Palin Explains What Parts Of Country Not "Pro-America"

The McCain campaign is seeking to clarify a remark reported from a Sarah Palin fundraiser in North Carolina yesterday in which the Alaska Governor declared that she loved to visit the "pro-America" areas of the country -- implying, implicitly, that there were some parts of the United States she viewed as not pro-America.

The reporter who broke the story, the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin, sends over the following, extended quote from a more detailed version of the pool report.

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

Not sure how much this helps Palin out. Is the VP candidate saying that small towns are more authentically American than, say, suburbia or cities?

As Eilperin writes: "The upshot? Washington D.C. is neither 'real America' or 'pro-America.' Other parts of the nation? It's unclear, but if you live in a small town, you're probably patriotic from Palin's point of view."

Comments

[veggiemandy]

Nice to know that as a farmer I am the real america & pro-america!

Farmers For Obama

[Ibackobama]

As Se.n O.bama says, lets just vote... everything else will fall into place..

[SallyStraight]

Wow! Head-slap time. I never realized that I wasn't a real American until Sarah Barracuda pointed out to me that if I didn't live in a small town, I wasn't one. Imagine. All of this time I've been living under false pretenses, thinking I was really an American. I pay my taxes, salute the flag, participate in public activities, hold a U.S. passport, and have for years and years, touted America when I travel to other countries, and now I find out I'm a fake. Do I have to leave Las Vegas to be validated?

To read this whole opinion piece, and more of my Talkin' Straight, visit http:/mysp­ace.com/sa­llystraigh­t

'Nuff said.

Sally Straight ---MyComments2

[cmp]

The stupidity of this woman is mammoth. What an insult she is to the majority of Americans who do not live in rural America.

[ranchosx]

and the 300 plus firefighters who died in WTC were anti american....what jerks

[NTO08]

Yet it was RURAL AMERICA who brought you Bush twice...THAT's why she is saying this...not rocket science, just an attempt to rally the base who have given the Repubs wins over and over many, many times...

[BlindOtis]

Sarah Palin is not a real patriot. She is just a flag-waving Yahoo! There is a big difference.

[SpeakFreely]

Don't get complacent!! McCain is gaining ground in polls and his supporters are starting to come out of the woodwork. Obama needs your help now more than ever!!! If we take victory for granted McCain and Palin will win. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

Vote Early then go volunteer for Obama!

[Samshade77]

This women is the most polarizing person I have ever seen. No worries they are preaching to the choir.

[NTO08]

She is not designed to appeal to you...is that so hard to get?

[honestpolitician]

that statement is not good for her career.

POLITICAL AD ATTACKS http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[brunkus]

Small town Cornwall CT.--1400 pop. is solidly for Obama

[Emmagoldmanbabe]

We're in the unamerican part of America- New England!

Bernardston MA- 2,000 people. Obama won the primary here.

[WorldsGreatestActor]

thanks.

[maxhnb]

I've got news for Sarah Palin, There are servicemen from big cities too, and they have served and died and been wounded in Iraq too. Does she really think they are unAmerican ?

Does the Governor think that factories are only in small towns and that hard working people are only in small towns ? Are there no factories in the larger cities ? Are the garment makers factories in New York City and in Trenton and Weehauken, New Jersey not pro American and hard working ?

Has the Governor ever checked out the people in our cities ? Does she know anything but Alaska and small towns ?

[jcsophie]

Much adieu about nothing. Her words could have been chosen better, but she is simply referring to what is known as the Heartland. As anyone knows that has gotten out of the city and entered the small towns and communities of America.....you will find a different way of life. Small town people are not impressed by life in the city and choose to live a simpler life. And, this does not mean that they are "stupid, misinformed, backwards, or closed-minded". They are proud, smart, and hard working Americans that are often overlooked. Anyone that has had the privilege of meeting people from the Heartland understand completely what she was trying to convey.

[LongTom]

Horse dookie. "They are proud, smart, and hard working Americans that are often overlooked." Overlooked by whom? First of all, small town people are the same as big city people: smart and stupid, hard-working and lazy, proud and embarrassed. Jesus, "small town people" aren't overlooked; they, like "small busieness owners", are exalted beyond all reason by politicians, media, social scientists, pundits, writers, etc.

The idea that people in small towns possess some marvelous qualities unavailable to or nonexistent in people in cities or suburbs is just flat moronic. There's no evidence of this at all. I grew up in a small Ohio town, and though I have fond memories, the schools sucked, a lot of the people were stupid and bigoted (though by no means all or even most) and there sure wasn't much for kids to do except get pregnant, which 17 of the high school girls did my last year there (I was only 9, so no smart remarks, please).

If these small towns are so great, how come all the kids can't wait to get out?

[jcsophie]

Small towns are great, and so are big ones. Kids can't wait to get out because there is more to do in the city and there are better jobs waiting for them. I got to leave just a few years ago and I haven't stopped smiling! :) But, my point was......small towns create some really wonderful and smart people with and without formal educations. They are the little ladies from church that bring you a meal when you're sick......they come to see you when you're in the hospital.....they have voted in every general election since 1908.....they volunteer to collect money for Jerry's kids....you get the idea. (And yes, there are a fair share of "stupid and bigoted" individuals that live in small communitie­s......but not everyone can be as smart as "we"." And another thing.....I think it's "horse dookie" to say that small town schools suck. Many of our small schools in this area far exceed larger schools.....so there. :) Have a good day in whatever size town you live in!

[boogiewoman]

I'm from a small town in Wyoming, I married a military man of color we had 4 lovely children. When my husband was overseas in Desert Storm I was with my family at a resterant in Wyoming, it started to hail and my children had never seen hail before so one of my daughters got up to look out of the window and a old white man seated with I guess his grandchildren started talking loud how disguesting my children are and his grandchildren where not to touch my daughter as they tried to look at the hail. I will never forget the small time value! I'm glad they where to young at the time to understand..

[hyjanks]

So when is Palin going to make a remark that you will finally define as much adieu about something?

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 48 years. I am now living in a town in Southeastern Colorado whose population could fit into a few blocks in the Inner Richmond District of The City.
The people I hung around with in San Franciso and the folks I associate with in Colorado are of the same cloth--but only because I have sought them out.
'Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but the only difference is that San Francisco seemed to have many more people of intelligence to chose from immediately and the small town people you run into on the street generally seem "stupid, misinformed, backwards, or closed minded".
Why in the hell do you think Red States are labeled Red? Is it because "people of the Heartland understand completely what she [Palin] was trying to convey"?
I'd say so . . .

[Limanani]

I, like you, agree that those who choose to live a "simpler" way of life are often typecast as backward or closed-minded and are ofter overlooked. These people are not refered to as our "heartland" without good reason. However, what I find interesting is how they continue to be overlooked except during election years where every candidate feels "proud and proviledged" to represent the heart of America. And these "proud, smart and hard-working Americans" whom Palin is speaking of continue to vote for those who, once getting into office, conveniently forget about the priviledge of representing hard working Americans and enact laws that line the pockets of corporate America and cut taxes for the rich. Yet time and time again those who choose to "live a simpler life" continue to support these candidates. The same candidates who preach rules they themselves don't follow, take money away from education, and never think twice about sending other people's children into a needless war. These are the same candidates who have broken almost every constitutional law, who are spreading lies and hate disguised under a veil of "Christian" beliefs. Living in the city does not make anyone smarter than someone living in "small-town American" what makes a community smarter is realizing the difference between someone saying what they want to hear and someone actually following through with what they say.

[kikimae]

You know what you said is nonesense. That's the problem with this country, division, Sarah is clearly saying this to divide, not unite. What would your small town do if a group of Obama supporters walked through your neighborhood with signs and shirts, would you offer them tea and cookies? Is the ghost with the noose just a small town thing? Is yelling to "kill him" a small town thing. Oh yeah, his supporters were just excited. I would be embarrassed to be put into any category with this party and supporters. What are the young kids to think who hear this kind of nonesense? How do we ever stop division if it doesn't stop in the home. Accepting this kind of talk is part of the problem, no matter what you believe in who you vote for, you should want to move the country forward...not backwards.

[asheley]

Stupid is as stupid does....aka. The Airhead from Alaska does it again! Gotta love it, she's an endless source of amusement. And on the subject of airheads (or in this case heiress airheads), if you haven't seen this yet, check it out - funny:

http://givemeamillionparishilton.com/

And pass it on! I want to see if she'll spring for the cash!?

[dustytrails]

She is just burrying her self and deeper deeper vote OBAMA

[TheOpus]

The Soundtrack for the McCain Campaign; Animals (Pink Floyd)
http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/dogs-animals-lyrics.html

Dogs: (McCain) http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/dogs-animals-lyrics.html
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south, Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man, All alone and dying of c@ncer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone, Dragged down by the stone.

Pigs: verse1 McCain, verse2 Palin verse3 Bush (i know it really refers to mar whitehouse but is right on anyway)
http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/pigs-animals-lyrics.html

Sheep ,,, And here we are... the citizens:
http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/sheep-animals-lyrics.html

am i right?

[harcherdl]

It's a shame so many people love to stir up overreaction, and so many folks love to over react. Please read the first sentence again, "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C.”
This does NOT say we believe that the best of America in outside of Washington and other big cities. She was making a compliment to small towns, not criticizing big cities. I was born and raised in the city of Detroit. I lived in po-dunk NC for 10 years. I now live in the suburbs of DC...I agree with her sentiment.

[sclucie]

HARDCHERDL: No -I don't agree with Sarah Palin. I've lived everywhere - big cities, a city in the south, a rural town in a red state in the Rockies, on an Iowa farm and there are incredible, loving, patriotic, Americans everywhere. To suggest otherwise is unpatriotic and un-American to me. There is no us versus them. We're all in this together. Do you think the firefighters from 9/11 were unAmerican, Sarah? What about the firefighters from LA who saved a thousand homes in my sister's LA neighborhood last week? Should they be investigated? There are plenty of loving, hard-working Americans in the biggest cities in the country.

There are plenty of crazy people in small towns too. Timothy McVeigh, an American terrorist, came from a small town in New York. Randy Weaver, of Ruby Ridge, lived near a small town in Idaho. James Earl Ray, the assasin who shot Martin Luther King, came from a small town in Illinois. Colorado City, where the Mormon polygamists live and shun young boys is in Arizona and is a very small town.

The McCain campaign is taking a scorched earth strategy to try to rip Americans apart at a time we most need to try to come together, really look at our country's direction, find out how w got here and turn it around.

[ellawensmom]

This is not overreaction. She said by insinuation that anyone outside of small towns are not pro-america, that we do not serve our country, teach our children, etc.

For a VP candidate to tear down the majority of people in this country tells me she shouldn't lead us...ANYWHERE!!!

[hyjanks]

And did anyone living in a white neighborhood dare to put a political poster featuring a black face on their lawn when you lived in Podunk, North Carolina?
Be honest with us . . .

[Ibackobama]

I guess it was an over reaction for Repubs to go after M.ichelle and say that she was not proud of her country. Remember 'For the first time in my adult life ..."

[anibravo]

I'm sure Palin includes those who make horrible comments about hurting Obama a part of the "Pro-America" group. At her recent rallies she has said nothing to condem this type of behavior, and personally, i hope I am never a part of Palin's "Real Amercia".

[justoverit333]

They are so into dividing the country.
It's pathetic.

[jcsophie]

From what I've seen, both parties are doing a pretty good job of encouraging division. I worry about our country for the next four years. I'm not an Obama supporter, but WILL do my best to be supportive and get behind him for the next four years.

[RantingTommy]

This is how we win:


Hope Defeats Hate in 2008:
(the video giving Repubs heartburn and Dems the warm fuzzies)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZxP3hOCcc
Progressive Jazz (with RantingTommy on piano):
http://ere.digi-one.com