+0000c31obeThu, 15 May 2008 20:42:11 +0000 5, 2006...10:00PMay
TENNESSEE REPUBLICAN PARTY MOCKS MICHELLE OBAMA’S ‘PROUD’ REMARK
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
MAY 15, 2008
The Tennessee Republican Party “welcomed” Michelle Obama’s visit for a fundraiser Thursday night with an online video that takes the Democratic presidential front-runner’s wife to task for a comment some considered unpatriotic.
Michelle Obama was campaigning in Wisconsin last February for her husband, Barack Obama, when she said: “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.”
The four-minute video posted on YouTube is built around the remark, replaying it six times and interspersing it with commentary by Tennesseans, identified mostly by their first names, on why they are proud of America.
Michelle Obama later clarified the remark, saying she meant she was proud of how Americans were engaging in the political process and that she had always been proud of her country.
“The Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America,” the party said in a news release that included a link to the video. It also urged radio stations to play “patriotic music” during her visit to Nashville on Thursday.
“I’m Bob Pope and I’m proud to be an American because mainly of the First Amendment _ the right to worship God anywhere I choose to _ and the Second Amendment, I’ve got the right keep and bear arms,” he says, standing in front of a bank of guns mounted on the wall.
Obama’s campaign accused the Tennessee GOP of engaging in smear politics and unfairly going after the candidate’s family.
“This is a shameful attempt to attack a woman who has repeatedly said she wouldn’t be here without the opportunities and blessings of this nation,” spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement.
The state GOP was roundly criticized in March, including by likely presidential nominee John McCain, for a news release that used Barack Obama’s middle name _ Hussein _ and showed a photo of him wearing what it said was “Muslim attire.”
The release ultimately was removed from the party’s Web site at the urging of the state’s two Republican senators and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, who said he “rejects these kinds of campaign tactics.”
The “welcome” video also takes aim at Barack Obama’s fiery former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“I’m proud of my country because of the freedom of religion, so if my pastor goes on a wild political tirade I can just walk out,” says a man identified as Tate R., a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.
Obama broke with Wright, his longtime pastor, after he repeated incendiary anti-American comments at a news conference last month in Washington.
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3 Comments
+0000c31obeFri, 16 May 2008 06:35:55 +0000 5, 2006 at 10:00PMay
The Tennessee Republican Party is just silly, the good old boys days are over and they know it, they can mock but things will change, change is happening every minute. So let them try, no-one is listening to them, except the fools.
+0000c31obeFri, 16 May 2008 10:47:49 +0000 5, 2006 at 10:00PMay
Makes one wonder what kind of bitterness and bile can be swimming around inside of someone when they produce a negative video distorting someone’s views as much as this video did.
I am a Vietnam era vet that was in Louisiana in the 60s. I saw first hand the signs on the white only drinking fountains. In the recent primary in that state Obama got more white votes than Clinton or McCain and nearly beat Huckabee among white voters.
I was in the audience when Michelle gave her speech. Too bad the Tennessee GOP edited it. I heard the whole speech and I not ashamed to say this 60 year veteran cried tears of joy when Michelle talked about what was happening in America.
America is changing. I hope the Tennessee GOP will join us.
+0000c31obeSat, 17 May 2008 19:18:18 +0000 5, 2006 at 10:00PMay
It is quite interesting that a bunch of white men in the heart of the Ku Klux Klan’s birthplace can diss a black women when she says some social commentary about America.
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