Obama: "You can't just make stuff up . . . The American people aren't stupid."

September 8, 2008




FLINT, Michigan (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama savaged his White House opponents John McCain and Sarah Palin Monday as hypocrites who were trying to hoodwink US voters with a late conversion to the mantra of change.

At a meeting with workers here in the heartland of Michigan's distressed auto industry, the Illinois senator said he himself had been running as the change candidate for 19 months.

"And I guess it must be working, because all of a sudden John McCain's saying 'I'm for change too'," Obama said as Palin's entry to the Republican ticket shakes up the hard-fought race for the November 4 election.

"And when John McCain with a straight face says 'I'm going to change things,' at the same time as he says he's agreed with (President) George Bush 90 percent of the time, you know it's pretty hard to believe."

Obama mocked the McCain-Palin platform in summary: "Except for economic policy, tax policy, healthcare policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove politics, we're really going to shake things up in Washington."

read: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfqcr2sySkwgJwjNC04yCc4fqokA





“Let’s get the facts clear here,” Obama said, noting the McCain campaign’s new ad that showcases Palin’s opposition to the pilloried pork project. “When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks -- pork barrel spending.”

The Democratic nominee wondered aloud how George Bush’s would-be successor can champion change “with a straight face” and referred to the GOP ticket as the “No Change Express.”

Obama blamed the economic troubles by Americans like those in troubled Flint, Michigan -- where unemployment is nearly twice the national average -- on failed economic policies that were sponsored by the Bush administration and would be, Obama says, continued by McCain.

“You can’t be for change when it’s your party that for the last eight years has ignored the fact that wages and incomes for the middle class have gone flat since George Bush took office,” he told a cheering crowd of over 300 at Mott Community College in Flint.

read: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/08/1363839.aspx




“They had been running on experience. Now they’re trying to repackage themselves,” Mr. Obama said, wearing a can-you-believe-it look on his face. “We’ve been talking about the need to change this country for 19 months. I guess it must be working, because suddenly now John McCain is saying I’m for change too.”

After accompanying his two daughters to school in Chicago for their first day of fall classes, Mr. Obama arrived here in Michigan on Monday afternoon with a fresh air of urgency to his task of winning over voters in this battleground state. He drew sharp distinctions with Mr. McCain, referring to him by name more than in any recent day.

Mr. Obama warned voters to be skeptical in believing that Republicans would change Washington, considering the party has controlled the White House for nearly eight years. “It’s just kind of hard to believe,” he said, adding: “I’m going to change us from us?”

On his third visit to Michigan in nine days, Mr. Obama told voters that his rival’s infamous Straight Talk Express bus should be rebranded as “The No-change Express.” He also continued an argument that he started on Saturday in Indiana, questioning Gov. Sarah Palin’s evolving stance on the so-called Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska.

read: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/deja-vu-on-change-argument/





Obama, for the second time in three days, questioned the Republican version of bringing "change" to Washington, and publicly questioned Sarah Palin's claim to the change mantle.

"She's you know, an up and comer from Alaska," Obama said. "They're starting to run an ad now saying she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. Well now, let's get the facts clear here. When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks -- pork-barrel spending. All the things that John McCain says is bad, she lobbied to get! And got a whole lot of it. When it came to the bridge to nowhere, she was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it and she started running for governor and then suddenly she was against it.

"You remember that? For it before you were against it?" Obama added. "I mean, you can't just make stuff up. You can't just recreate yourself. You can't just reinvent yourself. The American people aren't stupid.

read: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/politics/animal/main4427448.shtml

. . . easy target for nitpicking, though, I suppose.

Because it makes us look "elitist," but the American people, by and large, aren't very bright. It is sad, but true.

You haven't considered the possibility that they just haven't been given the tools necessary to develop their natural talents in that area?

Because to me, it looks a lot more like that.

I don't believe they are stupid, just intellectually lazy. I mean LAZY.

and cynical

I keep telling people at my work (educated people) to just study the issues. Yet, they keep coming up with the Dems will "raise my taxes." I point them to the correct resources, but they choose to ignore them. I guess that's more rigidity and close-mindedness than anything else.

I know so many people just like this. If learning about the issues requires them to actually READ something, forget it. They are intellectually lazy...like I said.

Study after study suggests that when people are in emotionally charged states they tend to act against logic. The republicans have been good at stirring up emotions such as fear, anger, and patriotism as ways to get voters to jump aboard without regard for that fact that things always seem to go better with the Democratic party in power.

It occured to me tonight that it's simply amazing that so many people haven't become pukes under the pressure of the media shitstorm, and how it seems to play to their self interests.

and bring out the best in people. He knows how to challenge Americans to prove their intelligence. Repukes want Americans to live down to the lowest common denominator. Obama wants to bring out the best. Can we here at DU do less than work to encourage that hope and striving for the best?


*and sadly, some defeatists here at DU.

he hasn't been paying attention.

of course...sure sounds better to people than the alternative... :shrug:

He must get down and dirty or it is not acceptable.

There is thirst for blood here.

Sadly.

are a law-abiding gun owner, you have nothing to fear from an Obama administration”.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6989339

The guns that Obama wants 'banned' are assault rifles. He makes that clear.

what he meant to say if he wants to ban assault weapons that under HR 1022 would include several million commonly used semi automatic firearms such as the popular Remington model 1100 with over 4 million in use.

See http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1022

maybe you can find someone to agree with you

reinvent yourself."

Obama asked a question and I provided Obama's answer. :shrug:

And, I'm not going to spend another moment here debating your right-wing defense of your favorite class of assault weapon. I'm sure there is someone, somewhere (else) to share your gun love with.

administration" and since he did not limit that statement it clearly includes assault weapons defined under HR 1022.

That's Obama's latest statement and it's a clear change from his earlier statement "I support the re-imposition of the ban on the sale of assault weapons that expired in September 2004 because I believe these guns are used primarily for criminal rather than sporting intent. I also support requiring gun manufacturers to install child safety locks on all of their products."

So yes, politicians can reinvent or recreate themselves and they do it all the time. :shrug:

You take a minor distiction in a minor policy and say oh, yeah, that's the same as being for the bridge to nowhere before you were against it or saying you're going to eliminate lobbyists when your entire campaign staff consists of nothing but lobbyists.

Talk about comparing a paper cut with cuttng sombody's head off. Yes, both used a sharp edge, but get real.

it in the platform and why is Obama now trying to convince voters in PA that he will not ban guns including semiautomatic firearms covered by HR 1022.

It may appear minor to you but because Gore and Kerry supported the AWB it was used against them and was a significant factor in their loss.

millions losing jobs, millions losing houses, infrastructure crumbling.

This is not 2000. This is not 2004. Obama is NOT Kerry. Obama is NOT
Gore.

Yeah, i'ts minor.

And what are major ones to you don't even register to others.

Millions of others, like it or not there are a lot of gun owners out there.

then they deserve the Hoovervilles they get.

If you are stupid enough to ignore their concerns.

Or was that just an excuse for you to try to call me stupid?

I thought kowtowing to special interest identity groups was what got the Democratic Party into this mess in the first place? Or did you forget that part?

ETA: And see my post on lose your house, keep your gun.

:eyes:

2004.

For gun owners, what a president will do to infringe upon the natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is a major problem for them and their families.

Yeah, right, uh-huh, sure.

Kids starve, keep their gun.

Yeah, rught, uh-huh, sure.

Can't find a job, but keep the gun.

Yeah, right, uh-huh, sure.

And why I'm even having to deal with the REPUBLICAN FUCKING TALKING POINT
that the DEMOCRATS WANT TO TAKE AWAY YOUR GUNS is FUCKING BEYOND ME.

STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's only one explanation to your obsessive reaction to anything Obama says, always bringing the subject to guns and accusing him of being a crypto-gun-grabber when the original post has nothing to do with it:

You are actively campaigning against Obama. Period. You have no place here. If you want Obama to win rather than McCain, I'm Charlton Heston.

YOU.
ARE.
A.
RIGHT.
WING.
TROLL.
GO.
FUCK.
YOURSELF.
WITH.
A.
PINEAPPLE.
SIDEWAYS.
THEN.
DIE.
IN.
A.
FIRE.

who will believe anything they are told by the status quo of god-fearin' amurkins

I started a post in GDP about sinking to their level...and I am feeling the bruises.

DU is out for Obama's head now. Not sure why.

. . . and some folks who just want to prove how much smarter they are than our candidate.

To me, looks like the latter, rather than the former.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bigtree.

Why else would McBush be so close and why was Dubya elected twice? Certainly not because of intelligence.

You know what they say, you can't put lipstick on a pig...pitbull and call her a "hockey mom". Or can you??

. . . rather than a presumption many folks are bound to criticize

:applause:

I like it.
Repeating phrases like this is good (as simple - or silly or stupid - as it sounds). Repubs have made this a fine art (e.g. "Healthy Forests").

I don't like "American people aren't stupid".
Maybe "American people deserve credit" or "deserve the truth"...
Or "straight talk? double talk!"

Sorry, just musing...I've been trying to come up with some key, brief points to combat the "guns, God & gays" fearful people I work with.

That's what I needed to read. I keep hearing the rending of clothes and the gnashing of teeth on my progressive radio, oh, Obama is just like Kerry, this is jsut like 2004, he'll roll over and take it, blah, blah.

Thank you for posting this.

:cry:

you CAN make stuff up—all the time, in fact, because no one will ever call you on it or question it or require you to back it up with facts, and you will get elected because of it. And the American voter is the stupidest voter on earth.

. . . you won't assume he's talking about someone else, you'll assume he's referring to you. It's just not a smart tactic to tell voters they're stupid or gullible. In his rhetoric, he's challenging voters to resist being misled and presenting the choice between candidates as a matter of intelligence and common sense. It wasn't posed as some naive declaration.

but not the big bridge.

So, tell me ... which state is eating the PORK from the other states???

:eyes:

They do just make shit up and yes the american people are just that stupid.....evidience George W Bush



Hobo


:beer:

:toast:

we'd better hope so.

Americans are many, many things. INcluding highly opinionated and stubborn on certain issues. But most of us are NOT stupid.

And nothing pisses most people off as much as being told that someone is trying to con them, because THEY think YOU'RE STUPID!

However, I generally find here in DU that anyone who doesn't agree with the progressive left is considered stupid. Anyone who thinks abortion is so completely immoral that they put it above all else... is stupid. Anyone who thinks the gay marriage is the ultimate abomination and must be stopped... is stupid.

No. These people are NOT STUPID. They may be stubborn, unyielding, hypocritical, homophobic, anti-feminist, myopic Jesus freaks... but they aren't stupid.

And yes. Assuming that anyone who doesn't look at the world as you do is stupid is elitist. And it's complete bullsh*t.

And some days, it really smells in here.

things are getting worse by the week in America. Sure, there are plenty of dumbshits (look at Bush), but I don't think they're so dumb as to give him another four years.


I hope Barack is right.

People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

-Kay, Men in Black.

he would be calling the people stupid.. never mind. . . .

To win, you have to make the electorate think you respect them as a group.