Hardball? Matthews asked McCain: "[W]e've had enough softball, Senator. ... Is Barack Obama an elitist?"
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SUMMARY: On Hardball, Chris Matthews said to Sen. John McCain, "[W]e're back at Villanova, and we've had enough softball, Senator. It's time for the show to start here." Matthews continued: "Let me ask you a tough one here. We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're getting to the domestic Abu Ghraib here. Is [Sen.] Barack Obama an elitist?"
During an interview with Sen. John McCain on the April 15 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews stated, "[W]e're back at Villanova, and we've had enough softball, Senator. It's time for the show to start here." Matthews continued: "Let me ask you a tough one here. We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're getting to the domestic Abu Ghraib here. Is [Sen.] Barack Obama an elitist?" McCain replied, in part, "No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist." Matthews then asked: "Why do you think he thinks like an elitist or talks like one, if he's not an elitist?" Following McCain's response, Matthews appeared to refer again to Obama's recent comments: "Is it relevant to the general election? If you face him in the general election, would you bring that back and remind him of that, remind the voters of that? Or would your independent committees, do you think they'd be doing it as well?"
During the previous day's edition of Hardball, Matthews touted his upcoming interview with McCain by saying, "[A] whole hour with John McCain, with me asking questions. I hope they're hard enough."
From the April 15 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
MATTHEWS: We're back at Villanova, and we've had enough softball, Senator. It's time for the show to start here.
McCAIN: Those last two --
MATTHEWS: These two wise guys, with these setup passes to you --
McCAIN: Those last two --
MATTHEWS: -- these alley-oops, alley-oops, right at the basket. You had to put them in. Let me ask you a tough one here.
McCAIN: Those weren't tough?
MATTHEWS: We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're getting to the domestic Abu Ghraib here. Is Barack Obama an elitist?
McCAIN: No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist. I think the comments about America and small towns in Pennsylvania, which I guess would apply to across America, the values and the faith that they have, I think, is immutable and unshakable. I think that the fact that they like to hunt has nothing to do with their economic conditions. I think that they respect and cherish the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. And I think their faith, as I said, is something that goes on in bad times and good.
These people were the ones that went through the Great Depression and then went to war and made the world safe for democracy and came home and built a better nation than we have today. And I think that it's from the small towns and the large, but from all over America, that people have hope and optimism and faith in this nation and their future, and a real feeling of the unique nature of the United States of America. And we are a unique experiment in history. And the greatest thing about America and these young people out here today is a small -- from the -- people from the small towns in Pennsylvania want to continue to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.
MATTHEWS: Why do you think a guy, Barack Obama, grew up in -- you -- not exactly easy circumstances. His father went back to Africa after he was just born basically. He was raised in Indonesia, a third-world country. A white American mother, basically never had any breaks, except he's a smart guy obviously. Why do you think he thinks like an elitist or talks like one, if he's not an elitist?
McCAIN: I don't know. I don't know what shapes his views. I don't know what would cause someone to say something like that. Frankly, those kinds of thoughts have never been in my realm of view about this great nation.
MATTHEWS: Is it relevant to the general election? If you face him in the general election, would you bring that back and remind him of that, remind the voters of that? Or would your independent committees, do you think they'd be doing it as well? Or otherwise?
McCAIN: One of the things I regret most about this general election is the, quote, "527s." Many of the people in this audience don't know what a 527 is. It's this independent, and I use the word loosely, independent, unlimited expenditure of money to run attack ads on candidates. And it's unfortunate because I think that Americans want a respectful debate, as I said before, and I think they want to know about the qualifications of the candidate, not just attacks.
I defended [Sen.] John Kerry [D-MA] when he was attacked on his war record in 2004, and I would do so again. But it's unfortunate, and it's against the '74 law, and I won't go into that detail.
"Is Obama an elitist?"
"No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist."
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too. How elite do you have to be to pull that off? Pretty special and not to be triffled with. Any coment on the DNC's suit against you. If you lose, how fast do you think shrub will be there to help your elite self?
This ain't hardball its nerfball Chris.
Some detail please
If you take your Obama-Blinders off, you will find Obama AND his wife as elitists. Pure and simple
FYI
If you take your Hillary-Blinders off you'll will realize how stupid your statement really is.
"If you take your Obama-Blinders off, you will find Obama AND his wife as elitists. Pure and simple." - Zamfir273114
Oh, good call, Zamfir27whatever.
From here: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041508T.shtml
"But is Barack Obama really an elitist as his opponents claim? Well of course he is - he's running for president of the United States! He wouldn't have gotten this far in life if he'd spent the past 20 years driving a truck or moonlighting as a fry cook at Arby's. Like every other successful politician in the United States, Obama is a member of America's political ruling class, which means that like every other presidential candidate in recent memory, he is typically insulated from the lives of ordinary people. Does Obama really have any idea what it's like to live like a "Real American?" Of course he doesn't, and neither do John McCain and Hillary Clinton! Does any rational person out there believe that Obama, Clinton and McCain spend their free time away from the campaign trail hanging out at Jimmy Ray's Chicken'n'Beer Depot playing darts with the common folk?"
Catherine Donnelly shopped at Kmart, settled into her dorm room and soaked up the Gothic stone buildings where, over the next four years, she would grow into her own woman. But her first day at Princeton held a surprise, too. And Donnelly knew it would mean confronting the past. She walked into the historic Nassau Inn that evening and delivered the news to her mother, Alice Brown. "I was horrified," recalled Brown, who had driven her daughter up from New Orleans. Brown stormed down to the campus housing office and demanded Donnelly be moved to another room.
The reason: One of her roommates was black.
There was a fourth one. Her mother and grandmother filled her head with racist stereotypes, portraying African-Americans as prone to crime, uneducated and, at times, people to be feared. Brown, 71, explains that she was raised to think that way. She recalls hearing her grandfather, a sheriff in the North Carolina mountains, brag about running black visitors out of the county before nightfall. And Brown's parents held on to the n-word like a family heirloom. In fact, upon learning that her daughter had a black roommate at Princeton, Brown's first call was to her own mother. Her suggestion: yank Donnelly out of school.
LOL
Yeah real elitis.
FYI It will explain the paper she wrote in college.
Once again, Zamfir... you got nothin'.
Your desperation is showing.
I didn't find Obama's remarks to be "elitist". I thought they were honest. Some objected to his use of the word "bitter", thinking he should have used "angry" or "frustrated" instead. But bitter, frustrated or angry were, IMO, all acceptable & right on the mark.
When Obama suggested folks "cling" to their guns & religion in times of financial strife, he meant that they often vote on social issues rather than in their best interest economically. Let me add here that NEITHER party has been particularly helpful in that category. Too many empty promises & wasteful spending.
When he suggested that folks often look for scapegoats he simply meant that when one is down & out blaming or lashing out at minorities or our governments [helter skelter] policies on illegal immigrations isn't unusual. Hey that's the truth, even if some are offended in hearing it.
Could Obama have delivered his remarks more skillfully? Sure. But the uproar & spin that followed is ridiculous.
He did not suggest folks only hunt or go to church because they are financially strapped. Obviously even the wealthy hunt & attend church. He did not suggest the working poor from Pennsylvania are bigots or xenophobic. Only that folks often look for a fall guy to blame their troubles on when times are tough.
He spoke honestly about the plight of those struggling. He told the truth. Some folks can't handle the truth.
Why this mass hyperactivity over this statement? Ridiculous.
Damn you, Jeter, now I can't say all conservatives are pants-pissing crazy ! well said,
Love, Col. S.
Jeter,
Excellent post. You obviously get it as I suspect most of the right wing talking head do as well. The difference is that you (not that you're a right wing talking head) will admit that you understand his comments. I commend you for that. Intellectual honesty is such a rare thing these days.
On a side note, I find it absolutely pitiful that Hillary chooses to act like she doesn't "get" the statements of Obama. Again, it just shows how politically calculating she is. It also shows her unwavering capacity to say and do anything to win the nomination. The real elitists are Hillary and McCain if you think about it. When is the last time either bought a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk instead of letting their "servants" do it for them?
That's probably the most entertaining part of the media jumping on all these sound-bite death certificates for Obama. The media, just like their suckers who post here, are working themselves into a frenzy, demanding the denouncing and rejecting and condemning of comments, insisting that Obama distance himself from people,and declaring him "guilty" od various offenses.
What I have yet to see is any rational adult reason for any of this, any crime that he's "guilty" of, any sane justification for ordering another person to conform his life to the opinions of a small group of loudmouths.
No backup, except that Obama, and people associated with him, have said some things that, while not dishonest or malicious or untrue, made some members of this small group of drama queens and hothouse flowers uncomfortable.
And maybe I'm wrong, and a majority of Americans is still too comfortable with ignoring reality to accept some of these things that it will hurt Obama's chances at the presidency, but what's the alternative? Force him into spouting the same empty-headed flag-waving bullsh*t as every Repub. candidate to win? The public gets what the public wants, but I hope Sean Hannity and sissies like him represent as tiny a minority as I think they do. I may be out of touch.
I always wonder if by living in a urban center (Chicago) that I'm depriving myself of the "real" America, but everytime I find it it seems like the participants are content to slowly let the lifeforce drain.
This may be an instinctual statement but it seems Obama is the antithesis of that notion. As a nation, we need a new lifeforce.
We have a black man from relatively modest beginnings as the leading candidate for president, and at the moment his biggest challenge is facing charges of elitism?
Does that, in some twisted way, indicate progress for us as a nation?
Jeter and the rest of you are mostly right about why the media is jumping on the caricature of Obama;s statement with both feet. But I think it has much less to do with the statements affront as it has to do with creating tension and conflict for McCain's benefit. The media has long labled Obama, and all liberals, as elitist. Now they have a handy sound bite to paint Obama in the simplest of terms. This is priceless and has cost elections in the past.
Anyone who heard McCain's "economic plan" must know what an elitist he is. His proposals to raise the dependent exemptions, eliminate the AMT and reduce corporate income tax from 35% to 25% are just more cuts for the rich. He even had the gall to say that elminating AMT will put an average $2000 in the hands of every family. Note the word average. It doesn't take an tax expert to see that elminating rather than reforming the AMT is a tax break to the rich.
"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."
"And 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."
If that is not condescending, then one does not know the meaning of the word.
First off, small town people are not any more 'bitter' than anyone else. Perhaps even less so. Is there a bitter index somewhere or is this simply an elitist view?
Yes, manufacturing jobs have left the Midwest, but saying nothing has replaced them is simply not accurate. There is change going on and growth occurring in many areas of manufacturing and other areas. Most small towns are in a continual state of regeneration as they have been since their inception.
It is pure condescension to say small town people 'cling' to guns and religion and bigotry or illegal immigration because they are frustrated and bitter. Obama is entitled to his beliefs, but his elitist view of small town people is way out of touch with reality and insulting to those who hold religious beliefs, those who believe in the second ammendment, those who believe in enforcing immigration laws, and those who might oppose NAFTA.
I don't know how he could have insulted more people with his stereotypical elitist views.
oh give it a break dude. Obama just went a little to far into his professor mode. We have these kind of discussions all the time in anthropology and sociology classes, if that fits your definition of elitist too effing bad.
Obama was speaking to the natural fact that conservatives have betrayed the people's trust by promising prosperity through these fear of the other campaigns. But instead of delivering prosperity Republicans have redistributed our wealth through government subsidies and tax breaks to the same big business candy a**es who took our jobs overseas because they didn't want to pay the true cost of doing business in this country. Your boys made this bed and now it's time for all you thug Republicans to lie down in it.
And don't even try to tell us that service sector jobs come close to stacking up to those manufacturing jobs that went to Mexico or that the economy is growing. That's plain ignorant considering wages are stagnant and we're in recession.
It's really no wonder all these whiney cons are in full frontal nudity smear mode. Buncha sissies they are, they're scared silly that a liberal is talking like a liberal and mobilizing a massive grassroots movement.
So go take a hike, AA. Conservativism is yesterdays bad news, y'all are done. You suck at governing. You people are abject failures at leadership. Our country simply can no longer suffer your foolish conservative worldview and I personally cannot afford to be nice about it.
I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, PA and then my family moved to Indianapolis. Furthermore, my brother studied at the University of Idaho and returned to Indianapolis a very enraged and extreme individual.
I have seen lots of people in economically hard times. Many of them have been warm and open, but many (especially among the young) are angry and bitter about their portion in life. This is not only in small towns, but in urban areas where the media has less of a problem hosting people who say we have an upset, primarily black, populace. Also I'd imagine in Iraq there'd be similar issues since civilians have lost family members and have very relatively low quality of life.
If stating this observation makes me elitist, then call me what you want. Very smart people at elite universities have come to very similar conclusions, and quite truthfully I trust such conclusions. If you don't trust such conclusions (I've heard many people write why global warming or evolution is a sham), I suggest you explore the reasons why you don't. Labeling someone as elite is like making fun of their mother, it doesn't change the idea behind what they say. The conclusions I do not trust, though, come from greedy businessmen and macro-managers who view people as statistics and wealth as an end, ie the people currently in charge.
I thought this was an "Obama Is An Elitist" thread. Oh well...
Anyhow, whenever Matthews has McCain on, he should rename the show "Tee-Ball with Chris Matthews".