An important facet of "bittergate" that seems to have been overlooked.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

I don't want to get into whether what he said was right or wrong, insulting or just admitting the truth. The keyboard warriors on both sides seem to be doing a good job of beating that particular dead horse to a bloody pulp. I do, however, want to point something out:

If, in the course of a Presidential campaign, you feel the need to say something potentially controversial about small-town Pennsylvania, you absolutely do not do it at a fund raiser in San Francisco. San Francisco is in roughly the same zipcode as hell to a lot of rural and small-town Pennsylvanians, even better-educated moderates. It just is. It's the butt of jokes. Put it this way, when I went home to visit relatives in PA and people asked me where I was living, I would tell them "the bay area" and not even mention SF. If Obama was doing this to try to prove some large point to rural Pennsylvania (which I doubt he was) then he should have said it in the state, to Pennsylvanians. That might have flown. This doesn't.

[datopbanana]

1. I heard it was in response to a question of a women from PA who was at the fundraiser

but iuno

[LaurenG]

2. I do think he has some repair work to do

I understood what he was saying but the emphasis should have been added to the past presidential terms a whole lot more.

He has time to repair this but it needs to get started.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. It is by no means the apocalypse some people are making it out to be.

And it's not really all that different from a lot of things he's been saying all along. I'm just saying that if he was intentionally rolling out that new phrasing of it (which I doubt) he could hardly have picked a worse time and place to do it.

[HereSince1628]

5. It seems to have been one of those "exploitable moments"

That is possible because of recording technology. A sentence can get clipped out of context, and the words out one's own voice become the weapon that is used against the speaker.

In this day and age putting too many ideas in one sentence makes this possible. Economy, guns, religion, broken promises, and bitterness are probably a dangerous combination in our sound bite world.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. I don't think the context helps him hugely in this instance.

But what I really find ridiculous is the insinuations around here that somehow this was directed at people supporting Hillary, when he's obviously talking about Guns n' God Republicans. (Y'know, those people who NEVER EVER get insulted on DU. We're Shocked - SHOCKED I tell you, that someone would dare do such a thing!)

[Saturday]

3. Point taken. nt

[question everything]

7. Interesting point

Confirms the image of Obama being the candidate supported by the over $100K crowd.