I live in a small town in Missouri. Thirty years ago, this town had a movie theater, two clothing stores, a five and dime, two grocers, numerous gas stations, a hardware, and two auto parts stores. Now, the town is dead. One grocery and three gas stations remain, and that's about it. The square is a shanty town of abandoned buildings.
Bitter? Damn straight.

I see few articles denoucing Obama's statement, and tons blaming Clinton for his troubles. You'd think she said it - no if she'd said it the media would crucify her and start demanding she quit again - is there any part of democracy the media plans to leave us?

Spin, spin, spin. Wish us good luck with this president the media is chosing for us. I sincerely hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the butt like their sorry reporting leading up to the Iraq war. I guess democracy is over and we've got information filtered by a corrupt media, just like in N. Korea. Yippee!

I know ratings are all important, and there's an influx of Obama followers who just discovered politics, but remember when they move on to their next hobby, the majority of lifelong democrats who supported Clinton or Edwards will not tune in anymore. I'm close to going PBS and NPR exclusively for my "news."

The bitter "bitter" debate is ridiculous.

No doubt.

I think it will hurt HRC more than BHO. This might just lock PA for him.

The pundits, reporters, staff and candidates can say anything about anything - they are the true elites - none of us common folks miss that.

How much more elite can an ex-first-lady multi-millionaire politician be? Elite sounds bad but it is just an expression.

The Reich-wing nuts want to use such words (liberal, elite, etc.) as pejoratives. It doesn't make it so and leaves one to ponder why any democratic candidate would be in lock-step with the GOP candidate in doing so?

"PBS and NPR exclusively for my "news.""

HA!

Have you seen their content these days?

It is shameful what they have done to PBS, NPR has always been a stinker.

"the majority of lifelong democrats who supported Clinton or Edwards"

(that's be the minority of the minority, eh?)

Too funny!

If McCain siad this, he would call it "straight talk".
If Hillary said this, well...she would never say anything that is remotely controversial.

"and there's an influx of Obama followers who just discovered politics.
God forbid that we get something different from the same-old-same-old (ie Clinton/Edwards) who are as liable for the mess that we are in as W.

Obama has a bad habit of pointed out the emperor has no clothes. Most Americans enjoy living in a world of denial and fantasy. We can neither face our ills nor cure them.

Darren, it is so much like that here in central Illinois. Even when people try a new business
only 1 in 12 make a go, and may not last. While old stand bys die out, too. Obama is one of my very excellent Senators and I have told him how angry and bitter I am. I do not see much difference between myself and people in PA. This man listens and thinks and as much as I respect Hilary, she is playing a game we may all be the losers in. Divide and conquer. I will leave for France if McCain is elected. Love it or leave it I will not
be branded a warmonger and part of the most selfish, spoiled societies on earth.

Whoa! NPR, PBS, CNN - all linked directly to Pentagon for your "news." Try Pacifica (KPFK, 90.7 for me) and others. The real Straight Talk for straight talk listeners who want the truth. No corporate support like NPR, PBS. Just the listener/viewers $$. Great investigative reporting by Amy Goodman ("Democracy Now") and Sonali Kolhatkar ("Uprising!") a.m's weekdays. You'll soon see the difference! Subscribe on email too.

Seems like the ones who are most upset are the elitists...and they weren't going to vote for Obama in the first place..their first choice would be (make Bushs tax cuts permanent and more war) McCain or (it was Bill who passed NAFTA, I only lobbied for it) Hillary, every one else knows what Obama was saying..the truth!

Uh, hasn't it occurred to anyone that Obama JUST MIGHT BE RIGHT? I live in a small town that's been hit hard by the economic troubles of the past decade. Yeah, people are bitter. How dare a presidential candidate say so, out loud.

Noboby wants to talk about this, or anything else of substance. You'd think that candidates were running for nothing more substantiual than National Pal.

I weep for my country.

John Edwards is a trial lawyer! Clinton was the corporate (Wal-Mart) lawyer...do you even know the difference..? John Edwards is against corporations as a trial lawyer, not for the corporations as Hillary is...google Corporate Crimes if you still don't have a clue...thats the problem..no one checks the facts...they just spout incorrect information that they heard some one else say

I have finished the latest issue of the MotherJones Newsletter and I must say he was chock full of all those vital issues that need to be adequately reported by the mainstream press.

Senator Obama said that Senator Clinton thinks she is "Annie Oakley"! I like Annie Oakley and found his remark to be reminicent of The Grapes of Wrath where people didn't think "Oakie" were human beings. To me he is indirectly expressing his hatred of whites and lack of respect for women. What's wrong with Annie Oakley? or being likened to her? Why does he think that is a put down? Why isn't the media outraged by his derogatory comments about one of America's Famous Historical Women?

This non-issue is still another windfall for the media to milk to the "bitter end." I have been leaning toward Clinton; now I'm pushed solidly into the undecided column, following Clinton's efforts to capitalize on Obama's comments, which are patently true. Whether your town is small, your city big, if you are not bitter, angry and outraged, you simply are not paying attention. I suggest you read Free Lunch, by David Cay Johnston, and watch at PBS.org, Bill Moyers Journal of April 11, 2008, regarding farm subsidies.

Fred, you say that Obama has a bad habit of pointing out that the emperor has on no clothes. To that I say, "Kudos!" You're absolutely right; he points out areas of our society that we shy away from addressing and then the media and those who want us to keep our eyes shielded from reality (Clinton, included...even though she has no reason to hop on anyone else's misstatments) keep bringing their own interpretation to it to keep us from addressing the real issues.

In fact, we, as a society, do tend to keep return to those things that bring us comfort or from which we gain some sense of security or superiority. For some, that may mean guns. For others, that may mean religion. For still others, that may mean keeping ourselves isolated from those who are not like us--those who are not "true" Americans.

So, just as with the issues of race, we need to be able to talk about how these other issues are used to divide us and to keep us from coming together as a nation.

When will we begin to actually discuss issues and not just put forth our own perspectives without taking into consideration that the perspectives of others are just as valuable to the discussion?

Obama's critics are clearly watching and waiting to pounce on anything he says that could be construed as even remotely controversial. It's quite pathetic, really. This seemed to me to simply be an observation on what he's seen from his interactions on the campaign trail, not meant to be offensive. Clinton's and McCain's attempts to capitalize on this are just pathetic, I hope people see through them like I do. At least the man has courage to express his opinions on the country as he sees it, even if it provokes some. The rest just spew out empty promises and tell the people what they want to hear. I'm not buying it. His comments rang true for me, and there are so many people out there worse off that I can't imagine how they wouldn't feel bitter.
And as for all those things we "cling" to, it makes total sense. Feeling abandoned can lead you to look for someone to blame (that anti-immigrant sentiment) or take refuge in other things that are important to you, like religion. That doesn't mean that it didn't matter before. In times of trouble, where do we turn? What the media and fellow candidates see as "elitist," seems to me to be plain common sense.

[...]

Our elections are dominated by the same tired personality script, trotted out over and over and over. Democrats and liberals -- no matter how poor their upbringing, no matter how self-made they are, no matter how egalitarian their policies -- are the freakish, out-of-touch elitists who despise the values of the Regular Americans. Right-wing leaders -- no matter how extravagantly rich they are by virtue of other people's money, no matter how insulated their lives are, no matter how indifferent their policies are to the vast rich/poor gap -- are the normal, salt-of-the-earth Regular Folk. These petty, cliched storylines drown out every meaningful consideration and dictate our election outcomes, and they are deployed automatically.

It doesn't matter what the candidates actually say or do. The establishment press just waits for the right episode and then reflexively and eagerly fills in the gaps in the shallow script -- the script with which they are intimately familiar and which serves as their only framework for talking about and understanding political disputes.

-- Glenn Greenwald

Great observation of Greenwald's, capt-Hussein.

And though I shouldn't address the troll pretending that the Annie Oakley comment was racist and sexist...here goes....
Oh, never mind. I don't think I can get through to someone that obtuse.

I want to thank Hillary for completely solidifying my support in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. When she joined the elitist Republican attack machine I permanently crossed her off my list. Call it what you may; bitter, frustrated,pissed off it is where most of the American public stand. Those who still are making a comfortable living haven't gotten there yet but they also will feel the sting of the elitist Bush-Chaney policies with the "get the price of oil up" war and the anti-democratic tax policies that are destroying our economy. I have to stop here I'M GETTING TOO PISSED OFF.

MJ and other Obama media are missing the real story of the San Fran comments. The elitism and condescension come from his whole answer to the question of why blue-collar dems in PA seemed to prefer Clinton over Obama. His response was to blame those voters for being bitter about their lot in life - leading, among other things, to their antipathy toward people like him. In essence, instead of admitting he needs to do a better job to win their votes - he trotted out the race card as he always does. That is the real story of why Obama will lose to McCain in a landslide if he is the nominee.

Are you so insecure with yourself that you would "pick apart" isolated words in a phrase just to demean or degrade Senator Obama's character? Please, IF you must be so petty, at least quote the man accurately! I cannot believe that Billary and McBush have stooped to these levels just to be in on the Headline News! What OBAMA HAS SAID AND HAS BEEN saying is true! From coast to coast, urban cities to small country towns have declined to near "ghost towns" because of Nafta and Bush's NONCONCERN for the average working class or poor! I am BITTER, my neighbors are BITTER and if you are not angry or concerned or BITTER about the REAL ISSUES then you are living in complete denial or just delusional! Pass me some of whatever your ON!

Bocadem - I disagree heartily. I don't think he was placing himself in the category of people unlike the rural voter. That would go without saying. He was saying that if he or anyone else can observe these focal points people have for their frustration, then the voter can be manipulated along those lines. And this is absolutely true. Obama said what a lot of people know to be true, but what McWalker and The Monster have done is lean in with the Rovian tactics to distort the comments and try to railroad him with it. If I had any clout with the Democratic party, not only would I block The Monster from getting the nod, I would ask her to leave the Party. She'd obviously be more at home with the Republicans.

There's a ton of reasons why almost everyone in this country should be bitter. We've been lied to and manipulated by a moronic and power hungry thrill seeker who thinks he's still playing army soldiers and has driven the country into bankrupted ruin while murdering over 4 thousand kids, for no reason, (unless he's getting a healthy kickback) except to hold hands with oil barons who pocket their riches, then up the prices we pay for oil.

We've seen our lifestyle dwindle, our kids reduced to impoverished adults, our grandkids undereducated and succumb to violence and drugs. The republican candidate sees no fault with this scenario and admits he will continue for as long as it takes (or is profitable for someone?)

Rural areas are always the hardest hit in times of depression, partly because they are undereducated and religious prone and that's because they have the poorest schools and teachers and the lowest income. Hunting might be a family fun tradition - some see killing animals for fun a kind of sickness, like this sudden violent hatred for immigrants who are taking jobs no one else wants to do because the employers will not pay a living wage for back breaking work that kills and causes birth defects from chemical poisons.

Taken together its easy to see Obama is trying to figure out how the Pennsylvania rural dwellers think (or rural people anywhere) so he can then figure out how to help them. He can only do that - at least on a large scale (he's been doing it on a smaller street scene scale all his adult life) from the presidential position. It must be frustrating for him to see a true elitist - a millionaire- former first lady who apparently got fixated on the position -condescend to the residents of several states by calling them the elitist latte sipping crowd while she pretends to knock back boiler makers, bowl with the good ol' boys and tell war stories that are total bullshit to the rest of the country. That is when she isn't pretending to be rocked with sorrow, on the verge of tears and immeshed in the softer side of Hillary in compliance with one of the other sides of her multi faceted personality, including the grief stricken depression over MLK's death which filled her "so full of sorrow that I flung my backpack against the wall" (I guess the Goldwater girls carried backpacks tho' I don't think they were used for books 40 years ago and I wouldn't equate flinging anything against the wall as sorrow).

That Obama has not taken advantage by jumping on and stomping her in the ground over her several lies like she and buddy Mccain are doing to him is a positive aspect of his superior character. Of course Mccain wants her to win because he can beat her. I had respect for her once, and her husband too - no longer. Maybe 5 or 6 % of the people in PA are dumb enough to believe her propoganda and overlook her
nasty and hateful comments which are incidentally not very Christian but I think the majoriity will stand up and tell her why they need someone with morals and decency as the presidential nominee. I don't agree with Hard Copy that cut throat viciousness is what a campaign should be - it's the bread and butter of a media too stupid and lazy to get some real news so they keep manufacturing horse shit out of garbage and repeating it endlessly until they get everyone in an uproar or ruin as many lives as they possibly can. From now on, for me too, it's FSTV with Amy Goodman supplemented by MJ.

Obama's experience(Whole Foods shopper, and etc) is not the same as rural White folk. He just doesn't get it, along with his racist Pastor Wright. Senator Clinton gets it.

Hillary Clinton is history. The World despises that woman. I read blogs and write mostly the European and American blogs. Many do not know what this woman has done to foreign and domestic issue's. I think you have to like politic's to follow the them for 25 yrs as I have done, but there is a lot of legal baggage of this woman still in the courts. Nevermind what Bill did to foreign countries, taxpayer money etc., I know what Republican's are using. It has been written...it will sink her in the fall. Obama did get off track with the constant bashing from Clinton. He'll do just fine. Their are so many countries hoping he wins the Presidency and I do to. He is willing to listen....not lie, pandor, kiss butt and destroy. The Clinton's hopefully will just go away.

Without question, Senator Obama's' rivals are exploiting his recent controversial comments. Obama is correct to say that Americans have much to be bitter about. I also agree with Senator Obama’s assessment that his words were ill chosen but I’m not sure he understands that there is a legitimate critique of his remarks that goes deeper than spin. To publicly analyze a whole class of people (obviously white) – those effected by the loss of blue-collar jobs - and suggest they "cling to guns, religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant…or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations" is presumptuous and insensitive. First, most rural Pennsylvanians who have guns are hunters and were hunters before the steel jobs disappeared. Second, as the Senator knows, churches provide spiritual comfort and material support like shelters and food. Third, trade agreements are a complex issue for workers both here and abroad. American workers rightly disapprove of policies that allow U.S. companies to flee overseas for cheap labor. This is not fair trade. Finally, the Senator’s most controversial words suggests this group dislikes people who are different and is against immigrants - a sweeping, rather damming generalization! It’s also patronizing if it gives people experiencing hard times a pass for being bigots. What about the rest of us? Without question, within our country, there are festering and deep social divisions along race, ethnic, class and gender lines that cannot be eradicated by one presidential campaign. It’s naïve to think otherwise. In the meantime, shouldn’t we all be more sensitive about speaking for “the other” whomever that might be?

Obama and his side kick, Pastor Wright are just a bunch of Black Supremacists. Senator Clinton is the only sane candidate.