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Clinton Says Obama is “Out of Touch” with Middle Class Americans, Calls Comments “Elitist”
cbsnews.com ^ | 04/12/08 | Fernando Suarez

Posted on 04/12/2008 8:16:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3

INDIANAPOLIS -- Hillary Clinton slammed Barack Obama for comments he made at fundraiser last Sunday where he said middle class Americans are “bitter” about the state of the economy. “I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small town America,” Clinton said. “Senator Obama’s remarks are elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans, certainly not the Americans I know, not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I grew up with in Arkansas or the Americans I represent in New York.”

Referring to residents of small towns in Pennsylvania, Obama told a small group of fundraisers in San Francisco earlier this week that “it's not surprising they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The setting for Clinton’s response seemed perfect. She spoke at a plant that helps build transmission parts for military vehicles, a primarily working class crowd. Clinton found an opening in Obama’s comments to paint him as an elitist liberal who is out of touch with middle class American values, thereby hoping to position herself as the candidate who will help middle class Americans.

“I am the granddaughter of a factory worker,” Clinton said. “My grandfather went to work at the age of 11, before there were child labor laws, and worked in the lace mills in Scranton, Pennsylvania.”

She added, “I grew up in the Midwest, born in Chicago, raised outside of that great city, and I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America and its promise.”

Clinton took the stage to John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” a song that was used primarily by former presidential candidate John Edwards. Edwards prided himself in being the candidate for working class Americans, often reminding the crowds that he was the son of a mill worker. With Edwards now out of the race, Clinton is hoping to take the reigns. “When my dad grew up, it was a working class family in Scranton,” Clinton told the audience. “I grew up in a churchgoing family, a family that believed in living out and expressing our faith.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; clinton; elitists; in2008; middleclass; nobama; obama; rural; smalltown
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1 posted on 04/12/2008 8:17:02 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
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To: TornadoAlley3
STFU, Cackle.

You're not any better.

2 posted on 04/12/2008 8:19:11 AM PDT by kromike
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To: TornadoAlley3

Look whose talking !


3 posted on 04/12/2008 8:19:20 AM PDT by CORedneck
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To: TornadoAlley3

Hillary finally makes a smart move.


4 posted on 04/12/2008 8:19:46 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: TornadoAlley3
I grew up in a small town and I don't recall knowing many real bad LIARS.

Small town values include Honesty!!!!

5 posted on 04/12/2008 8:21:16 AM PDT by Oldsailor
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To: TornadoAlley3
Pot....Black

...The jokes, are (practically :) writing themselves now....


6 posted on 04/12/2008 8:22:11 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (just b/c you're paranoid,doesn't mean "they" aren't out to get you..our hopes were dashed by CINOs :)
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To: TornadoAlley3
“I am the granddaughter of a factory worker,” Clinton said. “My grandfather went to work at the age of 11, before there were child labor laws, and worked in the lace mills in Scranton, Pennsylvania.”

Fact check, aisle five, fact check, aisle five.
7 posted on 04/12/2008 8:22:43 AM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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To: TornadoAlley3
Referring to residents of small towns in Pennsylvania, Obama told a small group of fundraisers in San Francisco earlier this week that “it's not surprising they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Breathtakingly elitist, ignorant, and condescening - and quite frankly, an insult to all Americans.

8 posted on 04/12/2008 8:24:27 AM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: TornadoAlley3; kromike
“it's not surprising they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them"

Shazam. This must be something he learned in the Revrunt Wright's Church. But lest we forget, Nobama describes himself as a "devout Christian." I am confused as to which religion Nobama himself actually clings to.

9 posted on 04/12/2008 8:24:46 AM PDT by Enterprise ((Those who "betray us" also "Betray U.S." They're called DEMOCRATS!))
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To: Enterprise

BHO’s version of Howard Dean’s

God Guns and Gays speech!!


10 posted on 04/12/2008 8:26:28 AM PDT by griswold3 (Al queda is guilty of hirabah (war against society) Penalty is death.)
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To: kromike

What is the quote:

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”


11 posted on 04/12/2008 8:26:39 AM PDT by stockpirate (A country that doesn't honor it's warriors will be defeated by one that does.)
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To: kromike

She is taking the right line....she is just not the right person to take that line.


12 posted on 04/12/2008 8:26:50 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: AD from SpringBay

That’s the problem - indeed - to have Hillary, of all people, taking the lead in speaking out against Obama’s outrageous comments - she’s thrown something in there like that that might not be true and would serve to overshadow her comments about Obama’s remarks.


13 posted on 04/12/2008 8:27:00 AM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: AD from SpringBay

Ha! I was thinking the exact same thing. Will she once again blow an opportunity with another one of her lies?


14 posted on 04/12/2008 8:27:11 AM PDT by jennyjenny
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To: AD from SpringBay

Yeah, her Grandfather, etc. was all before she and Bill became fabulously wealthy on the backs of U.S. Citizens. Truly Elitist and condescending. But what did anyone expect.


15 posted on 04/12/2008 8:28:34 AM PDT by Doneit
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To: TornadoAlley3
Referring to residents of small towns in Pennsylvania, Obama told a small group of fundraisers in San Francisco earlier this week that “it's not surprising they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

To parse this, all he is saying is that residents of small towns in Pennsylvania are a bunch of NRA card carrying gun nut born agains who hate niggers and foreigners.

16 posted on 04/12/2008 8:29:35 AM PDT by gesully (gesully)
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To: CORedneck

This is pretty damning stuff. All Team McCain has to do is run Clinton’s attacks, followed by (best Rush imitation here) “I’m John McCain and I approve of this message.”

Operation Chaos continues.


17 posted on 04/12/2008 8:29:54 AM PDT by nhwingut
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To: TornadoAlley3
Another lie.

"They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans, certainly not the Americans I know, not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I grew up with in Arkansas...",

Hillary! didn't grow up in Arkansas. She's from the Chicago area. She's unable to tell the truth, ever.

18 posted on 04/12/2008 8:30:48 AM PDT by fullchroma
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To: Enterprise
Obama as a little boy:

Elder: Little Barak, you must pretend to be a Christian to fool the Americans.

Obama: And how long must I perform this abomination?

Elder: All of your life.

Obama: Can I at least join a church that hates whitey?

Elder: You are wise beyond your years.

19 posted on 04/12/2008 8:33:18 AM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Vote against the dem party)
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To: Scotswife

Absolutely, she should have run to the right of him from the beginning.


20 posted on 04/12/2008 8:35:31 AM PDT by roses of sharon ( (Who will be McCain's maverick?))
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