I’ve written about Leftourettes Syndrome™ on several occasions. I even have a separate category for it. It can be generally described as that condition, so prevalent on the left, that causes them to open their mouths and say the stupidest things, revealing much more about themselves than they ever intended.

The 2008 primary season has put this malady in the spotlight. Chang and Eng Clintbama, and their supporters, are trying to outdo one another for saying the stupidest things. If I were a high-paid campaign consultant, instead of a lowly blogger fighting to reach 100,000 visits, I would have some advice for John McCain. I guess I’ll just give it away for free: Say Nothing. Let the two of them spend all their time and money saying things that are so outrageous that come November the last twin standing will do good to match Walter Mondale’s 13 electoral votes from ‘84.

It’s hard to believe, but instead of showing any improvement their Leftourettes™ seems to be worsening.

Ladies First

As the controversy over Hillary’s “snipper fire” claim was starting to fade, former President Clinton (I respect the office. The man, not so much.) decided to grab a can of jet fuel and relight the bonfire.

Bill Clinton said the news media treated her like she had “robbed a bank” and claimed she was experiencing end-of-day fatigue, even though she had made the claim in morning speeches.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) acknowledged two weeks ago that she “misspoke” and “made a mistake” in her overly vivid account of the 1996 landing in Tuzla, Bosnia, during a goodwill mission as first lady.

Video of a tranquil arrival ceremony refuted the claim, and her comments hurt her struggling campaign by reviving questions about her candor.

Whoopsie. Time for a yank on the leash.

Former US president Bill Clinton said Friday he has been ordered to hold his tongue by his wife Hillary for reviving an embarrassing story about her trip to Bosnia in 1996 while out campaigning.

“Hillary called me and said ‘You don’t remember this. You weren’t there, let me handle it.’ I said, ‘Yes ma’am,” the grinning ex-president said during a campaign stop in Indiana, according to television pictures.

A series of gaffes have made Bill Clinton somewhat of a liability in his wife’s campaign for the Democratic White House nomination. [my emphasis]

Gee, ya think? I am close to buying into the meme that he doesn’t want her in the Oval Office. [discuss this in the forum]

Equal Time

Barry O wasn’t content to allow the Clinton campaign to be the Leftourettes™ example of the week. He had to step it up a notch (Ben Smith quoting from the Hufpo).

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

This caught the attention of the blogosphere.

Ace puts an entire post full of analysis into his title: Obama To Rural Pennsylvanians: Vote For Me, You Corncob-Smokin’, Banjo-Strokin’ Chicken-Chokin’ Cousin-Pokin’ Inbred Hillbilly Racist Morons

Patrick Hynes wraps it up this way:

Yep, that’s us: Just a bunch of uniformed racists who hate everyone who isn’t just like us and cling to our God and our guns because we didn’t get to go to Princeton or Harvard Law School. They know us so well.

Ed Morrissey says that This is why rookies shouldn’t run for President

Rookies should not run for President. Rookies make mistakes that brand them, and once made on the national stage, those brands never entirely disappear. Ask Joe Biden, whose plagiarism 20 years ago still largely defines him outside of Delaware, and he was hardly a rookie at the time.

What makes this so breathtaking is the mindless, casual way in which Obama reveals his snobbishness and elitism. We saw hints of this from Michelle Obama, in her assertions about never being proud of her country until her husband ran for President. (Soren Dayton has more on this.) We had not seen it from Obama himself in such a blatant and unmistakable manner. The matter-of-fact style in which he spoke this shows the unthinking contempt he has for people he has never engaged — an acceptance of stereotypes without questioning them that shows his own bigotry, not to mention foolishness and poor judgment.

Leftourettes™ can be ugly in it’s honesty.

Others who taken up this theme:
Little Green Footballs
Confederate Yankee
MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
John Hinderaker asks, “Is Obama’s Campaign Over?”
Macs Mind, where he notes, “A friend in PA is telling me that the audio is already being pooled into campaign phone calls and ads to run soon.”
Blue Crab Boulevard and here
Blogs for John McCain’s Victory
Sister Toldjah
Stop The ACLU

And many more.

Like a top on steroids, the Obama campaign is trying to spin this — and failing miserably. His opponents have joined the cacophony of condemnation. From the NYT:

“It’s being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter; well, that’s not my experience,” Mrs. Clinton told an audience at Drexel University. “Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them; they need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families.”

After her remarks, aides to Mrs. Clinton issued several statements criticizing Mr. Obama, including ones that contained criticism from Republicans.

And from the McCain camp:

“It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. “It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

When Obama tried to explain/justify/spin his remarks, his two opponents offered very similar rebuttals:

“Instead of apologizing for offending small town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week,” said Phil Singer, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton. He added, “Americans are tired of a President who looks down on them, they want a President who will stand up for them for a change.”

[...]

“Instead of apologizing to small town Americans for dismissing their values, Barack Obama arrogantly tried to spin his way out of his outrageous San Francisco remarks,” Mr. [McCain spokesman Tucker] Bounds said, adding: “You can’t be more out of touch than that.”

But I’ll leave it to Scott Ott to wrap this up with his typical dead-on sarcastic humor:

Senator Barack Obama today announced a plan to employ millions of bitter, small town Americans who, in their anger over jobs lost in the 1980s, have turned to guns, God, and xenophobia.

You can discuss Obamagaffe in forum as well.

So, which campaign displays their Leftourettes more fully? A new poll is in the sidebar.