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Posted
Monday, April 14, 2008 11:04 AM
| By
Rachael Larimore
Wow, Melinda, I don't think I could have put it any better. Like you, I hail from a small town whose most vibrant days are well in the past. Downtown was on life support long before Wal-Mart came to town seven or eight years ago; the schools aren't what they used to be; and the factories are gone, but the payday-loan industry appears to be thriving. Whatever else people in such communities might have lost, they still retain their pride and their self-respect. And so, no, they don't take kindly to a slick politician talking down to them from San Francisco, of all places. (There's a reason this South Park episode makes me laugh harder than most others.) A while back, I wrote that one of my biggest problems with Hillary Clinton is that she acts like she's knows what's best for us, and "we'll like it whether we like it or not." It's only a mite less annoying when a politician tries to explain to people why they hold the "mistaken" beliefs they do, and does so with a condescending little pat on the head.
But now, on to Hillary's response. When I saw the headline "Clinton Portrays Herself as a Pro-Gun Churchgoer," I thought, "Wait, doesn't that make her the kind of person Obama was just talking about?" And then I read that yes, that actually was the impression she was going for. Not a bad ploy, I suppose. But now that she's followed up by saying that it's not relevant when she last went to church or fired a gun, my BS detectors are buzzing loudly. Yes, it's possible for someone to believe the Second Amendment applies to individuals and shouldn't be messed with lightly even if they aren't a veteran hunter (I fall into that category myself), and no, candidates shouldn't have to release their church attendance records along with their 1040s. But, come on. You have to try a little harder.
So, voters in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and elsewhere now have an important choice to make. Is it going to be the condescender, or the panderer?
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