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Obama: 'Bitter' Words Were Ill-Chosen

Posted Apr 12, 08 1:34 PM CDT in Politics 

(Newser) – Barack Obama acknowledged today that he’d chosen his words poorly when he said small-town working-class voters are “bitter” and “cling to guns and religion.” “I didn’t say it as well as I should have,” Obama said, but he insisted that working-class frustration is real. Hillary Clinton–who called the comments “elitist and out of touch”–and John McCain immediately pounced.

“Lately there has been a little typical sort of political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true,” Obama said today. “A whole bunch of folks in small towns...are bitter," he said. "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.”

Source Associated Press

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Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., today. Indiana holds its Democratic primary early next month.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., today.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., today. He needs to win over working-class voters in Indiana and Pennsylvania.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting in Terre Haute, Ind., yesterday. Obama also needs to win over voters in Pennsylvania, which holds its Democratic primary this month.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Obama responds to "bitterness" furor.   (vericool88)

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Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • Pennsylvania primary • Indiana primary • blue-collar vote • small towns


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