My take on “Bittergate”
Yessir, this latest “controversy” swirling around Barack Obama is about as silly and ridiculous as they come. AlterNet has been kind enough to publish my take on the affair. Please go read (and give me pageviews :-))! Here’s an excerpt:
But is Barack Obama really an elitist as his opponents claim? Well of course he is — he’s running for president of the United States! He wouldn’t have gotten this far in life if he’d spent the past 20 years driving a truck or moonlighting as a fry cook at Arby’s. Like every other successful politician in the United States, Obama is a member of America’s political ruling class, which means that like every other presidential candidate in recent memory, he is typically insulated from the lives of ordinary people. Does Obama really have any idea what it’s like to live like a “Real American?” Of course he doesn’t, and neither do John McCain and Hillary Clinton! Does any rational person out there believe that Obama, Clinton and McCain spend their free time away from the campaign trail hanging out at Jimmy Ray’s Chicken’n’Beer Depot playing darts with the common folk?
In theory, this point should be fairly obvious. Even before getting elected, most politicians made a good deal of money in their careers as lawyers, doctors, actors or oil tycoons — you know, real salt-of-the-earth sort of work. But for reasons that have long confounded sane people everywhere, our national millionaire press corps gives positive coverage to political candidates who are the most adept at lying about their ability to connect with regular folks.
Is it proper to give myself a “heh-indeed?” Oh well, I’ll do it anyway:
Heh. Indeed.
UPDATE: As if on cue, America’s Stupidest Investigative Journalist tells us what we’ve all been dying to hear: that Wayne LaPierre thinks Obama’s an elitist! Thanks for the update, Jake! We’re completely surprised!
Yes,I think it’s more than proper. I give it a triple Heh and at least a quadruple Indeedy.
I’m sick of this crap. I can’t even stand to turn on the teevee or the radio anymore.
The fact is, I was about to do another parody (I’m Matt McMahon from time to time), but I just don’t have the energy to even bother with this nonsense anymore…
The elitist MSM sells sory as an “outrage.” Multi-millionaires McCain and Hillary say that we should all be insulted and feel condescended to. Obama apologizes for clumsy words BUT sticks by his guns and says that a lot of people are bitter about the economic circumstances.
We’ll soon see how this actually plays among the common folk. So far all I hear are elites telling us how we should think and feel. I think there’s a chance this will all backfire on the elitists who are calling others “elitist” with a straight face.
Oops, sory = story.
One more thing– it’s the final week before the PA primary so it’s hardly a suprise that things are turning vicious. We’ll know soon enough if Hillary’s latest attack actually hurts him, or as has happened before, only ends up hurting her.
Last week, Obama was too much of a populist.
Now, he’s too much of an elitist.
Little pseudo-soviet fucks will say whatever they’re told to say.
.
Word, Brad. Nicely done.
Even if you are from Baw-stun.
It just makes me want to barf. GOP/Rove et al have been laughing in our faces about their WINNING “God, Guns and Gays” strategy for years. And now it is some sort-of screw up when a Democrat acknowledges this? I have read so many god damn headlines calling this Obama’s “gaffe” or “fumble” or “mistake” or “error”. Fuck you media.
hmmm, Richard Gere shares my opinion to a shocking degree.
Grand Moff Texan said,
April 14, 2008 at 19:42
Last week, Obama was too much of a populist.
Now, he’s too much of an elitist.
Little pseudo-soviet fucks will say whatever they’re told to say.
Two weeks ago, he was the scary Black Muslim d00d.
Like you say, none of these people are “just plain folk,” and that includes writers for major newspapers and TV news spokesmodels, but a former south side of Chicago community organizer raised by a single mother could probably make a case that he’s not as far off that mark as some, no matter his bowling score. (And bowling? What decade is this again?)
I believe that Obama still lives in Hyde Park, Chicago, so he might actually have a better understanding of the lives of “real” Americans, seeing as he’s not gated up somewhere. But, I’m not sure about that.
So you’re pro-gerbil too, Kathy?
Not so Tigrismus.
David Broder, Cokie Roberts, Tim Russert, etc. know EXACTLY how those common people living somewhere out there in flyover country feel, and they ARE OUTRAGED on behalf of same.
The pundits feel their pain, you see.
Horrors of a ‘Crisis’
People working a couple more years and housing prices coming down don’t seem so bad.
– By George F. Marie Antoinette Will
Sunday morning talking heads was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on TV in a long time. Buncha rich fuck Washington Insiders and rich fuck Media BigNames telling us when to be offended and by what. Since we don’t have the sense to know when to be offended, I’m so glad I can rely on them.
Marty Matalin was terrific. She was like a simmering volcano ready to go Mt. St. Helens. She just can’t comprehend why Obama’s still standing when it all worked so well against Kerry and Gore! What is wrong with you people, she was silently screaming. Howcum you haven’t joined in our manufactured ridicule campaign? Why the fuck can’aren’t doing what we tell you?!?!?!?! WHY ISN’T WORKING ANYMORE IT’S ALL WE KNOW HOW TO DO!!?!?! Oh man, her frustration was an absolute delight to watch.
And that other numbnutz (whose identity I’ve mercififully forgotten) kept blurting “He’s Dukakis! He’s Dukakis all over again! No, he really IS Dukakis (in black face or what, I wondered) Goddamnit listen to me I’m telling you what to think dishit and you’re supposed to repeat my bullshit what the fuck is wrong with you goddamn idiots LISTEN TO ME!!!!
I haven’t enjoyed Teevee so much since…well I can’t remember when.
Wow, I actually didn’t realize Tap That Ass was going to play along with the latest wingnut meme when I posted originally. Though, I probably should have.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, “elite” is not the same thing as “elitist.”
Awesome Brad…
I can’t speak for future Caliphate of Europe, but here in the Canadian Soviet Socialist Republic we have photo-ops by our politicians doing “working class things” along with the touring of factories, speeches to rotary clubs, etc. I think though that our press corps (flawed as they might be) treat these events for what they are, and not divine some great meaning from them.
WordPress ate my fabulous comment again! You will have to live with a close approximation of my literary genius.
……..
You must admit, however, that Bush’s testicles looked simply amazing in that flight suit. And isn’t that what’s really important?
All Obama needs to do is wear more spandex to show off his monster cock. Peggy Noonan will swoon once more!
IT’S TWOO, IT’S TWOO!!!
Lessons Learned:
1. No such thing anymore as “closed meeting” or “off the record”
2. O is right. I’m from there, and people are bitter. Jobs left the rust belt in the 80’s. The 90’s expansion barely touched there. My hometown has half its population 25 yrs ago.
3. No more off-the-cuff short hand. Obviously people don’t “cling” to God and guns just because the economy is down. O meant that hard times are ripe for demagogues to turn God, guns and gays into political issues that people will cling to, even against their own economic interests. Hill has been well cared for at public expense for many years, pretty much guarantees she’s out of touch with steel workers.
I’m waiting for the media to catch Obama saying “oh Lovey!!!” and then they can go find J. Sidney McCain III (son and grandson of Admiral McCain), in whatever Tuscon shithole divebar he lives in and give him the Presidency.
O meant that hard times are ripe for demagogues to turn God, guns and gays into political issues that people will cling to, even against their own economic interests.
JD – this is not what Obama “meant”, this is literally what he said.
Well, I’m bitter…. But no one ever asks me.
I live in a small steeltown in Pa. I’m bitter, unemployed and bitter. I want to go to Yale, screw some clients for a few years and move to the south of France. I’m open to a book deal.
J. Sidney McCain III (son and grandson of Admiral McCain)
Yikes.
Kathleen:
See?!? See?!?
I ‘m not criticizing you (I hope – it’s not my intent) but your response to JD points something out to me.
Yes, that is what he meant. It’s also what he said. He meant what he said. He said what he meant. What a novel concept!
How did it happen that we (the media, anyway and through contagion or something, ‘we’ as well) start assuming there is any difference between what he said and what he meant? That there _would_ automatically be some distinction.
Again, sorry if I seem to be attacking you – I try not to shoot arrows inside the house but as I’m frequently an asocial jerk…
WordPress, on the other hand, should eat shit and die
well, if I said “screw you” but I meant “please love me”, then obviously there is a difference.
But I agree for the most part, getting down to parsing snippets of what candidates say vs. what they meant is the ultimate in wastefully moronic. What I was trying to say was that a lot of the coverage has been about how Obama expressed himself “inartfully” or whatever. But that is only based on complete misrepresentations of what he said. JD posited a better way for Obama to express his point, but IMHO Obama had alreasy said that.
YAAAAWN. A tempest in a teapot, fed by an increasingly shill and desperate Hillary Clinton.
As for WordPress problems, CTRL + A, CTRL + C is your friend. Just copy your comment and try again if it doesn’t go through the first time.
You’re both right!
It’s two mints in one!
As for WordPress problems, CTRL + A, CTRL + C is your friend. Just copy your comment and try again if it doesn’t go through the first time.
Okay, now what?
I’m on board with that. I guess what I was getting after is that what the media says he or she said is, as often as not, their interpretation of what he or she said.
btw,
I grew up (okay – I spent most of the first 18 years of my life) in a small town in north central Pa. Haven’t been back in decades but I suspect that folks in that neck of the woods are more likely to say “who the fuck are you telling me what I should be offended by?” than will drink the kool-aid. They’ll stick to their usual quaff .
As for WordPress problems, CTRL A, CTRL C is your friend. Just copy your comment and try again if it doesn’t go through the first time.
And here I was smashing my fists on the keyboard.
Thanks.
Conservatives have been saying stuff like this about blacks for a very long time. Some even have referred to the Democratic Party as a plantation. Insulting to blacks? Of course, but they don’t care because they’ll know they’ll never get their vote. I just heard a guy call in on NPR who prattled on about how the founding Fathers were all gun-loving Christians, blah, blah, blah, and I thought, who give a fuck, just vote Republican and shut up already.
The fact is, here in the Heartland we are absolutely appaled at the traitors on the coasts. You liberal elitists think you are so smart with your so called progressive support for gay rights and abortion. Here in the Heartland we find those leftist ideas to be morally repugnant. We are on to you liberals, when the Revolution breaks out you will be the first to be put in camps you mark my words.
“I just heard [Gary Ruppert] call in on NPR who prattled on about how the founding Fathers were all gun-loving Christians, blah, blah, blah, and I thought, who give a fuck, just vote Republican and shut up already.”
No, but the fact is that it’s really important that we all take time out of our days to sit and contemplate the ravings of semi-literate bigots with an axes to grind.
Nice, Garybot.
Still proposing the final solution.
Please stop doing this.
For reals.
Please stop.
It’s really not funny any more.
The fact is, you liberals are TOAST!
I dunno, guys, I think fake Gary’s desire to see us all wantonly slaughtered is one of his more endearing traits.
Via a commenter at TPM:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/14/pennsylvania-crowd-jeers-clinton-attacks-on-obama/
“I understand my opponent came this morning and spent a lot of his time attacking me,” she said at the beginning of her remarks here.
Many in the crowd responded with audible groans, and a few shouted, “No!”
Obama spoke to the same forum earlier in the morning and ribbed Clinton for doing a shot of whiskey in front of TV cameras on Saturday in Indiana.
Clinton continued, “I know that many of you, like me, were disappointed by the recent remarks he made.”
This time, a louder, sustained chorus of “No!” emanated from the audience. Clinton soldiered on.
The fact is, its time you coastal elites began to FEAR the Heartland.
Glory to God! Glory to America! Glory to the Heartland!
The fact is, you liberals are TOAST!
Sprouted locally-grown organic vegan raw solar toast. THAT TURNS YOU GAY AND ABORTS YOUR WOMB BABY. The bread bag also has a Jesus buttplug as a prize… you know, for kids!
Here, here!
Grats indeed Brad. Heh.
“No, but the fact is that it’s really important that we all take time out of our days to sit and contemplate the ravings of semi-literate bigots with an axes to grind.’
The RNC?
Gary Ruppert said,
April 14, 2008 at 21:41
The fact is, its time you coastal elites began to FEAR the Heartland.
Glory to God! Glory to America! Glory to the Heartland!
Sprtingtime for Heartland
The fact is, its time you coastal elites began to FEAR the Heartland.
Why? You’re fat, lazy, bitter, and live in Virginia.
I’ve got more to fear from being struck by lightning while being bitten by a rabid dog than anything your ‘Heartland’ could do to me.
As for WordPress problems, CTRL + A, CTRL + C is your friend. Just copy your comment and try again if it doesn’t go through the first time.
Okay, now what?
Dunno. It’s always worked the second time for me. But then I sold my liberal soul to the Devil long ago.
Takes refuge in god? Check.
Takes refuge in guns? Check.
Takes refuge in hating gays? Check.
Lives in ‘the Heartland’ (or the Old Dominion, whatever) Check.
Gary exists == Obama is right.
“The same few who look down their nose at the people who respect basic American traditions like flying the flag, going to church, owning a gun, and believing in the Bill of Rights. Obama’s statement is a crack in the door that gives all of us a peek as to how the ‘special’ people look at the rest of us. Americans can read that code.”
Yeah, Wayne, I can read the code. You’re saying, “You people are a bunch of god damned morons, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let somebody talk to you like you’re adults.”
Seriously, flying the fucking flag? Why not accuse Obama of hating baseball and apple pie while you’re at it?
well, if I said “screw you” but I meant “please love me”, then obviously there is a difference.
Whereas McCain says “please love me” but he means “screw you”…and nobody notices.
Ooh, that’s scary Gary. What are you going to do, come out to the coast and redecorate our homes in your really hideous, outdated Heartland styles?
Thanks to the NRA, we’re all armed to the teeth, and have little to fear from the likes of you.
Also, WordPress was seen running around Rwanda with a machete in 1994.
Well said, Brad. It really seems ridiculous that members of the Senate are beating each other up for being elitist. Isn’t the Senate, by definition, a chamber of the Elite?
That said,
I think that Obama comes a hell of a lot closer than the other two chuckleheads.
Why not accuse Obama of hating baseball and apple pie while you’re at it?
They’re holding on to that for the general election run-up.
The fact is, its time you coastal elites began to FEAR the Heartland.
Oh, come on.
We’ve lived through the last seven years being ruled by a petulant, ignorant, bigoted child with anger issues, wars, torture, gitmo, a supine congress and a completely corrupt and co-opted government. A collapsing currency, a collapsing economy, a collapsing infrastructure and a skyrocketing wealth differential.
You honestly think at this point we’re suddenly gonna start being afraid of a bunch of overweight, uneducated hillbillies? Sorry, way too late for that shit…
mikey
Incidentally, I do in fact hate baseball, pie and flags. I can’t ever be president.
The fact is, I’ve been having problems with flurpies and sharting. Anyone know any good methods for getting this under control?
artery-clogging piles of meat-flavored goo
The goo is actual meat.
Patkin, I’m guessing you’ve never eaten flag pie. Mmmm-mmm! It’s treasolicious!
Incidentally, I do in fact hate baseball, pie and flags. I can’t ever be president.
I’ll see that and raise you football, NASA, and mom.
I like pie!
shit, I can match all of those except NASA, who I’ve still got a soft spot for, despite all their various foul-ups and fuck-ups.
Although, I really really hate NASCAR, which is just NASA with two letters added.
I wouldn’t mind NASCAR if it didn’t keep pre-empting “Cops” on Fox.
Don’t worry your pretty little head, Gary.
I FEAR the heartland.
I was raised in Kansas.
Styx- Nice logic. I think we have a winner.
Heh. Indeed. Add one pageview.
PS – WordPress comments sucks donkey balls. Please to fix it, please.
I know this whole remark by Obama was given off the cuff and not some major strategy on the part of his campaign etc., but for some reason the more this continues, the more I like it. It’s like a shotgun blasting a breaching round to a rotten door jamb, the metaphorical door in question being the whole group media suspension of disbelief that has been in play since the mid 1980’s that rich people on (predominately) TV can brand political ideas for non-wealthy (non-elitist) voters.
I can’t remember where I read this but I know it was recently, Proctor and Gamble essentially make a living by clever marketing of their products. Their soaps and powders and detergents and whatnot are of little or no actual difference than anyone else’s, it’s just P&G’s marketing juggernaut that keeps their market share so high.
And the MSM TV overlords have been doing the same with political ideas from “Saint” Reagan to Whitewater to Clinton’s triangulation, etc., where all the fat cats get together, decide how to market any given politician or political idea, gussy it up and stick it on the airwaves and EXPECT this to be swallowed whole by the consuming public.
I think those who get their political info primarily from the internet is still less than TV but it’s starting to shatter the invincibility of that spin and from my humble viewpoint, this particular “flap” seems to be hitting that Achilles’ heel particularly effectively.
By definition (in America mind you, not everywhere else) television IS elitist. There’s a bizarre governmental agency (FCC) that you have to kowtow and wine and dine and cozy up to its board that is filled with the current president’s cronies to even get a license to broadcast. It costs millions of dollars to send out a single program over the airwaves and you can’t make a profit without bootlicking major corporations so they’ll advertise on your shows.
Meanwhile the internet (and to a lesser extent, newspapers) are available for people of ordinary means to product content, up to and including engage in political discourse. The American revolution happened BECAUSE of all the pamphleteering and unregulated free press – if the Boston market had been saturated with crown-controlled television airwaves at the time, the Boston Tea Party members would be “evildoers” etc.
People can now DO MORE than just listen to a soundbite and be told what the hell it MEANS as someone said upthread, now they can log on and read (or see) what he freaking SAID. Huge difference, huge.
All too true, Soj. But they have to WANT to read more. That’s the hard part. Much easier to just open wide and take it.
Also, Shift+cmd+R seems to keep the WordPress hamster killers at bay.
Sort of.
Wow, right out of my mouth. I was just writing a post on this, with the same point about millionaire pundits. But you spell it out very nicely and comprehensively.
Some of those alter-netters are pretty thick.
And then there’s that guy who will steal my name™³²®©!
~
Glory to God! Glory to America! Glory to the Heartland!
Looks like the Heartland is getting ready to annex Austria.
Looks like the Heartland is getting ready to annex
AustriaAustin.Fixed.
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Do not worry…. I have come across your story and I feel you can keep up your energy in many ways. energy has to come from other human beings, you will get caught up in struggle. But human energy is limited.