“Here’s a guy who says he shouldn’t be stereotyped, but yet he stereotyped us.”

[2rth2pwr]

That line sums it up perfectly.

Southern Democrat: Obama's 'got a bunch of explaining to do'
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/12/southern-democrat-obamas-got-a-bunch-of-explaining-to-do/

MISHAWAKA, Indiana (CNN) — Dave ‘Mudcat’ Saunders, the Virginia-based Democratic strategist credited with helping big-name politicians appeal to rural voters, said Saturday Barack Obama has “got a bunch of explaining to do” over his claims that economically-frustrated Americans “cling to guns or religion” when they get “bitter.”

“I’m a southern boy myself,” Saunders told CNN by phone. “I don’t have a gun because I’m bitter, it’s because I’ve always had one. I don’t pray to God because I’m bitter. I pray to God because it makes my life better.”

Saunders was an adviser to former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, and he wrote on The Huffington Post in January that Edwards was the only Democrat with the potential to defeat McCain in a general election match-up.

The consultant is also credited with helping former Virginia governor Mark Warner win election in 2001 by moving socially-conservative voters into the Democratic fold. Warner sponsored a vehicle in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series during that campaign, a move attributed to Saunders.

Obama’s advisers, including the state’s current Gov. Tim Kaine, see Virginia as a state Obama can win this fall. Although Obama won the state’s primary on Feb. 12 overwhelmingly, he lost the 9th congressional district in rural southwestern Virginia to Hillary Clinton.

Saunders said “rural America will be crucial in this election.”

“The one thing that I preached during this whole deal is we can’t be stereotyping anybody,” he said. “Well, Barack Obama just stereotyped my people out in rural America.”

“Here’s a guy who says he shouldn’t be stereotyped, but yet he stereotyped us.”

[anonymous171]

1. Meawhile Hillary says no one is bitter. Move along, nothing to see here.

[Mezzo]

37. Actually, she didn't. But that wouldn't stop the cult. nt

[GarbagemanLB]

2. So I guess he thinks Hillary isn't electable either.

[virtualobserver]

7. she is an experienced "cottage" hunter

[NJSecularist]

3. Sounds like somebody is bitter that Obama handed Edwards his ass in Iowa. n/t

[virtualobserver]

4. more divisive spin from team Hillary

with her 53% DISapproval rating......her only "hope" lies in divisive spin.

[Submariner]

5. Mudcat needs to get out more and get a real job

then maybe he'll get a taste of the 'bitter' after over 7 years of the dickhead we have had to put up with out here in the working or underemployed class.

[southlandshari]

6. Mudcat Saunders

doesn't speak for all of rural America. Not even close.

Hell, I've never even heard of the guy. He is a "Democratic strategist credited with helping big-name politicians appeal to rural voters", right?

Have any of those he's "helped" actually gotten elected?

:shrug:

Nice try, though.

[2rth2pwr]

11. Saunders was also a senior advisor in the 2006 U.S. Senate campaign of Jim Webb in Virginia.

He also helped Mark Warner get elected governor of a red state.

http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/57298

[southlandshari]

20. He also believes

that John Edwards is the only Democrat with the potential to defeat McCain in a general election match-up, according to the article quoted in your OP.

Does anyone really believe that?

:shrug:


Sorry, but I give the voters in Virginia a little more credit in their political decisions than to attribute Mark Warner's win to his sponsorship of a truck in a NASCAR event during campaign season. If that is the best Saunders has to offer, he is of no interest to me.

[Andrea]

46. It's not just his belief

Polling prior to him dropping out showed that Edwards was the only Dem candidate who could beat all the Republican candidates in head to head comparisons.

[Andrea]

45. A little advice

Using your own ignorance to buttress an argument that someone else is obscure never works.

Also, if you aren't going to read the article, at least read the OP. It says right there that he helped Mark Warner win. Your snarky question, "Have any of those he's "helped" actually gotten elected?" just makes you look stupid.

[izzie]

8. I think I am at a loss. I think he said what is going on.

I guess this mess has been going on to long for me. I read to many books and not as many PC sites as I should.

[LiberalZrule]

9. This is who he is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%22Mudcat%22_Saunders and make up your own minds.

[BenDavid]

10. The Obama activists, that is, the extreme left wing of the party

(MoveOn, Democracy for America, DailyKos, Keith Olbermann etc) are threatening to do to the Democratic Party what they did to us in the Connecticut Senate race. They got Ned Lamont to beat Lieberman in the primaries only to see the former get wiped out in the real race. Now, since I don't care much for Lieberman I tought that was rather cute. Big mistake. I had no idea how malicious these guys are. Their sunny fronts like Politico and MSNBC are trying to shut Hillary down. I say to all those who have been penalized for fighting tough battles. To all those who have paid their dues only to see a cute, ambitious upstart stroll in and steal the show. To all those who favor substance over style. To all those who have had to work so hard only to see the tall and young and good-looking get the credit. To all those who are sick of seeing hard earned experience get wiped out by "charisma". To all of you: STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST OBAMA BEFORE HE TAKES THE COUNTRY DOWN WITH HIM!

[southlandshari]

19. You are way off base

Sorry to break it to you, but I'm a strong supporter of Barak Obama and I will never win any contests for most far-left extremist here or anywhere else.

I'm also not an idiot. I don't value style over substance. I don't give a shit what a candidate looks like, I just want to hear someone speak with conviction and heart rather than with calculated reliance on what political strategists think we want to hear.

I deserve a lot more credit than you are giving me. So do many other Obama supporters.

You need to take a deep breath and step back. Your panic is misplaced and unnecessary.

[patrice]

22. There is no extreme left wing in the Democratic Party, only just left of center.

The furthest left you get is Kucinich and whereas those folks might cooperate in the GE, because they have nowhere else to go, they DEFINITELY do not identify with Obama's centrist positions. Go ask one of them how far left they think Obama is.

This is the same crap folks were saying about Dr. Dean in '04, because he was running without the blessing of the DLC. We're supposed to be afraid of anything that doesn't come from the powers-that-be.

[indimuse]

30. maybe not...

But Obama sure surrounds himself with them...Ayers..Wright..Rezko(extreme "Wiseguy!")who's partners are extreme foreigners. THIS will be SO magnified IF Obama is the Nom..and he will lose for sure.

[NYCGirl]

32. What are "extreme foreigners"? Are the different than regular foreigners? NT

[indimuse]

34. fugitives!

you really must read more.

[NYCGirl]

42. From what? And are they different than Marc Rich? Or Vin Gupta?

Or Frank Giustra?

[patrice]

38. Obama is surrounding himself with Everyone. . .

except those who wish to exclude anyone else, which is the definition of the DLC and their functionaries.

[KoKo]

31. I understand your annoyance...but

The Politico is a RW Bush Buddy funded Rag...and MSNBC is GE...

I understand your annoyance with Move On, Daily Kos, KO, The Nation, and other (what we thought were Leftie Progressive) sites coming out early in support for Obama. I felt they jumped the gun and left many of their undecided readers and contributors out in the cold by insulting those who hadn't made up their minds about which candidate to support and who were still reeling from Edwards and Kucinich leaving the race.

I would say that proves that none of them were really "Left Progressive" but were much more "middle of the road" than we thought. Firedoglake folks who spurred the move agains Lieberman have NOT been on either the Obama or Clinton bandwagon. I would consider them the Real Left. I think after this primary is over we will see more clearly the "lines of demarcation" in the Democratic Party.

Just saying...

[patrice]

12. Everyone stereotypes everyone else; you can't function without it.

Without stereotyping you wouldn't have the vaguest idea of what appropriate behavior would be.

Anyone who says they don't stereotype others is lying or completely un-self-aware.

The question is whether, how and when one accepts exceptions and variations.

I must say that the assumption that everyone is supposed to be angry about what Obama said is itself a stereotype.

[2rth2pwr]

13. You must be a typical white person.

[patrice]

15. More or less. And your complaint about stereotyping is what? nt

[ginchinchili]

43. I disagree with your premise because...

...for one, it's insulting, and, two, you're bound to be wrong about too many of the people you're stereotyping. But what really bothers me is that Obama and his surrogates would be the first to pounce on Hillary, or anyone else, is someone stereotyped African Americans, or really anyone else, for that matter, where he saw an opportunity to score political points. It's the hypocrisy that angers me. I'm so damn sick of it and if Obama gets elected we'll see another big, fresh, round of it. He's a talented fake; nothing more. Haven't we had enough hypocrisy from Bush and his cronies?

[FrenchieCat]

14. Isn't MUDCAT the dude who believes only a White man can be elected President?

Isn't that a stereotype?

[ruggerson]

16. Did he really say that?

I'm more familiar with him from Warner's campaigns.

[FrenchieCat]

18. Uh....yeah! In a whole lot of words.......

[Tom Rinaldo]

33. Mudcat's one of the key Edward's advisors who went on record

strongly advising Edwards NOT to endorse Hillary Clinton:

"I can’t speak for John. I can say this that, you know, being a southerner, being a rural American who’s been completely devastated by the trade policies of the Clintons, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that he does not endorse Hillary Clinton."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/The_Mudcat_lobby_Stop_Hillary.html

[TML]

17. ROTFL!

Mudcat Saunders? The Mudcat Saunders who was a liabilty to John Edwards's campaign because of his beliefs? The Mudcat Saunders who coached a candidate against his opponent for renting to illegal immigrants? The Mudcat Saunders who thought Scooter Libby's perjury case happened because of his "celebrity"? The Mudcat Saunders who told us liberal bloggers to go to hell?

Sorry, but you better find a more credible person to prove your argument right. Mudcat's a Dixiecrat, the type of voter likely to vote for McCain over Obama because of the color of his skin.

Source:firedoglake

[TLM]

21. “I’m a southern boy myself,” yeah but are you a single issue voter?

Are you a single issue voter who votes on guns or immigration or gay marriage?

If not, Obama wasn't talking about you.

Read the full transcript of what he said, he's talking clearly about people who have become resentful and cynical about politics and government, and as a result tend to focus in on one issue like guns or gays or immigration, or they just don't vote at all.

This is a subject that most dems have discussed, including hillary... how the right uses wedge issues like guns and gays and immigration as a way to distract rural voters from other issues like the economy and war. This is nothing new. Remember guns,god,gays?

However hillary and mcsame both intentionally left out the part about the bitterness being towards government and politics. Nobody would disagree that there is bitterness in middle america towards government and politics. So leave out the government part and leave out the fact he's talking about single issue voters, and make it sounds as if he's talking about everybody who has a gun or everybody who goes to church.

So she takes, "Single issue voters who are bitter at government failing them, tend to stick to one issue like guns." and turns it into, "Voters who like guns are bitter."

It is sadly low, even for Hillary.

[2rth2pwr]

24. You're very lost, but I just don't feel like explaining why what Obama said was

condescending to rural voters.

[benEzra]

44. Are you saying that if religion or gun rights are important to you, it's because you are bitter,

but if you are religious or own guns casually, you are OK?

There are several issues that are important to me. The right to continue to freely own nonhunting guns is one of them.

[rodeodance]

23. it sure does. Thanks for the post

[Hissyspit]

25. "I pray to God because it makes my life better."

Or not.

Whatever.

[spoony]

26. Are you in a better position than he to say what makes his life better?

[Hissyspit]

27. I didn't say it didn't make his life better.

But people can say their life is better when it is actually not.

And people can say something makes their life better when it doesn't.

Especially when they have ulterior motives.

[2rth2pwr]

40. Church going folk always have ulterior motives.

[GeorgeGist]

28. rural america is a stereotype

southern BOY.

[2rth2pwr]

36. perfection.

[ginchinchili]

41. Perhaps, but to have a president who demeans large swaths of Americans...

like he does would be disastrous. Obviously, Obama thinks very highly of himself, but not all of us feel the same about him.

[indimuse]

29. Quote of the Week!

“Here’s a guy who says he shouldn’t be stereotyped, but yet he stereotyped us.”~ Dave ‘Mudcat’ Saunders


ouch!

[cooolandrew]

35. No he shouldn't be mis-quoted, he said that this is some people...

These particular people came out and voted on these issues in 2004.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing

[ginchinchili]

39. Saunders is pointing out the unvarnished truth in Obama's statement.

Now, the Harvard grad is frantically trying to explain his way out of another elitist faux pas. The truth is, Obama doesn't have much respect for the average American, including the "typical white woman." This guy would make a disastrous president.