squashed:

I was just going to post this video, but Marco beat me to it. This is Obama’s response to the whole “bitter” controversy. He basically repeats what he said but elaborates it enough that it will be harder to take out of context.

Mmmm, I don’t know if I buy Obama’s so-called elaboration. Powerline nails it again:

Note the difference between what Obama said in an unguarded moment in San Francisco, and the cleaned-up version he tried to sell tonight. San Francisco: “So it’s not surprising then that 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.”

Indiana: “So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community, and their family, and the things they can count on.”

In Obama’s cleaned-up version, religion (“faith”) becomes something small town people “can count on,” along with community and family, rather than something they “cling to” on account of being “bitter,” along with guns and hatred of immigrants and others “who aren’t like them.” That’s a nice try, I guess, but it’s hard to believe it will fool anyone.