It was, of course, inevitable: The Clinton campaign goes up with an ad attacking Obama over his "bitter" remark, using voters -- presumably, actual Pennsylvanians -- to voice dismay with his comments.
It is notable for three reasons. First, it is a rare, overtly negative attack ad in this Democratic primary campaign, which basically takes all the gloves off and will make it hard for either side to pretend the nomination fight won't hurt the eventual nominee.
Second, it focuses on the word "cling," and doesn't focus on Obama's use of the word "bitter." Apparently, the campaign has decided that plenty of Pennsylvanians are angry, if not "bitter" -- so the implication that they're needy will insult them more.
Third, the ad presents an edited and arguably misleading version of Obama's quote: "Barack Obama said that people in small towns "cling to guns or religion.... as a way to explain their frustrations." He didn't, exactly -- the line about frustrations more obviously modified comments about blaming immigrants and trade policies, and the omission subtly emphasizes one of two alternative readings.
The actual quote is bad enough -- why do they take the chance of being accused of distorting it when they don't have to? Obama's full quote, and a transcript of the ad after the jump:
FULL OBAMA QUOTE:
“You go into some of 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. 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. So it's not surprising then that 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.”
CLINTON AD TRANSCRIPT:
HRC: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.
Anncr: Barack Obama said that people in small towns “cling to guns or religion...as a way to explain their frustrations...”
Woman 1: I was very insulted by Barack Obama.
Man 1: It just shows how out of touch Barack Obama is.
Woman 2: I'm not clinging to my faith out of frustration and bitterness. I find that my faith is very uplifting.
Man 2: The good people of Pennsylvania deserve a lot better than what Barack Obama said.
Woman 1: Hillary does understand the citizens of Pennsylvania better.
Woman 3: Hillary Clinton has been fighting for people like us her whole life.
Comments (8)
I was in the ad and yes we're all pa residents, just to let you know.
Come home to your adopted state of New York Hillary. You promised us that you would complete your entire term if re-elected. The foreclosure crisis is getting worse each day. 150,000+ New yorkers are facing the loss of their homes. Local democrat County Executives announced yesterday that they are joining forces to establish a 10 year plan to handle the estimated 600,000 Long Island residents that are facing the loss of their homes in the next year and will become homeless. Violent crime is running rampant in the suburbs. Storeowners are being robbed at gunpoint, children are being shot and our police are overwhelmed. Newsday is reporting people working two jobs are shopping for food in the charitable food pantries in an attempt to feed their children. Small stores are closing their shops. Milk is now $4.00 a gallon. Gasoline is now $3.47 a gallon. Home heating oil is now $3.89 a gallon and the average delivery for a full 275 gallon tank is $1,069.75. 40% of homeowners are 90 days past due in their payments for home heating oil and electric bills. We are once again being threatened wioth massive school tax increases in every school district. Many of us fear that our local taxes will soon be $1,000 a month on our 6,000 square foot lots and 1300 square foot homes.
Bitterness is setting in. Hopelessness is setting in. The only CHANGE we see is our meager savings dwindling, our home equity disappearing by tens of thousands of dollars and our college educated children fleeing the State of New York in droves in the hope of finding a job in a place other than Wal Mart.
So as you can see Hillary you can't go off to Washington. We need you here to finish the job of destroying the State of New York. So pleaee come back and continue "that conversation" you started 6 years ago. Read us some more of your fairy tales of how you were going to make things better.
Now that is the commercial that should be playing in Pennsylvania!
Enough already! This is story has become a big deal over nothing. I have had enough of the Hillary smear campaign. She has taken over the Karl Roves play book. We face important issues this election, our economy the war in Iraq , Iran. And here we are arguing over some bitter comment, that Obama has already said he didn't quite say things too well. We argue about words his pastor said when he himself didn't say the words . The media has gone over blown on this . If you want to start picking , we can find just as much on Hillary Clinton and John Mccain. This ad is ridiculous. Talk about bitterness, when there is so little chance that Hillary can win, she bringing the entire democratic party down with her!
I hope Americans have a more open mind and do not judge someone on a 10 second "gotcha " moments . As Senator Obama so eloquently said "We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. " Or, he said, Americans could move in a different direction. “At this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, ‘Not this time.’ This time, we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native-American children. ...
Unfortunately we seem to care more about sensational media stories .
Yes the Democ"Rats" are choosing between "BITTER" and "MISSPEAK".
I say vote for John McCain and change America and the world for the "BETTER"
Great ad. Obama said the words, Hillary didn't. Obama shows who and what he really is whenever he gets "behind closed doors". Him and his wife are total frauds. Both want to bamboozle and hoodwink us all. They are fakes and I am so thrilled that Obama is finally being seen for what he really is and showing how he really feels about "typical white people"
and on the flipside, me...I'm half black and half white so...well, I imagine Obama will insult ME soon enough on both ends. He's a shameful hack.
He is the DIVISIVE ONE and always has been.
What strikes me as the most arrogant and condescending is how he turns the whole thing on Hillary. As if Senator Clinton was/is the one going around behind closed doors acting like an Elitest Snake. He then gets on the stump and talks trash about her for telling a personal story from her childhood. She didn't claim to be handling guns NOW, it was in her past as a child. That was clear and that was over 40 years ago. But Noooooooo, Obama is such an arrogant person and so very condescending, he instead uses his platform to talk trash about HRC.
Obama has dug himself a big hole. Holes in his story, holes in his phoney "hope" "change" facade. It's all a smokescreen. I would never in a million years vote for that man. No way, never. If HRC doesn't win the nomination, then the Dems lose my vote and I know I'm not the only one. The percentage of people who will not vote Obama rises daily. And everyone I know in Florida and Michigan would never vote for him either after he worked so hard at voter suppression. He's a bad person. I don't want him in the white house. And I am sick and tired of him and his people accusing us all, the whole world, of racism if we don't like him or his policies or his lies or his double talk. NO, we are not racist. We have chosen HRC, because we believe in her strength and resilience and her fight to get America back to what it used to be before Bush.
I will never vote Obama. He doesn't deserve my vote.
Well, I just can't think of anything good to say about Hillary's inability to lay her on stategy for winning the election. She is like a blood thirsty german shepard just waiting for Barack to drop a crumb. And A crumb it is, but look how the Clinton media is still chewing on it.
Whether I vote for her or not, she is making me sick of her nit picking. She is showing how angry she is that she just did not walk into the White House. I really want to hear what she is about other than bashing Barack. Hillary, I want to hear about you not what you have to say about what Obama has said. Where is you program? What are you running for. Because once you get to the White House are you still going to be working on Barack?
Is this ad really want we need to restore peace and prosperity to this country? We have to acknowledge that there are problems that CAN be solved by a government that works for all of the people, not just the few who can buy off the powerful. Look at the backgrounds and history of the candidates. Barack Obama makes a powerful case with a consistent message and tireless work for inner city, rural, and middle class people who have been disenfranchised by the political power in place. No other candidate can show that consistency.