Clinton Heckled, Obama Cheered Over 'Bitter' Remarks

The Clinton and Obama campaigns clearly have one thing in common in the wake of Barack Obama's "bitter" remarks: both sides believe the incident provides their candidates with the means to go on the offensive, with Clinton working to paint Obama as "elitist" and Obama seeking to demonstrate that he is "in touch" with the needs of working-class America. It is, of course, too early to assess what lasting impact this story is going to have on the race, but the way the audience at the Alliance For American Manufacturing forum in Pittsburgh received the candidates, and reacted to the issue, will be heartening for the Obama camp. Obama, who greeted the crowd at 8:45am, raised the issue and received applause. Clinton, addressing the same crowd later in the morning, brought up the remarks and received mostly silence, with a few audible impatient jeers.

[WATCH.]

RELATED:
Clinton Met With Cries of 'No!' in Latest Bitter Speech [WaPo, "The Trail"]
Obama's Shot at Clinton's Shot [ABC News]

Comments

[LeftLeanWing]

"Protocol of White House Conference November 11, 1993"

EXCERPT:
White House Intent on Sex Education; the Catholic Church:

Participants: The President, HRC, TFM, RN, IM and GS
[The President = Bill Clinton, HRC = Hillary Rodham Clinton, TFM = Thomas Mack McLarty, RN = Roy Neel, IM = Ira Magaziner, GS = Gene Sperling, and RH = Richard Herget (not listed as being present)]

HRC:

For me, this is a dying religion in this country. They have no power and, if we cannot arrive at a mutual agreement on this, we can proceed against them by increasing the number of priest-pederasty charges... ...

And I'm sure the issue of female priests can be solved in the same way and at the same time. A package deal. The born-agains are most irritating problem. The neo-fascists here are allied with some of the religious right...

If we do this a little bit at a time, the public will get the impression that all churches of the right advocate killing abortion clinic people, stockpiling deadly weapons like the Koresh nutties and eventually plan to attack or fight government agencies . . . like in Waco . We can make the connection in the public mind.

[Vern58]

Thanks!!!!. Just Googled it. Most instructive website. It shows how arrogant and elitist she is and what she really believes vs what she is currently spinning off. This needs to be made public knowledge. Bless you!

[JohnFromCensornati]

Wow.
She was heckled worse than Michael Richards and she didn't even use the N word.
I guess that Gerry F will have to up the ante.

[polish]

They just happened to omit the fact that it was Obama people that were heckling her. It was noted and confirmed by NBC in other articles.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Did they have Obama tattoos or what?

[Beaucat]

What is more important than the source of the jeers is the fact that the jeers were not drowned out by cheering from the crowd. Obama's comments were cheered. Hillary's were met with silence. That's worse than jeering, in a way. If the crowd had been receptive to Hillary's comments, you'd never have heard the jeers.

And of course, shame on those pesky Obama supporters for showing support for their candidate by voicing their disagreement with Hillary. How dare they.

[agirlandamonkey]

It was reported on NBC that ...according to the Clinton Campaign, the hecklers were Obama people.
There is a difference between NBC reporting something and the Clinton Campaign CLAIMING something.

[k6007]

Oh! On General Electric owned NBC..Well, that settles it. It MUST be true.

[FunPet]

If this desperate stunt doesn't work what's next, going after Obamas grandmother in Kenya perhaps? Maybe she's a terrorist sympathizer.... Or how about his daughters, they have not been fully vetted either, those two little ones are getting a free ride from the media and better she do it before those mean republicans, she is just doing the electorate a favor by trashing the future democratic candidate, how patriotic of her.

[AxelDC]

Clinton reeks of arrogance and desperation. She is clearly clutching at straws on this one. Her elitist comment is so absurd that it shows a clear misreading of the electorate.

Does she actually think that people aren't going to look at her $110 million, and her scoffing at $800k from Columbia, and think she is "a woman of the people"?

Obama has clearly read the mood of most Americans, and she hasn't. Maybe "bitter" is the most eloquent word to use, but if you aren't bitter about the state of the US today, you aren't paying attention.
The only ones who can afford not to pay attention are those who don't buy gas, eggs or milk every week.

[WLA]

This is exactly the reason why we have to energize EVERYONE to vote. Scream it from the hills! The more people that vote, the more that "80% that thinks the country is going in the wrong direction" will gets expressed. No more war! No more corporatist welfare!

[lainey]

Couldn't agree more AxelDC...here we are, Tuesday morning and still they are trying to get leverage over remarks that demonstrate Senator Obama's understanding of how our politicians seek to divide Americans, not him. If this weren't the case, then why are we broken into categories of "working class", "down-scale and up-scale," etc. Senator Obama clearly understands that regardless of our class or race, Americans are more than disappointed with the way our government has run for years...we want change and neither Clinton or McCain can give it to us. Why? Because they don't want it themselves. If everything stays "as is", than they will continue with business as usual--just the way they like it. The evidence is in the way each campaign is run; both ethically and financially. Thanks Senator Obama for offering us something new.

[chronic]

AMEN!!

[lizzytysh]

"Condescending" and "out of touch" ~ Obama!?!

Listen to the outright smugness and condescension and presumption of people's feelings in Hillary's words and VOICE regarding this self-invented firestorm.

[SayonaraSnot]

Put a fork in it Hillary - it's DONE

[AlanCFA2001]

The idea that the "bitter" comment was elitist is absurd. Then again, most of Hillary's supporters latch on to the absurd since the truth about their candidate is so unpalatable.

Hey, Hillary supporters, watch as she talks about her experience and how useful it was in helping her decide to vote for a war that has killed 4,000 of America's sons and daughters. I hope one of the moderators in the debate asks her about this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hwLaCb07lAs

[mbf]

You really don't get it. Obama said maybe he wasn't winning in PA is because the people's bitterness makes them incapable of discerning the real issues. Or maybe it is because they are racist. It is the incapable and the racist part STUPID.

[deeoneakin]

If you're actually able to read "incapable" and "racist" into the statement he made then you're the one who really doesn't get it, and the term stupid is one I would use with great caution if I were you.

[Barbarossa03]

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, go back to the original response. There was a lot more to the response. This is just another example of the reverend Wright controversy of taking a snippet of speech to portray a half truth or flat out distortion

[copesthetics]

once again a clinton supporter unconcerned with the actual events. the ignorant dog barking the loudest. the unexamined posturing to obscure reality's glance.

[aesova]

Actual quote:
"You go into 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.
And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Note the complete absence of the words 'incapable and 'racist'.

It's also interesting to not that the quote that has been getting all of the coverage comes immediately after these words:

It depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing."

[Wilhelmina]

If you or anyone else doubts that Rev. Wright and Obama are both full of it go to the article by Kessler in Newsmax. that is http://www.newsmax.com/kessler and find out what kind of life Rev. Wright REALLY has had. It has been a life of privilege: the very finest of high schools (the same one attended by Bill Cosby, whose attitudes toward life are SO different from Wright's), growing up in a very nice neighborhood, classmates who were predominately white and who liked him a lot, a comfortable life and soon to have a 10,000 square foot home built by his former church for over a million dollars. When Obama was making excuses for Wright's terrible rhetoric he sounded as though Wright had suffered a life of deprivation and discrimination, at least in his youth. What a crock. And, by the way, while Obama's wife is only just recently becoming proud of the USA, ask her how many people anywhere make over $300,000 a year as SHE DOES. (Not counting what he brings in as a Senator and from his writing.) How can Wright OR Michelle Obama be anything but grateful to the United States of America? How can they possibly not appreciate how fortunate we all are to live here, even those of us who make far less money than they do.

[Mat8675]

So being black and living before the civil rights movement is easy street?

I don't know how I passed US History.

[aesova]

"How can Wright OR Michelle Obama be anything but grateful to the United States of America? How can they possibly not appreciate how fortunate we all are to live here, even those of us who make far less money than they do."

That's a good question. Here are a few answers:

http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/academics/junior/hunt/chloem10116/whites-only.gif
http://www.peteykins.com/sparklepics2/WhitesOnly.jpg
http://www.crmvet.org/crmpics/white-only.jpg
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/colored-only-sign.jpg
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/law/witt/raw_images/lect28/13_rosa_parks.jpg
http://www.lib.fit.edu/pubs/librarydisplays/BlackHistory/rosa_parks_4-703342.jpg
http://negroartist.com/civil%20rights%20imagery/images/Black%20civil%20rights%20demonstrators%20attacked%20by%20police%20water%20hose_%20Birmingham,%20Alabama%20May%201963_jpg.jpg
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/brute/lynched.jpg

[WebDeb]

Yes so privileged not to earn $109,000,000 a year. So privileged not to be white before the civil rights movement. So privileged to have to drink from a different fountain and ride in the back of the bus. Soooo privileged.

You don't have a single ounce of empathy for anyone, do you? You MUST be a republican.

[Peteyman]

So I guess being a marine means you live the high life?

[mbf]

You people really are the lunatic fringe of the Democratic party.
YOU are exactly the people Obama was talking about in his statement.
You are so blinded by the cult of Obama that any analysis and vetting of your candidate has you spewing your hatred and bitterness all over the place, blaming everyone and everything whenever there is an honest question as to why he said what he did, what he meant by it, what the effects might be.
It doesn't matter if what he said was an outright lie you would say it was gospel.
We in PA have a right to judge for ourselves, the things he says, the truths he supposedly claims in his commercials. We have a right to judge the truth for ourselves and we were not fooled by the swift-boating of Sen. Kerry in 2004 and we will not be fooled by Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
I am not afraid of Barack Obama becoming president. I am afraid of YOU.

[Barbarossa03]

What I see is people outraged over the negative spin of telling the truth. People are bitter the way things are going in the US, that's the truth. There is nothing elitist about making that observation. I know people who pray to God that things work out. It's evident from this article that people do not accept the negative spin that the Clinton campaign has placed on this true statement. Negative spin is not analyzing or vetting a candidate it's trying to destroy a candidate.

[mbf]

When asked the question of why Obama wasn't doing better in PA, why didn't he just say I don't know. No, he said it was because people were bitter and that leads them to vote on issues that don't affect their daily lives. He can't just say, hey I'm not winning, no big deal.
It is elitist to say I am not winning because of a reason that is not true. If only the people of PA were 'enlightened' I would be winning. And I will say it again, we voted for Kerry in 2004 so we are perfectly capable of picking a Democratic candidate no matter what spin someone puts on something.
And come on. You might want a different kind of election but it is never going to happen. There is a reason why there is spin because it works, and if it didn't they wouldn't be doing it.

[FunPet]

Blinded by the cult of Obama? I am tired of hearing Clinton and her supporters disparage and offend a significant number of American voters who for many different reasons support Obama. Every time she resorts to these kind of a tactics to try to win is just one more time I remind myself that if she is the candidate I will not be able to vote for her. She has behaved with so little dignity that in the end it won't make much of a difference if McCain ends up with the presidency, hell, even she seems to prefer that outcome in the end since what she is doing will split the democratic party. Not in my name Hillary!!!

[Mat8675]

I'm so sick of hearing Hillary Clinton fans call Obama supporters the "lunatic fringe" or "cult-like"

Just because your candidate is incapable of creating a groundswell of support doesn't mean it is a bad thing to do so. Actually, I may be wrong here, (I'm sort of new to this) but isn't that the whole idea of a Presidential campaign!?

[aesova]

Re: "Lunatic Fringe"

The "lunatic" characterization is entirely subjective, so it's really not worth debating, but how can the majority of voters in a majority of states be characterized as "fringe"?

I suggest that even if one agrees that Obama's supporters are lunatics, it is wholly inappropriate to apply the term "fringe" to a group that, according to primary results, accounts for a larger share of voters than than the non-"Lunatic" group. Perhaps "mad majority" would be a better phrase?

After all, since the obsessive parsing of words for deep, hidden, coded meanings has proven to be one of the outstanding hallmarks of this campaign season, I think that that it's important that if you are going to make the claim that a group is crazy, that you not give the impression that crazies are a a marginal bunch, when in fact, it is beginning to look like the the "lunatics" have taken over!

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[friendofjimmy]

thank god for huffpost!
even after they endorse clinton,
they continue with the assaults on her.
it just shows how fair and balanced they are.

[kittyma]

Hillary Clinton is not a nice person!

[chronic]

I once supported this woman but my eyes are now opened.


sad sad sad!

[EJ99]

So she was jeered in the morning, and ignored in the evening apparently, having to cut short a talk at a Democratic party Jefferson-Jackson dinner. They would rather talk amongst themselves apparently. Interesting ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/04/14/politics/fromtheroad/entry4014458.shtml

[esaid]

That is unbelievable. A major candidate can't get the crowd to stop talking.

[Groovacious]

Hey... I'm bitter.

Why is it wrong when a candidate speaks the truth?

Voters with any amount of intelligence will see what HRC is doing.

It's sad that she's gotten to this point.

[thedirtman]

Voters with any amount of intelligence is exactly what HRC wants us to fear. It worked for Karl Rove. He was able to muster up enough fear over Al Gore and John Kerry to get Bush eight years in the WH. People will fear the "elitist" charge because it makes one believe that the intelligent will take favor based on their intellectual superiority. Its the same kind of scare and bigotry once aimed at minorities, but here it is aimed at intellectuals.

[ILliberalPedagogue]

Damn right !! Al Gore still scares the bejeebers outa me. Him and ManBearPig.

[Janemas]

Clinton failed trying to invent a reality of what is not. The people told her NO! She can continue on with this whine to avoid discussing her faulty plans for the future, but she cannot lie to the people anymore.

[victoriajubilee]

OBAMA 2008

[starboymikey]

The only thing Hillary is "in touch" with is the needs of her corporate sponsors.