by Jill Zuckman
Sen. John McCain just responded to Sen. Barack Obama's comments on the people living in small towns.
He said the following to the annual editor's meeting of the Associated Press in Washington:
"I would like to respond briefly to the comments one of my opponents made the other day about the psychology and political mindset of Americans living in small towns and other areas that have experienced the loss of industrial jobs.
"During the Great Depression, with many millions of Americans out of work and the country suffering the worst economic crisis in our history, there rose from small towns, rural communities, inner cities, a generation of Americans who fought to save the world from despotism and mass murder, and came home to build the wealthiest, strongest and most generous nation on earth. They were not born with the advantages others in our country enjoyed. They suffered the worst during the Depression. But it had not shaken their faith in and fidelity to America and its founding political ideals. Nor had it destroyed their confidence that America and their own lives could be made better. Nor did they turn to their religious faith and cultural traditions out of resentment and a feeling of powerlessness to affect the course of government or pursue prosperity. On the contrary, their faith had given generations of their families purpose and meaning, as it does today. And their appreciation of traditions like hunting was based in nothing other than their contribution to the enjoyment of life.
"In my other profession and the war I served in, the country relied overwhelmingly on Americans from these same communities to defend us. As Tocqueville discovered when he traveled America two hundred years ago, they are the heart and soul of this country, the foundation of our strength and the primary authors of its essential goodness. They are our inspiration, and I look to them for guidance and strength. No matter their personal circumstances, they believed in this country. They revered its past, but most importantly they believed in its future greatness, a greatness they themselves would create. They never forgot who they were, where they came from, and what is possible in America, a country founded on an idea and not on class, ethnic or sectarian identity. And America must not and will not forget them.
"Next week, I'll begin a tour of places in America that do not frequently see a candidate for President. They are places far removed from the prosperity that is enjoyed elsewhere in America. I want to tell people living there that there must not be any forgotten parts of America; any forgotten Americans. Hope in America is not based in delusion, but in the faith that everything is possible in America. The time for pandering and false promises is over. It is time for action. It is time for change, but the right kind of change; change that trusts in the strength of free people and free markets; change that doesn't return to policies that empower government to make our choices for us, but that works to ensure that we have choices to make for ourselves. For we have always trusted Americans to build from the choices they make for themselves, a safer, stronger and more prosperous country than the one they inherited.
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Comments
"Next week, I'll begin a tour of places in America that do not frequently see a candidate for President. They are places far removed from the prosperity that is enjoyed elsewhere in America.
Where is this prosperity he speaks of? Fantasyland? Of all the candidates to take aim at Obama, it certainly isn't McBush. He is so out of touch with real America it is scary. He is very good at useing Americas patriotic feelings....the same as Cheney and Bush used them.
He is an empty suit with one large flag pin on it.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | April 14, 2008 10:59 AM
I think it's really funny how McCain can take any topic and somehow bring it around to talk about war or his military experience. This guy really loves his military conflicts...its seems as if he can only analyze the balance of the issues by the use of war analogies. Maybe that's how he finally formulated a plan for a mortgage bailout...one of his aides used the Risk gameboard to break it down. So far the bitter comment has been declared as elitist, out-of-touch and patronizing...shall we now add unpatriotic to the list?
Posted by: Peter | April 14, 2008 11:02 AM
McCain demonstrates again that he's the only candidate who truly understands and cares about the american people.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 11:04 AM
McCain demonstrates again that he's the only candidate who truly understands and cares about the american people.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 11:04 AM
The only one who cares about the American people Jeff?
I know your worship of McCain know no bounds, and that you see him as an absolutely flawless, omniscient man-god, but, do you really believe he's the only candidate that cares about the American people? Are you really that besotted? Is your love of McCain so jealous that you can see no good in any other candidate?
Posted by: Luke | April 14, 2008 11:30 AM
Senator( the Keating Five) McCain shouldn't be preaching to anyone. Yeah, he cares about the average American, like President Bush does. You would think that Senator McCain would put down Bush's play book and make his own, but, instead we are hearing the same, tired, old cliches that got Bush reelected. Maybe they they will fool us a third time. I hope not, but one never knows about elections!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | April 14, 2008 12:03 PM
McCain, like Reagan, believes in the American people to make their own decisions, keep the money they earn, stand responsible and accountable for their actions, and collectively, acting in their own best interests grounded in the moral tenets of our Judeo-Christian heritage, keep our country and our economy growing on solid ground. That is a message of both hope and affirmation that resonates with me. That doesn't make him "an absolutely flawless, omniscient man-god". He has his warts (i.e. the campaign finance masquerade), but I like his proclaimed course for America to take.
The two remaining Democratic candidates want to continue the 60-year liberal tradition of building a nanny state to tell us what to do, how to think, how to behave, etc. to dumb us down into a dependent constituency. I don't see how that makes us strong as individuals or as a country. I fear such a vision and see very little in how it has made us a better country. Doesn't mean they don't have good policy ideas or personal character.
Can we discuss and disagree without the vitriol and personal animosity? The debate and exchange of ideas in an open society is one of our greatest strengths. Let's keep it honest, real and respectful.
Posted by: Greg James | April 14, 2008 12:18 PM
Hey Luke, I can see the good in the other candidates but watching the democrats right now attack each other about who's "bitter" and who isn't strikes me as downright childish. McCain is doing the right thing and talking directly to the voters involved instead of talking at them like Obama and Hillary are with their shots about who hates guns more or who has more of a connection to Scranton, Pa. (is there anywhere that Hillary's family hasn't lived?).
It speaks VOLUMES that McCain is going to these areas and taking questions from all the audiences he meets with. Including the inner city groups that aren't traditional republican voters. While McCain talks to all comers Obama doesn't even take questions from reporters at most of his events let alone regular Americans. That certainly tells me something.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 1:04 PM
It speaks VOLUMES that McCain is going to these areas and taking questions from all the audiences he meets with.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 1:04 PM
What speaks volumes is that McBush somehow won the GOP nominee, yet he hasn't even got their support yet. He is in a position unfortunately that the rest have folded. The GOPs lack of good candidates has put him in a position where he should be polling head and shoulders above the dems. But he isn't.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | April 14, 2008 1:16 PM
McCain demonstrates again that he's the only candidate who truly understands and cares about the american people.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 11:04 AM
Jeff surely you don't really believe that ONLY McWar "truly understands and cares about the american people." That is a ridiculous statement. You may now return to kissing John McBush's derrière!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpVcB5vdMg&feature=related
Posted by: Logic Prisoner | April 14, 2008 1:43 PM
"THE 305 MILLION DOLLAR MAN SPEAKS"
"ELITIST" NAAAW!
OBAMA IS NO "ELITIST"
DID YOU SEE HIS COMBINED TAX RETURNS.
DID YOU SEE THE CLINTONS COMBINED TAX RETURNS. 15 MILLION A YEAR OVER 7 YEARS IS NO "ELITIST" THEY JUST AREN'T BROKE LIKE THE AVERAGE AMERICAN.
NO YOU HAVE TO HAVE A COMBINED INCOME OF 305 MILLION DOLLARS, THEN YOU CAN BE CALLED AN ELITIST. CINDY AND I, WELL, LETS JUST SAY, I DON'T THINK I'M CLINGING TO ANYTHING, NOT WIFE, WIVES, WOMEN, OR TELECOMMUNICATIONS PORTABILITIES PRACTICES.
AS "THE CHAIRMAN"
AN ELITIST TITLE, BUT NO ELITIST.
OF COURSE I DON'T CARE IF YOU CLING TO A GUN OR DON'T CLING TO MY GOVERNEMENT.
OF COURSE I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE POOR AND CLING TO CHARITIES FOR HELP DAILY. LESS GOVERNMENT, LESS HELP IS NOT BEING AN ELITIST, IT IS HAVING 304 MILLION DOLLARS TO FALL BACK ON DURING CATASTROPHIC TIMES. LIKE KATRINA, STORMS GOING ON RIGHT NOW FOR THAT MATTER.
THERE IS NO GUARD, THERE IS NO FEMA.
OBAMA'S NO ELITIST, HE CLUNG TO HIS FAITH, HE CLUNG TO HIS DESPAIR, HE MAY HAVE BLAMED THE GOVERNMENT. NOT ME, THIS GOVERNMENT HAS TREATED ME LIKE AN "ELITIST" EVER SINCE I WAS BORN IN "COLO SOLO"
IN 1936 BEFORE IT WAS A COUNTRY OR JUST "OCCUPIED" BY AN AMERICAN BOAT!
AMERICANS ARE NO ELITIST BY CLINGING TO THE "CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES" THE AVERAGE AMERICAN DOESN'T HAVE 305 MILLION DOLLARS IN A HOUSEHOLD TO FALL BACK ON WHEN THE GOVERNMENT SELLS YOUR MORTGAGE TO A FOREIGN "PRIVATE EQUITY" ACCOUNT, WITH NO LAWS GOVERNING IT.
THE AVERAGE AMERICAN DIDN'T BUY A 4 MILLION DOLLAR CONDO LAST YEAR BECAUSE HE WAS AN "ELITIST" I DID.
AND TOOK PUBLIC FINANCING.
I'M THE 304 MILLION DOLLAR MAN, AND I'M NO ELITIST. I'M JUST A RICH MAN WHO COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE POOR, THE MAMED, THE VETERAN, THE QWEST IN MANKIND AND WOMANKIND ALIKE.
SO IF THAT IS WHAT OBAMA WAS TALKING ABOUT, HE HAS A LOT TO LEARN ABOUT THE "ELITIST" OF THIS COUNTRY. I THINK HE SHOULD JUST RECOGNIZE HIS COMMENTS WERE IN POOR RHETORICAL TEXT BUT UNDERSTANDABLE BY MY STANDARDS BY FAR.
Posted by: Roger Morris | April 14, 2008 2:10 PM
What about the elitist president that got us through the depression?
You know, the president that came from one of the wealthiest and most prestigious families in New York; the one who was always going to Europe when he was a kid; the one who went to a Massachusetts boarding school; the one who lived in luxury at Harvard; the one who went to Columbia law and became a corporate lawyer.
You know, the most elitist president we've ever had: FDR.
Could he get elected today? He was far more elitist than Obama.
Posted by: chad_broski | April 14, 2008 3:47 PM
It's pathetic the attacks you'll allow people to make on other posters on this site. You should be ashamed of yourself, Silva. Why even put the disclaimer on this thing?
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 4:02 PM
Bill, your statement is flat out wrong. It's the dems who should be polling "head and shoulders above" McCain. It's very difficicult for one party to keep the white house for 12 years. It's even more difficult to do it in a difficult economy while at war with an unpopular sitting president. The fact that both democratic contenders are seen as bad for America is what's keeping McCain in the race and even ahead in some polls.
Posted by: Jeff | April 14, 2008 4:44 PM