Rove aims NRA remarks at Obama

Underscoring that Republicans believe U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is the Democrat they'll face in November's race for the White House, GOP strategist Karl Rove spent nearly all of his 21-minute speech at the National Rifle Association Convention on the Illinois Senator.

Rove, President Bush's former political director, opened and closed his remarks by referring to Obama's remarks last month in San Francisco, when Obama said small town Pennsylvania voters frustrated over a tough economy are "bitter" and "cling to their guns."

"I don’t know what to call you because, as he said, we’re bitter and economically anxious," Rove told the thousands at the NRA's annual meeting in Louisville. "We cling to our guns and cling to our faith. Does that make us clingers or does that make us Klingons?"

"Barack Obama is wrong," Rove continued. "What we cling to is the fundamental right to bear arms and the Second Amendment of the Constitution."

Rove said it was appropriate that Obama made such remarks to "a bunch of white wine sipping" San Franciscans. He later referred to him as a "liberal outsider from the south side of Chicago."

Rove said the results in West Virginia's primary on Tuesday, where Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Obama by 40 percent, prove Obama is out of touch with many voters.

"Sen. Obama, the values of those people you diminished are the values of America," he said.

In a Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll released earlier this week, 29 percent of likely Kentucky Democratic voters said Obama's remarks about rural voters will be important or very important as they choose who to support. Sixty-two percent said his remarks were not important, while 9 percent were unsure.

The same poll showed Clinton leading Obama in Kentucky by 27 points.

UPDATE: Rove also spoke with conservative talk radio host Leland Conway on WLAP-AM this morning. Click here to listen.

- Ryan Alessi

Comments

[Roger]

John McCain is a flip-flopping liar who'll say anything to get elected:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/16/flashback-mccain-once-sought-to-push-the-nra-out-of-the-gop/

McCain once said the NRA shouldn’t be embraced by the Republican Party:

"The NRA is entitled to their advocacy. I don’t think they help the Republican Party at all, but I don’t think they should in any way play a major role in the Republican Party’s policy making." [CNN, 5/12/00]

[Justin]

You can listen to the action live at www.marcuscareyperspective.com for those of us who couldn't get off work.

Check it out, the speeches have ben great so far.

[Cletus McGuire]

Karl Rove has absolutely no say in anything that happens in America, the land the he raped over and over again to further advance his own causes. He's a traitor as far as I'm concerned. As far as Obama's remarks, what Mr. Rove said when he "clarified" it later in this story was exactly what Obama meant when he said it. When times get tough and people feel out of control of their lives and the way government is treating them, they go back to the few things left in this nation that we know the politicians won't mess with and cling tightly to them. Guns (2nd Amendment), religion (1st Amendment), free speech (1st Amendment--not so much anymore since 9/11 we don't have much of that left), are the staples of the midwest and south...and when things are going awry, we know that these things won't change (and we're more willing to stand up for them than any of the other "freedoms" we value). So when Rove was quoted as saying "What we cling to is the fundamental right to bear arms and the Second Amendment of the Constitution." that is what Obama was saying, he just didn't go into detail when he was giving his talk in San Fran, because the people there knew what he was saying because being the "white wine sipping" people they are, they are intelligent enough to understand what he meant...unlike those in the midwest and south who took it as an insult instead of the truth that it is.

[Katy]

When Obama is President, Rove's politics of lies and fear will be OVER!

[We know what he meant]

Karl Rove has been a very dedicated, capable, candid, public servant. I find the desparaging remarks on here totally biased and unfounded. He is a victim of the unrelenting Bush Bashing.

As far as parsing what Obama "said" or "meant", I think people can best interpret that by considering the source and the situation. The source, Obama, is a liberal lawyer from Chicago. The situation was with the "intelligent" "white wine sipping" crowd in San Francisco. It is difficult to imagine that he was trying to ingratiate himself to those fine liberal folks by complementing the small town citizens of Pa or KY or wherever. Hey, we may be simple in the things we cling to, but we are not stupid.

I think most people know what Obama meant, in his moment of candor. It is good to know how he really feels about us. I think he best represents the citizens of Chicago, or San Francisco, not the citizens of Kentucky or the rest of the United States.

[Jay C Bushman]

It's always so cute when budding leftists like little Justin make authoritarian remarks they can't substantiate. I defy anyone to say what Karl Rove has done to "rape" America and qualify him as a "traitor." But, that's pretty indicative of college-freshman rhetoric. No foundation, no facts, no basis. Further, list what Obama has done to qualify for the presidency. Being a handsome orator isn't enough. There was a time when it was said that there shouldn't be even the appearance of impropriety. Having friends that were terrorists, Syrian criminals, or Muslim anti-semites disqualifies presidential aspirations. But the little liberals will be all mouth until a bomb goes off in their local mall. Now the DNC will force Hillary to be VP and hope the suicide bombings don't start too soon. Vote Obama: Millions of Muslims are counting on you....dude.