"Senator Obama wants to 'spread the wealth'"

[skooooo]

McCain thinks this is still 1980 or something. He made the best case for his opponent last night, when he said that Obama wanted to "spread the wealth." Hell, yeah! That sounds pretty good right about now, to most Americans who are struggling, and CEOs from AIG are still going to their spas spending hundreds of thousands of dollars getting pampered.

Unbridled capitalism has tanked, and everyone knows it.

[daa]

1. And I guess that means McOldCranky

wants to keep it in the hands of a few like chimpy.

[whosinpower]

2. unlike the republicans who

want to spread the debt around.....to future generations.

[skooooo]

3. Oooh, that's a great line!

And absolutely true to boot.

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Two things: about this "spreading the wealth comment" and Plumber Joe

1) Obama's quote was, as usual, taken out of context. Even Ambinder sets the record straight here:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/obama_the_friendly_socialist.php

"If you've got a plumbing business, you're going to be better off it you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now I think everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. "


I wish Obama would have set the record straight, but he has to choose his battles wisely with such limited time. I realize that.


2) About Plumber Joe. I think his comments about "I don't want to share my money with other people" come across as crass and selfish to most Americans facing hard times, especially newly facing hard times.

When the economy is going well, I can see the majority of people having the attitude of "Don't take my money! I worked hard for it - go get your own!"

And, don't get me wrong, I don't like to needlessly part with my hard-earned money, either.

However, this Joe guy's comment, in today's climate, is boorish and selfish to me. Just the way he said it.

Times are hard. We're supposed to join together as a nation to get through this.

I can see people railing against giving the GOVERNMENT more money (that is an easy target for people to see as the enemy), but I think his comment just comes across as a very selfish, thoughtless, me, me, me, gimmee, gimmee kind of guy. But typical of the right-wing base.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Yep--taken out of context.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Yes, "spread the wealth" sounds good to me, too. NT

NT