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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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To: nhwingut

Things have come to a pretty pass when conservatives are forced to pray for hillary to win a primary. Sad to say, I would rather have a “known” in the W.H. than, what may turn out to be, a Muslim wolf in sheep’s clothing.


21 posted on 04/12/2008 8:36:14 AM PDT by WVNan
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To: TornadoAlley3

This from a pair of government officials (present and retired) who have made $190 million in the last seven years.

Yep, real solid middle class folks, those Clintons.

Sorry, Hillary, that dog just won’t hunt.


22 posted on 04/12/2008 8:37:54 AM PDT by Captain Rhino ( If we have the WILL to do it, there is nothing built in China that we cannot do without.)
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To: WVNan
Simply stunning the way “reporters” are trying so desperately to spin for Hussein.

Just when I think the MSM couldn’t possibly get more corrupt, they are telling us that he really did not say what he said?

Either nominee for the Dims will have this WAR ROOM of the MSM/Hollywood/Academia propaganda working for them.

And it does work, extremely well.

23 posted on 04/12/2008 8:41:59 AM PDT by roses of sharon ( (Who will be McCain's maverick?))
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To: stockpirate

According to the Obama we should make jobs for those in small rural towns that don’t have any.

I’d like to propose a few.

TV watcher: Monitors the Television for any Anti Obama statements

Couch cushion evaluator: test couch cushions for relative density over extended periods of time.

Line Tester: does repeated cycles of standing in line to see how long it takes to advance to the front of the line at various venues i.e. The Movie Theater, pro sporting events and of course gay and lesbian workshops for Obama

All of these jobs can be filled by your typical white person provided of course that they have not already been filled by women or minorities first, we would not want them to be hardest hit by this increase employment opportunities.


24 posted on 04/12/2008 8:42:07 AM PDT by usmcobra (I sing Karaoke the way it was meant to be sung, drunk, badly and in Japanese)
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To: TornadoAlley3

I was wondering when Obama was going to put his foot in his mouth. He finally did it.


25 posted on 04/12/2008 8:43:54 AM PDT by Old Retired Army Guy (tHE)
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To: Republican Wildcat
Breathtakingly elitist, ignorant, and condescening - and quite frankly, an insult to all Americans.

Obama made the mistake of stating those views (what he really thinks) in public. In private, have no doubt that Bill and Hill, and most of the other Democrat's Ivy League elitists (Gore, Dean, Kerry, Kennedy, etc., etc.) would agree Obama's remarks.

26 posted on 04/12/2008 8:44:43 AM PDT by Norman Arbuthnot
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To: dighton
Clinton Says Obama is “Out of Touch” with Middle Class Americans, Calls Comments “Elitist”

She *grew up* after law school, Watergate, went to shack up with Bill?? Wow.

27 posted on 04/12/2008 8:45:13 AM PDT by MozarkDawg
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To: AD from SpringBay
“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.”

I'm not sure about the "child labor laws" part, but I found this:

Mrs. Clinton’s great-grandparents came to Scranton in the 1880s in steerage from Wales. Her grandfather, Hugh S. Rodham, began work as a boy at the Scranton Lace Company, once the world’s largest producer of Nottingham lace, now a shuttered hulking behemoth, on track to be redeveloped as an arts space and apartments.

28 posted on 04/12/2008 8:45:17 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: TornadoAlley3
You go, Hillary!

I'm not bitter at the elites of both parties using camouflaged inflation to steal my retirement, and the retirements of everyone I know...

29 posted on 04/12/2008 8:46:13 AM PDT by an amused spectator (Spitzer would have used the Mann Act against an enemy in a New York minute.)
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To: TornadoAlley3


30 posted on 04/12/2008 8:49:01 AM PDT by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote!)
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To: TornadoAlley3

A woman who is a multi-millionaire, and never had a job in her life that wasn’t handed to her.


31 posted on 04/12/2008 8:49:37 AM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: kromike

We’ve heard a lot of things come out of Hillary’s mouth. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything as insulting that Hillary has said about the average working Joe that indicates a deepseated dislike for the ‘typical white person’

Obama needs to STFU.


32 posted on 04/12/2008 8:51:11 AM PDT by kbingham
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To: TornadoAlley3

Pot, meet kettle. She’s one to talk. Hey Hill, how ‘bout paying the middle class American caterers who’ve provided food for your campaign?

Like either of the three millionaries running has a clue about the concerns of the middle class.


33 posted on 04/12/2008 8:51:44 AM PDT by LadyNavyVet (He is risen!)
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To: kromike

Exactly, she believes it just as much as he does. Except, when all the microphones are turned off, she and Bill are probably just as racist as they think the “bitter, little people” are.


34 posted on 04/12/2008 8:54:25 AM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: PzLdr

This from a woman who hob nobs with the folks from Hollyweird every chance she gets and summers on the Vineyard. Yeah, she’s really in touch with middle class America.


35 posted on 04/12/2008 8:57:37 AM PDT by surrey
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To: TornadoAlley3

She should talk. she’s a joke!!!


36 posted on 04/12/2008 9:06:09 AM PDT by cubreporter
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To: TornadoAlley3

Wow... Where to start on this one?!?!?!

Just amazing!

Mark


37 posted on 04/12/2008 9:06:11 AM PDT by MarkL
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To: AD from SpringBay

“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.”

Stand by. There will soon be more stories about how Grandaddy was a Union sniper who killed hundreds of those Confederate soldiers. After the war he went back to the mill and organized the workers union. That saved the children so they could be educated in government schools.

I can hardly wait! In the meantime I’m going to have another cup of coffee.


38 posted on 04/12/2008 9:16:16 AM PDT by hdstmf
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To: hdstmf

Obama’s mother was descended from Southern slaveholders. I wonder if any of his ancestors or relatives fought for the Confederacy. Maybe some of them were there at Gettysburg shooting at Pennsylvania Union soldiers.


39 posted on 04/12/2008 9:23:11 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: hdstmf

I can’t ever remeber having this much fun....


40 posted on 04/12/2008 9:25:08 AM PDT by RichBruer
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