Where did I say he thinks it is a "sham".

He said it is what they "cling" to.

What if I spoke about liberals as follows. Liberals "cling" to their Ivy League degrees to support their values and beliefs.

As opposed to saying. Liberals use the things they learned at Ivy Leagu colleges to base their beliefs and foundation for improving things on.

Get the difference. Cling is derogatory or condescending. I am not saying it is a sham, I am saying their belief system is not well founded.

wow...how do you really feel?

I could have been a bit harsher, but I left out the terms "far-left extremist" and "Marxist" in order to show that I too can treat him like the media treats him.

What is wrong with the word "cling?" A very quick search on LDS.org shows it is a word embraced by religion and not one with a de facto negative connotation. In fact, of the results listed, almost all are in reference to something positive.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.js...&findByAuthor=

Talk about elitist and condescending. Ah the irony.

That's a good point.

So, it would be fair to say that liberals cling to socialist ideas because they believe that the general public is too stupid to take care of themselves.

Correct?

I think you have to look at the context in which the word was used. If I wasn't a believing member, I would thing the word "cling" as used by the brethern is a request for members to be "dependent". Dependent on the Lord is one thing, dependent on others I am not a big fan of.

If you said, '71 clings to old ideas, I wouldn't take it as a compliment.

Only if the liberals you were describing were socialist and believed that the general public was too stupid to take care of themselves, in which case that would be fair. If you are applying that to the general liberal establishment within the US, then no- it would simply once again affirm your lack of understanding of the term "socialist" and a corresponding lack of insight into the reasonings of the liberal population.

Clinging to the rod isn't being dependent on the rod. It is meant just as it sounds. Clinging to religious beliefs isn't being dependent on those beliefs, it is holding fast to them. You are reading into his comment what you want to hear.

We're also parsing the statement far too tightly. Based on the reports I've heard, I doubt Obama sat down and deliberately planned to use the word "bitter" or "cling" to convey some specific definition. They just happened to be the terms that occurred to him at the time.

The criticism that this reflects a deep-seated disdain for rural America is a legitimate one, however. Or at least, that's how folks are taking it. Obama can say "I misspoke" all he wants, but it's having an interim impact.