Yesterday on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes, right-wing pundit Hugh Hewitt blasted Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for being “so condescending.” “In San Francisco, he insulted people of faith,” said Hewitt. “He insulted people who own guns.” Hewitt then took a swipe at Obama’s educational background, stating, “That Harvard Law School stuff, it shows.” Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2008/04/hewitt1elm.320.240.flv]
Hewitt claimed he was able to make these accusations because he has “Midwestern roots.” Ironically, Obama also has Midwestern roots (who spent decades in Illinois and has a mother born in Kansas), and like Obama, Hewitt graduated from Harvard. Although Hewitt was born in Ohio, he has spent much of his life working in both Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Transcript:
COLMES: Let me ask you, Hugh Hewitt, has Michelle Obama — as people get to know the Obama family, should he be the nominee, Michelle Obama, for example, Harvard for college, is talking about as her mother used food stamps, supported a family of four on a city salary, they carried school loan debts into their 40’s, this doesn’t sound like a bunch of elitists to me, and as the narrative expands and people get to know who they are, it may not be as dire as you’re suggesting.
HEWITT: Come on, Alan, you’re an East Coast liberal elite.
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: Thank you for the compliment. All three things are true.
HEWITT: And what I think you’re going to miss here, and again, I go back — I’ve got Midwestern roots, Tom has Midwestern roots as well, and what you look at is how does this play when you insult people? One of those things I was doing in Warren this week and I went to a fundraiser for my old high school, fondly named John F. Kennedy High School, it’s a Catholic high school, all those people are there supporting this great institution in a small town. They’re not bitter, they’re hard-working, very proud people, there’s a lot of economic activity in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. […]
He is so — he is so condescending. When he thought to Messiah College, he thought they’d renamed it for him. It’s coming home to roost now. He didn’t say that in San Francisco. It’s got nothing to do with what he said in San Francisco. In San Francisco, he insulted people of faith. He insulted people who own guns. In San Francisco he was candid about what he believes.
He is a hard left politician. If he’s the nominee, he will be the most liberal, most radical nominee in the history of American politics. And it shows. That Harvard Law School stuff, it shows. And you cannot reinvent what he said.