Well, I do want to congratulate all you Republican trolls for having such a fine supporter as the Goldwater Gal. She's got the talking points. She's got the spin. She can play gutter ball with the best Rovian or Nixonian. When it comes to dirty tricks that gal's on her way to reaching Cheney level! Only she had the moxie to turn the DLC from Republican lite to Republican on steroids.

Obama is dead nuts on with this. He is 100% right. The reason I think this issue reinforces his candidacy is that he is articulating what happens in every day life and how government has to be responsive to that. People don't feel they can count on the government so we count on each other. What happens is people like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, George Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton come along and stir our mistrust into fear of others or certain issues to get votes.

The reason Washington is worked up is that he has distilled every single person in that town down to a 3-4 sentence explanation. But he has also called every politician who's electorate feels they're under performing out on the carpet. So mayors, governors, etc. who have a populace who is upset with the state of their city/state, are also getting in to this as Obama just indicted them too.

http://www.politicalinaction.com

Senator Empty Suit is a phony. What BS! What is the job description of a community organizer? Drugs on the corner, girl scout cookies, urban renewal, Reverend Wright and Louis Farrakhan awards and trips to Libya, a three week holiday to Pakistan that is conveniently not mentioned in two books until the passport records get compromised? Senator Empty Suit, this bitterness will go on for weeks and even into November should the Dems be so stupid as to nominate you, THE Empty Suit.

I await another explanation, quasi-apology tomorrow, and Monday and Tuesday.

Phrased exactly correctly..."Well look, if there - obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. But 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."

No apologies needed for the underlying idea; an expression of regret if anyone was offended by the way it was worded.

But it won't stop the Hillarybots or campaign from continuing to flog it until Obama is forced to point out the hypocrisy of a couple of multi-millionaires talking about him being "elitist". You can count on that.

What's this guy's problem? What in the world is there to be bitter or frustrated about? We've got a great war going on right now in Iraq, the economy is growing by leaps and bounds, we live in complete peace-of-mind that we won't be attacked by terrorists, the environment is pristine, and our jobs are secure. What this country really needs is not Obama, but eight more years of Bush.

http://mrsensible.com/

I really don't mind the trolls. The Republicans are totally predictable and we are all used to their slimey campaigns. But I won't ever forgive Clinton for her ruthless perseverence in trying to turn Democrats into Republicans and for trying to drive new voters out of the party. Any country claiming to call itself a democracy needs to have contested elections and a free exchange of ideas. How else do we defeat bad ideas and embrace new good ones? Instead, we have Clinton driving home every worn out wedge from the Pat Buchanan Karl Rove playbook.

Eric, I think the headline here is out of context and in that sense inappropriate.

""Well look, if there - obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. But 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."

That sounds like he was asked about people being offended and he conceded the point.

But his message is the same. A one sentence answer ending with a "but" is not backing down from a spirited defense.

Not a "step back" at all. I wonder why you present it that way. Waaaaaay to much parsing of Obama's words. Meanwhile McCain can use the c-word about his wife and you give him a pass.

So Obama said he was sorry if he offended anyone but then said that his statement was nonetheless true. He then proceeded to pretty much repeat what he said, giving a little more explanation.

And this is a "step back" how exactly?

"Obama calls them bitter and disrespects them in front of a elitist group of large donors in S.F."

Hold on- we have Democrats speaking derisively of "San Francisco Democrats" now? Who the hell are you people, and what are you doing in my party?

I just returned from canvassing in a middle-to-lower-middle class neighborhood just outside of Pittsburgh. It was not altogether fun - an 82-year-old gentleman told me he would vote for neither the "jive n*g*er" or the "f**king bitch." (Bitter?? Who's bitter?) A middle-aged white woman said that Obama had just said that all Pennsylvanians are stupid and don't have jobs. Everyone else was rather polite, but hard-core Obama supporters were hard to find. Back out tomorrow, we'll see what happens.

I agree with kaspian - I have a real bad feeling about this remark. Pittsburghers in general are very defensive about their city and their attitudes, and I'm certain this defensiveness will extend to their feelings about their state (except Philly - if Obama wants to win Pittsburgh, he should just say the Flyers suck).

Why is Rendell quiet so far? They must be saving him for their big PA Hicks for Hillary rally.

I thought I couldn't get more disgusted with Hillary Clinton. My naivete, obviously.

Nice avatar, leroyS

This headline represents yet more biased and inaccurate reporting. Obama expresses his sincere apologies that people were offended by the remarks - not that the remarks were in any way untrue. Honestly, those taking offense are reacting in large part to what others, such as Clinton and McCain, told them Obama said. They told people the words were demeaning, therefore they must be. (Wrong!)

You bet people are bitter. We work longer hours, for less pay when you factor in inflation and lack of pay raises, pay more for food, housing, health care etc. As a single mother my expenses with two children left at home have outpaced my expenses when all three were still with me. I work twice as many hours, and we do NOT buy extra items or live on credit. My family hangs on by my left pinky nail, and no matter how much harder I work and persevere, it gets more difficult by the day. That said, I conisder us blessed as there are so very many families far worse than us. I don't understand how that is possible in our country, but know it to be true. Bitter, toward my government, you'd better believe it. Almost given up that any politician honestly intends to work toward a solution? Uh, I'm 40, so hell yes!! Until now, that is, becasue someone's come along who isn't scared to tell the truth, and says it even when it isn't politically expedient to do so.

About Philadelphia: according to Time's Swampland blog, Obama has refused to provide "walking around money" to his organizers. It's a Philly tradition -- also a NJ one, I think -- to flood neighborhoods with $20 bills to get out the vote. It's unorthodox, to say the least, to eschew this system. I give him credit for taking the high road -- indeed, if he provided the money, that would hardly have been consistent with his message -- but I can't imagine it can have anything but a negative effect in one of the areas where he has to win big.

Clinton has taken a fundamental non-issue to a level that she cannot sustain; McCain's echoes will not help her or him. This one will boomerang on her as most others; if she continues it will be similar to Bosnia.
Most of the remaining primary states are significantly populated by rural and small town folk; they understand:"But 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."
Obama's call on rural and small town America is correct. If any, few of these folks are cave dwellers nor are especially favorable to Clinton; they do remember Bush, Chaney, & Rove as well of many of their own being killed and maimed in Iraq.

The Clinton Delusional Tour continues.....

Just read MSNBC looks like this one is already fading. I mean how serious can it be when the mighty Drudge took it down?

CNN has the earlier clip of lambasting Clinton and now they want to make an issue out of it...very odd

Billy Glayd:

His asshole is puckering.

You trying to turn me on?

Axelrod: Obama Regrets But Won't Apologize For His Remarks.

Huge mistake.

Terrible advice but the damage is done.

Keep talking and digging Obama.

Lets get to know you better.

Of course, I never bought his bs but his supporters still buy it.

Hillary's campaign is running stealth delagates in the Obama convention caucus ? And she's not a whore ?

Obama they will throw all the S*** at ya...They have nothing else...Most republican voters know nothing other than wedge issues and vote that way...Maybe Obama has connected the truth but, the majority of them only follow...The truth is worth nothing to them they will sale out there country for spying-torture-lies-money-War and claim they support the troops . Yes, there were a number of Democratic votes for Bush in 2004 in Philadelphia and I say the same to them.

Mark Penn works for both McCain and Clinton?
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/4/12/182217/466/?pid=60#c115

Obama is 100% correct in his original statement and should not have apologized at all. Small town, rural America is being bamboozled by Republicans. They think their interests are in keeping gays from marrying, being "saved" from responsible gun laws in the city, and keeping Hispanics out of their towns. I teach in a small town and see the bitterness everyday in their kids and their high rate of out of wedlock births, alcoholism, drug use, and general disregard for authority.

OBAMA wont get my VOTE...IM ALWAYS A HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER...HE IS SUCH A FAKE
1. "TYPICAL WHITE PEOPLE"
2. HIS OWN PASTOR..HOW CAN he will be a president with his own pastor saying that
3. He doesnt has any EXPIRENECE to become COMENDAR IN CHIEF..
he doesnt do anything good ...helping community as hillary clinton
go to www.hillaryclinton.com you will see how good she is..
she is a great leader..8 years first lady, 8 year senator...and traveled alot of country...
btw... OBOMA ....

LAST THING: did you guys know that he wont pull troops home..one of his advisor said he just saying that to get campaign going...SO NOT BRING TROOPS HOME ...HILLARY CLINTON IS THE ONLY ONE

Pure bunk. You've been watching talking heads on tv too long and think a race like this can be psyched out and summed up and sewn up. It can't. Clinton could wipe the floor with Obama and then he could wipe the floor with her in N. Carolina and finish her off. And then he could lose to a McCain who pulls way closer to the center (which he is doing already and will continue to do.) Same goes for Clinton if she pulls it off. So stop gloating and grow up. It's a long way to Tipperary.

Most people who are trying to defend Obama by saying that he "spoke the truth" seem to miss what is "offensive" in he remarks. He was absolutely right in saying that people in a number of communities in America are very anxious about the country's economic woes, but it was offensive (at least to me) for him to suggest that these folks in middle America are "clinging to their guns or their religion" as a result. I am almost sure that those same folks who he is suggesting have found God because of they they down on their economic luck, went to church or hunting (maybe more so) even when the economy was humming in the 90s. The implication of a causality between the downturn in one's economic outlook and one's faith is offensive and is reminiscent of the Gospel according to Reverend Dr. Jeremiah...Let's "cling" to God so that He would damn America for turning its back on our economic suffering...

Obama seems to be holding his own.

Start of quote:
In Muncie today, several people said they had heard news accounts of the flap, and so far it hadn't changed their support for the man they had stood in line for hours to see at Irving Gym at Ball State University.

Among them was Dr. Kathleen Beache, a 44-year-old dentist from Indianapolis who said she's a Republican who listens daily to talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and to Fox News host Sean Hannity. She said their views on Obama's comments not only did not change her mind, but she came to Muncie wearing her Obama campaign T-shirt

She said she read the complete remarks Obama made, and didn't take offense. She does, though, take offense at how Obama is being portrayed.

"They've been trying to paint Barack Obama as an arrogant person, and hoping that that label sticks," Beache said. "Because if they can paint him as an arrogant person that's educated, even though he's an African-American, they think somehow that middle America will not identify with him and not vote for him. It's time that they stop that nonsense.

It's "high time," she said, to stop political games and focus on problems, because the country has many, from the economy to education to foreign policy.

Mike Foster, a 43-year-old emergency medical technician from Eaton, near Muncie, said he also had heard about the controversy and wasn't swayed either.

"I'm a realist," Foster, a Democrat, said.

No one, he said, is ever going to say everything just right "100 percent of the time" and that politics such things will get seized upon by opponents.

But, he said, "I think he's definitely a person of change. I think that we have a huge chance to put someone in (the White House) outside the norm."

Marie Douglass, a 56-year-old Ball State University employee from Muncie, said she hadn't heard about the controversy. But, Douglass said of Obama, "I'm reading his book (''The Audacity of Hope") right now, and I feel like he's very in touch. He knows what's going on with us, and I support him." - End of quote

Link

Sen. Obama is missing an opportunity, is he not?

He's still being skewered over the Rev. Wright, who epitomizes the bitterness to which he's referring.

So why can't he say, "Elitist is when you don't understand the pain and the bitterness some people feel. When I condemn, with compassion, the words of my own pastor, I speak, from the inside, of the excesses of bitterness that have seeped into my own house of worship."

Then further explain how none of our values are so noble as not to be easily twistable into demagogy, which is why he welcomes the rigorous questions into his exercise of leadership in this campaign.

I am offended at corporate America, corporate Washington politics, and government inaction. I met a family today who is loosing their home, it was horrible, I felt so completely powerless and they aren't the first family I've met in this situation.

Our immigration policies are horrible, our educational system is failing our kids, our economy is in the hole, the American dollar is so low right now, and Clinton is in la-la land. Obama is speaking the truth, he is saying what nobody else can say- yes there is a great, big, giant white elephant in the room. America needs to wake up and stop living in denial. Our country is screwed up people, and Clinton wants to dance around the issues and play it safe, but Obama is willing to speak the truth even if it hurts. People can't keep voting on faith or gun control, we need to vote on what is best for our entire nation. Clinton brought in NAFTA, Bill supports the Colombian Free Trade Agreement which will also hurt American jobs. If we don't stop the direction we are heading in now, our country will go to ruin.

Just catching up.

My gosh. How nauseatingly John Kerry of him. I love the guy, but sometimes he really doesn't seem to get it. This was a terrific opportunity to grab hold of the class issue -- really, the ONLY issue -- by the throat, and expose McBush and Ma Scorpion as the corporate pimps they truly are.

Instead, he apologizes. Providing much more weight to the growing MSM image of him as a weak latte-drinker.

Damn, I'm sick of this campaign. Barack Obama thinks (or at least acts) like the political culture of the US is something decent, civil, kind, educated and intelligent -- rather than the torture-and-war crime dominated cesspool of gangsters it has been turned into by the Bushes, the Clintons, and the Reagans. Yes, it should be the way Obama embodies it. But it hasn't been for over 40 years.

He really blew this one. And now we'll be stuck with the Hillbillies for at least another 4 months.

"I Deeply Regret"...keep regretting Obama... this story is brand new news with legs.

Rasmussen TODAY: Clinton has gained a statistically-insignificant one-point advantage over Obama, 46% to 45%; Obama’s ratings have fallen to 48% favorable and 50% unfavorable. For Clinton, those numbers are 46% favorable, 51% unfavorable.

The best is yet to come! PA by 20+% because of those bitter religious whitefolks.

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

She later added, however, that she is not herself an expert with firearms: "As I told you, my dad taught me how to shoot behind our cottage. I have gone hunting. I am not a hunter. But I have gone hunting."

This is classic Clinton speak, and it is not getting very much attention focused on it.

Read it again. Hillary tries to con both the gun control and the NRA factions that she is on both their sides.

Hilllary Rambo Clinton, The Heroine of Tuzla, declares:

That She is not a hunter but she goes hunting.

Sounds like she does not duck snipers, but she has ducked snipers.

Big Foot Bill says that Hillary says those types of thing when she stays up until eleven at night because she is old and forgetful.

"The headline should read:

Obama defends "underlying truth of what I said."

Which would be correct."

I agree.

This is often raised and I have in the past defended TPM, but either they are biased in some way or just being sensationalist.

In a media environment filled with lies and bullshit, I do wish TPM could present this intelligently, and not be Jake-Tapper-Lite.