Here We Go Again
You know, I just spent seven and a half years disagreeing with the administration that has given us an unprecedented military and economic mess. I saw it coming, it came, and in some ways it was worse, and promises to get worse, than I foresaw. I the course of these seven years, I have had my patriotism questioned and demeaned fairly often. I was even put in a book, as one of a hundred people who were hurting America. When I got into this book, my relatives worried that I would get shot by some rightwing nut, even though several of them were and are rightwing nuts themselves (and they carry guns). All this time, though, I considered myself a patriot and a loyal American because I was able to see the destruction that was being wreaked upon the nation, and in particular, upon the middle and working classes, by the Republican liars and war criminals and job outsourcers and health care destroyers and army wreckers and infrastructure ignorers and media whores and agriculture blackmailers (see this month's Vanity
Fair).
So now, Barack Obama tells the truth about conditions as we know them--that the countryside and the small towns are dying in many places in our country, and that the corporatocracy doesn't care enough to do a thing about it. He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction. And this is what Senator Hillary Clinton says about it: "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."
From Senator Clinton's remarks, I infer that to actually see what has gone on in the US in the last 20 years is unAmerican. It doesn't matter who you are, where you were born, what you pay in taxes, what else you might have contributed to the culture, how you vote, who you support. If you don't support fundamentalist religion, job outsourcing, and free access to guns, then you are not even American.
I cannot believe how angry this makes me. I cannot believe that after the last seven and a half years, I can even get this angry. Yes, I know she is pandering to her audience. Yes, I know she will do anything to get elected. Yes, I know that she and Bill Clinton are corrupt to the core, and that I should have never expected anything better of her. But, please, any of you angry white women who still support this craven shill, don't mention it to me. Do me the following favor -- apologize to your children for not stopping the war that HIllary voted for, the war that is going to impoverish them. Then apologize to them for the effects of global warming that are going to make their lives hell. Then apologize to them for the school shooting they may someday see, the one where the kid gets the guns out of his father's gun case, or buys at a gunshow. Apologize to them for the meaningless wars they are going to fight and pay for. Then tell them that "American values" killed their hopes and maybe killed them. And ask them if they think it's going to be worth it.
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If McClinton thinks they are on the right side of this they have another thing coming. This will be their end. They do not know the mood of the country. We are fed up and disgusted, We are angry and you had better believe that we are bitter.
I'm angry, too. I'm angry at a war I thought was ill-conceived and unnecessary from the beginning (and I actually said it at the time, too -- not like a bunch of others who were all for it then, but not now). I"m angry at escalating college costs and diminishing aid.
And I'm angry at a Harvard educated neophyte senator who thinks giving a speech at the convention in 2004, and fawning press coverage ever since qualifies him to be president. I'm angry reporters continued their fawning to the point that he's actually still in contention (note I did NOT say he has it sewn up because -- news flash, here people! -- he HASN'T) instead of having been kicked to the curb. I'm angry that his dismissive remarks about small-town people are now being considered anything other than what they are, his dismissal of those who do not live in big cities and who -- golllee gee Goober -- may go to church and may live a normal life.
And no, I don't have a gun and yes, I favor gun control. And I live in south suburban Chicago. But his remarks about small-town people meant all of us who lives in small towns and larger cities, and completely showcase his own small mind.
Polls for months indicate that Obama isn't the only one thinking he's qualified for the presidency.
Obama was against the war from the start.
Your comments seem far more assertive and dismissive and stereotypical than Obama's. In fact this entire post rests on sheer name-calling and over simplification.
Small mind, indeed.
Obama supporters get angry alot.
Now, now, shouldn't jump to conclusions. They could be Clinton supporters pretending to be Obama supporters so that Clinton supporters get fired up even more at the injustice done their candidate just for saying she disagrees with Obama. The Obama supporters are all for this as they figure when the Clinton supporters, who aren't, are exposed, it will make the other Clinton supporters turn on her and support Obama "to explain their frustratio
Don't worry, if you don't understand my logic, Jane Smiley will explain it, she's an expert and has taken logic to a whole new level.
hee hee
I can't believe how self destructive that Clinton and her surrogates are pushing the narrative on this... He never questioned anyone's values... He simply stated the truth folks feel helpless that their politicians don't care... But take responsibility and control of the values they hold most dear when these same politicians will use their sentiments for their own reasons.
“So it’s not surprising then that 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,”
Sounds like questioning values to me. We all get bitter sometimes. Many of us have good reason to, these days. Fine, what about the rest? What is your interpretation?
Smiley is on board! Hooray! Welcome to MY world. I am a middle aged white woman who would not vote for a Clinton if you PAID me. Obama 08!
Hillary is a divisive, polarizing liar who needs to get out of the race. She has been running as MCcain's runningmate, a Republican race-baiter who could bnot care less about America. In fact she is using the remarks to expand on the same theme her husband began earlier when he claimed that it would be nice to have two people who 'really love America' running for president, instead of these distractions. The Clintons are destructive and unhelpful to the Democratic ticket. They need to be stopped.
Thank you from myself and my 9 year old daughter.
really, thank you.
a lot of these dis-affected voters are also known as "Reagan Democrats", and one of the reasons was that they had switched to Reagan back in 1980 when they felt that the Democrats were getting too far ahead on social issues, etc. So, Obama sort of had it a little backward.
The Repugs will relive the entire 90's against the Clintons, MONICA GATE, BLUE DRESS GATE, TRAVEL GATE, VINCE FOSTER MURDER GATE and then will add SNIPER GATE, and now GUN CONTROL, IMPEACHMENT GATE, DISBARMENT GATE, RAPE GATE, ETC.
More in Politics..
Hillary Clinton on Walmart
http://www
Obama spokesman Bill Burton countered that the Illinois senator voted for the energy bill in 2005 because it raised taxes on oil companies and boosted investment in alternative energy sources.
__________
Hillary VOTED FOR BUSH'S WAR THAT HAS CAUSED OVER 4000 DEATHS OF OUR YOUNG SOLDIERS.
AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, WHAT IS WORST, HILLARY'S VOTE FOR WAR OR OBAMA'S VOTE TO RAISE TAXES ON OIL COMPANYS?
__________
WhyBill Clinton Is Fighting So Hard
If Obama wins, Clinton's own legacy looks smaller by comparison.
Apr 11, 2008 |
http://www
The reason he's working so hard on his wife's behalf is that he sincerely believes she would make a good president, better than he was, if daughter Chelsea's word is taken to heart. He's also doing penance for how much he humiliated her when he was president, and even for some of his missteps in this campaign, mostly having to do with race.
But perhaps most important, Clinton understands that if Barack Obama is elected, his presidency becomes an asterisk.
Why John Edwards Can't Endorse Hillary (In His Own Words)
http://ca.
Excellent post, Ms. Smiley. Unfortunately, trying to appeal to any remnants of the "better instincts" of Clinton supporters is, I fear, wasted time.
I agree! Thank you Ms Smiley ...
This is the best you have said everything I have been running through my mind for days. How can Hilary Clinton have any self respect with the way she twists things ? I would have voted for her if she had conducted herself with more dignity ,now I will do anything to see her not win. I am a 66 year old retired teacher from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Yes, I am bitter and I lived through and saw the hopes and promise for the youth that I taught dry up and disappear. I saw bright young children with no hope turn to Satanism and drugs and other things out of frustration and no real future.Thi
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