Quote:
Originally Posted by non sequitur
He's not equating religion to guns and xenophobia. He's talking about small-minded people who fixate on pet issues. People who vote for candidates based solely on whether they support or oppose abortion, or who care only about where a candidate stands on gun control, or where he/she stands on immigration. Just look at all the dopes who support Huckabee, or those whose opinion of McCain is based solely on his views on immigration. It's understandable why Obama's statements rankled so many, but I think they're pretty much spot on.
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Is his quote taken out of context? Was he talking about the issues that people choose to vote on immediately prior to this? If so, it's an extremely stupid way of making his point that's much too easily turned into an offensive soundbite in a presidential election (and not the first of his political gaffes).
If not, well then I think you're making a very favorable interpretation of what he said, to say the least. To say that people have "pet" issues (likely true in any state of the economy) is very different from "clinging to guns, religion, and antipathy". Supporting immigration reform is very different from "antipathy towards people not like [you]".