Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as I Should Have’ http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/0...gion-i-didnt-say-it-as-well-as-i-should-have/ by FOXNews.com Saturday, April 12, 2008 Barack Obama admitted Saturday that he chose his words poorly when he told a group of California donors that small-town Americans “cling” to guns and religion and xenophobia out of bitterness over lost jobs, but for the second day in a row stood by the comments and weathered pointed criticism from Hillary Clinton. “I didn’t say it as well as I should have, because the truth is these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important,” Obama said in Muncie, Ind., minutes before Clinton jumped in and called his remarks “elitist.” “But what is absolutely true is that people want to feel like they’re being listened to. And so they pray, and they count on each other and they count on their families,” Obama continued. The original remarks, made a week ago and reported in The Huffington Post Friday, drew charges of classism from the campaigns of John McCain and Clinton. When Obama attempted to explain them Friday, the two campaigns claimed he was only digging himself deeper. Clinton, speaking in Indianapolis Saturday morning, amplified her attack, saying Obama has no right to challenge gun owners or those who believe strongly in God. “I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Sen. Obama made about people in small-town America,” she said. “Sen. Obama’s remarks are elitist and they’re out of touch.” Clinton highlighted her own working-class roots and “midwestern values,” and tried to paint herself as a humble product of middle America. “Americans who believe in the Second Amendment believe it’s a constitutional right. Americans who believe in God believe it’s a matter of personal faith. Americans who believe in protecting good American jobs believe it’s a matter of the American dream,” she said. “People embrace faith not because they are materially poor but because they are spiritually rich.” But as he did Friday night, Obama on Saturday morning explained that he was only speaking to an evident reality — that Americans who feel the government is not listening to their economic concerns turn to issues they can grasp, a response he said is understandable. “It’s interesting, right? Lately there’s been a typical sort of political fight. Because I said something that everybody knows is true — which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter. They are angry. They feel like they’ve been left behind. They feel like folks aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing here,” he said Saturday. “So I said, ‘Well, you know, when you’re bitter you turn to what you can count on.’ So people, they vote about guns. Or they take comfort from their faith, and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming into this country. Or they get frustrated about, you know, how things have changed. That’s a natural response.” Click here to read and hear the Obama comments that sparked criticism in The Huffington Post. Facebook Stumble Upon del.icio.us Digg Email Barack Obama speaks in Muncie, Ind., where he again defended his claim Saturday that some Americans turn to issues like guns and religion out of bitterness over lost jobs. (AP Photo) <!-- No Summary -->
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as Obama , last time I checked those were not traditions but rights! I need a t-shirt like Melbo's. Yeah, the one he wore to the build.
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" (Religion is the opiate of the people) [Karl Marx, 1843] .....they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them [Barack Obama, 2008]
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as WTF with Clinton's response? "People who believe in the second ammendment believe it is a Constitutional right." Really, it's nothing more than our "belief?"
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as Better get your "hunting" gear stocked up on before 2009.
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as With his own "Far too clever by half" mouth, he has unmasked what he really is and what his Campaign is trying to cover up: a socialist at best, a traitor to our American core beliefs in certaintude. Now the Rev. Wright and his Wifey Machelle's remarks are in a proper context and his own 2004 comments so verify that hes is a Socialist.... He has just attacked his liberal voting base but does not realize the cost will be paid in November when the socialist press can not cover for him and he is rejected. He has migrated to radicals and radical causes for his adult life but we are called racist if we are so predujiced as to quote his own words. If this be racism, let us make the most of it and repeat his own words and those of his role models, Marx and Lennin as taught by his first mentor Saul Lowensky. If we are going to have rage riots when he gets his butt legally kicked, let us see who survives. Those of us who are careful, prudent, skilled and inventoried or those who want to burn their own houses down then think they will burn and loot ours. They do not know what it is like to kick over a hornet' nest.. Yellow Jackets are treated with respect and caution here in Georgia as one may get more that one expects messing with them.. Overbore
Re: Obama on Guns and Religion: ‘I Didn’t Say It as Well as Obama didn't mean to say that people in small towns in Pennsylvania cling to guns and religion because they are scared of the economic troubles. What he meant was, "Them poor dumb hicks run like scared little wabbits when we elites start talking about globalization, socialism, and racial hate filled preaching, so they want to shoot us and pray for a good aim." Here all along I thought I just enjoyed my religion and guns since I was a kid. But I like his idea about praying for a steady aim on global elites.
