Obama's Lama Problem

[tishaLA]

Interesting piece from Michael Berube on TPM:

...I just want to note this little curio from today’s papers. It’s a McClatchy Newspapers item filed by one Margaret Talev, and it graces the front page of my own hometown paper, the Centre Daily Times. In it, Ms. Talev visits Hazelton, PA, which, despite being the ancestral home of Obama Girl (I did not know that!), is largely representative of Hillary Clinton’s eastern-PA stronghold. Come with us now to Jimmy’s Quick Lunch, where folks are talking to Ms. Talev about what's on their minds:

Of Obama, Duser said: "I'm not crazy about voting for a colored guy, but that's not why I don't support Obama. I'm not prejudiced. I just like Hillary."

A couple tables over, Jean Fetterman, a foster grandparent, said of Clinton: "Oh, I love her. She's a very intelligent person, and she has her husband who went through this."

She scoffs at the idea of voting for Obama: "I don't want to be a Muslim!" She looks dubious when told Obama is Christian. "Then why did he go see what's-his-name over in Iraq, that Lama?"

...Sigh. But there you have it– this is now Clinton’s base. This is why the Clinton campaign has been making such strange and credibility-destroying arguments in the past couple of weeks: because those arguments are "credibility-destroying" only among high-information voters. Here, by contrast, are the firewall voters; these are the people the campaign is talking to and depending on. People who might be convinced that Barack Arrogant Obama wasn’t really a real law professor like he says he was. People who can be convinced that Obama thugs are trying to prevent them from voting and participating in our great American democracy. People who think Hussein Obama X is Muslim and that Jeremiah Wright will burn this mother to the ground. And, not least, people who fear that Obama will turn them into a llama

[leftstreet]

1. awww.....

[Cheap_Trick]

22. look!

it's Dolly Llama

[LSK]

2. what on earth is she even referring to???

:shrug:

[tishaLA]

3. Why is she?

[LSK]

8. who is the Lama???

:shrug:

[tishaLA]

9. Oh I think the Dalai Lama

It's an uninformed voter who conflates everything "foreign" into the same xenophobic rubric.

[dchill]

28. "xenophobic rubric..."

Stupe soup.

[Shakespeare]

4. I read that earlier this morning.

The ignorant and the bigoted seem to go hand in hand, and it sickens me that we apparently have so many in our party.

[ieoeja]

12. But you know what Adali Stevenson said about every intelligent person in the US voting for him.

"But I need a majority to win."

[DJ13]

5. these are the people the campaign is talking to and depending on

:rofl:

[NYCGirl]

6. ....

[madaboutharry]

7. "Sigh"

That is the best word to describe the situation.

[SoxFan]

10. Hillary's new firewall

[thewiseguy]

11. Obama should spend alot of time talking with these folks I guess

[DeeDeeNY]

13. Oh of course, the lama

Wasn't that part of a song -- "rama lama ding dong" -- back in the day??

:shrug:

[MyNameGoesHere]

14. you are a pompous ass aren't you?

Taking the comments of a couple yokels in PA. and saying this is all Hillary and her supporters are? Racists inbreds who cannot think or act in a civil way? Oh darn i forgot, you are the supporter of the man that preaches unity, All of us are Americans, and changing the way Washington works. You almost got me with that inclusiveness you showed.

[tishaLA]

16. I can't imagine who you're addressing

The author of the TPM post? The author of the newspaper article? The editors who published it? Me?

And for the record, nobody has said "this is all Hillary and her supporters are." Berube says that this is a firewall strategy, not that everyone who supports her is that way.

[MyNameGoesHere]

17. Ok clarify for me

is this your addendum or from the author?


Sigh. But there you have it– this is now Clinton’s base. This is why the Clinton campaign has been making such strange and credibility-destroying arguments in the past couple of weeks: because those arguments are "credibility-destroying" only among high-information voters. Here, by contrast, are the firewall voters; these are the people the campaign is talking to and depending on. People who might be convinced that Barack Arrogant Obama wasn’t really a real law professor like he says he was. People who can be convinced that Obama thugs are trying to prevent them from voting and participating in our great American democracy. People who think Hussein Obama X is Muslim and that Jeremiah Wright will burn this mother to the ground. And, not least, people who fear that Obama will turn them into a llama

[tishaLA]

20. Maybe you should have clicked on the link

and the answer would be clear to you. It's from Michael Berube, Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Pennsylvania State University.

[Usrename]

23. Can't you tell?

Your talking to a member of the Clinton firewall.

[bigtree]

25. no one in the Clinton 'base' posted this broad brush smear of Clinton supporters

Yet, I refuse to characterize this effort here and in the article as representative of Obama's 'base'.

[Usrename]

27. Lighten up!

Chill out!

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[woolldog]

18. Here's the McClatchy Article on this:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/margaret_talev/story/32327.html

[olkaz]

19. "I don't want to be a Muslim!"

Let's be serious for a second here.

We all have these stupid people in our families. Let's just keep banging in the drum and hope they eventually hear it.

[rox63]

21. If you spin enough BS, someone out there will believe it n/t

[bigtree]

24. 'this is now Clinton’s base'

what a despicable accusation.

[dchill]

30. The quote is Michael Berube, from TPM...

in case you didn't know. Here's more:

Sigh. But there you have it– this is now Clinton’s base. This is why the Clinton campaign has been making such strange and credibility-destroying arguments in the past couple of weeks: because those arguments are "credibility-destroying" only among high-information voters. Here, by contrast, are the firewall voters; these are the people the campaign is talking to and depending on. People who might be convinced that Barack Arrogant Obama wasn’t really a real law professor like he says he was. People who can be convinced that Obama thugs are trying to prevent them from voting and participating in our great American democracy. People who think Hussein Obama X is Muslim and that Jeremiah Wright will burn this mother to the ground. And, not least, people who fear that Obama will turn them into a llama.

I know these people. They live all around me here in W. PA.

Do you, can you, refute it?

[Debi]

26. Tina come get your food...

[dchill]

31. Ha!

That is one of my favorite movies! :)

[baldguy]

29. The future is being held hostage by the lowest common denominator.

Hillary is going after the people who enthusiastically voted for Bush