Talk About a Low Blow!

Update: The blogger in question doesn't see the difference. The reader who emailed me, Sarah Deats, has a strong grip on that:

He quotes the woman as saying she won't have to "work on" filling her gas tank or paying her mortgage if Obama is elected, whereas what she actually said is that she won't have to "worry about" doing those things. That changes the implication from one of expecting a handout to one of expecting change that will benefit ordinary people -- a hope many of us share.

I also think there's a racial subtext here, not so different from the welfare queen image, that makes this particularly distasteful.

I've got a couple of low blows for you, actually. The first has to do with a misquote of an Obama supporter by a conservative blogger. It's just two words, but see if you can detect the subtle change in the message. Here's the video.



In the conservative blogger's article, he quotes the woman as saying this:

VOTER: It was the most memorable time of my life...it was a touching moment Because I never thought this day would ever happen.

I won't have to work on putting gas in my car, I won't have to work on paying my mortgage. You know, if I help him, he's going to help me.

The emphasis is the conservative blogger's. An alert reader emailed me, after her correction in the comments of the article went unanswered. The woman actually said she wouldn't have to "worry about" putting gas in her car or paying her mortgage.

Therefore, the implication that this supporter is "looking for a handout" is false. Her assessment of Obama's energy and economic plans may seem overly optimistic, but it doesn't make her some kind of welfare case.

Low blow number two comes from the other side, my side. To my friend, Caleb Howe, I can only apologize, abjectly and profusely, for this:

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal",on BlogTalkRadio, Tues through Thurs at 10pm, and Fri, and Sat at 11pm. (Eastern) Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.