Obama's recent commentsFollow

"I really didn't see how what he (Obama) said was offensive in the first place, unless you were a pubbie, in which case your opinion holds little influence..." --Kachi

Ummmmm, dude, Obama was speaking to and about Democrats, although he was spraying belittling comments across the spectrum, shotgun-style. He managed to hit nearly everyone, but his comments were directed towards the party elitist faithful. There's no good way for him to spin it. Once you begin to say, "Yeah, Obama is right! They really are a bunch of embittered gun crazy religious racists!" you have alienated a hefty segment of the American populace-- ostensibly those your party claims to speak for, ie union workers, blue collar types, and downtrodden middle class denizens. What's amazing is how many here and across the airwaves have actually commended him for "speaking the truth" as if these people are out of the mainstream, rather than you yourselves.

It cracks me up how y'all claim to be the party that's the advocate for the poor and middle class, when you actually despise these lesser beings-- and somehow you're amazed they aren't grateful to you for looking down your noses at them.

/chuckles

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Hey, that already happens. My oldest sister has to take care of our second oldest sister, who is mentally handicapped. Not everyone has a handy older sister willing to take them in, however, which is why our mental hospitals are overflowing. And if my mentally ill sister wasn't still technically a ward of the army, since our parents were both military and my father was active duty when she was first diagnosed with borderline personality disorders at age 6 (later upgraded to full blown schizophrenia at 19) then my oldest sister would have the additional burden of $1000 a month medication. As it stands, her medicine is covered by the state, but everything else falls upon my oldest sister, who has an eight year old daughter to boot.

The other option is, of course, to unleash a paranoid schizophrenic with the mental capacity of a 10 year old out into the world, and see how long it takes her to end up hungry, homeless, on the street, and mugging people for spare change. She can't work -- she DOES do paintings to cover some of her expenses, as she was a brilliant artist even before she went nuts, but even successful artists tend to be poor -- and thus she is unable to support herself.

The free market system is devilishly Darwinian in nature. 'You can't afford to take care of yourself because you can't work? Well then, go die and stop being a burden to me. It's not my responsibility to take care of you even though you can't take care of yourself.'

I'd like to think that evolved, enlightened humans are better than that. Saying otherwise indicates we are no better than animals -- survival of the fittest, and all. Odd that conservatives are so firmly against evolution, yet embrace Darwinism economically.



We've already established that my parents are dead. There will be no "wedding." I will have no bridesmaids. Ugh, I had enough of fancy weddings with my sisters and friends. No thanks, not for me. There will be a justice of the peace ceremony at best, whenever we're required to actually go with it.

I think marriage for anything other than religious purposes is a ridiculously out-dated institution anyway, but I'm in an extreme minority there so to keep things simpler legally I'll play along.

Edited, Apr 16th 2008 12:26pm by catwho

"There will be a justice of the peace ceremony at best, whenever we're required to actually go with it." Cat-ho

For someone who claimed to make an annual salary of something like $27,000 a year, I'd think you'd get married for no other reason than for tax purposes.

/shrugs

Whatever floats your boat.

Totem

All of this aside, the midweek polls continue to show no blip in Pennsylvania or nationally as a result of Obama's comments. With the exception of the laughably inaccurate ARG polls, the rest continue to show the same spreads on Mon/Tues as they were showing on Wednesday/Thursday of last week.

Clinton's attack bombed as well. Independent consumer testing shows it was well received by Clinton supporters but viewed negatively by Obama supporters & undecideds. In fact, after viewing it, Obama's support actually went up a point among those polled on the ad.

We can continue to chatter about it, of course. Realistically speaking though, it's a non-story.

Perhaps, Joph, but the long term effects may be debilitating for Barry. Slate refuses to let it go; and while it may not hurt him in the short run for the nomination, it does pose serious questions if he is ready for the national scene. Hey, don't blame the messenger. I'm just reporting what is being said on one of the online mouthpieces for your party.

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Go on, continue to make broad assumptions about me and my worldview, whatever. It's not like it matters, I live in a small blue dot in the middle of a red ocean in North Georgia anyway. I'm a self-admitted tree hugging hippie, so us arguing with each other is a waste of breath. I'm also the black sheep of a fairly high ranking GoP family, so consider me a renegade for the sake of being one if you really want to.

And yes, we'd likely end up married for tax purposes, although that won't be til after he finishes his PhD since he's on assistanceships and making less than I am. (He's a lot better at finance and has as much stashed away in IRAs as I have in student loans to pay off. I bow to his superior finance and the decision is up to him.)

I wish the Boss would run for President. He can run on the "Patriotism" platform, as anyone who doesn't vote for him would have to be Unpatriotic.

No doubt we can play a rousing game of "What might happen?" but the current effects of it have been nil. Even in a statewide match in Pennsylvania between Obama & McCain, Obama holds the lead.

No blaming of the messenger -- it's just proving to have a null effect. Filling the dull media cycles until the 22nd and all that.

Probably, Joph, but if the drumbeat continues steadily as it has been doing, opinions have a funny way of becoming fact in people's minds. And if people hear that thump-thump-thump of "elitist, elitist, elitist" long enough, it could very well have a substantially egative impact on his campaign.

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Why, cause he wrote a song with the same name years before a movie of the same name came out?

Bruce Springsteen speaks to the middle class like no other. And, he's the Boss. He already has more experience being in charge than the latest crop of candidates.

I thought Bon Jovi spoke to the middle class like no other. You know, to those people like Tommy and Gina, who never backed down. As a stevedore Tommy used to work on the docks, but the "union's been on strike, he's down on his luck". Meanwhile, Gina works at a diner, "workin' for her man". I'll bet they own guns and go to church too.

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I hope you feel even a hint of the despair that we've felt over the last 8 years with your guy, for the next 8 years.

We won't be even, but it'll make me feel better.

As for neither of us picking up on the different names: DAMN YOUR PROPAGANDA MACHINE!