is probably a bit of literary overkill.
April 17, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Get real folks. Gasoline prices are not going down to $1.50 a gallon anytime soon. We used to dread $2.50 at the pump and now we hope to see $2.50 this summer, but we aren't holding our breath.
Real workers often drive real big trucks. Employers (particularly smaller employers) have been able to shift the cost of those big trucks actually needed for their work to their workers. With a fill up costing over $75 in many places those employers and their employees will have to rethink that practice.
In my area a number of large construction companies have provided large pickups to job site supervisors. The job site supervisors probably could get away with a Honda Civic Hybrid. But they like the status of a large pickup seldom used to carry anything bulkier or heavier than their brief cases. I suspect both the construction companies and their job site supervisors will have to rethink this practice as well.
In the company where I work, the majority of our engineers and engineering technicians (about 50 in total) drive either an SUV or a pickup to work. (I am the engineering technician manager.) They do not need the pickups and SUVs. But the pickups and SUVs are status symbols. (I drive a 1999 Saturn SL2 -- definitely not a status symbol but in better condition than many of those pickups and SUVs.) One of my neighbors, a retired sports reporter, drives a large pickup.
I don't know where gas prices are headed -- but it seems to me that we are more likely to find $4.00 at the pump than $2.50. I am amused when I as the recreational pickup and SUV driver how they are doing on gas milage. I must say that the response I get are fanciful at best (for example 23.5 on a large SUV). Even though we try to put the best spin on the cost of owning and operating those large pickups and SUVs, when we pull up to the pump, the sad facts are there for all to see.
The best example I can think of occurred about two weeks ago. I was in line to pay for gas at a local convenience store. The man in front of me knew the clerk and was paying $50 for his gas and said, "Bill, I've wanted one those (Chevrolet Tundra) for a long time. I finally got to the point where I could affortd one. Now I can't afford to fill it up."
April 17, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
My son drives a pick-up truck and also has a van for his painting business--he just put a sign in the truck's window reading "Hell yes, I'm bitter!"
But apropos of nothing except that I live in Pennsylvania, here's an email that I got from a "friend" this morning:
"Hello all,
I am sending this in earnest of dialogue...........my father sent this to
me, I found it to be interesting and he does his research prior to sending.
As a Christian, I am interested in who is the spiritual advisor of my
President. We are all fallible, yet I would feel more comfortable knowing
that the leader of our nation is not spiritually guided by someone who says
GD America. We are living in spiritually tumultuous times........the
churches of Europe are empty, the Muslim population continues to grow. My
question is: when the Muslims outnumber the practicing Christians in all of
Europe, how will that affect the US? How will we navigate our country that
is open to all religious practices yet will be faced with controversy by a
growing number of radical Muslims who hate America?
I am open to listening to comments..............RAM"
I don't know how to do that block thing you guys do or I would have put the email in one, the message continues with an article entitled "The Wright Mythology" from the Newsmax website, which I tried to link to but messed up my whole post; it's easily found by googling. But I guess it's a measure of the current desperation of Hillary supporters that they're jumping back onto the Wright thing.
April 17, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
It certainly was "subtle". On the surface you have people saying repeatedly that Obama doesn't take money from big oil, but he does. He just doesn't take it from them directly, which would be illegal. Instead he takes large sums from big oil employees -- and that explains why he is on the defensive and having to spend money for videos like this one that distort the truth. I don't know what Obama supporters hear when they listen to this ad, but Hillary supporters hear Obama saying, "No I don't. No I don't. Please believe me. No I don't."
April 17, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"He just doesn't take it from them directly, which would be illegal. Instead he just takes large sums from big oil employees ... "
Prove it.
April 17, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is actually so simple that anyone can understand. Obama doesn't take money from PACs and registered lobbyists. Any individual has the right to support whoever they want and Obama is fine with that.
Personally I don't think it makes a huge difference but I do think it is a step in the right direction.
April 17, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
ANYONE WITH 6 YEARS OR MORE IN WASHINGTON NEEDS TO GET THE BOOT. WE CAN ONLY BLAME OURSELVES IF THINGS DON'T CHANGE.
April 17, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well I fnally gave in.
I bought myself a great big flag pin and stuck it on my lapel.
I then pulled into the nearest gas station and filled the tank.
I then showed the cashier my lapel sticker patriotism symbol, and ask for my Real American, discount; the cashier laughed her arse off, and then took all most the entire contents of my billfold.
Much chagrined, I walked back to my car, and took a look on the back of my American Flag Pin. It read: Made in China.
That makes me a real up to date America loving Patriot. Doesn't it?
April 17, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
lol
April 17, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink