On Tuesday night, California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi gave her best impression of then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s offensive 2008 “bitter clingers” comment, essentially castigating “white men” as homophobic gun-nuts.
“Non-college educated” white men will reject Hillary Clinton and vote “against their own economic interest because of guns, because of gays, and because of God,” explained Pelosi to PBS at the Democratic National Convention. “God,” representing the “right” to abortion, according to Pelosi.
“Right now, Donald Trump is doing much better than Hillary Clinton among white men, and particularly white men who have not attended college. How does Hillary Clinton counter that?” asked PBS host Judy Woodruff.
“With an economic agenda to create jobs, good-paying jobs, increasing paychecks, the economic agenda is what is really – it’s about the economy. You know that statement. It’s not a cliche. It’s a fact,” replied Pelosi.
“And I think that so many times white, non-college-educated white males have voted Republican. They voted against their own economic interest because of guns, because of gays, and because of God,” said the former speaker of the House.
“The three ‘Gs,’ God being the woman’s right to choose,” she explained. “That is softening. Some of those people were never going to be voting Democratic anyway. But I believe that with the turnout that we expect to have, we will draw some of them in with our message, and enough other people to win the election.”
President Obama gave similarly offensive remarks during his candidacy back in 2008. At a campaign event, Mr. Obama categorized conservatives as people who have become “bitter and cling to their guns, or religion, or antipathy toward other people who are not like them as a way to explain their frustrations.”