We all know that gaffe is when a politician tells the truth—in the words of Colonel Jessep, "You can't handle the truth!"

But worse, according to Mickey Kaus, is a politician who tells you what he really thinks, as Obama has just done:

"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 going to regenerate and they have not," he went on. "And 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 regrets remark about 'bitter' working class, Houston Chronicle, April 12, 2008]

This is so bad that McCain has actually brought himself to criticize it—and of course Hillary is all over it.

Kaus ["Cling Along With Barack"]reports an email from the "always-suspect Michael Lind ," saying

According to Obama, working class (white) people "cling to guns" because they are bitter at losing their manufacturing jobs.

Excuse me? Hunting is part of working-class American culture. Does Obama really think that working-class whites in Pennsylvania were gun control liberals until their industries were downsized, whereas they all rushed to join the NRA ...

Fair enough—but the other reason people don't like gun control is fear of crime. Does Barack Obama know who's committing this crime, and who the victims are? If not, he could ask his grandmother.