The Genesis of “Bittergate”
April 16th, 2008 at 12:13am Mark Noonan
Bill Bradley over at Pajamas Media has the whole story of how Obama’s comments managed to make it on to Huffington Post, and then out to the rest of the world. It is a fascinating story of how the New Media works, and how the unwary can be tripped up by it, some times quite unintentionally. As it turns out, the story was brought up by an ardent Obama supporter whom, I’ll bet, didn’t find anything particularly wrong with what Obama said, but who did have some doubts about publishing it. At any rate, what comes through quite clearly is that Obama is mostly mad that it got out - and it seems that it got out mostly because Obama’s fellow elitists didn’t even realise what a boneheaded statement Obama had made.
The lesson here is in the absolute necessity of being honest at all times - had Obama not been trying to hide his contempt for the unwashed masses, then this story would have had far less impact. Of course, if Obama had been forthright about his genuine views on America and Americans, he wouldn’t have survived the Iowa caucuses. Honesty is the best policy - unless you’re a liberal, ’cause a liberal - as a liberal - can’t win a national election.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Corruption, Democrats
15 Comments
1. Gaijin | April 16th, 2008 at 12:20 am
On the menu in November, CROW PIE. Don’t worry Mark, I will save you the biggest slice.
Peace, Gaijin
2. Diana Powe | April 16th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Of course, the fact that the imaginary truth about how Senator Obama is an elitist who hates small town America hasn’t actually shown any effects on the polls in Pennsylvania and that his fundraising there is still very strong won’t impede Mark’s reliance about its “significance”.
3. Dennis | April 16th, 2008 at 2:59 am
April 16, 2008 | EXETER, Penn. — Shawn Erfman lives in a trailer park, listens to Rush Limbaugh and voted for George W. Bush — twice. Over the weekend, he heard all about what Barack Obama had to say about “bitter” Pennsylvanians like himself. And he’s mad as hell.
Not at the guy you might expect, though. “It’s f*cking true,” he said Monday night. “Everybody’s bitter for one reason or another. So they’re crucifying him because he spoke the truth? Cause he’s not saying something that’s going to suck up to people and kiss ass? Because, what, he slipped and accidentally spoke the truth, instead of kissing butt?”
A 37-year-old mechanic for a construction company, Erfman won’t be voting Republican this time around. While he isn’t a registered Democrat and can’t vote in next week’s primary, he’d be happy to go for Obama in November…
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/16/bitter/
4. Christian Wright | April 16th, 2008 at 5:54 am
I am bitter too.
I am bitter of trade policies that are unfair to the American workers.
I am bitter that unions are being busted..
I am bitter about lead paint in children’s toys.
I am bitter about poison in the foods we import.
I am bitter about down cattle making it into the food supply.
I am bitter that the FDA is run by a Monsanto.
I am bitter that the Justice Department is headed by political hacks.
I am bitter that 9/11 and the WOT are being used as an excuse to laundry money out of the treasury and into the hands of Bush’s pals.
I am bitter that Bush let 10,000 people die in Katrina.
The list is not endless, but nearly so.
5. Plantation Owner | April 16th, 2008 at 6:55 am
CW….
You can squarely place the blame of most of your list on the previous liberal administration with their pushing and passing the foreign trade deals especially those from CHINA.
The rest is just paranoid liberal mass conspiracy.
Don’t forget you are also very bitter about the Catholic teachers at your daughter’s CATHOLIC private school teaching your daughter the THEORY of god without your permission!!!!!!
6. majoriot | April 16th, 2008 at 10:54 am
“Honesty is the best policy”
This from a Bush supporter?
It would be wonderful to discuss the topic. However, your unmitigated hypocisy continues to overshadow your arguments and confounds any discussion.
7. SteaM | April 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
“It must truly be horrible living in the United States these days.”
Well, not exactly horrible. Most people are not moving forward in terms of their income which is why so many are losing their homes. Some people can afford this. Some cannot. And some will lose everything.
8. SteaM | April 16th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
But, as Mark Noonan admitted to us recently, he is one of the ones who will be able to afford it.
Since he says that the raise in food and fuel costs have not affected him at all.
That is the reality he is shielded from. The rest of us are slowly feeling pinched until we cannot breath.
9. Joe | April 16th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
PINCHED? My local gas station increased the price 11 cents… in TWO DAYS.
Granted, the prices here in Mass are a touch lower than the national average, the price went from 3.11 to 3.22 from Monday to today.
I’m pissed I didn’t fill up Monday!!
How “people” don’t feel that is completly beyond me.
10. SteaM | April 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Well, Joe, apparently Mark doesn’t feel it.
One has to wonder how this affects his view of life in the country for the average American.
11. Dennis | April 16th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Does Mark drive a car? Maybe he’s a closet green who grows all his own food and bicycles everywhere; that might explain why the cost of food and gas doesn’t touch him.
Or maybe he’s so wealthy from sales of “Caucus of Corruption” he’ll never have to worry about money again. It’s all the rage among the political cognoscenti, you know. There’s a whole shelf dedicated to it at Barnes and Noble, it’s at the Walmart, it’s by the checkout line at the supermarket - you can’t even get on the DC Metro without finding at least a half dozen people reading it.
Heck, he’s not bitter. I saw Mark sipping a latte with Oprah at the Starbucks on Connecticut Avenue the other day, and I’m pretty sure he even picked up the tab.
12. SteaM | April 16th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I’ll safely bet that because of gifts from lobbiests many of our congress members don’t feel it either.
They get their food and rides for free from special interests.
13. congressive | April 16th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Wow, you people all seem so “bitter”. :-P
If I’d have married a hundred-millionaire beer heiress or gotten $15 million dollars for a crappy autobiography, I’d be a LOT less bitter myself.
14. Sean Taylor | April 17th, 2008 at 2:38 am
‘Bittergate’ ..? Not that bitter !
If you’re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama
If you haven’t done so yet, please write a message to each of your state’s superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
It takes a moment, but what’s a few minutes now worth to get Obama in office?!
Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway
them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It’s that easy…
Clinton Supporters:
It takes a moment, but what’s a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?!
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It’s that easy…
we’ll make it REALLY easy and include a list of names, addresses, and affiliations of superdelegates from each state including your state.
15. JPL | April 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
“Of course, the fact that the imaginary truth about how Senator Obama is an elitist who hates small town America hasn’t actually shown any effects on the polls in Pennsylvania and that his fundraising there is still very strong won’t impede Mark’s reliance about its ’significance’.”
Wrong again, DP. The only Pennsylvania poll that mattered — i.e., the Pa. primary — shows that Obama’s comments in San Francisco did “have an effect”, as evidenced by his crushing (55% - 45%) defeat on Tuesday. But hey, let’s hope he keeps using this terrific “winning tactic,” all the way to his landslide defeat in November!