A super PAC touting House Republicans is reminding voters about President Barack Obama’s 2008 remarks about small-town Americans and their clinging to guns, religion, and disdain for outsiders by calling them “bitter.”
The new ad specifically targets Democratic Rep. Mark Critz, but could expand past the borders of the district in what is seen as a key battleground race in western Pennsylvania that might help decide whether Obama or challenger Mitt Romney is the next president.
In what was a gotcha moment in the last election, Obama made those comments about western Pennsylvania when a hidden camera was rolling as Obama was unspooling his politically charged remarks during a 2008 fundraising stop in California.
"It's not surprising then they get bitter, they 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," Obama was caught saying in reference to the loss of jobs in the area.
Young Guns Action Network, which is running the ad, told Fox News that people in western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh and Johnstown, will start seeing the ad beginning next Monday. Given the area has been hard hit by the recession and is coal country, it seems to be a good place for Romney to convince former Obama voters to defect to him and tilt the vote in the Keystone State to his favor.
The new ad ends with this sentiment: "A top Obama advisor even said Critz 'enjoys common values' with the Obama administration. Those aren't Southwestern Pennsylvania values. A vote for Mark Critz is a vote for Barack Obama."
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