"Bitter" Pill to Swallow

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August 2008
- It's Not Race That's Holding Him Back
  
  New York Times | Aug 25, 08 12:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama goes into this week's convention in Denver with only the slimmest of leads—or, as some polls suggest, trailing John McCain. In a year when it's widely assumed that any Democratic candidate should be a shoo-in, many in the press have suggested that Obama's race is costing him support. Not so, writes Matt Bai in the New York Times , who says that the candidate "faces genuine obstacles that are more salient than skin color." More »
July 2008
- NRA Plots Multimillion-Dollar Campaign Against Obama
  
  Politico | Jul 1, 08 11:29 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The NRA has budgeted $40 million for the fall elections, with more than one-third of it set aside to spotlight Barack Obama's gun policies. The ad blitz will deny Obama the opportunity to neutralize the issue, Politico reports. A rep says the NRA will target 15 battleground states. “We look forward to showing him ‘bitter,’” he said. More »
June 2008
- Blogger on Trail Scoops MSM
  
  New Yorker | Jun 16, 08 7:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Two of the biggest recent campaign scoops—Barack Obama's "bitter" bomb and Bill Clinton's "scumbag" tirade—originated not with the mainstream media but with a 61-year-old Oakland resident who blogs for the Huffington Post. The New Yorker visits with Mayhill Fowler, who ruminates about her exclusives and expresses a few regrets. More »
May 2008
- How Obama Won Blue Collars in Wisconsin
  
  Salon | May 1, 08 7:52 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Given Barack Obama’s much-ballyhooed problems with white, working-class voters, it's instructive to remember that he clobbered Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by 17 points in February, notes Mike Madden in Salon. If he can reconnect with those voters in Indiana—another state close to his Illinois home—he could wrap up the nomination. That is, of course, much easier said than done. More »
April 2008
- Michelle Touts Obamas as 'Just Folks'
  
  Chicago Tribune | Apr 20, 08 6:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Michelle Obama is hammering home a message that she and her husband are just “regular folks" of humble backgrounds. She has become a key weapon as the candidate continues to be buffeted by criticisms that he's "elitist" in the wake of his characterization of rural America as Bible-thumping, gun-toting and "bitter." Michelle Obama is focusing on her upbringing on Chicago’s South Side and Barack’s as the son of a poor single mom. More »
- George Will Knows the Working Class?
  
  New Republic | Apr 18, 08 7:37 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - George Will knows blue collar America? Probably not, Jonathan Chait writes in the New Republic , but the "fabulously wealthy, bow tie-wearing, pretentious" pundit still blasted Barack Obama for saying rural voters "cling to" firearms and religion. And Will is not alone—US leaders have long treated blue collar workers as "a victim-hero class" with "moral superiority" they don't have. More »
- Blue-Collar Philly Paper Taps Obama
  
  Philadelphia Daily News | Apr 17, 08 12:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Philadelphia Daily News endorsed Barack Obama today, calling the Democratic choice one “between the past and the future” and saying the campaign season has been a great indication of eventual governing style. Obama's performance proves his administration will be “well-managed, inclusive … freer of the corrupting influence of big-money donors and corporate interests.” The paper says Obama’s vision is “badly” needed. More »
- 'A Bitter Man Who Clings to His Guns?'
  
  Boston Globe | Apr 17, 08 11:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - While the Democratic candidates were grinding away at each other last night, some other normally stiff shirts were loosening up at the Radio and Television Correspondents annual dinner in DC. The high points: Dressed in hunting hat and shades (no naked lady), Dick Cheney spoofed Barack Obama’s blue-collar gaffe (“Obviously you’re not the kind to look down on a bitter man who clings to his guns”) and Hillary Clinton’s whiskey shot (“Looked like she replaced Mark Penn with Johnnie Walker.’) More »
- 'Screw 'Em,' Hillary Said of Working-Class Whites in '95
  
  Huffington Post | Apr 17, 08 8:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Hillary Clinton has criticized Barack Obama for talking down to low-income voters, but the Huffington Post digs up a quote from 1995 that appears to offer a different stance. Strategizing on how to win back working-class voters in the South, she told her husband: "Screw 'em. You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them." More »
- No Bittergate Bounce in Polls
  
  Talking Points Memo | Apr 15, 08 4:35 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Several new Pennsylvania polls confirm a slight shift in Hillary Clinton’s direction, but not one substantial enough to suggest Barack Obama’s “bitter” gaffe has deeply affected support. CNN’s poll of polls shows Clinton’s lead rising only two points (from a four- to six-point margin). Half of respondents disagree with Obama’s controversial comments—but only 33% of Dems say they were offended. More »
- Deep Inside 'Bittergate'
  
  Real Clear Politics | Apr 15, 08
  
  It's one of the great ironies of the campaign. The resolutely pro-Obama Huffington Post, the site Barack Obama chose last month to put out his statement on Rev. Jeremiah Wright's outrageous comments, this month is the source of one of his biggest campaign crises. Its namesake co-owner, the conservative-turned-liberal commentator profiled recently in the New York Times as "Citizen Huff," Arianna Huffington, was on David Geffen's yacht in Tahiti when the deal went down.
- Barack Obama and "bitter" voters
  
  Salon | Apr 15, 08
  
  By calling small-town Americans "bitter," Obama has deepened a long-standing rift in the Democratic base. The party's success in November depends on healing it.
- Obama Was Right About Pennsylvanian Bitterness
  
  Philadelphia Daily News | Apr 14, 08 4:31 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama was “basically right on target” about Pennsylvania bitterness, the product of one small-town household says: John Baer, in the Philadelphia Daily News , writes that the people he grew up around were, and still are, angry. And they have a right to be, Baer adds: Blue-collar Pennsylvanians see their interests ignored by gutless politicians beholden to special interests. More »
- Bitter Schism Dominates Faith Forum
  
  Los Angeles Times | Apr 14, 08 6:48 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Secular politics won the day at last night's "Compassion Forum" in Pennsylvania, the LA Times reports, despite the Democratic contenders' resolve to present a united front on faith. Hillary Clinton used her pulpit at Messiah College to sermonize against her rival's comments on "bitter" religious voters, again calling the line "elitist, out of touch, and, frankly, patronizing." More »
- Obama Rips Clinton's Reaction to 'Bittergate'
  
  Associated Press | Apr 14, 08 4:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - As Barack Obama reiterated that he regretted calling American heartlanders gun loving and bitter, he also lashed Hillary Clinton for her reaction backing hunting, AP reports. “She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen,” Obama told a Pennsylvania audience yesterday. “She’s talking like she’s Annie Oakley. She's out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday." More »
- 'Bitter' Voters Hand Obama 9-Point Lead
  
  Gallup | Apr 13, 08 7:29 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama is holding a 9-point lead over Hillary Clinton despite the uproar over "Bittergate." He is ahead by 50% to 41%, a margin he has maintained with little change for the past week, including Friday and yesterday. Meanwhile, he and Clinton are both in statistical dead heats with John McCain. Any fallout from Obama's rema

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Stories

It's Not Race That's Holding Him Back

NRA Plots Multimillion-Dollar Campaign Against Obama

Blogger on Trail Scoops MSM

How Obama Won Blue Collars in Wisconsin

Michelle Touts Obamas as 'Just Folks'

George Will Knows the Working Class?

Blue-Collar Philly Paper Taps Obama

'A Bitter Man Who Clings to His Guns?'

'Screw 'Em,' Hillary Said of Working-Class Whites in '95

No Bittergate Bounce in Polls

Deep Inside 'Bittergate'

Barack Obama and "bitter" voters

Obama Was Right About Pennsylvanian Bitterness

Bitter Schism Dominates Faith Forum

Obama Rips Clinton's Reaction to 'Bittergate'

'Bitter' Voters Hand Obama 9-Point Lead