Is someone who hasn't pumped gas in 16 years "out of touch"?

[kentuck]

Hillary was doing a photo op with a worker at a plant in Indiana. They borrowed his boss's SUV and stopped at a gas station to fill it up. Hillary admitted that she had not pumped her own gas since 1992, because of secret service concerns. I wonder how much she pumped while she was First Lady of Arkansas?
Then she went into the station to get a cup of coffee and could not figure out how the coffee machine worked. She spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure it out.

Is this indicative of Washington insiders? They have no personal experience with such trivial matters at filling their own tank or pouring their own coffe, but they have heard tales from others? I will admit that this is all a trivial matter, but is there anything to be gleaned from this information except to show how easy it is to attack people as being "out of touch" with average Americans? Perhaps Obama could stop by that same station and buy a bag of pork rinds - just to show he is one of the average guys? :-)

[leftofcool]

1. I haven't pumped gas in about 10 years now

I am still in touch. I just don't like doing it so I make hubby. Can't stand the smell. I fail to see how not pumping gas put one out of touch.

[casus belli]

3. Which begs the question...

if you're out of touch, do you know you're out of touch?

[leftofcool]

12. Okay,........at my age, I could be out of touch on some things

but ya know, those notes I write to remind myself of things to do help a lot, if I can remember where I hung the notes.

[casus belli]

16. Ah, see? We have something in common.

But for me it's always the writing implements that run away.

[Leopolds Ghost]

58. To be fair, I don't drive and had trouble with the new-fangled electronic touchscreen pumps recently

I got laughed at by the "salt of the earth" construction types I was
buying the gas for... apparently it's NOT elitist to be a gadget freak
if you are a "working class" contractor type.

[superkia]

62. Just because you havent pumped gas in ten years doesnt mean...

that you don't know how to do it? I would think that people that drove when they were 16yo or so would have done it then and you would expect that they wouldn't just forget how to? If Clinton drove when she was younger and still had people to do it, that would be a little strange or at least a little sheltered. Most people I know, had to learn how to pump gas back when they were first learning to drive because the ones that taught us to drive (which was a privilege) taught/made us pump gas. After being taught how to do it, it became our job whenever we rode with those who also taught us to drive, I guess it was their way of getting out of doing it.


On edit, just wanted to add that it doesn't mean anything to me politically, I don't think that tells me what kind of president someone would be?

[Beacool]

2. l live in New Jersey.

We don't pump our own gas either. So what????

[kentuck]

5. Isn't that a state law in NJ?

??

[GoneOffShore]

8. It is. No self service gas pumps in New Jersey.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. Why?

In Florida there are precious few gas staions with attendants...

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. Powerful Gas Attendant Lobby

:evilgrin:

[depakid]

55. Same in Oregon- and the reason is twofold

1. It's a "convenient" way to dump employees; and

2. Oregonians watched as places like California dumped their "service stations" in favor of little booths with no restrooms, etc.

Gas isn't any more expensive here than California or Washington (indeed, it's often cheaper) and you don't have to get nasty gas on your hands.

Pretty much a win/win all around.

[Jed Dilligan]

47. They have that in Oregon too. Seems like a fairly good idea

to make sure there is a base level of really crap jobs for unskilled workers at all times. We need that with so many people cycling out of the prisons all the time.

[JVS]

43. Do you ever leave NJ?

[Jersey Devil]

51. When I leave NJ I make my chauffer pump the gas

LOL

[Selatius]

4. It's anecdotal evidence. Careful not to extrapolate to her whole life experience.

Personally, I wouldn't gleam too much of anything from these stories.

[kentuck]

10. I agree but...

Remember how the old aristocrat George H.W. Bush tried to paint Dukakis as "out of touch" and then starting eating pork rinds to show he was a common man.....and the gullible public bought it. These are typical Republican issues that we need to stay aware of, because this is all they will have come November.

[Stephanie]

6. Maybe it's indicative of Hundred-Millionaires?

Photos of the photo-op:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5756734

[Jennicut]

7. So much for Obama the elitist. Al Gore does not have secret service anymore.

Get with the program Hillary. What a crock of b.s. She is sooooo in touch with everyday people. Whatever. This reminds me of Poppy George Bush going to a supermarket in 1991 or 1992 and buying groceries. He was amazed by the way the groceries pashed over the "fancy bright lights" and the price rung up on the cash register. I mean lets get real. This talk of elitism is so dumb. As if we the American people were too stupid to figure out that all the people who run for American office are elitists. Who else who afford it?

[Occam Bandage]

9. It kind of reminds me of Bush I famously being baffled by a supermarket UPC scanner.

One of those, "oh, hey, this person obviously is unaware of a real world beyond spreadsheets and polling data" moments.

[Algorem]

11. what bugs me is the little people who pump my gas never have

any grey poupon to lend me

[kentuck]

14. That is very descriptive.

Grey poupon?

[slor]

27. LOL...

you gave me my first laugh of the day. I used to love those commercials as a wee lad.

[NJmaverick]

13. One could say she is elite

I would suspect her 100+ million and almost twenty years in the White House and Governor's manson has pretty much removed her from common folk.

[BeyondGeography]

15. That photo op was a dumb idea, almost as dumb as the gas tax holiday

But this is her time to screw up. No one is paying attention to her this week.

[newmajority]

17. Unless they live in Oregon, I would say "yes"

Believe it or not, you still can't pump your own gas there.

But I'm reasonably sure that's one of the few states Hillary hasn't claimed as "home". At least until the week of the primary, when she'll claim that she spent all her summers in Cannon Beach.

[MyNameGoesHere]

18. My grandmother never pumped gas.

Is she an awful woman too?

[kentuck]

20. Do you think Republicans are capable of making issues...

out of trivial matters such as these? Remember Dukakis with his head stuck out of a tank? Remember John Kerry windsurfing?

[newmajority]

26. Only if she claimed she had "experience" pumping gas, because your grandfather did.

:evilgrin:

[MyNameGoesHere]

48. She knew hoe,

but she was never asked to pump gas. So i guess in you mind she is a horrible person oh great supporter of the candidate that vomits the words, hope, change and unity.

[newmajority]

53. Seems that desperation has caused Hillbots to lose their sense of humor

Don't worry, your mourning for Hillary shall pass, eventually. Then you'll feel a lot better.

(and for the record, my grandma never even learned how to drive, much less pump gas)

[MyNameGoesHere]

66. Don't call me a hillbot and i won't call you an asshole. ok? n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Doesn't she have Ladies in Waiting or Pages to do proletarian stuff like that?

As befits what she thinks of herself.

[pdxmom]

22. I don't see it as a matter of how long it's been, but whether she even

knows how. I moved from Virginia to Oregon 14 years ago. We can't pump our own gas here, but I still know how to pump it. When we travel, I can get out of my car and do that without stumbling and bumbling around.

If she hasn't pumped gas in 16 years, that's fine. But if she just plain doesn't know how, then yes, it's a sign of elitism.

I think the coffee machine and whipping out her credit card to pay for it all was more elitist, though.

[merh]

56. Is that one of her creditors (the credit card) that she pays off

properly? Where is that info on her campaign debt?

We need to watch to see if the credit card companies are paid off. :evilgrin:

And it is not a question as to why she doesn't pump, but does she even know how the pump work.

[uponit7771]

23. HELL YES!!!

[Mz Pip]

24. My problem with the whole event

was it was just a staged photo-op to make Hillary look in touch. Seems like the wrong way to go about showing you're in touch when you have to stage an elaborate photo-op around something that you never do.

THe whole thing came across to me as ridiculous. Here they were having to find an SUV big enough for the family, Hillary and her entourage. Secret service is following along. She's on the phone in the car giving an interview.

I honestly don't care if Hillary has ever pumped gas a day in her life. But this over the top trip to a gas station to make her seem something that she's not was just silly.

[RaleighNCDUer]

38. Which highlights her managerial skills -

I can just see it, the handler saying "...and then you'll get out and fill the gas tank, then go in and get a cup of coffee from the machine..." and she, being infallible, can't admit she doesn't know how to pump gas or use a coffee dispenser, and her staff is too terrified to confirm "you do know how to, don't you?"

Can't WAIT to see her in the WH.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

25. Not necessarily, but it was not a great idea for a photo op.

[newmajority]

28. Yep.... Dukakis in the tank. Kerry in the full body condom (or whatever that was)

.....Hillary confused by the gas pump and the coffee machine.

Thank God she isn't going to be the nominee, because the 'Pukes would have a field day with this one.

[CBGLuthier]

29. Forget the pump thing, it's the cappuccino machine that bothers me

SS probably does not let such an unpopular person expose themselves to dangerous americans.

But if she can't figure out how to use a machine that involves pushing one button I sure as hell don't want her anywhere near the nuclear button.

[kentuck]

30. Wouldn't that make a great TV ad?

The phone rings at 3 AM and a concerned citizen is on the other end. He asks, "President clinton, I have to be at work very early this morning. Can you tell me how to turn on my cappuccino machine??" :-)

[bklyncowgirl]

45. Cappachino? Isn't Cappachino elitist or something. Whatever happned to plain old joe?

Waiting now for Obama to show up at some 7/11 and very visibly grab a cup of the house blend while pumping his own gas of course.

[Coexist]

31. it sure aint blue collar

although if my teens are in the car with me, they pump for me!

[BattyDem]

32. For me, it's not an "out of touch" issue ...

it's a campaign management issue. They went to all that trouble to stage the photo op, yet there was no effort to make sure it was flawless. When the purpose of the photo op is to make your candidate appear in touch with average people, you better make sure she NAILS it!

I understand that Hillary has Secret Service and she hasn't pumped gas in a long time, but it was a photo op at a gas station! Shouldn't someone have taken the time to give her a few "gas-pumping" lessons the day before the cameras were rolling? The coffee machine surprised me because it's "place the cup, press the button" which would have been easy enough to explain PRIOR to the photo op. I guess the argument could be made that not all machines are exactly the same, but when they chose that particular location, they could have taken a picture of the machine and shown it to Hillary. They are not that complicated. :eyes:

These silly little things don't mean much by themselves, but when combined with the horrible management of the campaign and the finances, it's troubling.

NOTE: Yes, I know ... Obama had a few missteps as well. He probably should have practiced his bowling technique before calling the press and of course, those "Abercrombie & Fitch" guys should have been taken out of camera range before the rally started. But overall, his campaign finances, organization and strategy have been terrific!


edited: typo :blush:

[Ichingcarpenter]

36. I agree especially after she got a 'latte' at the station and was introduced

at the 'TESTICULAR FORTITUDE' event as someone who wasn't a “Gucci-wearing, latte-drinking, self-centered, egotistical people that have damaged our lifestyle,” the whole event was terribly planed by
her handlers, who set up both events one after another. She might have well driven an eighteen wheeler to get
the truckers vote.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/30/965093.aspx

[graycem]

33. She hasn't lived in the real world for

over half her life. You're right she didn't pump gas as First Lady of Arkansas, she probably never even changed her kids diaper. That's what the nanny was for. Sooooo regular. :eyes:

[stray cat]

34. She said she doesn't even have to pay for gas but she understood those of us who did

[Orsino]

35. Yes.

Assuming s/he drives or rides in cars, that is. Pumping gas is part of the experience, and a candidate can't help but look elitist when unacquainted with this task.

Clinton has people to do this for her, as does Obama; Clinton's just been in the ivory tower for much longer.

[izquierdista]

39. Elite, but not "out of touch"

Everybody jabbering in this discussion should take a moment to remember someone, who although he lived in the top 1% all of his life, was not out of touch:


Just from looking at the cigarette holder, one can tell that he was above the level of the common man, that he did not fill his own gas tank, pour his own coffee, do the shopping at the grocery store, or go bowling. (And no interjecting that he was confined to a wheelchair, in 1932 only his immediate family knew that.) What he WAS able to do, was to observe what was happening around him, how the people lived who were NOT at his level, and what might he be able to do to improve their lot.

It is relatively recently that pundits have paradoxically attributed "being an average guy" as a quality that a leader should have. Washington and Lincoln were quite a bit taller than the average guy, Gen. Sherman had red hair that made him stand out in a crowd. In those cases, the physical attributes that made them different from the average guy ADDED to their leadership abilities. Somehow, in the modern day, this is turned upside down in the search, winnowing out the "elite" and selecting for the most average of boobs, the 'C' student, the "guy you can have a beer with".

In trying to sell George Walker Bush, an elite son of privilege with no natural leadership ability and no outstanding physical features, the media had to come up with a new angle, and so the new quality that a leader had to have was that he had to be just an average boob. Jon Stewart and Bill Maher have both observed recently that this is a presidential election, that we are selecting a leader, who after he is elected will belong to an elite group of only 44 people to ever hold the title. It's a little bit different than selecting Mr. Congeniality down at the bowling alley.

If there is anything to fault Hillary and George H. W. before her on their common man outings, is that they are unobservant. They may be able to stand in front of people and talk to them, but they don't see the individuals, they don't observe what the common man goes through on a daily basis. While they don't have to experience pumping gas and scanning groceries, it's not beneath them to observe it.

[moondust]

40. Bush 41.

Then he grabbed a quart of milk, a light bulb and a bag of candy and ran them over an electronic scanner. The look of wonder flickered across his face again as he saw the item and price registered on the cash register screen.

"This is for checking out?" asked Mr. Bush. "I just took a tour through the exhibits here," he told the grocers later. "Amazed by some of the technology."

Marlin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman, assured reporters that he had seen the President in a grocery store. A year or so ago. In Kennebunkport.

Some grocery stores began using electornic scanners as early as 1976, and the devices have been in general use in American supermarkets for a decade.

Feb 5, 1992
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1D71031F936A35751C0A964958260

[Cheap_Trick]

41. I don't care whether or not she pumps her own gas

how long has it been since she's had to PAY for her own gas? THAT'S why she's out of touch.

[JVS]

42. They could just never leave New Jersey. But I guess that would kind of prove the point.

[leftynyc]

44. I'm a 47 year old New Yorker

who until around 5 years ago owned a car - I have never pumped my own gas - Not Once. Hate the smell and frequented stations that did it for me. If that makes me an elitest, tough shit.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

46. I wonder if she ripped into her secret service posse

because they stood by letting her be defeated by a coffee machine.

Why aren't they seeing to her every need?

:wtf:

[Bigleaf]

49. This video on Youtube is getting lots of views, Over 428,000 times. Turn up the speakers!

Fucking comical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C9bkuJliMY

[halliburtonsux]

50. How about someone who hasn't pumped gas in 80 years - John McCain?

McLunatic is out of touch, not Hillary Clinton.

[dansolo]

52. Absolutely

You average American probably fills up their tank once a week, if not more. It is a constant reminder of how the ever increasing cost of gas is affecting most Americans. Someone who is driven around and doesn't feel the impact of the gas prices is "out of touch", far more than a comment about how bitter people are. One of the reason why people are bitter is because of the gas prices, but Hillary seems to believe that no one has any reason to be bitter. I'd say that is "out of touch".

[KoKo]

54. YES! the Clinton's haven't "Pumped Gas" since Bill moved back to Arkansas.........!

They do NOTHING FOR THEMSELVES... Even Clinton dog "Buddy" got "run over by a Car" in suburban NY because the SS couldn't control him...and bill was probably too busy talking on his Cell Phone to notice!

They do NOTHING FOR THEMSELVES....they are ELITISTS! But they are Dem Policy Wonks...they coulda gotten into "Hedge Funds" and made BILLIONS...if it's what was good for them...

[Leopolds Ghost]

57. I loved how she borowed the boss' SUV and went to fill it up to advocate for gas tax amnesty

Freedom to pump!

My boss' SUV has to get filled up cheaply or I lose my job!

What could be more populist message than that.

[IndianaGreen]

60. Hillary only paid for half a tank

She wouldn't pay to fill it up.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

59. I want a President who can at least figure out how to obtain

a cup of coffee in a service station! I don't care how you slice it, this is absurd! Some may say, well with the pressure of being in front of the cameras and all... YOU DON'T THINK THE CAMERA'S WILL BE ON IF A DISASTER HAPPENS?? Yes, I want one who can take the pressure. I also want a President who doesn't try to slander someone as an elitist when they are obviously more elite.

I guess if I was as wealthy as her and if I had all the Secret Service, I wouldn't be pumping gas either... BUT I sure as hell wouldn't be painting my opponent as being out of touch! She is totally out of touch! I remember hearing part of her speech in Ohio when she was describing a conversation with someone going through foreclosure... it was almost as if this was the very first time she had EVER talked to anyone in that situation... The guy that has worked on the ground with his head under the clouds as a community organizer when Chicago people were losing their ass because of NAFTA is totally in touch with America and has this vote!

Yes, a commercial should be made on this one... good stuff...

[sponge bob]

61. So rich people can't be presidents?

Funny. Most our presidents have been rich.

[izzybeans]

63. Yep, save for NJ and Oregon.

[dcindian]

64. No it's that other guy you know the one

The one from a broken home, that silly poor dude. He is the one out of touch.... Dare I say even elitist!

God Bless us rich down to earth folks.

[Texasgal]

65. And her Husband says

That Obama supporters are elitist. :eyes:

[mitchum]

67. And she didn't know to take the Slim Jim out of the wrapper before eating!

[bullwinkle428]

68. I guess my Mom is too...she hasn't pumped gas in forever.

Always gets full-serve (doesn't live in N.J., where it's full-serve only). She just lives on a small pension and Social Security since my Dad passed away several years ago, and co-owns/runs a small consignment shop with her best friend for a little bit of additional steady income, but she's hardly part of the ruling elite!