AN OLD WINGNUT MEME IS STILL KICKING

First we have William "The Bloody" Kristol claiming that Obama is an anti-religious Marxist in "The Mask Slips," then Fats gets into the act with "Democrat 'Compassion Forum' Just a Bunch of Marxist Socialism" and adds in that Obama is an elitist who has contempt for working Americans, "Obama Lets Slip Elite, Liberal Attitude Toward Middle America."

Despite this effort, the voters in Pennsylvania aren't all that impressed, according to the AP:

Pa. Voters Divided Over Obama Remarks
Apr 15, 2:15 AM (ET)
By MARK SCOLFORO

SHENANDOAH, Pa. (AP) - Yes, some Democrats in Pennsylvania's Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama's suggestion that voters there "cling to guns or religion" because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal - and if there's a problem it's with the political slapfest that has followed.

USA Today provides more encouraging information:

No 'bitter' aftertaste? How Obama gaffe plays
By Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY

JACOBUS, Pa. — Phil Little seems like just the sort of Pennsylvanian voter who might have been offended by Sen. Barack Obama's comments that small-town residents "get bitter" and "cling to guns or religion."

"We believe in God, and I own a couple of guns," said the retired Little, wearing a camouflage Field & Stream cap and waiting with his wife in their SUV to watch their granddaughter's softball practice.

Little says he switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat so he could back Obama in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary on April 22. Hillary Rodham Clinton's criticisms Sunday that Obama's comments were "elitist and divisive" haven't moved him.

"I don't think he put his brain in gear before he engaged his mouth," Little said. "But he apologized. … I think he has the right ideas, and I like hearing him talk. I put him in sort of the same mold as the Kennedys, JFK and Bobby."

Still, in more than a dozen interviews here, even conservative Republicans couldn't muster the sort of outrage over Obama's remarks that Clinton backers were expressing Sunday. ... "Hell, yeah, they're bitter," said Harold Creager, a retired phone company technician who was sipping coffee in Rutter's, a convenience store. "George Bush has been a disappointment. The economy. Jobs. Immigration — we're being invaded."

A Rasmussen poll does reveal that the immediate nationwide effect is negative but that means there's still time to correct the misperceptions:

56% Disagree with Obama’s Comments on Small Town America
Monday, April 14, 2008

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide disagree with Barack Obama’s statement that people in small towns “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." A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 25% agree with the Democratic frontrunner while 19% are not sure.

Partisan and ideological differences suggest that the comments are more likely to be a factor in the General Election than in the Primaries. A plurality of politically liberal voters—46%--agree with Obama’s statement while 33% disagree. Moderate voters take the opposite view and disagree by a 51% to 27% margin. Seventy-four percent (74%) of conservatives disagree with Obama’s statement, only 12% agree.