Clinton Fishing with Dynamite

In response to Barack Obama's comment at a San Francisco fundraiser that frustrated working-class folk are capable of "antipathy to people who aren't like them," the Clinton campaign is viciously attacking the remarks while at the same time viciously stoking the antipathy of working-class folk to people who aren't like them.

The comment in question, which Obama gave here in town on Sunday April 6, related to the frustration of working-class voters with economic conditions:

"It's not surprising, then, 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."

Obama has apologized if his comment was poorly phrased or caused offense, as reported in Saturday's Chronicle, but also stood by his remarks (after clarifying them):

"So I said, well you know, 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 and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."


After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added: "The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."

The Chron quotes former state Democratic Party chairman and current Clinton adviser Tom Hendrickson saying rural voters don't need "liberal elites" telling them what to believe.

Clinton made the following quote before factory-workers in Indianapolis:

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