Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Robert A. Gleason wants to know.
Gleason is calling on Pennsylvania's Democrat Congressional delegation to denounce Obama's "elitist and insulting remarks."
"Maybe I am just a small town guy, but considering the elitist nature of Barack Obama's comments, it's not surprising to see that these remarks have drawn the ire of so many Pennsylvanians," Gleason said in a prepared statement. "Having strong religious beliefs and a commitment to our Constitutional rights hardly makes Pennsylvanians bitter or frustrated. In the wake of these remarks, I feel many are going to view Barack Obama as an elitist who goes around diagnosing what he believes to be wrong with Pennsylvanians simply because he is not doing well here in the polls. Americans have already had serious questions about his candidacy, and these comments will do little to ease those concerns."
Gleason continued: "Our Commonwealth should stand together and reject these dispicable comments. I call on U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. and Congressman Patrick Murphy, who have endorsed Obama and marched in lockstop with him, to stand up for the people they represent over their political friends. Hopefully, Congressmen Jason Altmire, Chris Carney, Paul Kanjorski, Joe Sestak, Allyson Schwartz, Bob Brady, John Murtha, and Mike Doyle will show some political courage and publicly denounce these offensive remarks as well."
According to a transcript of Obama's statements at a fundraiser in San Francisco, he described Pennsylvanians as bitter gun-toting, racist, religious fanatics:
"You go into 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 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." (Politico.com, April 11, 2008)
