Kinder rips into Obama

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder ripped into Sen. Barack Obama today prior to Obama's town hall meeting in Cape Girardeau. Kinder, a Cape Girardeau Republican, released the following statement:

I made it very clear this morning to members of the state and national media that Barack Obama is wrong for Missourians and wrong for our country. As the New York Times quoted me today as saying, if selected by Democrats as their nominee, then Barack Obama will be "the HARDEST LEFT candidate ever nominated for president of the United States."

Obama's visit to Cape Girardeau cannot hide the fact that his call for increasing taxes would hurt Missourians already struggling with out-of-control health care costs and higher gas prices. We must keep Missouri's economy strong by keeping the government and Barack Obama out of our pocketbooks. The problem for Missourians like you and me is that Obama's solution to every problem is bigger government, more government and higher taxes. Missourians will not accept someone who wants to increase the payroll tax and increase the capital gains tax and even increase the tax on gasoline. My friends, we do not want to go down this road!

I also remember, as many of you do, that Barack Obama told his liberal friends not too long ago in San Francisco that folks like those in Southeast Missouri were bitter and clinging to our Second Amendment rights and our religion. I am sure that Southeast Missourians will have a lot to say to Barack Obama about those elitist comments, and many other issues as well.

What I find particularly intriguing is that recently, the liberal New York Times did not tab Missouri as a bellwether state despite our knack over the last 100-plus years of picking presidents. It is my suspicion that the New York Times has concluded that a liberal like Barack Obama cannot win Missouri, and from where many of us in Southeast Missouri are sitting, they are probably right.